see again, a man who believed she meant his aunt financial harm. ‘Despite what you say, you mustn’t have investigated very well, Luchino, because Maria is in no financial danger from me.’
‘On the contrary, the purchase of your stock almost bankrupted her.’ Luchino raked a hand through his thick, dark hair.
Glossy, silky hair with a tendency to wave…
Bella pulled herself up straighter and gave Luc the benefit of her coldest stare. It was a lot of money, but she had needed a strong capital injection to enable her to buy the best fabrics and accoutrements to create more gowns, and her designs justified the cost.
It might take a few years, but Maria would get back her investment, and much more, eventually. ‘Your aunt is very wealthy, Luchino. She owns a penthouse apartment in the best part of the city, drives the latest-model luxury car and goes on overseas buying trips every other week.
‘Maria didn’t hesitate to agree to my terms, and she can afford to carry things along until my gowns start to really pay for her.’ Bella’s employer walked and talked affluence and until this moment Bella had seen no reason to doubt her.
Luchino shook his head. ‘Maria has spent beyond her means for years. The apartment is rented, the car is a lease and those buying trips have put her heavily into debt.’ His gaze darkened as he looked around the store. ‘She was in no position to buy into a speculative venture like yours.’
‘My gowns will sell. Maria has made a good investment, and I intend to prove that.’ Yet even as Bella said it, her stomach knotted.
She hadn’t asked Maria’s financial status. She had assumed it on the evidence in front of her. Now doubt formed and Bella experienced that hated feeling of losing control. If Maria really had no money, just a pile of debts…
‘I can’t fail.’ The words were a stark statement, because she simply couldn’t. Failure had ceased to be an option when their parents unforgivably abandoned her, Chrissy and Sophia while her sisters were still in high school. Every struggle since then had underscored that abandonment, and underscored Bella’s condemnation of the man before her because he had mirrored her parents’ actions.
Bella had striven to succeed, and she had done it. For her sisters, and to assure herself they would all be OK, and now she had to do it to assure herself she was OK. ‘As I build a client base, more gowns will sell until eventually Maria ends up making a strong profit from her investment.’
But none of that would work if Maria went bankrupt in the meantime.
As the weight of concern pressed down on her, Bella wanted nothing more than to assure herself she could indeed go forward, successfully, as she intended. ‘I’ll ring Maria. Find out where things really stand.’
Maria could allay Bella’s fears, Bella could send Luchino away. All would be well again, except for Luchino’s determination to be part of Maria’s life, which would bring him into contact with Bella’s life.
‘I can’t allow you to phone my aunt. I don’t want her to know that I bought—that I investigated her.’ He paused and cleared his throat, then said in a grudging tone, ‘I want a chance to get to know her without business matters getting in the way.’
Again that reference to a hunger for family. It confused Bella, and all of a sudden she wanted the comfort of her family, of hearing her sisters’ voices. Her hand reached for her bag beneath the counter, for the cellphone within. She could get either of them with a single press of a button. Then she stopped herself.
Later she could talk to Chrissy and Soph. Right now, if she tried to talk to either of them, she would say too much. Give too much away.
They knew about that ill-fated trip to Milan, but Bella had downplayed its impact on her, left out several vital bits, had not revealed the near-devastation of that whirlwind week when she offered her heart and Luchino seemed about to take it before she discovered the truth about him. She’d been nineteen and so gullible.
‘Prevarication is a waste of time, Arabella. The agreement is stacked in your favour. Maria is in financial danger because you pushed for the purchase of your gowns. Whether you knew her financial situation or not, your demands were unacceptable and I intend to see that you make up for your actions. These are the facts. Now, I’ll give you two choices to repair the damage.’
The planes of his face sharpened as he stared at her. ‘The first choice is you pay back every cent she gave to you, and you walk away.’
He had to be kidding. Bella almost laughed, but the expression on his face stopped her. Utter determination. ‘This isn’t just about money, Luchino. Maria has agreed to help me launch my label, my name. If I took out a loan to buy the gowns back, I wouldn’t be able to afford to re-establish myself elsewhere.’
Bella’s feeling of panic deepened. ‘I don’t have the money any more. I invested it in fabrics and notions for new gowns.’
‘Then I guess that leaves choice number two.’ He took a step towards her and she backed just slightly until she could sense the presence of the service counter behind her.
‘Oh? And what is that?’ Bella tried not to think about his closeness, tried not to feel threatened and confused by him.
Luchino fired his answer at her. ‘It’s quite simple, Arabella. You see to it that every gown my aunt bought from you sells quickly and for a good price.’
‘Sure. I’ll just make that happen.’ She would look up a fairy godmother in the yellow pages and get her to wave her magic wand. ‘Speed isn’t the key ingredient in my work plan. Maria knew that. It’s why we agreed on five years.’
What if he’s right? What if Maria goes bankrupt?
‘Five years is no longer an option. You must go out and attract buyers, attend the best functions, rub shoulders with the most élite of the fashion set, anything it takes to get their interest and sell every last one of those gowns, and sell them fast.’
What did the man want? I’m just a girl from the suburbs, Luchino. I don’t have those kinds of friends. She lifted her chin to a proud angle. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have entrée to that crowd.’
‘At my side, those doors will open to you.’ His grim smile made apprehension claw at her insides. ‘You will walk through them, and when you do I will be there. I will stick to you until Maria’s financial losses are recouped, one way or another.’
‘No.’ Close contact with Luchino? Do as he said, dance to his tune? No, no, no! The man must be mad, anyway. Mad about all of it. ‘I don’t even know if you’re telling the truth.’
The locked-up hurt and anger buried in her soul suddenly welled up. ‘After all, hiding the truth is what you do, isn’t it, Luchino? You pretended you had no wife. Tell me, did it hurt to lose her? Or were you simply glad to be rid of her so you could pursue your affairs conscience-free?’
CHAPTER TWO
‘I’M SURPRISED you know about my divorce.’ Luc made the observation as his gaze roved Arabella’s face. He couldn’t seem to take his gaze from her, and the unwelcome resurgence of the old attraction infuriated him.
Bella was as bad as Natalie, out to get what she could by any means available. Bella had proved it in Milan and
