Page 57 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

‘Not physically. He had other ways of hurting people.’ Though the last time she’d seen him, he’d been so apoplectic with rage she’d half-expected physical assault. ‘My mother ran a stable. One day I badly disappointed my father.’ It was something she’d done often, not getting the right marks in school, not making friends with the right people, not being nice enough to his slimy friends. ‘The next day when she went there, she discovered her horses gone. They’d been packed up in the night to be sold without her knowledge. She’d bred some of them herself.’ It had almost broken her heart, and Charlotte had been distraught with guilt.

Alessio muttered something in Italian that sounded like a curse. ‘He controlled you through your mother?’

‘And vice versa. My mother put up with a lot for my sake.’ Too much. ‘Then, suddenly she died. One day she was fine, and the next she had an aneurysm and died instantly.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He moved closer, putting his arm around her, and Charlotte leaned in. ‘That must have been appalling.’

She nodded. ‘I still miss her.’

After a few moments he said, ‘Without your mother, there was no one to protect you.’

Charlotte shook her head. ‘I was seventeen. I protected myself.’ She sat straighter. ‘That was the year he introduced me to the man he wanted me to marry. A man with the right pedigree and business connections that would help him. I was supposed to be especially nice to him, but the guy was like my father. He thought other people existed for his convenience. Including me.’

Alessio’s arm tightened. ‘He must have got a shock when he realised you wouldn’t stand for that.’

She lifted her head, noting the glint in his eyes and the grim set of his jaw. He looked angry. On her behalf.

Her throat closed. At seventeen she’d been out of her depth and terrified when her would-be fiancé tried to force her into sex.

What wouldn’t she have given for Alessio by her side then? But she’d managed alone.

Charlotte stifled the realisation she didn’t want to manage alone any longer. That knowledge threw her, making her blurt out more than she’d intended.

‘It wasn’t pleasant, but I managed. I ended up with a badly torn dress and bruises to my wrists, but he needed to have his nose reset. Needless to say, the business deal didn’t go through.’ She paused. ‘That’s why I never dated. I...’

‘You don’t need to explain, Charlotte.’ He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles that softened every tense muscle. ‘I’m sorry you had to defend yourself in that way. I’m sorry your own father caused so much pain.’

He paused, his expression full of an emotion she couldn’t read. ‘You are a remarkable woman, a strong and valiant woman. One I’m proud to know.’

Strong? She’d always tried to be. But now her feelings for Alessio had grown far deeper than sexual attraction.

Looking into his eyes, she feared she might not be strong enough to cope with leaving him.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHARLOTTEWALKEDDOWNthe cobbled street, barely taking in her picturesque surroundings. Not because she’d grown too accustomed to the quaint lakeside town, but because her world had just slipped off its axis.

She blinked against the bright sunlight, pausing outside a shop that sold beautifully wrapped nougat and boxes of almond biscotti. In the window she saw her reflection. Wearing a blue summer dress and with her hair down, she looked like any carefree tourist.

Except she was anything but carefree.

Days ago she’d recognised her feelings for Alessio had deepened into love. That had scared and thrilled her, for she’d had no expectation of and precious little experience of love. And while Alessio was clearly capable of deep love and loyalty, she knew she couldn’t take Antonia’s place in his affections.

Alessio had been at pains to ensure Charlotte understood he could offer only sex. She’d gone into the affair with her eyes open.

Except he’d unwittingly given her far more than sex. His passion, respect, tenderness, even the challenges he set her, had given her something unexpected. A belief in her own value. Confirmation of what she’d told herself for years but never completely believed. She’d spent too long listening to her father’s putdowns, then feeling cheapened by the appalling situation that last year at home.

Alessio made her feel strong, proud and sexy. A woman who had the right to demand whatever she wanted from the world, or a lover.

Charlotte drew a shuddery breath as tingles of excitement and anxiety rippled through her.

There was only one lover she wanted, and he was already spoken for.

He was in love with his dead wife.

No matter what she wanted from him, there could be no future with Alessio. Or could there?

She turned and started walking. Her boat to the island was due to leave soon.

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