ring,’ he said. ‘Does that mean the wedding’s off?’
‘I …’
Angelo’s arm came around her protectively and he gently led her away from the throng. ‘Please give my fiancée some space,’ he said.
‘Mr Bellandini, do you have a comment to make on your engagement to Miss Armitage?’ the first journalist asked.
Angelo’s arm tightened around her waist a fraction. ‘The wedding is going ahead as planned,’ he said. ‘I have an engagement ring already picked out for Natalie. I am giving it to her tonight when we get home. Now, please leave us to celebrate our engagement in privacy.’
Natalie was ushered to Angelo’s car without further intrusion from the press. She sat back in her seat, her fingers white-knuckled around her purse.
‘Don’t ever do that again,’ Angelo said as he fired the engine.
She threw him a cutting glance. ‘I am not going to be ordered around by you.’
His hands gripped the steering wheel as tightly as she was clutching her purse. His knuckles looked as if they were going to burst through the skin.
‘I will not tolerate you flouncing out on me like a spoilt child,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Do you have no sense of propriety? You do realise that little scene will be all over the papers tomorrow? What were you thinking?’
Natalie gave her head a toss. ‘I’m not going to be bullied into changing my name.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘It’s obviously a sore point with you. I’m prepared to compromise. I should’ve realised how important it was to you. It’s your trademark.’ He paused for a beat. ‘I’m sorry.’
She slowly loosened her grip on her purse. ‘Are the press always that intrusive?’ she asked.
He let out a breath in a sigh. ‘I hardly notice it any more,’ he said. ‘But, yes, they are. It won’t last for ever. They’ll lose interest once we’re married.’
Natalie frowned as she looked at him. ‘I hope people don’t think I’m marrying you for your money.’
His lips lifted in the slightest of smiles. ‘No, cara, they’ll think it’s my body you are after.’
She turned away to stare at the passing scenery, her lower body flickering with a pulse she had thought long ago quelled. ‘I’m not going to sleep with you, Angelo,’ she said.
‘Are you saying that to convince me or yourself?’ he asked.
Natalie couldn’t have answered either way, so she changed the subject. ‘Have you really got an engagement ring?’ she asked.
‘I have.’
‘Do you not think I might have liked to choose it for myself?’
He threw her an exasperated look. ‘In my family it’s traditional for the man to choose the engagement ring,’ he said.
She toyed with the catch on her purse for a moment or two. ‘It’s not the same one you bought five years ago, is it?’ she asked.
‘No,’ he said.
She sneaked a glance at him but his expression was inscrutable. ‘Did you give it to someone else?’ she asked. ‘As a present or something?’
He brought the car to a standstill outside her house before he answered. ‘I donated it to a charity for their silent auction,’ he said. ‘There’s some lucky girl out there now wearing a ring that cost more than most people’s houses.’
Natalie chewed at the inside of her mouth. ‘I never asked you to spend that amount of money on me.’
His swung his gaze to hers. ‘No, you didn’t, did you?’ he said. ‘But then it wasn’t money you wanted from me, was it?’
She couldn’t hold his look. ‘I’ve seen what money can do to people,’ she said. ‘It changes them, and not always for the good.’
She felt his gaze studying her for endless seconds. ‘What have you told your parents about us?’ he asked.
She pressed her lips together. ‘Not much.’
‘How much?’
She looked at him again. ‘It was my mother’s idea for me to come and see you,’ she said. ‘I only did it for her sake.’
‘And Lachlan’s, presumably?’
Her eyes fell away from his. ‘Yes …’
The silence stretched interminably.
‘Are you going to ask me in?’ he asked.
She gave him a pert look. ‘Are you going to come in even if I don’t?’
He brushed an idle finger down the curve of her cheek, his eyes focussed on her mouth, his lips curved upwards in a half-smile. ‘If you don’t want me then all you have to do is say so.’
I do want you.
The words were like drumbeats inside her head.
I want you. I want you. I want you.
She locked out that traitorous voice and pasted an indifferent look on her face. ‘Are you staying in town overnight?’ she asked.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I was hoping you’d offer me a bed for the night.’
Natalie felt her heart give a hard, sharp kick. ‘I don’t think that’s such a good idea.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because … Because …’
‘The press will think it odd if I don’t stay with you,’ he said, before she could think of an excuse. ‘I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but a car followed us back here. It’s parked behind the red car.’
She checked in the side mirror. There was a man sitting behind the wheel with a camera’s telephoto lens trained in their direction. Panic gripped her by the throat. Was this how it was going to be? Would she be hounded like a terrified fox with nowhere to hide?
Angelo opened his door and came around to where she was sitting, frozen in dread.
‘He’ll move on once we’re inside,’ he said. ‘Just try to act naturally.’
Natalie got out of the car and allowed him to take her hand. She felt the strong grip of his fingers as they curled around hers. It was the same feeling she’d had when he had put his arm around her waist earlier.
She felt protected.
‘Give me your keys,’ he said.
She handed them over. ‘It’s the big brass one,’ she said.
