VITTORIO'S MISTRESS (The Vittorio Series) (7 page)

Paige had to smother her laughter.
 
Oh, there was no doubt in her mind that Daniella had inherited that Vittorio charm and would use it on her Nana later.
 
Both of Paige’s parents adored Daniella but there was a special bond between her mother and daughter which is why she allowed Daniella to spend one weekend a month at their house.
 
Of course the child was spoiled rotten when she went on her
Nana weekend
, as Daniella called it, but there was more to it than that.
 

It warmed Paige’s heart to know how much they loved Daniella in spite of the fact they’d been disappointed in their own daughter for getting pregnant and not telling Dante.
 
They’d tried to understand her reasons for doing it, but ultimately they believed she should have told him and given Dante the opportunity to marry her.
 
But she’d adamantly refused because she loved him too much to force him into
 
marriage and fatherhood when he so obviously didn’t want either at that point in his life.

When they finally got the shopping done and returned home nearly two hours later, Paige was more than a little disconcerted to find one of Dante’s business cards stuck in the screen door.
 
I will call you later
, he’d written on the back side, and for all the firm promises she’d made to herself not to have contact with him
again,
Paige couldn’t help the slew of butterflies that flitted around in the pit of her stomach at the thought of hearing his voice.

While Daniella contented herself with playing in the living room with her baby dolls, Paige unloaded the groceries from the car and put everything away then made sandwiches for lunch.
 
She found herself listening for the phone, at the same time trying to figure out what she’d say to him once he did call.
 
She considered not answering it all but was afraid it might prompt a personal visit.
 
Paige was still in quite a quandary an hour later when the call finally came, but at least she didn’t have to worry about him hearing Daniella talking because she’d put her down for a nap twenty minutes before.

“I miss you,
cara
mia
,” his deep voice sent a thrill racing through her.
 
“Will you have dinner with me again tonight?”

“I can’t.
 
I have dinner with my parents every Sunday night,” she told the fib she’d concocted earlier.
 
“Besides, I already told you I can’t see you again and I meant it.”

“Tomorrow then,” he ignored her last statement.
 
“If you are not comfortable dinning at my house, I will take you someplace else.
 
Where would you like to go?”

“Dante, you’re not listening to me.”

“You are right,” he laughed softly, “I am not listening.
 
Do you want Italian again or maybe a nice French restaurant?”

Paige could feel her resolve melting as she envisioned sitting across from him over a romantic dinner.
 
“No,” she said feebly, then more firmly, “No, I can’t have dinner with you tomorrow or any other night.
 
I…I don’t want to see you again, Dante, so please don’t call or come over anymore.”

“If you will not allow me to take you to dinner then I shall just have to make sure my schedule is free so I can join you in the park.”

That sent a shock wave of panic surging through her.
 
“You’ll just be wasting your time if you do because I won’t talk to you or agree to go on any walks.”

“You are being very stubborn,
carissima
,” he said smoothly, “but it will do no good.
 
You are only delaying the inevitable and we both know it.”

The inevitable
.
 
Paige sank down onto the sofa.
 
“Why are you doing this, Dante?
 
You could have your choice of women…”

“I do not want any other woman, I want you.”

“Doesn’t it matter what
I
want?”

“It matters very much,
cara
.”

“Then you’ll stop calling and promise not to show up at the park?”

Dante laughed.
 
“I will make no such promise.
 
You see, I do not believe you want me to go away or that you have no feelings for me.”

“I
do
have feelings for you,” she admitted, then told him the mother of all lies.
 
“But those feelings are purely sexual and I would hate myself if I gave into them.
 
I couldn’t sleep with a man I didn’t love without losing all self respect.”

There was a short pause before Dante replied.
 
“Does that mean that you
were
in love with me before?”

“You know I was,” she said in strangled whisper.

“But not anymore?”

Paige forced the words out; he’d left her no choice.
 
“How could I love you
 
when we barely know each other now?
 
When I saw you again, it brought back memories of how good it used to be when we made love and I guess I wanted to believe we could recapture that somehow.”

“We
can
recapture it,
tesoro
.
 
Let me prove it to you.”

“No, Dante,” she said despondently, “you would only be proving what I already know.
 
I’m sexually attracted to you but that’s all it is, and I…I have no desire to complicate my life by having a meaningless affair with you.”

“Meaningless,” he repeated stiffly.

“What else could it be when there’s no love between us?
 
I have to go now,” Paige said abruptly because she was dangerously close to crying.
 
“Take care of yourself, Dante.”

Dante ground his teeth together in frustration when Paige hung up on him.
 
If she was telling the truth and really didn’t feel anything towards him but sexual attraction then it was going to take a lot more than a few stolen moments in the park to get her to fall in love with him.
 
He needed to be alone with her, and not just for an hour or two but for a whole day…or a whole weekend.

There was just one little problem; she seemed pretty determined to shut him out of her life.
 
Then again, maybe it was better this way.
 
It would prove to be much more of a challenge if she didn’t make it easy for him, and how much sweeter would his revenge be when she fell in love with him then?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***
 
 

Paige was a bundle of nerves on Monday when she accompanied her assistant and the small group of children to the park.
 
She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from searching for Dante or from feeling the bitter disappointment when he never appeared.
 
Even as they were making the trek back to the daycare center and she knew it was too late for him to show up, Paige found herself making furtive glances over her shoulder.
 

What an idiot she was for being so upset.
 
After all, she was the one who’d pushed him away and made sure his ego was good and bruised so he wouldn’t attempt to see her.
 
She told herself it was for the best, that everything would go back to normal as long as he stayed away, and then she’d be able to get off the emotional roller coaster she’d
been riding ever since that first encounter in the park last week.
 
But no matter how hard she tried to drive him from her mind, he was always with her.

Tuesday’s trip to the park was no different than the day before, and when the rest of the week passed with no sign of him, Paige finally had to accept that he’d taken her at her word and believed she didn’t want anything to do with him.
 
How disheartening it was to know that in successfully banishing Dante from her life, she’d also sentenced herself to a life without love.
 

She might have been able to convince herself that she’d find someone else one day if she hadn’t run into Dante again.
 
It was even possible she might have settled for a man who was a good companion to share her life with and been content with that, but not now.
 
She’d survive because she had to for
Daniella’s
sake, but in her heart Paige knew there was only one man she would ever love and if she couldn’t have him, she didn’t want anybody.

By the following Friday she’d regained enough of her equilibrium to stop staring at every dark haired man that entered the park in the hopes that it was Dante.
 
She even managed to stay focused while she read to the children then gathered her courage and took a stroll towards the duck pond while her assistant handed out the snacks.
 
Her footsteps faltered for a moment when she reached the path but she shook off the despair that suddenly engulfed her and forced
herself
to keep walking.

She passed the spot where Dante had pulled her into the woods but kept her gaze straight ahead.
 
Somehow she had to put all the memories she had of him to rest and get on with her life.
 
Was it possible to forget someone that was a part of you?
 
Probably not, but she had to try.
 
Daniella needed a mother who filled her life with joy, not someone who moped around in a deep, dark depression.
 

Paige lifted her chin determinedly and headed back towards the park.
 
She could do this; one day at a time.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***

Dante watched her from the boardroom window, just as he’d watched her every day for the past two weeks.
 
He’d scrutinized every move she made, every backward glance, every nervous gesture, waiting for the evidence he needed that she believed he was gone for good.
 
A slow smile spread across his face when he saw her emerge from the path with her head held high and a purposeful stride to her walk.
 
It was time to make his move.

He’d spent a great deal of time contriving a plan that would force her to accept his proposal to become his mistress and he had no doubt she’d be mad as a hornet at first.
 
But once she got used to the idea and discovered he wasn’t going to drag her off to bed every time they were together, she’d settle down.
 
He’d take his time putting her at ease
and wait until Paige dropped her guard long enough for him to wheedle his way into her heart.
 
Only then would he take her to bed.

He’d take her to the small island that was jointly owned by him and his brothers and spend an entire weekend in one of the beach houses that were scattered around the island.
 
There, he’d lavish Paige with attention and make love to her as he never had before, drawing her in deeper and deeper until she was so consumed by her love for him that she’d do anything he asked.
 
That’s when he would strike back at her for all the pain she’d caused him.

Dante strolled back to his office, ignoring the pang of guilt for what he was planning to do.
 
What reason did he have for feeling guilty?
 
He wasn’t the one who’d run out on their relationship, Paige had, so why should he be the only one to suffer?
 
He ducked into his office just long enough to retrieve the papers from his desk that he’d amassed over the past three weeks then told his personal assistant he was leaving for the day.
 

The papers he held were paramount to making his plan work because in them was the leverage he needed to convince Paige she had no choice but to become his mistress.