Page 4 of Bought For The Marriage Bed

Marc knew his father’s days were numbered. How much more precious would they be if he could hold his only grandchild in his arms?

‘She might refuse to even see me, you know,’ Marc warned, thinking again of that vituperative letter his father had sent. ‘Have you considered that possibility?’

‘Do whatever you have to do to make her see reason,’ Vito instructed. ‘And I mean anything. This is simply a business arrangement. Women like Nadia Selbourne expect nothing more and nothing less.’

A business arrangement.

What sort of woman was this, Marc thought, who would bargain with the life of a small child?

He put the phone down a few minutes later and turned once more to the sweeping view outside. His dark eyes narrowed against the angle of the sun as he considered what he’d just agreed to do.

He was going to visit the one person he hated more than any other in the world—the woman he believed responsible for his brother’s untimely death.

CHAPTER TWO

NINA had not long fed and settled Georgia on Monday morning when the doorbell rang. Giving the small neat room a quick glance, she made her way across the threadbare carpet, wondering what it was that her elderly neighbour wanted now. Ellice Tippen had already borrowed a carton of milk and half a packet of plain biscuits and it wasn’t even lunch time.

She opened the door as she plastered a welcoming smile on her face but it instantly faded as her gaze shifted a long way upwards to meet a pair of dark, almost black, eyes.

‘Miss Selbourne?’

‘I…yes,’ she answered, unconsciously putting a hand up to her throat.

The tall figure standing before her was even more arresting in the flesh than the grainy newspaper photo had portrayed. He was taller than average, well over six feet, his shoulders broad and his overall stance nothing short of commanding. The hard angle of his lean clean-shaven jaw hinted at a streak of intractability in his personality, and his eyes held no trace of friendliness. His perfectly tailored business suit superbly highlighted his strong lean body, suggesting he was a man used to a great deal of punishing physical activity.

‘I am assuming you know who I am.’ His voice was deep and had a hard edge to it as if he wasn’t the type to block his punches.

‘I…er…yes.’

What else could she say? The weekend paper was still open at his photo on the coffee table behind her. Every time she’d walked past she’d told herself to screw it up and throw it out, but somehow she hadn’t. She wasn’t entirely sure why.

‘I understand you have my brother’s child,’ he said into the stiff silence.

‘I…yes, that’s correct.’ A vision of Georgia’s dark bruises flashed into Nina’s mind and her rising panic increased her heart rate to an almost intolerable level. She had to keep him away from her niece!

‘I would like to see her.’

‘I’m afraid she’s sleeping just now, so…’ She let the sentence trail away, hoping he’d take the hint.

He didn’t.

He held her gaze for a lengthy moment and just when she began to close the door he put his foot out to block it.

‘Perhaps you did not hear me, Miss Selbourne.’ His tone hardened even further as his diamond-hard eyes lasered hers. ‘I am here to see my brother’s child and I will not be leaving until I do so.’

Nina knew he meant every hard-bitten word and, stepping back from the door, sent him a chilling glance. ‘If you wake her I’ll be extremely angry.’ Please stay asleep, Georgia, she silently pleaded as he moved through the doorway, coming to stand right in front of her as the door clicked shut behind him.

He gave her a sweeping up and down look and when his eyes met hers they were full of contempt. ‘Andre told me all about you.’

Nina frowned in confusion. She’d never once met her sister’s lover. Nadia’s affair with him had been brief but explosive, just like all her others.

Surely he didn’t think…

‘He told me you were trouble, but little did I realise how much,’ he continued when she didn’t respond.

She stared at him for a moment, wondering if she should disabuse him of his error in thinking she was her sister, but in the end decided to let him go on, to see what his intentions were with regard to Georgia. After all, what harm could it do? All she needed to do was pretend to be Nadia for a few minutes to tell him that she had changed her mind about the letter that had been sent to his father. Once she had convinced him she had no intention of giving up ‘her’ daughter, hopefully he would go away.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t done this type of thing before. So many times in the past Nina had stepped into Nadia’s place to take the brunt of whatever punishment their dysfunctional mother had dished out. Surely if she’d been able to hoodwink her own mother, Marc Marcello would be an absolute pushover.

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