Page 64 of The Tycoon's Shock Heir

She looked at it and recognised it as the book he’d been writing in on the boat.

He skimmed through it until he found the page he wanted. ‘I wrote in this the day you told me you were pregnant. And the day after we met. And loads of other times too. Here—read.’

He opened it and handed it to her. She read what he had written in his decisive handwriting.

What a night!

Arturo is hopefully going to land in our lap, and I discovered a love of ballet.

OK, a love of a ballet dancer...

Met a woman and almost fell for her. Beautiful, sensitive, sensual. I’m pretty sure I’ll call her. Once Arturo is in the bag...

First time I’ve felt like this in ages. Feel energised. Alive. Good times.

He took the book back, skimmed past more pages, then opened it again.

Can’t get this woman out of my mind.

‘So you can’t pretend that this is all fake. This is the start of something wonderful.’

He looked at her with such kindness in his eyes, a kindness and warmth that she’d never seen from anyone before, and it felt like torchlight in the darkness—it felt as if she was being led in from the cold. Her heart thundered. It felt terrifying.

‘You say that now, but you’re hardly going to be here to be part of it. You’re going to be away all the time, making deals and keeping people sweet, and pulling out the knives in your back that Claudio will be sticking in.’

He shook his head, all mirth wiped from his face like melting snow slipping into a river.

‘We’ve still got a lot to talk about, but my days of being married to the job are over. I don’t want to end up like my dad—though that wasn’t just about the job. If Claudio hadn’t been so in love with him none of this would have happened.’

She stared open-mouthed. ‘What do you mean, in love with him?’

‘Just what I say. They were lovers. I found out after the funeral, but out of respect for Mum I haven’t said anything to anyone.’

Ruby stared up at the laughing stone cherubs, their innocent cheeks plump under the streaming fountains. Her head swam with all this news. So that was what this was all about. Claudio’s jealousy had been driving him all these years. And Coral had never told anyone about it. How could she tell people that her husband had been gay? That brave, spirited woman must have suffered so much. And no one had known. She was a force of nature—an inspiration. And now she was her mother-in-law, too.

‘Are you saying that’s what drove your father to alcohol?’

‘I’m saying that my dad was mixed up. He put his whole life into the bank and his family, but there was something deeply unhappy in him, and in the end it’s what’s killed him. Now Claudio has just announced that he’s gay—that’s why some of those old clients have left him.’

‘And some people can’t accept that? How ridiculous. Of all the underhand things Claudio’s done, he’s now being punished for being himself.’

‘Yes, and, much as I want to build up the bank, I don’t want to schmooze with people who hate like that. So I’ve decided.’

She heard the words. And the silence that followed.

She turned. ‘You’ve decided what?’

‘I’ve decided that if Arturo wants to merge, that’s fine. If he doesn’t, that’s also fine. Because I’m going to take the bank to market, make it public, and let someone else run it for a change. I’m not going to lose my life to it any more.’

She stared around the gardens. ‘But what will you do? Are you going to go back to sport?’

He lifted her hand in his, wove their fingers together. The gold bands glinted in the sunlight.

‘There are options—but that depends on you. We’re going to have a baby. One of us is going to have to look after it while the other goes to work—that’s how I see it. If you want to dance I’ll stay home. If you want to stay home I’ll go to work.’

The warm Italian afternoon was rolling on. Tall poplars swayed their ambivalence in the sunshine, this way or that way. Grass stood up in straight neat rows and the fountains bubbled contentedly. The Croydon park she’d once played in was a thousand miles from this. No gravelly play area, no graffiti walls, no mums pushing prams or sitting on benches, heads deep in their phones.

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