you’d fall in love with each other over time.’
‘I am not going to fall in love with Edoardo,’ Bella said.
‘You’d be the icing on the cake for a man like him,’ Claudia continued. ‘It would make his rags-to-riches tale complete, wouldn’t it? The well-born trophy bride to produce some blue-blooded heirs to dilute the bad blood flowing in his veins.’
Bella felt a strange tingle deep in the pit of her belly when she thought of her body swelling with Edoardo’s child. She put a shaky hand over her abdomen, trying to quell the sensation. ‘Mum, I have to go,’ she said. ‘I’ll send you some money as soon as I can. I’m … in the middle of something right now.’
‘I suppose you’ll have to ask Edoardo for permission,’ Claudia said sourly. ‘Don’t let him come between us, Bella. I’m your mother. Don’t ever forget that.’
‘I won’t,’ Bella said, thinking of the day, all those years ago, when her mother had left with her lover without even bothering to wave goodbye.
Edoardo found Bella almost buried in a ditch fifty metres from the front gate to the manor. She wound down the window as he stepped off the tractor. ‘If you’re going to say I told you so, then please don’t waste your breath,’ she said.
‘You don’t do things by halves, do you?’ he asked.
‘Can you get me out?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Stay in the car and keep the wheels straight while I tow you out.’
She sat and glowered at him from behind the steering wheel as he hitched the towrope to the bumper bar. He towed the car out, and once it was out of the ditch, he got her to join him on the tractor for the journey back to the house. ‘Are you warm enough?’ he asked as he made room for her beside him on the seat. ‘You can have my jacket.’
‘I’m f-fine,’ she said through chattering teeth.
He shrugged himself out of his jacket and wrapped it around her slim shoulders. ‘You don’t have to fight me just for the heck of it, Bella,’ he said.
She bit her lip and looked away. ‘It’s a habit, I guess.’
‘Habits can be broken.’
Edoardo drove the tractor with the car towed behind all the way back to the manor. The snow kept falling but even more heavily now. It cloaked everything as far as the eye could see in a thick white blanket.
The air was tight with cold.
Every breath he or Bella exhaled came out in a foggy mist in front of their faces. He glanced at her and saw her huddled inside his coat, her hands gripping the edges together across her chest. She looked small, defenceless and vulnerable. ‘Hey,’ he said gently, bumping her shoulder with his.
She blinked and looked at him. ‘Sorry, did you say something?’
‘Penny for them.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Your thoughts,’ he said.
‘Oh …’
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘Nothing.’ She looked away again and huddled further into his jacket.
Edoardo brought the tractor to a stop and helped her down. She hesitated before she placed her hand in his. ‘You’re freezing,’ he said, keeping her hand within the shelter of his.
‘I forgot to bring my gloves,’ she said.
He released her hand. ‘Go inside,’ he said. ‘I’ll sort your car out. Go get warm. I’ll be in in a minute.’
‘Edoardo?’
He straightened from where he was untying the tow-rope from the bumper bar and looked at her. ‘Yes?’
She chewed at her lower lip for a moment. ‘I need some extra money,’ she said. ‘Would you be able to transfer five thousand into my account?’
He frowned. ‘You don’t have a gambling problem, do you?’
Her eyes widened in affront. ‘Of course not!’
‘What do you want it for?’
Her expression became haughty. ‘I don’t see why I have to tell you what I spend my money on,’ she said.
‘You do while I’m still in control of it,’ he said.
‘My mother thinks you’re skimming off the profits to fund your own nest egg,’ she said with a hard little look.
‘And what do you think, Bella?’ he asked. ‘Do you think I’d stoop so low as to betray the trust your father placed in me?’
She turned to go to the house. ‘I need the money as soon as possible.’
‘For your mother, I presume?’
Her back stiffened, and after a tiny pause she turned back around to face him. ‘If it was your mother, what would you do?’ she asked.
‘You’re not helping her by propping her up all the time,’ he said. ‘She’s become dependent on you. You’ll have to wean her off or she’ll eventually drain you dry. It’s one of the reasons your father orchestrated things the way he did. He knew you would be too soft and generous. At least I can say no when it needs to be said.’
‘Did she ask you for money when she came the other day?’
‘Amongst other things.’
Her brows moved together. ‘What other things?’
‘I’m not going to badmouth your mother to you,’ he said. ‘Suffice to say I’m not her favourite person in the world.’
She nibbled at her lower lip. ‘I’m sorry if she offended you.’
‘I’ve got a thick skin,’ he said. ‘Now, go inside before yours is frozen solid.’
She met his gaze again. ‘I didn’t mean what I said earlier, you know. I think you’re one of the most decent men I’ve ever met.’
‘The cold has got to you, hasn’t it?’ Edoardo said with a teasing half-smile.
Her gaze fell away from his and he rolled up the tow-rope as he watched her walk towards the manor, her slim figure still encased in his jacket. It was so big on her it almost came to her knees. She looked like a child who had been playing in the dress-up box. He felt a funny tug inside his chest, as if a tiny stitch was being pulled against his heart.
Once the door had closed behind her, he let out a breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding. ‘Don’t even go there,’ he muttered under his breath and strode towards the barn.
