Chapter Four #3
Had he returned to tell her that—that he’d been thinking of her? Or, more likely, had he come so that they could reconnect—continue what they’d shared even though he hadn’t had a problem walking out on her four months ago?
Had it turned out to be more difficult than he’d thought to airbrush her out?
He was a very physical man. Whether he was Jose or Rocco, he was still the guy with a red-hot libido.
Ella killed dead the warm swoop of pleasure at the thought that he might have missed her.
There was so much more at stake than a simple case of a fling that hadn’t worked out.
He had deceived her. A man who deliberately withheld the truth about who he really was didn’t qualify to be a responsible father, did he?
If she turned him away now, would he shrug and disappear, having given it a go?
Ella knew that she could withhold the truth of the situation from him, just as he had withheld the truth of who he really was from her, and she was tempted.
But a child deserved the best of both parents, for better or worse.
She had had that luxury while he…had not.
She remembered what he had said about Christmas, about how little it had meant to him.
Another lie? Her gut feeling was that he’d been telling the truth when he’d said there had been some genuine connection between them, even though listening to her gut feelings hadn’t done much for her in the past.
She needed to respond now and not react.
She needed to know if her gut feeling was right, if he was a decent guy.
If he’d felt he’d truly had no option but to keep the truth of his identity to himself, even after they’d become lovers, then he could still be prepared to stay for a bit to see how the bombshell of his buyout would affect everyone in the store.
It was Christmas. Whether it made sense for the store to be turned into flats or not, it had still been a body blow to staff lower down the pecking order who hadn’t seen it coming.
They would be compensated, but they’d been left shaken.
If there was nothing in it for him, would he still stick around to find out how the people whose lives would change because of him might be feeling?
Was there a shred of real caring in him or had she utterly misjudged him?
It was a stupid test. Ella knew that, but she was clinging to something that might shine a light on the crossroads at which she now was, stuck and helpless. She desperately wanted him to prove himself because there was a baby inside her and she needed to know the measure of him.
‘If you came here to see if you could get me back into bed, then you can forget it, Senor Mancini. I have better things to do than re-visit a relationship with someone who didn’t care enough to tell me the truth about himself.
’ It was clear from the lowering of his eyes that she had struck the jackpot in correctly assessing why he’d suddenly felt a need to connect. ‘But…’
‘But?’
‘If you’re here to show me that there’s a side to you that’s actually caring…
that you bear some sort of resemblance to the man I thought you were…
’ She drew in a swift breath because she felt herself weaken at her own foolishness in falling for him.
‘Then you would show that you cared about the people here.’
‘I intend to be very fair,’ Rocco said quietly.
‘I’ve made sure that the redundancy packages are generous and there will be roles to fill when the offices are functioning.
The pay will be much better than they could hope to earn working for the store.
I’ll be laying out the details of the deals in the new year but I hope to put minds to rest by assuring everyone that they will be treated fairly. ’
‘You could stay for a while and let everyone enjoy their last Christmas here. We haven’t even put up the usual tree in the foyer.’
‘Yes, the Christmas tradition.’ He flushed. ‘You know how I feel about Christmas.’
‘But this isn’t your Christmas. This is the final Christmas spent here, at the store, and it should belong to everyone in the town before it disappears for ever.’
‘I hear what you’re saying, Ella.’
‘You’ll stay for at least a few days, be a presence here to stop jitters and ensure that everyone can leave this wonderful place with feelings of goodwill and optimism for what lies ahead?’
‘It’s good to see you,’ Rocco murmured.
He smiled a slow, lazy smile, amused at the passion on her face, knowing that meeting her again had only reawakened his libido, which had been dormant since he had left this slice of unreality behind.
She was just as he remembered: outspoken and tough to impress.
Even now, knowing he was a billionaire, she hadn’t wanted to hop into bed with him, hadn’t been tempted by his money.
He’d stay. Would he be able to persuade her back into a relationship or had he blown it for good because he hadn’t told her who he was?
He could understand that but, even so, when cold common sense told him there was no reason to remain here, that he was being incredibly generous in his final package, he wanted to stay.
Just entering the department store earlier that morning, just returning to this part of the world, Rocco had suddenly felt…
different. He’d returned to the life he’d left behind.
Two weeks had changed him in ways he couldn’t figure out; it had made him curious, and he didn’t understand why because he’d always known just how dangerous curiosity could be.
His uncle had been curious about all the wrong things, and look where that had got him.
But the feeling when he’d returned… Yes, he’d stay.
‘You’re really not tempted to pick up where we left off now that you’ve found out who I am?’
‘I prefer the straightforward guy who could only afford to rent a small cottage.’
‘I might have billions, Ella, but I’m still the same guy who knew how much you’d like it there.’
He liked the thought of her not wanting him because of his money.
He played with the idea of her softening, coming to him, walking back into his arms. He thought of a different relationship with everything out in the open, although still one that would never amount to anything more than a fling, even if the fling lasted longer.
His thoughts on marriage didn’t involve the sort of love she would expect, nor was she a woman from the elevated background that would prepare her for the life she would have to lead as his wife.
Control would be the very essence of his future, the sort of control that was counter-intuitive to who she was.
That didn’t mean that there wasn’t this sizzle of chemistry between them.
He looked at her with brooding interest, trying to prise beneath the surface to where her thoughts were hidden.
‘There’s something I think you need to know, Rocco.
’ Ella could feel him trying to get inside her head.
He’d asked whether she was tempted by his money.
He couldn’t begin to understand just how much of a turn-off it was because the man who was the billionaire wasn’t the man who’d listened to her, laughed with her and heard all her confidences.
He was who she’d given her heart to and that guy hadn’t been bolstered by money.
‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ll start by saying that I did my best to find you. I had no idea that you hadn’t wanted to be found.’ Her heart picked up pace and began to beat like a sledgehammer against her ribcage.
‘We agreed that what we had wouldn’t last for ever,’ Rocco murmured.
‘You told me that I brought out an adventurous side to you and… I’ll admit that being someone else brought out something in me as well.
I’m honest enough to admit that. I relaxed in a way I haven’t done before, but I always knew that the end would come, which was why I walked away.
And I meant to keep walking until…’ he grimaced ‘…until I found that something inside me wouldn’t let me carry on.
I’m not saying anything I haven’t already told you. ’
‘You hurt me.’ She hated that admission but, even now and even in these circumstances, it was just too raw to keep to herself.
‘I never meant to do that. Please believe me… I was born into responsibility. My family… I’ve been primed to take over vast business concerns.
I could spend time explaining what that means in terms of my personal relationships but, in essence, the life you want and deserve would never be one I could give you. ’
‘I’m glad you said that.’
‘Come again?’
‘I’m glad you said that because you’ll know, from the start, that I don’t want anything from you when I tell you that I’m pregnant.’