She stammered out, ‘I-I’ll put it in writing if you want...? I expect you have lawyers on speed dial?’ She faltered, her voice drying up as she encountered his furious glare. She could literallyfeelthe anger vibrating off him.
‘You think that’s why I’m here? To have you sign some sort of nondisclosure agreement and pay you off!’
‘I don’t want your money. I don’t want anything from you!’ she exclaimed in horror, pushing aside a small voice in the back of her head that asked if she was allowing her pride to get in the way of Ellie’s best interests.
But she was getting ahead of herself. Rio hadn’t offered her anything yet, with strings or otherwise.
He sighed and dragged a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking to the half-closed bedroom door. ‘It appears as if you’re coping.’
As he gave the grudging concession—perhaps it was even a compliment?—her shocked, widened eyes flew to his face. But the expression in his own hooded gaze as he continued talking had her quickly back-pedalling on the compliment idea.
‘But why should my daughter have to justcope? I realise it can’t have been easy for you.’
Not even slightly mollified by the acknowledgement, Gwen ground her even white teeth. ‘I’m not a victim.’
‘I didn’t mean to suggest that you are.’
She looked at him sideways and thought,Yeah, not much?
‘I have a job I love, a daughter I adore—I consider myself extremely lucky.’
Rio’s slender grip on diplomacy slipped through his fingers as he ground out a frustrated imprecation. This woman really was the most aggravating and touchy female he had ever encountered.
‘Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you, because you’re too damned stubborn and independent to admit you needed help, even if your life depended on it, but this isn’t just your life, is it? It’s Ellie’s, my daughter’s...’ He caught the flare in her eyes but ignored a stab of guilt for his below-the-belt blow. He still had a point to make. ‘Our daughter does not even have a room of her own and she is left in the care of those who, although I am sure they are admirable, are little more than strangers...’
‘Not to me!’ she countered. ‘And sometimes a child is better off with a stranger than a real parent.’
‘You think my daughter would be better off with a stranger than me,’ Rio said flatly.
Her blue eyes flew wide. ‘That wasn’t what I meant.’ She heaved out a sigh and lifted her hands, palm up, as she admitted, ‘I didn’t have the best relationship with my father.’
His clenched air of tension relaxed somewhat at her admission. ‘And now?’
‘There is no relationship at all.’
He tipped his head but to her obvious relief didn’t push it, instead murmuring a soft, expressionless, ‘It happens.’
‘Look, this could get very complicated. You already have a child and—’ Something flashed in his eyes and she stumbled to a halt. ‘Obviously your relationships are none of my business, and if you wanted to put something to one side for Ellie when she’s older, for her university education, that might be a nice gesture.’
His head reared back, his high cheekbones standing out on a face that was rigid with offence, which she clearly found bewildering if the confused look on her face was anything to go by.
‘You think I make a habit of impregnating women and walking away?’ And why shouldn’t she? he thought bitterly. After all, that was exactly what he had done, even if he’d only done it the once, rather than twice, as she believed.
Rio was not a person who had ever felt the need for the good opinion of others and he rarely, if ever, explained himself to anyone. Some people called him arrogant and he was fine with that—people took him at his word or they didn’t, and it was not something he ever lost sleep over.
So it came as a shock to have to fight the impulse to tell Gwen the truth about his brother’s child, but it was not his secret to share and he had given his word to Marisa. It was a promise he couldn’t break, even if he had regretted making it many times.
He sometimes wondered if the agreement with Marisa and his guilt over that had been partly responsible for the intangible distance that had grown between him and his twin. There was no question in his mind that, despite the kick in the gut that it had been at the time, he still hadn’t accepted his brother’s out-of-the-blue decision to walk away from the responsibilities they’d shared controlling the Bardales empire.
‘I have no idea what sort of arrangement you have with—’
Rio cut across her, choosing his words with care. ‘That child you speak of is not in my life.’
‘I suppose fatherhood is not for everyone,’ she muttered, looking at her feet.
‘Your efforts to be non-judgemental could do with some work,’ he said drily.
Her eyes flew to his face. ‘I’m not judgemental,’ she said huffily.