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Chapter Thirty
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Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-one
Rocco Mario leafed frantically through the file Elena had presented him with. Finally he thrust it down on the table. His complexion had taken on an unhealthy grey hue, his shock palpable. ‘Did Andrea Santino put all that stuff together for you?’‘Yes,’ Elena breathed. ‘Please don’t tell me any lies. I need to hear the truth.’‘It looks a lot worse than it is,’ Rocco declared defensively. ‘Let me explain how it happened—’‘It wasn’t something that just happened. Don’t talk as though it was something that you had no control over,’ Elena broke in tautly. ‘You forged my mother’s will so that I was left penniless. That’s what it comes down to!’‘You’re making too much of this,’ the older man argued vehemently. ‘It all started out quite innocently. When you were a baby, I tried to persuade your mother, Isabel, into a business partnership. I hoped that together we could build houses on the estate.’‘Build?’ Elena parroted. ‘But it’s against the law to develop a site that’s been listed as be
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-two
‘Your mother’s solicitor worked in the same practice as I did. He was elderly, overdue for retirement. It was easy to remove papers from his safe,’ the older man admitted. ‘I approached a loan company in London and pretended I owned the estate. Using it as security, I borrowed a large sum of money. I had to have some way of meeting my obligations at home. Remember you and your mother were my dependants then.’Elena frowned, finally grasping the connection, even if she didn’t credit the preceding story. ‘How could you do that to my mother? Was she just one more person to be used and fleeced? Is there anyone you won’t use?’‘When your mother died, there was still an outstanding loan against the estate and I had to cover up the evidence of that. What choice did I have? I may have forged that will but I did it with the best of intentions. I had such wonderful plans.’A ragged laugh fell from her lips. ‘Mum wanted me to have the estate, not you.’‘I gave you a home. I adopted you,’ her fat
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-three
Shock at the revelation that she was, after all, the rightful owner of the estate that had been in her family for generations? Of course that fact would have to be ratified by a court of law before it was officially hers but, even so, it was good news, wasn’t it? Nobody would ever be able to take the estate away from her again and in her hands it would be safe. The plant nursery would belong to her once more. It had made a reasonable income. When she was no longer required to pass over all the profits to her father, she would be able to build up the business and look forward to more comfortable takings in the future.Yet even those rousing prospects failed to comfort her. What she had learned about her only surviving parent had devastated her. Worse still she was looking back and seeing that, although she had chosen to avoid acknowledging it, she had always been a rank outsider in her father’s family circle. She had hovered on the sidelines, eager to please, desperate to make a place
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-four
Elena was only dimly aware of the other man’s shaken apologies and immediate retreat. She was so overjoyed that Andrea had recovered consciousness that she was incapable of appreciating anything else. Her eyes filled with tears of relief. ‘I was scared you were never going to wake up. I’ll ring the bell for the nurse.’‘Not yet.’ Andrea surveyed her, taking in the tousled honey tumble of her hair, her mascara-smudged-and-shadowed eyes and her unflattering pallor. He had never seen her look less beautiful and could not comprehend why, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, she should look so wonderful to him. ‘How long have I been out of it for?’‘Almost eighteen hours.’She was still wearing the same clothes. Most probably, he reflected, she had not even looked in a mirror, for she was not vain. ‘Have you been with me all that time?’‘Yes, of course.’She had not left his side. She had sat up all night. He could not imagine a single woman of his acquaintance caring so little fo
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-five
Elena threw a stick for Violet to fetch as she walked along the beach. Four weeks of perfect relaxation and contentment in Sardinia had put a healthy glow in her cheeks and a spring into her step. She had got her peace of mind back and the silliest things made her smile, she reflected cheerfully.Andrea had shamelessly bribed his way into Violet’s affections with chocolate treats. It had amused her that Andrea, so hopelessly competitive in every way, would not settle for mere tolerance from her pet. Violet now adored Andrea and one of his favourite spots to sleep was below Andrea’s desk. Unfortunately Andrea did not appreciate Violet’s amazingly loud snores.Elena thought about the fact that she adored Andrea just as much as her pet. She was very happy, but occasionally a cold chill would run over her when she considered the inevitable end of the affair. Nothing lasted for ever and she knew it. He was sure to get bored with her. She couldn’t believe that she had what it took to hold h
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-six
Although he was far from sober, there was something in that appeal and the almost clumsy way he was holding her prisoner that melted Elena down deep inside. ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she whispered, tracing one bronzed cheekbone with tender fingers.He made love to her first with blazing power and potency, and then with a piercing sweetness that brought tears of gladness to her eyes in the aftermath.‘Even when you’re drunk, you’re amazing,’ she muttered gently, wishing she knew what was wrong with him—because there was very definitely something wrong.‘I’m not drunk,’ Andrea groaned, and even though it was a very warm night he kept hold of her until he slid into a restless sleep.Before dawn, she wakened to see him emerging from the bathroom towelling dry his hair and she switched on the lights to study him with troubled blue eyes. ‘Can’t you sleep?’His lean, darkly handsome face tightened. ‘I have something to tell you,’ he breathed abruptly. ‘I’ve done some stuff you know nothing a
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-seven
‘My mother was Carmelo Zanetti’s daughter and my father was the son of another crime family.’It took Elena thirty seconds to work out what he was telling her and if she was aghast, it was not for the reasons he had expected. ‘My word, that old man who died this week was your grandfather and yet you didn’t trust me enough to tell me that. No wonder you were upset last night!’‘Per amor di Dio! I wasn’t upset!’ Andrea launched at her in an immediate denial. ‘He was an evil man and I didn’t know him—we met only once when he was already dying.’Elena saw that being upset fell into the same category as being drunk and in shock in Andrea’s uncompromisingly tough expectations of himself. If he said it wasn’t happening, he could avoid having to acknowledge that he had emotions. She could only imagine how disturbing he must have found that meeting with his grandfather. She would have put her arms round him if she hadn’t known that such obvious sympathy would infuriate him.‘You may have despi
Ninety Days To Be His Chapter Thirty-eight
Elena was perplexed by that statement, for it came at her from an unexpected angle. ‘Sorry, what are you saying?’‘Haven’t you seen today’s big story? Listened to the news? Don’t you realise that your boyfriend is Don Carmelo Zanetti’s grandson?’‘Yes, but … this Fiorella lady you mentioned—’‘She was Zanetti’s daughter, but she wasn’t calling herself Santino when I knew her. I only saw Andrea a couple of times when he was a toddler. Fiorella always left him with a babysitter,’ her father informed her. ‘Remember me saying that Andrea put me in mind of someone that day he got hit by the car?’‘Yes.’ Elena was finding it hard to catch her breath and her legs were feeling all wonky. She backed down into the nearest chair. A past connection that close between her family and Andrea’s? How could that be possible?‘He’s got his mother’s eyes. Don’t you see what this means?’Her brain felt as if it were drowning in sludge. ‘What a very small world we live in?’‘You can’t be that naïve. Obviou
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