The Italian Single Dad

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And with thanks to Susan, Pazit, and Lina.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Arabella Gable took her seat behind two of the other models, and waited for the plane to take off. As Italy grew smaller beneath them, she finally let out a breath.

Her second trip to the country was over, the payment for the fashion shoot safe in her bank account where she and her sisters could benefit from it. From now on she would work only within Australia. She certainly had no desire to come back to Italy again. The country was beautiful, but the reminders of Luchino, of the mistake she had made, of how he’d preyed on her and hidden things from her, were too strong, even after almost a year.

A stewardess offered in-flight headphones to those who wanted to listen to music. Bella took a pair and nodded her thanks.

‘I can’t believe you saw him, Karen.’ In the seat in front of her, one of the models spoke. ‘I’m so jealous. Apparently he travels all over Europe now. What are the odds of you stumbling across him in Naples?’ The older model, Lareen, had a deep, carrying voice.

Bella wasn’t interested. She stared out of the window and wished herself home with her sisters in their cosy flat in Melbourne. Were they both OK? Had the money and provisions really lasted, or had they said so when she phoned simply so she wouldn’t worry?

‘Yes, I saw “Mr Diamonds” himself! Not the older brother. Who’d want him? But Luc Montichelli…Oh, yes.’ Karen giggled. ‘He could show me his assets any time.’

‘Mr Diamonds’? Luc Montichelli?

Bella’s breath stopped in her throat. Her worry over her sisters suspended for a moment. Luchino had been in Naples? Right there where she might have bumped into him?

She had felt safe from the chance of seeing him. Had believed he would be in Milan, where he made his home, otherwise she wouldn’t have come, would have found some other way to tide the finances over until her new contract started next month. Bella’s heart raced and a fresh well of hurt and betrayal rose up. She hated that just the mention of his name could do that to her.

I’m over him. It doesn’t hurt any more. It doesn’t!

Oh, but dear lord. She could have stumbled right into Luchino and his wife and child. What if they’d been travelling together, on holiday, or lived in Naples now or something?

Thank God she hadn’t seen them. The models continued to talk about Luchino, his looks, how much money he had. Bella didn’t want to know what Luchino did, or where he was, or how he looked or sounded or anything else.

Luchino was a blot on her life, a horrible, hurtful error she never wanted to repeat. She would never be gullible like that with a man again. Bella fumbled to pull the earphones from their packaging so she could drown the voices out. The plastic covering crackled between her fingers, but refused to open.

Lareen spoke again. ‘I don’t know if I’d want to tangle with him, though.’

‘Why not?’ Karen responded with curiosity to the hint of warning in the other model’s tone.

‘Because I think he might be too ruthless to handle, honey.’ Lareen went on. ‘I heard he divorced his wife and got custody of his kid, then stuck the kid away in a house in a remote village with only a nanny to watch over her and simply never goes near them. You have to admit, that’s cold-blooded.’

‘Really?’ Karen gasped. ‘When did the divorce happen?’

‘I’m not sure, but they’ve been apart at least a few months.’ Lareen paused for a moment. ‘He doesn’t look like the same person now. That’s what struck me when I saw him. He’s got this anger in his eyes…’

Bella sat completely still. Her heart raced. She could barely believe what she’d heard. It shocked her enough that Luc’s marriage had ended, although maybe she should have expected it. After all, he hadn’t exactly been faithful. But to snatch his child from her mother’s arms, and then abandon that child was unforgivable. That wrenched at Bella’s heart, because she knew just how much it hurt.

Unaware of Bella’s shock behind her, Lareen went on. ‘He must have taken the baby just to punish his wife or something. Divorces can be ugly.’

‘Are you sure this is true, Lareen?’ Karen sounded uncertain, but hungry for more information.

Bella clenched her hands in her lap as she wrestled with her feelings. She still felt raw inside from her parents’ desertion of her and her sisters two years ago. Despite Luchino’s deceit last year in Milan when he blatantly pursued her and hid his married state from her, a part of Bella didn’t want to believe he would abandon his child.

She didn’t want to believe anyone would do that. Some days she still struggled to accept it had happened to her and her sisters. Until she went back to their apartment and looked in the cupboards to check if they had enough food to last them, enough money in the rent jar, and reality smacked her in the face all over again.

Bella tried to protect her sisters from the worst of the worries, but they weren’t stupid. They knew, and knowing…hurt them, undermined Bella’s efforts to ensure they felt safe and guarded and comfortable.

A wave of protective anger washed through Bella. And that anger, which had focused solely on her parents for two years, now began to turn towards Luchino as well. He had pursued Bella when he had a wife and baby. Bella had fallen most of the way in love, thought it was the real thing. It hurt so much when his wife turned up and Bella realised Luc had simply been toying with her.

Bella learned from that, built walls to protect her heart. But even with all of that, she hadn’t imagined Luc could do such a thing as abandon his child.

‘It’s true.’ Lareen’s voice deepened even further as she seemed to tap into Bella’s very thoughts. ‘My cousin, the one who went through Europe on a work visa a while back, got a job in that same village. She went out with the grocery delivery guy, and he told her everything.’

Lareen’s voice lowered even more. ‘The nanny had her friend at the house one day when the guy delivered the groceries. She told her friend Luc just stayed away. He paid the bills, but he wanted nothing to do with the child.’

They went on to talk about how it might feel to be abandoned.

As though they would know anything about it!

Hands shaking, Bella finally got the headphones free of their wrapping, put them over her ears, and plugged into the airline music.

But she didn’t hear it. She only heard the rising tide of her disgust and condemnation of a man she had thought she couldn’t despise any more.

At least the baby had someone’s care. Bella consoled herself with that, but she would never forget what she had learned today.

Not ever.

CHAPTER ONE

HE STALKED into Melbourne’s Maria’s at a minute before closing time on a warm, still summer afternoon, a tall Mediterranean man among the laden shelves of fine Egyptian handbags, Parisian scarves and the feathered and veiled confections that earned the name ‘hat’ within Australia’s haute couture. Racks of designer gowns fluttered in his wake.

‘Good afternoon and welcome to Maria’s. May I help you with anything in particular?’ The words fell from Arabella Gable’s lips, polite, professional. She guarded herself too well to allow any hint of impatience or weariness at the end of a busy day to colour her words.

The man turned his head and Bella suppressed a gasp as a flood of memories stripped time away. Six years ago this man had held her heart in his hands.

Bella’s throat tightened as feelings rushed through her. Fury, hurt, disillusionment. Yet as she looked at him, the barriers around her heart shook. It must be from her anger.

And from shock. You didn’t expect to ever see him again.

Why was he here? Her mind sought answers, but didn’t find them.

‘When I explain matters, you’ll have little choice but to help me.’ The rich, smooth accent of his Italian heritage shivered over her, so familiar, once so dear.

Never again.

‘Luchino.’ His name emerged on a whisper of sound. She had believed him out of her life forever. What brought him to Australia, to Melbourne? Here, to Maria’s? Against her will, Bella’s gaze roved across his features, took them in as she had in Milan all those years ago. Dark hair, dark brows, angular chin, chocolate-brown eyes and a mouth made for seduction, all of it packaged in the sculpted aplomb of Armani, pure black.

From the fitted shirt to the dress trousers and leather belt that encased slim hips and long legs, Luchino Montichelli shouted wealth, power and sensuality.

Banked anger lurked in the backs of his eyes.

‘Yes, it’s Luc—one and the same. It’s been a long time, Arabella.’ His gaze moved over her. Lowered lids hooded his expression, but not before Bella saw the leashed awareness in his eyes. ‘The years seem to have favoured you.’

Her heart skipped a beat in reaction to that examination. Not because she reacted in kind! No. But how dared he look at her like that? Her nerves on edge, Bella lifted a slim hand to the knot of blonde hair secured at her nape, then cursed herself for the movement, which might be interpreted as awareness of his interest.

‘They’ve been good to you, too.’ She made the grudging admission. ‘You look…well.’

Appealing, dangerous, strong and determined and somehow even harder, tougher than the Luc she had known. But then, he’d made some tough moves, hadn’t he? Conscienceless ones. Like taking his child from her mother then ignoring her himself. ‘Why are you here, Luchino? How could I possibly help you with anything?’

Even the sound of his name on her lips battered at a place deep inside her.

‘I never planned to see you again, Arabella.’ Luc’s mouth tightened as he went on. ‘I assure you, I would rather not be here.’

‘You’d rather not see me? I’m afraid I return that sentiment.’ Bella tossed the words at him, yet for a moment she caught a softer expression in his eyes and her heart—that betraying creature—remembered something that had seemed so special, so right, and a soft vulnerability welled up inside her.

Bella stamped down hard on the reaction. Those memories were an illusion! ‘I’m about to close the store so whatever you’re here for…’

Maria would kill her for trying to push a customer out of the place. Bella didn’t doubt that her boss’s Milanese accent would thicken with anger, too. Well, too bad. These were extenuating circumstances, Luchino didn’t appear to be here as a customer, and in any case Maria wasn’t here to say anything. She was at a fashion expo in Queensland.

‘By all means, lock the store.’ A well-shaped hand gestured towards the front door. ‘Better still, give me the key and I’ll do it for you while you put the remainder of the day’s takings into the safe. What I have to say to you is best said in private.’

‘What would you know about closing procedures?’ But his family owned jewellery stores dotted all over Europe and various other parts of the world. Those stores would all follow the same basic closing actions as here.

Luchino had learned his jewellery-design skills in one of the family’s stores, or so he had once said. She pushed the thought aside. His career didn’t matter to her. Luchino no longer mattered to her, except to act as a warning not to allow anyone to hurt her again. ‘Anyway, I’m not sure I want to speak with you alone. We didn’t exactly part as friends, in case you’ve forgotten.’

‘I’ve forgotten none of it.’ The words sounded like a threat as his gaze moved over her.

What did he see aside from pale, smooth skin, eyes a lighter shade of brown than his, and bone structure that Bella frankly thought too strong and angular to be truly appealing? Why should she care what he thought, anyway?

‘And I run a store a mere few city blocks from here.’ His gaze drifted away from her, to the racks of clothes, the hats and scarves and handbags. ‘I think I can work out how to secure this place.’

‘That’s you?’ Bella tried not to let shock colour her tone of voice. A Diamonds by Montichelli store had opened here two weeks ago. Bella had seen it in the papers and dismissed it from her mind. She strove to sound only mildly interested now. ‘I thought the new store was an offshoot of the Sydney store, that there’d be a local manager. I thought you focused on design, anyway.’

I thought I would never have to see you again. I don’t want to see you!

Each time Bella’s sisters had suffered or worried or felt scared over the past five years, a part of Bella had silently linked Luchino to that pain because he was an abandoner, too, just like their parents. And he had hurt Bella, toyed with her emotions when he had no right.

If he intended to remain in Melbourne, if she bumped into him, caught sight of him over and over, how would she cope? The key dropped from her fingers, clattered onto the glass counter, a mockery of the calm control she wanted to portray. ‘Have you moved to management? Are you here to get things settled then hand the store over to someone? The Sydney store has a local manager…’

Please let Luchino be about to hand the store over to someone else.

‘I no longer work with the family. Diamonds by Montichelli is my store, a separate entity from all the others. I may share the family name, but ultimately the store will succeed because of my work, my design and my reputation.’

Something painful crossed his face as he spoke the words. He lowered his gaze. His fingers closed around the key. ‘I have a lot of roles here—owner, head designer, manager, salesman, craftsman. Whatever is needed at any given time, I do it. I’m here to stay.’

Here to stay and out of sorts with his jewellery-making family? Oh, Bella could relate to that and she didn’t want to. She didn’t want any common ground with him at all. How could she feel even a mild sympathy for a man who walked away from his child?

‘That’s why the store isn’t called simply Montichelli’s like the others.’

‘That’s right.’ Luchino turned his broad back to her and strode towards the front of the store. ‘Finish up, Arabella, so we can get this discussion over with.’

‘I’m leaving in a minute.’ Bella made the warning to him, but she had to work to control her shaking hands as she emptied the contents of the cash drawer into a bag and dumped it in the small timed floor safe. Her sheath dress of peach Oriental silk rustled as she moved.

As he turned back towards her, Luchino stopped to examine each of the Design by Bella gowns displayed on mannequins to left and right. Despite her anger, Bella’s breath hitched as she waited to hear his verdict.

Finally, he spoke. ‘You’re a woman of hidden talents, Arabella. These are good. At least your skill with design and creation will mean there’s half a chance of fixing the mess you’ve made.’

She had almost relaxed into his praise. Now she pulled herself stiffly upright. ‘Mess? What mess?’ How dared he say she had made a mess?

‘You’ve gone from modelling, to coercing middle-aged ladies out of huge amounts of money in business ventures that have no guarantee of succeeding.’ Accusation tightened every contour of the sculpted face. ‘You must really be proud of yourself.’

‘Modelling was only ever a job to put money on the table for me and my sis—’ She stopped abruptly as she heard herself attempt to justify her earliest choice of career to him.

Then the rest sank in. ‘What do you mean? I haven’t coerced anybody, and what’s it got to do with you, anyway?’ Bella had hammered out a deal with Maria Rocco, had agreed to bring her designs exclusively to Maria’s and keep them here on a five-year contract, only if Maria purchased her year’s worth of already-created stock up front, but it was a reasonable agreement, because Bella intended to succeed.

‘Maria Rocco is my aunt.’ As Luchino said it, he watched her face for her reaction. ‘That makes this very much my business.’

Bella pulled her face into a tight mask to cover her shock and uncertainty. Maria was Milanese, it was true, but the older woman had lived in Australia almost all her adult life. ‘Maria is a Rocco, not a Montichelli, and she told me she has no family.’

Bella clung to that knowledge, even as she noted that Luchino did indeed share some similarities of feature with Maria. That had to be just happenstance, though. What was a nose, after all, or the tilt of a chin?

‘My aunt left Milan, left the family and changed her name long ago. She no doubt considered herself alone.’ Harsh anger radiated from him as he went on. ‘I’m sure you saw that as an advantage when you set out to rob her of a vast amount of money.’

‘I did not! How do you even know about the agreement I have with her?’ She stopped, didn’t want to reveal anything to him. But he clearly knew something.

Luc’s hand rose to touch a spot above his heart—as though to assure himself of the presence of something in his shirt pocket? And yes, a faint square outline showed there—a photo, perhaps.

Before Bella could wonder about it, the mouth that had once offered soft seduction, had once whispered hungry words, love words to her that were oh, so false, tightened again into a strong, determined line.

‘I told my new finance manager I wanted to meet Maria. He’d heard Maria took on a protégé. When he mentioned your name, I asked him to get details for me.’

‘That’s an invasion of Maria’s privacy, and of mine!’ One that Luchino had apparently taken in his stride.

‘It was a timely intervention.’ He accompanied the declaration with a squaring of his shoulders. Low warning filled his tone. ‘Estranged or not right at this moment, I won’t see Maria go under financially because of you.

‘You somehow bullied her into buying a year’s worth of designer gowns at an astronomical price with no guarantee whatsoever that any of them would sell, and no way for her to get her money back if they don’t. On top of that, you talked her into employing you here to make more gowns which also may not sell.’

His face darkened. ‘A five-year contract where Maria carries the burden and risk, and you swim along on the high tide of all that money she’s handed to you. Don’t bother to deny it.’

Bella frowned. She had slaved over that three-page agreement herself. Luchino made it sound one-sided but it wasn’t an unfair arrangement, because Maria knew Bella’s only aim was success for both of them. Bella pushed the inkling of unease aside. ‘It’s an agreement, actually, not a contract.’ She hadn’t wanted the expense of a lawyer, but Chrissy’s past boss, Henry Montbank, had helped Bella to make sure the agreement was water-tight.

‘It’s robbery in the guise of a work arrangement.’

‘You’d call me a thief? How—how dare you?’ While Bella simmered in fury, questions vied for space.

Despite Maria’s indications to the contrary, she had a family? That family was the Montichellis?

One fact lodged deep: Luchino had investigated not only Maria, but also Bella. ‘You’ve pried into my life, behind my back, as though you had every right to do that. Just what did you find out about me, about my sisters? How far did you dig around, expose us—?’

‘I investigated your finances, Arabella, the work you’ve done in the years since I last saw you. And I learned everything there is to know about your arrangement with my aunt. I won’t apologise for doing that.’ He said the last with a hard glare in his eyes.

‘I intend to reclaim Maria as my aunt.’ His expression softened a little as he said this. ‘She’s family and…I want that bond with her if it’s at all possible. I’d have arranged to meet her before now if she hadn’t been out of the city.’

A hunger for family was bizarre, given his history. Yet he seemed sincere. Bella needed to remember he could be both convincing and duplicitous!

Bella glared right back at him, but sudden weariness tugged at her. Her hands ached from the hours spent in the adjoining sewing and consultation room, meticulously stitching Chinese cloisonné beads to the fitted sleeves of her latest creation while Maria’s sales clerk took care of customers. Bella wanted to go home, slip into one of her black catsuits and indulge in an hour of Pilates in front of the TV.

Instead she had to deal with an angry man she had hoped never to see again, a man who believed she meant his aunt financial harm. ‘Despite what you say, you mustn’t have investigated very well, Luchino, because Maria is in no financial danger from me.’

‘On the contrary, the purchase of your stock almost bankrupted her.’ Luchino raked a hand through his thick, dark hair.

Glossy, silky hair with a tendency to wave…

Bella pulled herself up straighter and gave Luc the benefit of her coldest stare. It was a lot of money, but she had needed a strong capital injection to enable her to buy the best fabrics and accoutrements to create more gowns, and her designs justified the cost.

It might take a few years, but Maria would get back her investment, and much more, eventually. ‘Your aunt is very wealthy, Luchino. She owns a penthouse apartment in the best part of the city, drives the latest-model luxury car and goes on overseas buying trips every other week.

‘Maria didn’t hesitate to agree to my terms, and she can afford to carry things along until my gowns start to really pay for her.’ Bella’s employer walked and talked affluence and until this moment Bella had seen no reason to doubt her.

Luchino shook his head. ‘Maria has spent beyond her means for years. The apartment is rented, the car is a lease and those buying trips have put her heavily into debt.’ His gaze darkened as he looked around the store. ‘She was in no position to buy into a speculative venture like yours.’

‘My gowns will sell. Maria has made a good investment, and I intend to prove that.’ Yet even as Bella said it, her stomach knotted.

She hadn’t asked Maria’s financial status. She had assumed it on the evidence in front of her. Now doubt formed and Bella experienced that hated feeling of losing control. If Maria really had no money, just a pile of debts…

‘I can’t fail.’ The words were a stark statement, because she simply couldn’t. Failure had ceased to be an option when their parents unforgivably abandoned her, Chrissy and Sophia while her sisters were still in high school. Every struggle since then had underscored that abandonment, and underscored Bella’s condemnation of the man before her because he had mirrored her parents’ actions.

Bella had striven to succeed, and she had done it. For her sisters, and to assure herself they would all be OK, and now she had to do it to assure herself she was OK. ‘As I build a client base, more gowns will sell until eventually Maria ends up making a strong profit from her investment.’