He had got it wrong. Horribly, terribly, unforgivably wrong.

He had been so adamant about it, so stubborn. He had not listened to Gisele’s protestations of innocence. She had begged and pleaded with him to believe in her but he had not.

She had cried.

She had screamed.

She had pummelled at his chest with tears pouring down her face and yet he had walked away. He had cut her ruthlessly from his life just days before they were to be married. He had cut all contact with her. He had sworn on his life he would never see or speak to her again.

And yet she had been innocent.

His gut clenched with guilt and shame. He had always prided himself on never making an error of judgement. He aimed for perfection in every area of his life. But this time he had got it wrong—horribly, terribly, unforgivably wrong.

THE OUTRAGEOUS SISTERS

The twin sisters everyone’s talking about!

Separated by secrets …

Having grown up in different families, Gisele and Sienna live lives that are worlds apart. Then a very public revelation propels them into the world’s eye …

Drawn together by scandal!

Now the sisters have found each other—but are they at risk of losing their hearts to the two men who are determined to peel back the layers of their glittering façades?

This month Gisele will find out if she really is

DESERVING OF HIS DIAMONDS?

Look out for Sienna’s story, coming soon from Mills & Boon® Modern™ Romance!

About the Author

From as soon as MELANIE MILBURNE could pick up a pen, she knew she wanted to write. It was when she picked up her first Harlequin Mills and Boon novel at seventeen that she realised she wanted to write romance. Distracted for a few years by meeting and marrying her own handsome hero, surgeon husband Steve, and having two boys, plus completing a masters in education and becoming a nationally ranked athlete (masters swimming) she decided to write. Five submissions later she sold her first book and is now a multi-published bestselling, award-winning USA TODAY author. In 2008, she won the Australian Readers Association’s most popular category/series romance, and in 2011 she won the prestigious Romance Writers of Australia R*BY award.

Melanie loves to hear from her readers via her website, www.melaniemilburne.com.au, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Melanie-Milburne/351594482609.

Recent titles by the same author:

HIS POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL

THE WEDDING CHARADE

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

SHOCK: ONE-NIGHT HEIR

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

SCANDAL: UNCLAIMED LOVE-CHILD

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

Did you know these are also available as eBooks?

Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

Deserving Of
His Diamonds?
Melanie Milburne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Carol Marinelli—

not just a fellow author

but also a fabulous and fun friend. XX

CHAPTER ONE

EMILIO was sitting in a café in Rome not far from his office when he finally found out the truth. His chest seized as he read the article about twin girls who had been separated at birth due to an illegal adoption. The article was journalism at its best: an intriguing and poignant account of how identical twins had finally been reunited, quite by chance, after a shop attendant mistook one for the other in a Sydney department store.

One mistaken for the other …

Emilio ignored his coffee and sat back in his chair and looked out at the bustling city crowds wandering past. Tourists and workers, young and old, married and single—everyone going about their business, totally unaware of the shock that was consuming him until he could scarcely breathe.

It hadn’t been Gisele in the sex tape.

His throat felt as if a spanner were going down sideways. He had been so adamant about it, so stubborn. He had not listened to Gisele’s protestations of innocence. He had refused to listen. She had begged and pleaded with him to believe in her, but he had not.

He had got it wrong.

She had cried. She had screamed. She had pummelled at his chest with tears pouring down her face, and yet he had walked away. He had cut all contact with her. He had sworn on his life he would never see or speak to her again.

He had got it wrong.

Emilio’s company had almost folded over the scandal. He’d had to work so hard to get back to where he was today. Eighteen-hour, sometimes twenty-four-hour days, sleepless nights, endless travel, jet lag so bad he didn’t sleep properly any more, no matter how utterly exhausted he was. He went from project to project like an automaton, putting in the hours, signing up the deals, paying off the debts and then finally banking the millions, his drive to succeed knowing no bounds.

And for all this time he had blamed Gisele.

He had fuelled his hatred of her every day since. It had festered inside him like a gangrenous wound. He had felt it in every pore of his body. Every time he had thought of her the temperature of his wrath had risen. It had burned like a roaring furnace deep inside him. It had blazed like wild flames through his veins. Some days it had almost consumed him. It had been like a fever he could not control.

His gut clenched with a fist of guilt. He had always prided himself on never making an error of judgement. He aimed—some would say ruthlessly—for perfection in every area of his life. Failure was anathema to him.

And yet with Gisele he had got it wrong.

Emilio looked at his phone. He still had her number in his contacts. He had left it there as a reminder to trust no one, to let no one under his guard. He had never thought of himself as the sentimental type, but when he brought her details to the screen his fingers shook slightly as they hovered over her name. Somehow calling out of the blue to say sorry didn’t seem the right way to handle things. He owed her a face-to-face apology. It was the least he could do. He wanted to erase that mistake, to draw a line through it and move on with his life.

He clicked on his phone’s rapid dial instead and called his secretary. ‘Carla, cancel all of my appointments for the next week and get me a flight to Sydney as soon as you can,’ he said. ‘I have some urgent business to see to there.’

Gisele was showing a first time mother the handmade christening gown she had embroidered when Emilio Andreoni came in. Seeing him standing there, so tall, so out of place in her baby clothes boutique made her heart leap to her throat like a gymnast on an overused trampoline.

She had practised this day over in her head just in case he took it upon himself to apologise once he found out about her long-lost identical twin. She had imagined how vindicated she would feel that he would have to admit he had got it wrong about her. She had imagined she would look at him and feel nothing, nothing but the bitter hatred of him for his cruel and ruthless rejection and his inexcusable lack of trust.

And yet that first glimpse of him sent a shockwave through her that made her feel as if the floor beneath her feet were suddenly shifting. Emotions she had bolted down with bitter determination suddenly popped against their restraints. One by one she could feel them spreading through her, making her chest ache with the weight of them. How could it physically hurt to see someone face to face? How could her heart feel pain like a stab wound at seeing his tall, imposing frame standing there? How could her insides clench and twist when his coal-black eyes met hers?

Gisele had seen him in the press several times since their break-up and although each time it had made her feel a tight sort of ache, it had felt nothing like the raw, claw-scraping pain of this.

He still had the same darkly tanned olive skin. The same Roman nose, the same penetrating dark brown eyes, the same intractable jaw that right now looked as if it hadn’t seen a razor in the last thirty-six hours. The slightly wavy black hair was a little longer than the last time she had seen him—it was curling around the collar of his shirt and it looked as if his fingers had been the last thing that had moved through it. There were bruiselike shadows beneath his thickly lashed bloodshot eyes, no doubt put there by yet another sleepless night out with one of his one-night stand bimbo bedmates, she imagined.

‘Excuse me …’ she said to the young mother. ‘I won’t be a minute.’

Gisele walked over to where he was standing next to the premature baby clothes. He had one of his hands on a tiny vest that had a pink rosebud with little green leaves embroidered at the neck. The vest looked so tiny against his hand and it occurred to her then that Lily would have been too small for it when she had been born.

‘Can I help you with something?’ she asked with a brittle look.

Emilio’s eyes meshed with hers, holding them captive. ‘I think you know why I am here, Gisele,’ he said in that deep, rich voice she had missed so much. It moved along her skin like a caress, settling at the base of her spine like a warm pool of slowly spreading honey.

Gisele had to fight hard to keep her emotions in check. This was not the time to show him she was still affected by him, even if it was only physically. She had to be strong, to show him he hadn’t destroyed her life with his lack of trust. She had to show him she had moved on, that she was self-sufficient and successful. She had to show him he meant nothing to her now. She drew in a breath and lifted her chin, keeping her voice cool and composed. ‘Of course.’ She gave him an impersonal on-off movement of her lips that was nowhere near a smile. ‘How could I forget? The two-for-one sale on all-in-one suits we have on at the moment. You can have blue, pink or yellow. I’m afraid we’re all out of the white.’

His gaze never once wavered from hers; it was as dark and mesmerising as ever. ‘Is there somewhere we could talk in private?’ he asked.

Gisele straightened her shoulders. ‘As you can see I have customers to see to,’ she said, indicating with a waft of her hand the young woman browsing along the racks.

‘Are you free for lunch?’ he asked, still watching her steadily.

Gisele wondered if he was studying her for flaws. Could he see the way her once creamy skin had lost its glow? Could he see the shadows below and in her eyes that no amount of make-up could disguise? He had always prized perfection. Not just in his work but in every facet of his life. He would find her sadly lacking now, she thought, in spite of her name and reputation finally being cleared. ‘I own and run this business,’ she said with more than a hint of pride. ‘I don’t take a lunch break.’

Gisele saw his dark critical gaze sweep over the baby wear boutique she had bought a few weeks after he had cut her from his life just days before their wedding. Building it up from yet another struggling suburban retail outlet to the successful exclusive affair it was now had been the only thing that had got her through the heartbreak of the past two years.

Some well meaning friends, along with her mother, had suggested it would have been better to have sold the business as soon as she had been told Lily wasn’t going to make it, but somehow, in her mind, holding on to the shop was a way to hold on to her fragile little daughter for just that little bit longer. She felt close to Lily here, surrounded by the handmade blankets and bonnets and booties she made for other babies to wear. It was her only connection now with motherhood and she wasn’t going to relinquish it in spite of the pain it caused to see those brand-new prams being pushed through the door day after day. No one knew how hard it was for her to look and not touch those precious little bundles inside. No one knew how long at night she clung to the bunny blanket she had made for Lily’s tiny body to be wrapped in during those few short hours of her life.

Emilio’s eyes came back to connect with hers. ‘Dinner then,’ he said. ‘You don’t work past six, do you?’

Gisele watched in irritation as the young mother left the shop, no doubt put off by Emilio’s brooding presence. She sent him a glare. ‘Dinner is out of the question,’ she said. ‘I have another engagement.’

‘Are you involved with someone?’ he asked, pinning her with his eyes.

She worked hard at keeping her composure. Did he really think she would have dived headfirst into another relationship after what he had done to her? She often wondered if she would ever feel safe in a relationship again. But she daren’t admit to her singleton status. She had a feeling he wasn’t just here to apologise and to clear the air between them. She could see it in the dark magnetic pull of his gaze. She could sense it in the atmosphere, the way the air she shared with him thickened with each breath she took into her lungs. Damn it, she could even feel it in her traitorous body as it reacted to his dark, disturbing presence the way it had always done in the past. Her senses went on full alert, her legs giving a little tremble as she thought of how he had taught her all she knew about physical intimacy, how it had been his body and his alone that had shown her what hers had been capable of in giving and receiving pleasure. ‘I can’t see how that is any of your business,’ she said with a hoist of her chin.

A muscle flexed beside his mouth. ‘I know this is hard for you, Gisele,’ he said. ‘It’s hard for me too.’

‘Meaning you never thought you’d ever have to apologise to me for getting it wrong?’ she asked with a cutting look. ‘Hate to say I told you so.’

His expression immediately became shuttered, closed off, remote. ‘I’m not proud of how I ended things,’ he said. ‘But you would have done the same if things were the other way around.’

‘You’re wrong, Emilio,’ she said. ‘I would have looked high and low for an alternative explanation for how that tape came about.’

‘For God’s sake, Gisele,’ he said roughly. ‘Do you think I didn’t look for an explanation? You told me you were an only child. You didn’t even know you had a twin. How was I supposed to come up with something as bizarre as that? I looked at that tape and I saw you. I saw the same silver-blonde hair, the same grey-blue eyes, even the same mannerisms. I had no choice but to believe what I was seeing.’

‘You did have a choice,’ Gisele said, shooting him a blistering glare. ‘You could have believed me in spite of, not because of, the evidence. But you didn’t love me enough to trust me. You didn’t love me at all. You just wanted a perfect wife to hang off your arm. That wretched tape tarnished me so I was of no further use to you. It wouldn’t have mattered if the truth had come out in two minutes or two hours instead of two years. Your business was always going to be the priority. You put it before everything.’

‘I put my business on hold to come out here to see you,’ he said, frowning at her broodingly.

‘You’ve seen me, so now you can jump back on your private jet and fly all the way back,’ she said, sending him a haughty look as she spun on her heel.

‘Damn it, Gisele,’ he said, snagging one of her arms to stall her.

Gisele felt the steely grip of his long, strong fingers on her bare arm as he turned her back to face him. His touch was like a flame. It seared her skin like a brand. Every nerve flinched beneath her skin. She felt her stomach go hollow as his eyes locked on hers. She didn’t want to lose herself in that glittering dark gaze. Not again. Once was enough. It had been her downfall, falling for a man with the inability to love and trust.

She didn’t want him this close.

She could smell the heat of him, the sharp and heady cocktail of musk and male and lemon-based aftershave that made her nostrils flare and tingle. She could see the black pepper of the stubble on his jaw and her fingers suddenly itched to feel that sexy rasp under the soft pads of her fingertips. She could see the grim line of his beautifully sculptured mouth. The mouth that had wreaked such havoc on her senses from the very first time he had kissed her. She only had to close her eyes to remember how it felt to have those hard, insistent lips press down on hers …

She snapped out of her reverie like an elastic band that had been stretched too far. That same mouth had vilified her cruelly. Her ears still rang with his hateful, unforgettable, unforgivable words. There was no way she was going to let him off lightly, if at all. Her life had come undone the day he had cut her adrift. She had been so devastated and alone. Her happy future had suddenly been ripped away from her without warning. She had been shattered by his accusations. She had been left so raw with pain she had barely been able to drag herself through each agonising day.

Finding out she was pregnant a couple of months after she had returned to Sydney had been her only glimmer of hope in that very dark place she had found herself in. But then that hope had been cruelly dashed a few weeks later at the second ultrasound. She had always wondered if that was her punishment for not telling Emilio about the pregnancy. He had forbidden all contact after their break-up, but she had been too devastated and hurt to even try.

And too angry.

She had wanted to punish him for not believing in her. She still wanted to punish him. It was like a rod of steel inside her. The only thing holding her upright was her fury and resentment and hatred towards him. Nothing was going to melt it.

‘Why are you making this harder than it already is?’ Emilio asked.

Gisele needed the trench of her anger to hide in and the deeper and dirtier the better. ‘You think you can breeze in here and issue some half-hearted apology and I’ll forgive you?’ she asked. ‘I’ll never forgive you. Do you hear me? Never.’

The line of his mouth was grim. ‘I don’t expect you to forgive me,’ he said. ‘I do, however, expect you to act like an adult and hear me out.’

‘I’ll act like an adult when you stop restraining me like an out of control child,’ she said, shooting him a livid look. ‘Let go of my arm.’

His fingers softened their hold but he didn’t release her. Gisele felt her heart give a nervous flutter as the broad pad of his thumb slid down to her pulse. Could he feel the thud of those hit-and-miss beats? She surreptitiously moistened her mouth but his gaze caught the movement. His eyes darkened, the pupils disappearing into the chocolate-brown of his irises. She knew that look so well. It triggered a visceral reaction in her body. The pulse of longing was like a lightning strike to that secret place between her thighs. Every erotically sensual moment they had ever shared flashed through her brain like a film on fast-forward. Those sensually provocative images made a mockery of every paltry attempt she had made to keep herself immune. What hope of immunity when one look from those dark eyes made her blood rush through her veins at breakneck speed?

‘Have dinner with me tonight,’ he said.

‘I told you I already have an engagement,’ she said, not quite meeting his eyes.

Emilio tipped up her chin with his other hand, his eyes dark and penetrating as they held hers. ‘And I know you are lying,’ he said.

‘What a pity you weren’t such a hotshot detective two years ago,’ she threw back resentfully as she finally managed to break free. She stood and pointedly rubbed at her wrist, still glaring at him.

‘I’ll pick you up at seven,’ he said. ‘Where do you live?’

Gisele felt a bolt of panic rush through her. She didn’t want him at her flat. That was her private sanctuary, the one place she felt safe enough to let out her grief. Besides, how would she explain all the photos of Lily? It was much better to leave him ignorant of their baby’s short life. She wasn’t ready to tell him. She would never be ready to tell him. How could she cope with the pain of him telling her she should have had a termination as she had been advised? It had been hard enough hearing it from her mother and some of her friends. Emilio wouldn’t have wanted a child who wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t have suited his plan for a perfectly ordered life.

‘You don’t seem to be getting the message, Emilio,’ she said with a defiant look. ‘I don’t want to see you again. Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Not ever. You’ve apologised. End of story. Now, please leave before I have you evicted by Security.’

His expression was faintly mocking. ‘What Security?’ he asked. ‘Anyone could walk in here and empty your cash register while your back was turned and you wouldn’t be able to do a single thing to stop them. You don’t even have CCTV cameras installed.’

Gisele pressed her lips together, hating him for pointing out what he obviously perceived as a flaw in her personality. Her mother … her adoptive mother, she corrected herself, had communicated much the same thing only a few days ago, saying she was far too trusting with her customers. It didn’t come naturally to Gisele to mistrust people, but then wasn’t that why her life had ended up the way it had? She had been so naive and trusting with Emilio and it had backfired spectacularly.

Emilio continued to study her for a lengthy moment. ‘Have you been ill recently?’ he asked.

Gisele suddenly froze, caught off guard by that dark penetrating gaze that refused to let hers go. ‘Um … why do you ask that?’

‘You look pale and much thinner than when we were together,’ he said.

‘Not quite up to your impeccable standards any more?’ she said, giving him a hardened look. ‘What a lucky escape you had in calling off our wedding. It wouldn’t suit your image to be married to a frump, now, would it?’

Another heavy frown appeared between his brows. ‘You misunderstand me,’ he said. ‘I was simply commenting on your pallor, not your lack of beauty. You are still one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.’

It was amazing how easily cynicism came to Gisele now. In the past she would have blushed and felt incredibly flattered by such a compliment. Now all she felt was a simmering fury that he was trying to charm her into forgiving him. He was wasting his time and hers. Forgiveness was a word she had long ago deleted from her vocabulary.

She walked over to the shop service counter and barricaded herself behind it. ‘You can save your shallow compliments for someone who will believe them enough to fall into your bed,’ she said. ‘It’s not going to work with me.’

‘Is that why you think I am here?’ he asked.

Gisele felt herself being swallowed by that charcoal-black unreadable gaze. The air seemed to be charged with an erotic energy she had no control over. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter for support, her heart beating too hard and too fast as his hooded gaze slipped to her mouth.

She held her breath in that infinitesimal moment as his gaze rested on her lips.

His gaze was like a touch. It burned her with its intent. She felt the tingle of her lips as if he had reached across the counter and pressed his mouth to hers …

But her best friend cynicism came to her rescue just in time. ‘I think you are here to clear your conscience,’ she said. ‘You’re not here because of me. You’re here because of you.’

His expression gave no clue to what was going on behind the screen of his dark eyes, but a tiny nerve twitched at the edge of his mouth as if it were being tugged by an invisible needle and thread.

It seemed a very long time before he spoke.

‘I am here for both of us,’ he said. ‘I want to wipe the slate clean. Neither of us can truly move on with our lives with this lying like a festering sore between us.’

Gisele put up her chin with cool hauteur. ‘I have moved on with my life,’ she said.

His eyes challenged hers for endless seconds, but when he finally spoke his voice was gruff. ‘Have you, cara? Have you really?’

Was it his unexpectedly gentle tone or his use of an all too familiar endearment that made her throat suddenly close over as if someone had gripped it and cruelly squeezed? She blinked against the sting of tears, once, twice, three times before she was confident they were not going to break through. ‘Of course,’ she said coldly. ‘Or would you rather I said I’d been pining for you forlornly ever since you cut me from your life?’

‘That would indeed be a punishment I would not like to have inflicted on me,’ he said with a rueful movement of his lips. ‘It would make the guilt I feel all the harder to bear.’

Gisele looked at him standing there, so tall, so assured, the master of all he controlled. Was he really feeling guilty or just annoyed at being wrong for once in his life? He was a fiercely proud man. She had met no one prouder or more stubborn. ‘You can sleep easy, Emilio,’ she said. ‘After the way you treated me I put you out of my mind as soon as I stepped off the plane. I haven’t thought of you in months.’

He held her look for a heartbeat longer than she would have liked. ‘I’ll be in town for the rest of the week,’ he said, handing her a business card. ‘If you change your mind about meeting with me, please feel free to call me at any time.’

Gisele took the silver-embossed card with a hand that trembled slightly as it came in contact with his. She curled her fingers around the card until its edges bit into her palm. ‘I won’t change my mind,’ she said with steely determination wrapped around each and every word.

She waited until he had left before she let out her breath in a long ragged stream. She looked at the card she had crushed in her hand. A sharp corner had broken the skin of her palm; a very timely reminder that if she allowed Emilio Andreoni too close again she would be the only one to get hurt.

CHAPTER TWO

A COUPLE of days later Gisele received a visit from her landlord, Keith Patterson. For a heart-stopping moment she wondered if she had somehow overlooked paying her rent, but then she remembered she had seen the electronic transfer of the funds on her accounts profile page only the week before.

‘I know this is short notice, Miss Carter,’ Keith said after the usual polite exchange of greetings, ‘but I’ve decided to sell the building to a developer. I got an offer too good to refuse. The wife and I lost a fair bit in the global financial crisis and we need to refinance ourselves for our retirement. This offer couldn’t have come at a better time.’

Gisele blinked at him in alarm. While her profit turnover was good and her bank overdraft manageable, finding other premises would no doubt involve a rise in rent. She didn’t want to overstretch herself, especially as she had only recently employed an assistant. So many small businesses folded due to having too many overheads and not enough income. She didn’t want to become another statistic of economic disaster. ‘Does that mean I have to move out?’ she asked.

‘That will depend on the new owner,’ Keith said. ‘He’ll have to get council approval before he does any alterations. That could take weeks or a couple of months. He gave me his card for you to contact him to discuss the lease.’ He handed her a silver-embossed card across the counter.

Gisele’s heart dropped like a stone inside her chest even before she saw the name on the card. ‘Emilio Andreoni bought the building?’ she asked in a shocked gasp.

‘You’ve heard of him?’ Keith asked.

She felt her face grow warm. ‘Yes … I’ve heard of him,’ she said. ‘But he’s an architect, not a property developer.’

‘Maybe he’s diversifying his interests,’ Keith said. ‘I’ve heard he’s won numerous awards for his designs. He seemed mighty keen to buy the place.’

‘Did he give you a reason for his enthusiasm?’ Gisele asked, boiling with anger inside.

‘Yes, he said it held sentimental value,’ Keith said. ‘Maybe a relative of his owned it in the past. Some Italians used to have a fruit shop here in the fifties. I can’t remember their name.’

Gisele ground her teeth. Sentimental value indeed! She knew for a fact Emilio had no living relatives, or at least none he wanted to associate with. He had told her very little about his background, but she sensed it hadn’t been much like hers. She had often wondered if that was another reason he had wanted to marry her. Her blue-blooded pedigree had appealed to him. How ironic that it turned out she and her twin were the products of an illicit affair their father had had with a housekeeper while he and his wife were living in London.

Once Keith Patterson had gone Gisele looked at the business card lying on the counter. She drummed her fingers on the glass surface, her teeth almost going to powder as she considered her options. She could tear up the card into tiny little pieces as she had a couple of days ago, or she could call the mobile number on it and arrange a showdown. If she tore up the card he would surely come in to see her and she would be caught off guard just as she had been before.

She decided it would be better to see him on her terms this time around. She picked up the phone and started dialling.

‘Emilio Andreoni.’

‘You bastard!’ Gisele spat before she could stop herself.

She heard the sound of a leather chair squeaking as he shifted position. She imagined him with his feet up on the desk, his ankles crossed casually, his head laid back against the headrest and a self-satisfied smile on his mouth.

‘Nice to hear from you, Gisele,’ he said smoothly. ‘Have you changed your mind yet about meeting with me one last time before I leave?’

Gisele almost broke the phone with the pressure of her fingers as she gripped it in her hand. ‘I can’t believe how ruthless you’re prepared to be in getting your own way,’ she hissed at him. ‘Do you really think by charging me an exorbitant rent it will make me hate you less?’

‘You’re assuming I’m going to charge you rent,’ he said. ‘Maybe I’ll lease the premises to you without charging a cent.’

Gisele’s heart clanged against her rib cage. ‘Wh-what did you say?’

‘I’m offering you a business proposition,’ he said. ‘Meet with me and we’ll discuss it.’

She felt a shiver of apprehension trickle down her spine like a single drop of icy water. ‘I’d rather turn tricks on the nearest street corner than have anything to do with you,’ she threw back.

‘Before you reject an offer you really should discuss the terms and conditions more thoroughly,’ he said. ‘You might be surprised at some of the benefits.’

‘I can just imagine some of the benefits,’ Gisele said, her voice liberally laced with scorn. ‘A rent-free premises in exchange for my body and my self-respect. No thanks.’

‘You really should consider my proposal, Gisele,’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t do to put at risk everything you’ve worked so hard for, now, would it?’

‘I’ve lost everything before and survived,’ she said, throwing a verbal punch.

She heard it land with a sharp intake of his breath. ‘Don’t make me play dirty, Gisele,’ he gritted. ‘I can and I will if I have to.’

Gisele felt that icy shiver again. She knew just how ruthless he could be. She knew he had ways and means to make things very difficult for her, even more difficult than when he had thrown her out of his life so callously just days before the wedding she had planned with such excitement and anticipation. She still remembered the horror of that moment. She couldn’t even look at a wedding gown now without feeling that gut-wrenching sense of despair. But she was not going to roll over for him. ‘I don’t want or need your help,’ she said. ‘I don’t care if I have to beg on the streets. I will not accept anything from you.’

‘I recently designed a holiday retreat for one of Europe’s largest retail giants,’ Emilio said. ‘With a click of a computer mouse I could make your business expand exponentially. Your shop will not just be a local enterprise. It will instantly become a global brand.’

Gisele thought of the expansion she had planned over the next few years. How she had imagined building her business to spread to other suburban outlets and to the larger department stores and, more importantly, increasing her online presence. The only things that had been holding her back were secure finance and the right contacts.

She fought with her resolve. She wanted to say no. She wanted to slam the phone down in his ear. But turning her back on him would mean turning her back on the sort of success most people could only dream about. But then, doing any sort of business deal with Emilio would mean contact with him.

Contact she didn’t want, wouldn’t allow herself to want.

Her stomach slipped like a cat’s claws on a highly polished surface.

Maybe even intimate contact …

‘Think about it, Gisele,’ he said. ‘You have a lot to gain by allowing me back in your life, even if it’s only temporarily.’

‘What do you mean, temporarily?’ she asked warily.

‘I would like you to spend the next month with me in Italy,’ Emilio said. ‘It will give us a chance to see if we can still make things work between us. I will, of course, pay you an allowance for the time we spend together.’

‘I’m not spending the next minute with you,’ Gisele said with a fresh upsurge of resolve. ‘I’m hanging up right now so don’t bother call—’

‘It will also be the perfect opportunity for me to introduce you to the right contacts,’ he said. ‘How does a million dollars for the month sound?’

Gisele’s mouth opened and closed. She couldn’t seem to get her voice to work. Her heart was pumping so hard and so fast she felt as if it were going to explode out from between her breasts and land on the floor in front of her.

A million dollars.

Could she do it? Could she survive a month living with Emilio? She had shared his bed with love in the past. How could she do it this time with hatred?

Would he want her to share his bed?

A shiver ran over her skin. Of course he would want her to. Hadn’t she seen his desire for her burning in his dark eyes when he came into the shop? Couldn’t she hear the spine-tingling rumble of it in his voice now? ‘I … I need some time to think about this,’ she said.

‘What’s to think about?’ he asked. ‘You win either way, Gisele. If after a month we both feel there’s no point in carrying on any further, you will be free to go. No strings. You can take the money and leave.’

She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment. ‘And you’re happy to have me back in your life, hating you the way I do?’ she asked.

‘I understand your feelings,’ he said. ‘But I feel we both need to be sure we’re not making the biggest mistake of our lives by not exploring the possibility of a future together.’

Gisele frowned. ‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked. ‘Why not leave things as they are?’

‘Because as soon as I saw you the other day I knew we had unfinished business,’ he said. ‘I felt it and I know you did too. You can deny it but it won’t make it any less real. You might hate me but I felt your body react to mine. You still want me just as much as I still want you.’

Gisele hated that he knew her body so well that he could read its most subtle of signals. What hope did she have of coming out of this with her pride intact? ‘I want another day or two to think it over,’ she said. ‘And if I agree, I won’t accept less than two million.’

‘I can see why you have done so well for yourself in the time we’ve been apart,’ Emilio said musingly. ‘You drive a hard bargain. Two million is a lot of money.’

‘I have a lot of hate,’ she shot back.

‘I will look forward to dismantling it,’ he said.

Gisele felt her insides clench with unruly desire. ‘You haven’t got a hope, Emilio,’ she said. ‘You can pay all you like for my body but you will never have my heart.’

‘Your body will do for now,’ he said with smouldering intensity. ‘I will send a car for you on Friday evening. Pack your passport and some clothes if it is a yes.’ And with that the phone line went dead.

As Emilio’s driver pulled up in front of her block of flats Gisele told herself she was saying yes for one reason and one reason only. She wanted to make Emilio’s life as miserable as she could for the next month. She would enjoy every minute of making him regret the way he had treated her. He would not find her such an easy conquest this time around. She was not the sweet, shy, rather naive virgin he had met and swept off her feet two years ago. She was older and wiser, harder and more cynical. More battle scarred and dangerously, scarily angry.

Also, being in Europe for a month might give her the opportunity to get to know the sister she had never met until a couple of weeks ago. Sienna was currently living in London, which was a whole lot closer to Rome than Sydney.

Gisele felt her chest tighten as she thought of all the lost years, all the lost confidences and closeness she and Sienna should have had together. Selfish adults who had not stopped to think of the long-term consequences of such a reckless and self-serving deception had stolen it from them.

She was still coming to terms with the heartbreak of finding out the truth. It wasn’t just about the sex tape scandal mix-up, although that was heartbreaking enough. She felt her whole life had been a lie. She didn’t know who she was any more. It was as if Gisele Carter, the Sydney born and bred only child of Richard and Hilary Carter, had suddenly vanished, vaporised into thin air.

Who was she now?

She was not her mother’s daughter. And yet she was not her biological mother’s daughter either as she had never felt her mother’s arms or ever felt the brush of her lips on her skin, or if she had in those first early days after birth she had no memory of it now.

She had been handed over like a package, a one-way delivery, never to be returned to sender. How had her mother, Nell Baker, chosen which baby to keep and which one to give away? Had she done it willingly or had she done it for the money?

A little dagger of guilt pierced Gisele as she thought of what she had led Emilio to believe she would do for money. He thought he could pay any amount to have her back in his life and back in his bed but he was in for a big surprise. She gave a grimly determined smile as she pressed down on the suitcase to snap the locks closed. Once the month was up Emilio would be just as glad to see the back of her as he had been the last time.

She would make sure of it.

Emilio was waiting in the hotel bar when Gisele came. He felt the jolt of awareness hit him like a punch to his abdomen. He had met hundreds of beautiful women but no one had that powerful physical effect on him just by walking into the room. And yet she hardly seemed to be aware of how every male head turned and looked at her.

Her simple but elegant cream dress was nipped in at the waist with a black bow at the front that drew attention to how slim she was. He suspected he could now span her waist with his hands. Her silver-blonde hair was pulled back in a smooth knot at the back of her head, showcasing the swanlike grace of her neck. She was wearing make-up but it was so skilfully applied it looked entirely natural. She had subtly highlighted the grey-blue of her eyes with eyeliner and a brush of smoky eyeshadow, and her lush lips were shiny with pink-tinted lipgloss. It made him want to lean down and press his lips to hers to see if she still tasted the same. He could smell her perfume, her signature summery honeysuckle scent that had clung to his skin for hours after making love with her. He had missed that fragrance. It never smelled quite the same on anyone else.

He stood to greet her, and even though she was wearing shiny patent black killer heels he still towered over her. ‘Did you bring your passport?’ he asked.

She gave him a churlish look from beneath her lashes. ‘I almost didn’t, but the thought of two million reasons why I should made me see reason.’

Emilio allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. She was here under duress but at least she was here. He led her to a quiet corner in the bar with a gentle hand at her elbow. He felt her bare skin shiver in response to his touch and an arrow of need staked him in his groin. Her skin was so soft and creamy, like silk against his fingers. ‘What would you like to drink?’ he asked. ‘Champagne?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not celebrating anything,’ she said, shooting him another look. ‘White wine will do.’

Emilio ordered their drinks and, once they had been served, he leaned back in his seat to study her icemaiden features. He knew he deserved her ire. He had thrown her out of his life with a callous and ruthless disregard for her feelings. He had been so convinced she had betrayed him. The red mist of anger he had felt had blinded him to anything but what he believed she had done. The image of her with that man taunted him and had done so until he had found out about the discovery of her identical twin.

Seeing her in the flesh again had brought back all the reasons he had wanted to marry her in the first place. It wasn’t just her natural beauty or grace or poise. It wasn’t just her softly spoken voice and the way she nibbled at her bottom lip when she was feeling uncertain, or the way she sometimes twirled a loose strand of hair around one of her fingers when she was concentrating on something. It was something in her eyes, those incredible were-they-grey-were-they-blue eyes that had warmed and softened the first time she’d looked at him. What man didn’t want the woman he had chosen to be his wife to look at him like that?

As far as he had been concerned, Gisele had been perfect wife material, sweet and gentle, biddable and loving. The fact that he hadn’t been in love with her was irrelevant. For his whole life love had been an emotion he had never been able to rely on. In his experience, people used the words so freely but their actions rarely backed them up. The sex tape scandal had reinforced to him how pointless it was to love someone, for people always let you down. But in the end he had been the one to let her down. He had destroyed her love with his lack of trust in her. But he was determined to get her back. He would make it up to her in a thousand different ways. He couldn’t allow a failure like this to blot his life. It felt like a giant ink stain on his soul. He had made the error and it was up to him to do whatever it took to fix it.

And he would do whatever it took.

He knew she still wanted him. He had seen it that first day in her shop, the way her body spoke to him in its own private language. His own intensely visceral response to her had sideswiped him. He had thought he had put his desire for her behind him, but it was back with a vengeance as soon as he had laid eyes on her. It was an aching, pulsing need to feel her in his arms again. He couldn’t wait to take her upstairs and prove to her they still had a future, that the past could be permanently put aside, erased as if it hadn’t happened. She was playing coy with him but he was sure once he kissed her she would melt, just as she always had in the past. He could not tolerate any other outcome.

Failure was not an option.

‘I have arranged a flight for tomorrow,’ he said. ‘We leave at 10:00 a.m.’

Gisele gave him a brittle look. ‘You were that certain I’d come?’

He returned her look with measured calm. ‘Let’s say I know you well enough to be quietly confident,’ he said.

‘You don’t know me any more, Emilio,’ she said with another hardened look. ‘I’m not the same person I was two years ago.’

‘I don’t believe that,’ Emilio said. ‘I know we all change a bit over time but you can’t really change who you are deep inside.’

She lifted a slim shoulder in a devil-may-care manner. ‘Maybe in a month you’ll change your mind,’ she said and took a sip of her drink.

‘Is your sister still here in Sydney?’ Emilio asked.

‘No, she flew back to London ten days ago,’ she said, looking into the contents of her glass with a little frown. ‘The press were hounding her. They were hounding us both. I found it a little scary …’ She bit her lip and drained her glass as if she wanted to stop any more words coming out of her mouth.

‘It must have been a very difficult time for you both,’ he said.

She lifted her gaze to his; her eyes were like stormy grey-blue ice cubes, hard, cold and resentful. ‘I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m still trying to sort it out in my head. So is Sienna.’

‘Perhaps you can invite her to stay at my villa for a few days,’ Emilio said. ‘I would like to meet her.’

She gave another shrug of indifference. ‘Whatever.’

Emilio signalled for the waiter to refresh their drinks. He sat back in his seat and observed Gisele as she tucked an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear, another one of her I’m-out-of-my-depth-and-trying-not-to-show-it mannerisms. She was not as immune to him as she tried to make out. He had seen the flare of female interest in her gaze. He had felt the shiver of reaction on her skin when he had touched her. One kiss would prove he could have her back where he wanted her.

‘Tell me about your shop,’ he said. ‘How did you come about buying the business?’

She dropped her gaze to the drink the waiter had just set before her. ‘When I came back … from Italy I … I wanted a secure base,’ she said. ‘I liked the idea of working for myself. Having more control, that sort of thing. I’d sold some items to the owner in the past and she gave me the first option of buying.’

‘It’s a big commitment for a young woman of just twenty-five, or twenty-three as you were then,’ Emilio said. ‘Did your parents help you?’

Gisele put her glass down. ‘At first, but then things got a bit tricky after my father got sick. He had a few debts we didn’t know about until after he’d died. Bad business decisions, a bit of gambling with the stock market that didn’t pay off as well as he’d hoped. I had to help my mother … I mean Hilary out.’

Emilio put his drink down on the coaster on the table between them. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t send a card,’ he said. ‘I’d heard he was terminally ill. I should have made contact to offer my condolences. It must have been a very difficult time for you and your mother.’

She looked back at the contents of her glass; the grip of her fingers was so tight around the stem he wondered if it would snap. ‘He took eight and a half miserable months to die,’ she said. ‘Not once in all that time did he ever say anything about me having a twin sister.’ She looked at him at that point, her grey-blue gaze blazing with anger. ‘Both my parents knew our relationship had broken up because of that sex tape but still neither he nor my mother said a word. I can never forgive them for that.’

Emilio carefully removed the wineglass from her stiff fingers and put it to one side. ‘I can understand your anger towards them but our relationship broke up because I didn’t trust you,’ he said. ‘If anyone is to blame it is me.’

Gisele met his gaze in the long silence that ensued. ‘You know what really upsets me?’ she asked.

‘Tell me,’ he said, still holding her gaze.

‘How did they choose?’ she asked.

‘You mean who got which twin?’ he asked.

Gisele blew out a hissing breath. ‘I can’t get it out of my mind,’ she said. ‘How did they do it? How could my mother, my biological mother, give me up? And how could my father ask it of her? And not only that, what was my adoptive mother thinking by agreeing to bring up her husband’s love child? Did she have no self-respect?’

Emilio bent his forearms on his thighs so he could reach Gisele’s tightly knotted hands. He took them both in one of his, stroking the tension away as best he could. ‘Have you asked her about it?’ he said.

She looked at him with flashing eyes. ‘Of course I’ve asked her,’ she said. ‘She said she did it to keep my father happy. She spent their whole married life trying to make him happy but it never worked.’

‘From what you told me, your family always seemed so perfect to me,’ Emilio said, still stroking her hands. ‘You never said anything about them being unhappy together.’

Gisele looked down at their joined hands and hastily pulled hers away. She sat straighter in her seat, ramrod straight, angry straight, keep-away-from-me straight. ‘I never liked admitting it to anyone but I always felt I wasn’t good enough for either of my parents,’ she said. ‘I tried my best but nothing I did or achieved seemed to please them. My mother wasn’t the maternal type. She never liked cuddling me or playing with me. She employed a nanny to do that. Now I understand why. I wasn’t her child.’ She drew in another painful-sounding breath and continued, ‘My father was just as bad. Deep down, I think he really wanted a son. My mother certainly couldn’t give him one, but then his mistress gave him two daughters so he chose one. But I’ve often wondered if he thought he’d chosen the wrong one or whether he wished he had just walked away from both of us. He was stuck in a loveless marriage until the day he died, out of guilt presumably. All of those long stonewalling silences between him and my mother over the years suddenly made a whole lot of sense.’

Emilio frowned. He had never heard Gisele talk so honestly about her childhood. He had thought she had come from a reasonably happy and stable home. He had envied her background, given the bleak misery of his. It made him realise how little he had known her, even though he’d been days off marrying her. He had been struck by her beauty but had given little thought to who she was, what she valued and how she wanted her life to run. He had swept her off her feet, dazzled her with his wealth and charm, and yet had not known for a moment how deeply insecure she really was. It was like looking at her for the first time. The same beauty was there but so too was a fragility that he had not seen the first time around. But then she had been devastatingly hurt and he, to his shame, had done that to her, even more so than her parents. He wasn’t sure how he could ever fix that terrible mistake but he was determined to try. ‘How is your sister dealing with this?’ he asked.

Gisele let her stiff shoulders drop. ‘She’s a lot more chilled about it than me,’ she said. ‘I guess growing up with a single mother who was known to be a bit of a tear-away has toughened her up rather a lot. It sounded like Sienna was the parent rather than the child most of the time. She told me there were always a lot of men coming and going in her mother’s life. It can’t have been an easy childhood but she just made the best of it.’

‘Is she disappointed she didn’t get to meet your father?’

‘Yes and no, I suppose,’ Gisele said, frowning a little. ‘I think she would’ve given him a serve for what he did. She’s a bit of a straight shooter. I think I could do with some lessons from her, actually. It’s about time I learned to speak up for myself.’

‘I think you’re doing rather a good job of it,’ Emilio said with a crooked smile. ‘Perhaps I am wrong after all. Maybe you have changed.’

Her eyes glittered as they held his. ‘You’d better believe it.’

Emilio allowed a little silence to pass before he spoke. ‘Did you give the keys and all the relevant paperwork for your shop to the driver?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘Your new assistant will hold the fort until you decide what course of action to take. I’ve already spoken to her about it.’

She frowned at him. ‘What do you mean?’

He held her look for a moment. ‘You might decide to stay on in Italy,’ he said. ‘It would be imprudent not to prepare for that possibility.’

She gave him a disdainful look. ‘You must get really exhausted carrying that monumental ego around. Do you really think I will step back into your life as if nothing has changed? You’re paying for a month and that’s all you’re going to get.’

Emilio fought back his temper. He was not used to her being so obstructive and defiant. In the past she had been so willing to fit in with his plans. Where was the sweet young woman he had chosen as his bride?

‘Would you like another drink?’ he asked after a tense pause.

‘No … Thank you.’ She pushed the glass away with another little frown pulling at her brow.

‘I thought we could have dinner in my suite,’ he said.

She looked at him with startled eyes. ‘Why not in a restaurant?’ she asked.

‘I thought it might be more private.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘You can quit it with the whole seduction routine, Emilio,’ she said. ‘It won’t work.’

Emilio felt his groin tighten as she threw the challenge down with her flashing gaze. ‘You think not?’ he asked.

‘I know not,’ she said with a lift of her chin.

He held her gaze, hot, hungry desire leaping like flames in his body. This new feisty Gisele was turning him on. There was something about her newfound defiance that thrilled him. It stirred his blood, making it surge through his system like rocket fuel. There was one thing he loved more than anything and that was a challenge. He had left his dirt-poor background behind with the same gritty determination to succeed no matter what it cost. He had put himself through school and then university, working day and night to cover the expense. He had made his fortune by rising to the demands of difficult clients and completing next to impossible projects. He had nearly lost it all after the scandal, but he had clawed his way back.

Gisele was another next to impossible project but, just like all the rest, he was determined to succeed.

Nothing and no one was going to stand in his way.

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