made a sound at the back of his throat. ‘For God’s sake, Natalie, surely you’re not that shallow?’
She met his gaze levelly. ‘No, but I’m convinced some of your recent lovers have been.’
He gave her a glinting smile. ‘So you’ve been keeping track of me over the years, have you, cara?’ he asked.
‘Not at all,’ she said, looking away again. ‘It is of no interest to me whatsoever who you sleep with. I have no hold over you. We dated. We broke up. That’s it as far as I’m concerned.’
‘We didn’t just date,’ he said. ‘We lived together for five and a half months.’
Natalie picked up her drink, just for something to do with her hands. ‘I only moved in with you because my flatmate’s boyfriend moved in with us and made me feel I was in the way,’ she said. ‘Anyway, five months is not a long time compared to some relationships.’
‘It was a long time for me.’
‘Only because you’ve been playing musical beds since you were a teenager,’ she said.
‘Now who’s talking?’ he asked, with a diamond-hard glitter in his gaze as it clashed with hers.
Natalie wasn’t ashamed of her past, but she wasn’t proud of it either. While not exactly a constant bed-hopper, like some of her peers, she had occasionally used sex as a way to bolster her self-esteem. But the physical sensations had meant nothing to her until she had met Angelo. Not that she had ever told him. While she had been totally open with him physically, emotionally she had always held him slightly distant. She wondered if that was why he had found her so attractive. He was used to women falling head over heels in love with him and telling him so right from the start.
But she had not.
‘Careful, Angelo,’ she said. ‘Your double standards are showing.’
His jaw tensed as he held her look. ‘How long did you date the guy you replaced me with?’ he asked.
‘Not long,’ she said.
‘How long?’
‘Is this really necessary?’ she asked.
‘I want to know.’
‘We went out for a couple of weeks,’ she said.
‘Who broke it off?’
Natalie found his intent look unsettling. ‘I did,’ she said.
‘So who have you dated since?’
‘No one you would know,’ she said. ‘I try to keep my private life out of the papers.’
‘Well done, you,’ he said. ‘I try to, but it’s amazing how people find out stuff.’
‘How do you stand it?’ she asked.
He gave a little shrug. ‘I’m used to it,’ he said. ‘My family’s wealth has always kept us in the spotlight. The only time it cooled off a bit was when I came to study in London. I enjoyed being anonymous—not that it lasted long.’
‘You lied to me.’
‘I didn’t lie to you,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t tell you I came from such a wealthy family. It was important for me to make it on my own. I didn’t want my father’s name opening any doors for me.’
‘You’ve certainly made a name for yourself in your own right,’ Natalie said. ‘You have twice the wealth of your father, or so I’ve heard.’
‘For someone who says they have no interest in what I do or who I see, you certainly know a lot about me,’ he said with a sardonic smile.
She ignored his comment and picked up her glass again, took a sip. ‘What have you told your family about me?’ she asked.
‘A version of the truth,’ he said.
Natalie’s eyes came back to his. ‘The truth about you hating me and wanting revenge?’ she asked with an arch look.
His dark brown eyes gleamed. ‘I could hardly tell my parents I hate you, now, could I?’
‘What did you tell them?’
His eyes kept on holding hers. ‘I told them I had never stopped loving you,’ he said.
She moistened her lips. ‘And they … believed you?’
‘They seemed to,’ he said. ‘Although the real test will be when they see us together. My mother, in particular, is a hard person to fool. You’ll have to be on your toes with her.’
Natalie felt her insides quake at the thought of interacting with his parents and other members of his family. How would she do it? How would she play the role of a happy bride without revealing the truth of how things were between them? How long before someone guessed? How long before it was splashed all over the newspapers?
‘Why do we have to get married?’ she asked. ‘Why couldn’t we just have an … an affair?’
Those unfathomable brown eyes measured hers. ‘Is that what you want?’ he asked. ‘An affair?’
She ran her tongue over her lips again. ‘No more than I want to marry you. I was just making a point,’ she said. ‘It seems a bit over the top to go to all the trouble of getting married when ultimately we know it’s going to end in divorce.’
‘You seem very sure it will end in divorce,’ he said.
Natalie’s heart fluttered like fast moving wings against her breastbone. ‘You can’t want to be tied to me indefinitely?’
His eyes moved over her leisurely. ‘Who knows? You might like being married to me,’ he said. ‘There will be numerous benefits to wearing my ring and bearing my name.’
She sat up like a puppet suddenly jerked backwards. ‘I don’t want your name,’ she said. ‘I’m perfectly happy with my own.’
A steely glint came into his eyes. ‘You will take my name,’ he said. ‘And you will be proud of it.’
She glowered at him, her whole body trembling with anger. ‘I will not change my name.’
Angelo’s eyes warred with hers. ‘You will do what I tell you to do,’ he said, his voice low but no less forceful.
Natalie stood up so abruptly her chair knocked against the one behind it. Every eye turned to look at her but she was beyond caring. She tossed her napkin down on the table and scooped her purse up with the other.
‘Find yourself another wife,’ she said, and stormed out.
A camera went off in her face as soon as she stepped outside the restaurant.
‘Miss Armitage?’ A journalist pushed a microphone close. ‘Can we have an exclusive on your current
