Or guilt because he hadn’t been able to save his mother?
Ella exhaled. She thought she’d had a tough childhood!
‘Heard enough of my disreputable past yet?’
‘Did you find him again after you left prison?’
Donato shook his head. ‘I learned a lot behind bars. Including that I didn’t want to serve a life sentence for murder. Anyway, when I got out I heard he’d died in a car crash.’
Relief made Ella dizzy. ‘Prison changed your life.’
‘Definitely. I realised education was the key to turning myself around. That plus hard work and a willingness to take risks.’
‘It’s amazing what you’ve achieved.’ Yet her mind wasn’t on his commercial success. It was still boggling at his past.
‘I was lucky. I was mentored when I left the justice system, part of a young-offenders programme. One mentor led to another and some opportunities opened up for me. I learned a lot and dedicated myself to taking charge of my life, getting some control.’
He made it sound easy. Ella could only guess at the struggle it must have been with a criminal record. ‘You must have dreamed big.’
‘Always.’ His other hand covered hers. ‘Have you heard enough?’ Despite his light tone, there was no mistaking the strain on his features.
‘Thank you for telling me. I...’ Ella shook her head. She felt overwhelmed, not only by what he’d revealed but by the fact he trusted her with such intimate details. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
‘You think I’m worried about that?’ He looked big and bold and forbidding, as if the world could spit in his eye and he’d take it in his stride. Now she understood a little of what made him that way. ‘Besides—’ his voice lowered to something like a caress ‘—I know you, Ella. You’ve got too much integrity to gossip about my private life.’
Integrity?
Ella looked into those serious eyes and wondered. Was it integrity to keep her father’s true character from Donato? Shouldn’t she at least warn him that Reg Sanderson was as slimy as any sewer rat, and totally untrustworthy?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELLA’S DELIGHTED CHUCKLE took Donato by surprise.
‘What are you laughing at?’ Women didn’t find him amusing in bed. Yet his mouth curved at the sound. Her delight was infectious.
An hour ago, telling Ella about his mother’s death, he hadn’t imagined laughing again so soon.
He’d laughed more these last two months than he had in years.
She traced her index finger over his chest, trawling down to circle his nipple. He sucked in his breath as desire shafted through him, tightening his groin and his muscles as he leaned over her.
‘The fact we actually made it to your bed and we’re naked. Usually we don’t get this far the first time. Or if we do, we’re still half dressed.’ Ella’s silver-blue eyes danced and Donato was as intrigued as ever by their beauty.
There wasn’t one thing about Ella he didn’t find intriguing. From her lush mouth to her delicious body and her tendency to cover it rather than flaunt it in revealing clothes. Then there were her smart tongue, her quick wit and her love of her career. The more he heard about her work, the more he realised it was part of her, caring for others. She took pride in what she did, yet was curiously defensive about it.
‘I thought you’d appreciate the comfort of a mattress.’ His smile widened as he lifted his hand to her breast, mirroring her movement against his body, watching her expression as he tweaked her nipple.
He loved the way she responded so honestly, giving freely even as she demanded everything from him.
Donato pushed her thighs further apart and sank between them.
‘Don’t get too used to the bed, cari?o. I intend to take you in every room of this house, and there are parts of the garden we haven’t explored.’
He took her nipple in his mouth and she arched high, gasping. She tasted of apricots, warm from the summer sun, and her skin’s light floral scent was a heady draught for his senses.
Beneath him Ella shifted needily. ‘I like the fact you’re so...thorough.’
‘Always, cari?o.’
Except he’d never needed a woman as much and as often as he did Ella. He’d never known such unflagging desire.
He’d always been a discriminating lover—not surprising, given his mother’s experiences. But this felt different to any previous sexual relationship. Nothing matched the pleasure he found with Ella. Whenever she gave herself to him it was so good.