Page 23 of Sev’s Blackmailed Bride (The Dante Dynasty #1)

He climbed to his feet to give weight to his words.

“I intend to return Dantes to its position as an international powerhouse, no matter what sort of sacrifices that requires. Imade that fact crystal clear to you right from the start. Iwill recover every last subsidiary I was forced to sell off when I assumed the reins of this company. And that includes TH.”

She tugged off his engagement ring and held it out. “Take this. Irefuse to wear it a minute longer.”

He simply shook his head. “That’s not happening.

If we break our engagement so soon after we announce it, your life within the jewelry world will become unbearable.

” He held up his hand to stem her protest. “As my fiancée, you have the Dante name to protect you. No one will dare say a word about you, your talent, or where you choose to work. Nor will anyone dare say anything should Tina decide to be indiscreet.”

Her mouth trembled. “You think she’ll tell people I’m Kurt’s daughter? You think she’ll publicly blame me for TH’s demise?”

“A woman that angry is capable of anything. There’s no telling what she’ll do.”

Francesca made a swift recovery, one that impressed the hell out of him. “I don’t care about any of that. Let people talk. Let Tina do her worst. Let the world assume whatever they want.”

“Right. And maybe you could handle the public fallout. Damned if you don’t seem determined to try. But I have Dantes to consider. Becoming engaged one day and ending it only weeks later is not the image I want to project to the general public, my suppliers, or my associates and competitors.”

“Then you never should have come up with this scheme.”

“Point taken, but it’s a little late for that.” He offered a wry smile. “When I came up with the idea, my only consideration was you and trying to salvage your relationship with the Fontaines. That’s what I get for thinking like Nicolò.”

For an endless moment she wavered between acceptance and rejection. To his profound relief, she released her breath in a sigh of reluctant agreement. “How long? How long do we have to keep up the pretense?”

“For as long as it takes.” He ran his hands up and down her arms, picking up on the slight shiver she couldn’t quite suppress. “Give it time, sweetheart. Is it really so bad being engaged to me? You liked my family, didn’t you?”

Once again, he’d said the wrong thing. Her eyes darkened in distress. “I don’t want to fall in love with them.”

He could guess why. “Because it hurts too much when it ends and you’re forced to walk away.”

She didn’t deny it. Instead she changed the subject. “What about the Fontaines? You have to promise me you won’t take advantage of this latest wrinkle. You have to promise me you’re still going to pay full price for TH, even if their marriage falls apart.”

He refused to be anything other than straight with her. “If they offer me a good deal, I’m not going to turn it down.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have been quite that straight. She pulled back and glared. “We have a contract. You have to pay them full price for their business. And I intend to make sure you stick to that agreement. ”

“Our contract states I’m to pay fair market value. That’s what I intend to pay and not a penny more.”

“Even if the fair market value drops because Kurt and Tina divorce?”

“Fair. Market. Value,” he repeated succinctly.

She stilled and something drifted across her expression, something that had the businessman in him going on red alert. Then she gave a careless shrug. “If that’s the best you’re willing to do, Iguess I have no choice but to accept it, do I?”

He stared at her through narrowed eyes. “That’s precisely what I expect you to do, since that’s precisely what the contract calls for.”

She turned to leave his office without further argument, which worried him all the more. Hell. No question about it. She was up to something, and he suspected he wouldn’t like whatever scheme she was busily hatching.

L ater that evening, Francesca stood outside Sev’s apartment building, her head bent against the rain, soaked to the skin from an unexpected shower.

Why had he demanded she come by tonight of all nights?

she wondered in despair. Maybe if she hadn’t gotten together with Kurt she wouldn’t be finding this so difficult.

But when she’d suggested waiting until morning to show Sev her latest designs, he’d insisted that he needed to see them tonight.

She shivered uncontrollably, wanting nothing more than to crawl into her bathtub at home and have a long, hot soak in conjunction with an even longer cry.

Swiping the dampness from her cheeks—rain, she attempted to reassure herself, not tears—she rode the elevator to the top floor of Sev’s apartment building and applied fist todoor.

It opened almost immediately. “What the hell?” Sev took one look at her and swept her across the threshold and into his apartment, ignoring her disjointed protests about dripping all over his hardwood floors.

“I don’t give a flying f—” He tempered the expression.

“A flying fig about the damn floors. Icare about you. What the hell’s happened? Are you all right?”

“I’m wet.” She trembled and held out the packet of designs. “Maybe cold, too. I’m shaking so hard it’s sort of tough to tell.”

He snatched the designs from her hand and tossed them aside.

The packet hit the floor and skidded under an antique coat closet.

Then he unceremoniously swept her into his arms and carried her into the master bathroom.

She couldn’t rouse herself enough to fight him when he stripped first her, and then himself, and pulled them both into the glassed-in shower stall.

He turned the jets on high and she stood docilely beneath the blazing-hot torrent and let the water wash away all emotion.

“What happened?” he asked again, more gently thistime.

She didn’t even realize she spoke until she heard her voice echoing against the tile.

“He didn’t want me, Sev. My father. He agreed to meet me tonight and then sent me away.

He said he was sorry. Sorry!” She covered her face with her hands as she fought for control.

“Sorry he had an affair with my mother. Sorry she became pregnant. Sorry Tina found out the truth. He said he couldn’t see me ever again. ”

“He’s a fool.”

She dropped her hands and stared up at Sev. “What did I do? What did I do wrong?”

He hugged her fiercely. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Not a damn thing. It’s them, honey. Something’s wrong with them. But you have me and you have the rest of the Dantes. And they flat-out adore you.” A raw ferocity coated his words. “We’ll be your family from now on.”

“When they find out we’re not really engaged, they won’t want me, either,” she felt obligated to point out, tears wellinganew .

“They will. Ipromise.” He continued to hold her close while the water poured down on them. “Easy, sweetheart. Let it all out. You’ll feel better if you do.”

Let what out? Didn’t he understand? She felt dead inside. Her father rejected her. She couldn’t say why she cared so much. After all, what did one more rejection matter after somany?

At long last, Sev shut off the water and left her dripping, naked and alone, in the middle of the tile floor.

An instant later he reappeared with an armload of towels.

He slung one around his waist and dropped another on her head, before swathing her from shoulders to knees in a third.

Then he proceeded to rub her down with a briskness that caused her skin toglow.

“What are you doing?” she asked, emotional exhaustion leaving her only mildly curious.

“You’re in shock. Ineed to get you warm.”

She peered at him from beneath the towel. “I’m not shocked. I’m not even surprised. Iknew what would happen if Kurt and Tina found out the truth about me.”

He knelt at her feet, drying her with an impersonal touch that had her responding in far too personal a way. “You’d be rejected, just as you’ve been rejected so many times before. ”

She shrugged, admitting, “I’m sort of used to it.”

“Yeah, Iknow. That’s what kills me.”

“Don’t let it bother you. It doesn’t bother me. Not anymore.”

“I shouldn’t ask. But I will.” He rocked back on his heels and stared up at her, his face set in grim lines. “Why doesn’t it bother you anymore?”

She spoke slowly, as though to a backward child. “Because I can’t feel.” Sheesh. Didn’t he get it? “When you can’t feel, it doesn’t hurt.”

For some reason that made him swear. When he’d run out of invectives, he planted a hand low on her back and ushered her from the bathroom. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink.”

“Several, I think.”

“Hmm. And something to eat.”

Ten minutes later, she was curled up on the floor in front of a fire, dining on a selection of imported cheese and crackers while sipping the smoothest single-malt whiskey she’d ever tasted.

Sev lounged beside her, atowel still knotted at his waist. She woke to her surroundings sufficiently to admire the miles of toned muscle rising above the soft white fleece .

Lord help her, but he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

He hadn’t bothered to brush his hair, simply slicked it back from his face so it clung damply to the back of his neck in heavy, dark waves.

His features reminded her somewhat of Primo, with the same rugged handsomeness and noble bearing.

And, of course, the same stunning eye color.

But the rest... Oh, my. The rest was pure Severo Dante.