‘I like it very much. How could anyone not like such a place? It’s as close to paradise as I can think of!’
It threw Fabian for a minute, the sheer pleasure that her ready, artless smile conveyed. Of course her affirmation was somewhat at odds with his own feelings about the place he’d grown up in—the place that his father had turned into one of the most enviable houses in Italy and been so fiercely possessive of. So much so that he had actively resented passing it on to his son—but Laura did not know that.
‘Then it would not be in the realms of impossibility to imagine yourself living here?’
‘Are you offering me a permanent position working for you?’
The idea aroused mixed feelings in Laura, although the most prevalent one that she held deep inside her heart was elation. She’d so wanted to write a new, positive chapter to her life, and maybe this was the chance she’d been praying for? Fabian’s touch still lingered at the side of her mouth, where he’d wiped away the whipped cream Maria’s cake had left behind, and an awareness had slowly but surely taken root inside her that she more than liked this man. And that was where her doubts crept in about working for him …
‘No. That is not what I am offering you at all!’
His reply was surprisingly terse. Crushing disappointment poured ice water over the joy she’d felt.
‘I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to assume—’
‘There is no need to apologise. Let me not waste any more time getting to the point. I am suggesting a proposition that I would very much like you to give your serious consideration.’ He drew his hand across the black open-necked shirt he wore, briefly distracting her. ‘You asked me last night whether I wanted children. The answer is yes … of course. I need an heir, just like any other man in my position.’
Rubbing the furrow between his brows, he sighed as if he carried the cares of the world on his shoulders.
‘Perhaps now would be an appropriate time to tell you that I was also married when I was very young—to a girl I discovered after I had wed her did not confine her favours to her husband alone. Her behaviour brought shame on me, and made me realise that I had let my lust for her blind me to other less than desirable qualities of hers. Such a woman was not fit to be a mother, in my opinion, and I had no choice but to divorce her. Since then I have been too preoccupied with work and running this estate to enter into another serious relationship. But in order to have the heir that I wish for I obviously need a wife too. What I am proposing, Laura, is that you enter into a strictly business arrangement with me to achieve both those ends. In return you will lead a comfortable, prosperous life as the mistress of the Villa de Rosa and the mother of my child. You need not ever work again, if you do not wish to—although of course I will honour whatever decision you make in that area, as long as they reasonably fit in with my own.
‘You do not have to answer me straight away … you will no doubt wish to take the proper time to think things over before telling me what you have decided. I realise we have only known each other for just a short time, but in that time you have made quite an impression on me. I have learned that you are hard-working and talented, and clearly not motivated by money or fame. You have a quiet, relaxing presence and my staff—especially Maria—are already clearly fond of you. Add to that your obvious regard for children, and Carmela’s assurance that you are completely reliable … all these things together are enough to convince me that you and I would work very well together as a couple and make a success of such a marriage.’
It was as though a cyclone had swept through the room and left her stunned and dazed. It had appeared out of nowhere without warning … After such a shocking visit, the room and herself would never be the same again. In contrast, Fabian radiated extreme calm—the absolute antithesis of her own wild tumult.
‘I can hardly take it in … Are you being serious?’
The plastic wallet of papers slid out of her grip and onto her lap. She grabbed it just in time before it fell onto the floor.
‘Do you think I am making a joke?’ He scowled. ‘I know my proposition may come as something of a surprise, even a shock, but trust me … I do not come to such decisions lightly or without giving them the proper consideration and thought.’
‘But if you are in earnest about such a proposal … why pick me?’
The tanned skin between Fabian’s golden brows tightened perceptibly. ‘I have just told you why.’
‘Have you? All I heard was a list of my supposed attributes, as though I was some useful household object you were thinking of acquiring! You haven’t begun to explain your reasons as to why you would want such a strange arrangement!’
‘It may seem strange to you, but it is entirely practical in my view. I have told you that I want a family, like any other man in my position, but what I do not want or need is emotional entanglement. I have no illusions about love affairs … none at all! And something as important as marriage should be entered into with a clear head, in my view. Letting emotions dictate your future life with someone, when those very same emotions are merely transient states, only ensures that the outcome will probably be the divorce court! That is why I have proposed what I have proposed.’
Laura shivered. ‘Transient states? You don’t believe that two people can fall in love? That that love might last a lifetime?’
‘That is just a foolish hope perpetuated by dreamers. I do not mean to distress you, Laura, but look at your own situation.’
‘Just because things turned out the way they did with Mark, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have hopes once upon a time that we would have a marriage that lasted the test of time!’
‘That is just what I mean!’
Her face fell.
‘You were still in love with him at the end? Despite his ill treatment of you?’
‘No, I wasn’t in love with him … But that doesn’t mean I’d stopped caring about him! My feelings were confused … Mostly I felt pity for the tormented, disappointed man he’d become … for the reasons he’d let drink get such a hold on him. But that wasn’t my point!’
Those wide shoulders of his lifted in a shrug. ‘Be honest with yourself … Under the circumstances, it was not very likely that your marriage would have lasted the test of time. And I am a pragmatist … a realist about life. In my situation I have to be.’
‘And does your pragmatism extend to the bedroom? Because presumably you have realised that having a child together would involve some kind of intimacy? Or am I supposed to visit a clinic and be impregnated from a sample in a test tube?’
His answering expletive was short and sharp. ‘Do not insult me! Of course I know what is required, and I do not foresee any difficulty in that area of our marriage. We are young and healthy, and when we are alone together nature will no doubt take its course.’
‘Well …’ Staring at him as though seeing him for the first time, and hardly able to contain the contradiction of feelings and emotions that coursed through her, Laura rose slowly to her feet. ‘You seem to have it all sorted out nicely. I have a question for you, Fabian … Did you think of asking me to enter into this marriage with you because you think a man couldn’t fall in love with a woman
