Will You Marry Me?: A Marriage Made in Italy / The Courage To Say Yes / The Matchmaker's Happy Ending

“Now she’s a manager,” Leon interjected. He’d just gotten up from the table to walk Concetta around. “In fact, the corporation is taking her in to the head office in New York City in two months.”

Belle’s head flew back. “You didn’t tell me that earlier. You only said I was going to be promoted.”

His features sobered. “I overstepped my boundaries when I contacted them, and didn’t want to give away all the surprises in store for you.”

He’d surprised her again.

“That’s wonderful!” Luciana exclaimed, but a look of pain had crossed over her face, belying her words. “Do you love your work?”

Bemused by the question, Belle turned to her mother. She knew what she was really asking. They’d met only last evening. After finding her parent, the idea of separation was unthinkable to her right now, too. “I like it well enough. It’s been a way to earn a living, and they’ve been paying for me to go to college at night. Another semester and I’ll get my business degree.”

“I’m so proud of you! Are you still living with roommates?”

“Yes. It’s cheaper and I’ve been able to save some money.” Belle pulled the wallet out of her handbag and passed around some pictures of her friends. She had one photo of the Peterson family to show them.

After studying the photos, Sullisto leaned forward. “I must admit I’m surprised you didn’t show us the picture of your latest love interest. Why aren’t you married? Are the men in America blind? Who’s the miserable man you’re driving crazy at the moment?”

Belle laughed quietly. “I’ve been too busy with studies, along with trying to put my store on top, to get into a relationship.”

“You sound like Leonardo,” he grumbled.

“Concetta keeps me so occupied, there’s no room for anyone else.”

She sensed a certain friction between him and his father. Belle happened to know how deeply enamored Leon was of his little girl. It surprised her Sullisto would touch on that subject, when he had to know his son was still grieving over his wife’s death. No wonder she’d detected an underlying trace of impatience in Leon’s response.

Belle could only envy the woman who would one day come into his life and steal his heart. As she struggled with the possibility that he might always love Benedetta too much to move on, she heard footsteps in the background, and turned her head to see an attractive man and woman dressed in expensive-looking sport clothes walk out on the terrace.

“Ah, Dante!” Sullisto got to his feet to embrace his son, who bore a superficial likeness to him and Leon. “We didn’t expect you until this afternoon,” he said in English. “You’ve arrived back from Florence just in time to meet our home’s most honored guest. Belle Peterson from New York? This is my son Dante, and his lovely wife, Pia.”

Belle agreed Pia was charming, with amber eyes and strawberry-blond hair she wore in a stylish bob. They walked around and shook her hand before taking their places at the table. But already Belle felt uncomfortable, because Leon’s brother had seen her sitting next to Luciana, and had to have noticed the resemblance. He kept staring at them. So did his wife, who whispered something to him.

Sullisto turned to his wife. “Cara? Why don’t you carry on from here?”

Luciana cleared her throat and got to her feet. Belle’s gaze collided with Leon’s oddly speculative glance. She had the impression he didn’t know how this was going to play out, and she felt an odd chill go through her.

“After all these years, my greatest dream has come true.” She reached for Belle’s hand and clung to it. “Years ago my father sent me to New York, because he thought I was in danger here.

“You know the family history, but there are some things no one ever knew except your father, who loved me enough to marry me anyway. You’ll never know what that love did for me and how much I’ve grown to love him since then.”

Her mother’s revelations brought moisture to Sullisto’s eyes and touched Belle to the depths of her soul. But as she saw a bewildered look creep over Dante’s face, the blood started to throb at her temples.

“While I was there, I met a man from England named Robert Sloan, and we fell in love. When we found out we were expecting a baby, we planned to be married with or without my father’s permission. But Robert was killed in a hit-and-run accident. At the time I was convinced he’d been murdered, and it brought on early labor for me.”

Dante looked like a victim of shell shock. As Luciana continued talking, he transferred his cold gaze to Belle. It reminded her of Cliff’s menacing eyes when his mother had first introduced them. That memory made her shrink inside as Luciana came to the end of the story.

“Her real name is Arabella Donatello Sloan. She flew to Rimini this week to try and find me. If it weren’t for Leon, we would never have been reunited.”

Dante turned to his brother. A stream of unintelligible Italian poured from his mouth.

“Our guest doesn’t speak Italian,” Leon reminded him. For an instant his gray eyes trapped Belle’s as reams of unspoken thoughts passed between them. This was the crisis Belle had prayed wouldn’t happen.

Sullisto intervened and in English told Dante how she’d researched the Donatello name until it came to Leon’s attention at the bank.

“It’s an absolute miracle,” Luciana interjected. “It’s one that has brought me the greatest happiness you can imagine. Sullisto and I talked it over last night. We’re hoping she’ll decide to make her home here at the palazzo with all of us, permanently.”

“Mom...”

While Belle was still trying to absorb the wonder of it, Sullisto tapped his crystal goblet with a fork. After clearing his throat, he said, “We want to take care of you from here on out. Now that you’re united with your mother, we don’t want anything to keep you two apart.” He reached for Luciana’s hand. “I’m planning to adopt you, Arabella.”

“Adopt?” Belle gasped. “I—I hardly know what to say—” Her voice caught.

A smile broke out on his lips. “You don’t have to say anything.”

Belle was so overcome with emotions sweeping through her, she hardly noticed that Dante had gotten to his feet. With one glance, she saw that he’d lost color. He stared around the table at all of them. The dangerous glint coming from those dark depths frightened her.

“That’s quite a story. The resemblance between mother and daughter is extraordinary, thus dispensing with a DNA test,” he rapped out. His gaze finally fastened on Belle. “Welcome to the Malatesta family, Arabella. We truly do live up to our name, don’t we?”

“Basta!” his father exclaimed. Belle knew what it meant.

“Mi dispiace, Papà,” he answered with sarcasm. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Pia and I have other things to do.” He strode off the patio with an unhappy wife in pursuit.

“Don’t look alarmed,” Sullisto advised Belle the minute they were gone. “Your mother and I discussed it last night. There’s no right way to handle a situation like this. We didn’t expect them home until later, but since he walked in on us, we felt it was better to let Dante know up front. When he and Pia have talked about it, he’ll apologize for his bad behavior.”

Belle got up from the table. “For you to welcome me into your home leaves me thrilled and speechless, but I’m afraid the shock of hearing your plan to adopt me was too great for Dante. I’m not so much alarmed as sad, Sullisto. It’s because my adoptive brother, Cliff, had the exact same reaction when Nadine brought me to their house from the orphanage. He was unprepared for it.”

“But it’s not quite the same thing,” Sullisto impressed upon her. “You’re flesh of Luciana’s flesh. Dante is flesh of mine. Both of you are beloved to me and your mother.” His words touched her to the core. “The difference lies in the fact that Dante’s not a teenage boy. He’s a grown man who’s married, with expectations of raising a family of his own. Your being brought into the family has no bearing on his life except to enrich it.”

“E-even so—” her voice faltered “—he has lived under your roof all his life and has sustained a huge shock that will impact your family and create gossip. If it’s all right with you, I would feel much better if the two of you had the rest of the day to be alone with him and his wife. They’re going to need to talk about this.”

With an anxious glance at Leon, Belle implored him with her eyes to help her out of this, and prayed he got the message. “Since Concetta is ready for a nap, I’ll go back to the villa with Leon.” She leaned over to kiss her mother, then Sullisto. “Thank you for this wonderful morning. I don’t deserve the gift of love you’ve showered on me. You have no idea how much I love both of you. Call me later.”

Leon had already lifted the baby from the high chair and was ready to go. They left the palazzo and she climbed in the back of the sedan to help him fasten Concetta in the car seat. Rufo hopped in and lay down.

Belle kissed the baby’s nose. “You were such a good girl this morning, you deserve a treat.” She reached in her bag and pulled out her lipstick. The baby grabbed the tube and immediately put it in her mouth. It kept her occupied during the drive.

* * *

If Belle hadn’t made the suggestion to escape, Leon would have insisted they leave the palazzo immediately. The shattered look on Dante’s face had revealed what Leon had always suspected.

Like a volcano slowly building magma, his quiet, subdued brother had hidden his feelings beneath a facade. But today they had erupted into the stratosphere, exposing remembered pain and fresh new hurt.

“When we get back to the villa, I’ll ask Talia to put the baby to bed so you and I can talk about what’s happened.”

“I can’t bear that I’ve brought all this on. It’s disrupting your life and everyone else’s. I didn’t want to hurt Mother’s feelings by leaving so fast, but when I saw poor Dante’s eyes...” Belle buried her face in her hands.

“You can be sure she and Papà understood. Dante finally reacted to years of suppressed pain. His behavior wasn’t directed at you. It’s been coming on since the day our father told us he was getting married again.”

“I feel so sorry for him.”

So did Leon. He eyed her through the rearview mirror. “Do you have a swimming costume?”

She blinked. “Yes.”

“Good. When you’ve changed back at the house, meet me on the patio and we’ll go down to the beach. We both need to channel our negative energy into something physical.”

Belle nodded. “You’re reading my mind again. A swim is exactly what I crave.”

“In that case, you’ll want a beach towel. There are half a dozen on the closet shelf in the guest bathroom.”

“Thank you.”

The drive didn’t take long. When they entered the villa he showered his loving daughter with kisses before turning her over to Talia. Once upstairs in his room he changed into his black swimming trunks.

His last task was to phone Berto and tell him he wouldn’t be coming in to work. Unless there was an emergency, Leon was taking time off until tomorrow. On his way out the door he grabbed a towel.

It didn’t surprise him to find Belle in bare feet, waiting for him on the patio. The woman needed to talk. He could sense her urgency when their eyes met.

She’d swept her hair on top of her head, revealing the lovely stem of her neck. As he was coming to learn, every style suited her. The pink earrings still winked at him. His gaze fell lower. He knew there was a bathing suit underneath the short, wispy beach jacket covering her shapely body. It was hard not to stare at her elegant legs, half covered by the towel she was holding.

“I’m glad you suggested this, Leon. Like you, I’m anxious for some exercise before I lose it. Let’s go.”

Lose it was right. Dante’s behavior at the table had cut like a knife.

Together they descended the steps to the sand. She removed her jacket and threw it on top of her towel before running into the water. He caught only a glimpse of the mini print blue-and-white bikini, but with her in it he felt a rise in his own body temperature despite the sorrow weighing him down.

“The sea feels like a bathtub,” she cried in delight while treading water. He decided it had been a good idea to come out here. They both needed the distraction. Her dark sapphire eyes dazzled him with light.

He swam closer. “You’ve come to Rimini when the temperature is in the eighties.”

“No wonder the city is a magnet for beach lovers. This is heaven!” For the next hour she kept her pain hidden. While she bobbed and dived, he swam lazy circles around her.

Leon held back bringing up the obvious until they’d left the water and stretched out on their towels. He lay on his stomach so he could look at her. She’d done the same. Belle had no idea how much her innate modesty appealed to him. It didn’t matter how ruthlessly he tried to find things about her he didn’t like in order to fight his attraction. He couldn’t come up with one.

“What’s going on in that intelligent mind of yours?”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she said in a dampening voice, “especially when we both know you’ve been able to read me like a book so far.”

He turned on his side. “Not this time.”

She let out a troubled sigh. “I learned a lot after living with Cliff for those eight years. Whether justified or not, he felt betrayed by his parents. The family should have gotten professional counseling to help him. When I saw Dante’s expression, he reminded me so much of Cliff, I got a pain in my stomach.”

“The news definitely shook him.”

“It was more than that, Leon.” Slowly she sat up and looped her arms around her raised knees. “All I saw was the little boy who a long time ago fell apart at the loss of his mother. Your father said he’s a grown man now, with a wife, and can handle it, but I’m afraid Dante’s world has come crashing down on him again.”

Leon nodded slowly. “If I don’t miss my guess, his turmoil came from the fact that Papà wants to adopt you. Call it jealousy if you like. He and I suffered a great deal in our youth over his remarriage.”

“Now he’s reliving it. He sees how devoted your father is to my mother. When he said he planned to adopt me, maybe you couldn’t see Dante clearly from where you were sitting, but his face went white.”

“I noticed,” Leon muttered. “There’s no question her sin of omission has caught up with my brother.”

In that moment he’d realized Dante had disliked Luciana perhaps even more strongly than Leon himself had years ago. But Dante had held back his feelings until this morning, when she’d revealed news about her secret baby. To make it even more painful, Belle had been sitting next to her mother at the table, bigger than life and more beautiful.

“I can see only one way to stop the bleeding.”

Her thoughts were no longer a mystery. He rolled next to her and grasped her upper arms. “You can’t go home yet—”

That nerve in her throat was throbbing again. “I have to. Don’t you see? As long as I’m in Rimini, I’m a horrible reminder of his past. Mom and I have the rest of our lives to work things out. I have a career, Leon. In a few days I’ll be back at my job. She can fly to New York and visit me. If I leave, then there’ll be no gossip, and Mom’s secret will remain safe.”

His jaw hardened. “There are two flaws in your argument. In the first place the damage has already been done to Dante. Secondly, now that you’ve been united with her, she won’t be able to handle a long-distance relationship. I’ve already learned enough to know a visit once every six weeks will never be enough for you, either. You can forget going anywhere,” he declared.

Her chin trembled. He had the intense desire to kiss her mouth and body, but sensing danger, she eased away from him and got to her feet. “To remain in Italy for any length of time is out of the question. Don’t you see it will tear Dante apart? It’s not fair to him! He didn’t ask for this. None of you did, but he’s the one at risk of being unable to recover.”

Leon stood in turn. “He’ll recover, Belle, but it’s going to take time.”

“I don’t know. I keep seeing his face and it wounds me. I have to leave. As for the rest of this week, I couldn’t possibly stay at the palazzo while I’m here. That’s always been Dante’s home. My only option is to fly back to New York ASAP.”

“No. For the time being you’re going to stay with me, where you’ll be away from Dante and yet still remain close to Luciana.”

A small cry escaped Belle’s throat. She shook her head. “I...couldn’t possibly remain with you, and you know why. If I stay anywhere, it will be at a hotel.”

Before he could think, she backed away farther. In a flash she’d gathered up her jacket and towel and darted across the sand to the steps leading to the villa.

Long after she’d disappeared inside, Leon was still standing there trying to deal with a tumult of emotions regarding his brother. But he also had been gripped by unassuaged longings, and realized he had a serious problem on his hands.

Just now he’d wanted to kiss Belle into oblivion. The chemistry had been potent from the first moment they’d met. Though Benedetta hadn’t been gone that long, Leon found an insidious attraction for Luciana’s daughter heating up within him.

Like father, like son?

Something warned him it could be fatal. How was that possible? If she’d sensed it, too, that could be the reason she’d run like hell.

CHAPTER SIX

IN A PANIC over feelings completely new to her, Belle raced to her room and jumped in the shower to wash her hair. In getting what she’d wished for by finding her mother, her world and everyone else’s had been turned upside down. Nothing would ever be the same again and it was her fault!

Since she turned eighteen she’d been leading her own life as a liberated adult, in charge of herself and her decisions. No matter the situation now, she refused to be a weight around Leon’s neck.

Her roommates would tell her she was stark staring crazy to run from the situation. They’d kill for the chance to stay with a gorgeous widower in his fabulous Italian villa. What was her problem?

Belle could only shake her head. What wasn’t her problem? When Leon had driven her away from the palazzo earlier, she’d left it in an emotional shambles. After trying so hard not to hurt anyone, she found out that every life inside those walls standing for hundreds of years had been changed because of her driving need to know who she was.

Are you happy now, Belle?

In a matter of minutes Dante’s life had been turned into a nightmare. She couldn’t live with herself if something drastic wasn’t done to staunch the flow of pain for him.

But she couldn’t stay with Leon any longer, either. Through an accident of marriage, he was her stepbrother, for heaven’s sake! Yet she had to face the awful truth that her feelings for him were anything but sisterly. She could be arrested for some of the thoughts she’d been having about him.

Just now on the beach, the ache for him had grown so acute she’d literally melted when he’d grasped her arms. It wouldn’t be possible to stay with him any longer and not act on her feelings for him.

She finished blow-drying her hair and slipped on the only pair of jeans she’d brought, along with a khaki blouse. It was time to play tourist while she decided what she was going to do.

Before leaving the room in her sneakers and shoulder bag, Belle dashed off a note, which she propped on the dresser. In it she explained she’d gone for a walk and would be back later.

No one was about as she retraced her steps to the beach. It was the only way to leave his gated property. She hurried past a lifeguard tower. For all she knew, the guy on watch was one of Leon’s security people. But she wouldn’t worry about that now, because she’d reached the crowded public part of the beach. From there she entered one of the hotels.

After taking a couple of free pamphlets printed in English from the lobby, she walked out in front to get a taxi. She told the driver where she wanted to go. In a few minutes he dropped her off at the ancient Tiberius Bridge.

The leaflet said it was begun by the Emperor Augustus in AD 14, and completed under Tiberius in AD 21. It was a magnificent structure of five arches resting on massive pillars. Incredible to think that she was here in such a historic place, but she couldn’t appreciate it.

Tormented because she didn’t know what she should do, Belle crossed the river to the city center to window-shop and eat a late lunch. The brochure indicated the Piazza Cavour was once the area of the fish and vegetable markets during the Middle Ages.

It was fascinating information, but partway through her meal she lost interest in her food. Sightseeing hadn’t been a good idea and there were too many tourists. She decided to find a taxi and return to the villa. As she got up from the table, she almost bumped into Leon, who was pushing Concetta in her baby stroller.

“Leon!” Belle cried in utter surprise. The sight of his tall, powerful body clothed in jeans and a white polo shirt took her breath. “Where did you come from?”

A seductive smile broke out on his firm lips. Her gaze traveled to the cleft in his chin. The enticing combination was too much for her. “We’ve been following you.”

Belle might have known Leon’s security people would keep him informed of her every step. In spite of knowing she’d been watched and followed, a rush of warmth invaded her. To offset it, she knelt down to give the baby kisses. “So that’s what you’ve been doing. Are you having a wonderful time?”

Concetta kept smiling at her as if she really recognized her and was happy to see her. That sweet little face had a lock on Belle’s emotions.

“When we found your note, we thought we’d join you.”

No... To spend more time with him and the baby wasn’t a good idea. “I was just going to find a taxi and go back.”

“Fine. My car is parked right over there on the side street.”

Caving to the inevitable, Belle said, “May I push her?”

“Go ahead, but you’ll have to dodge the heavy foot traffic.”

She rubbed her hand over Concetta’s fine hair. “We don’t mind, do we, sweetheart.”

As they navigated through the crowds toward his car, every woman in sight feasted her eyes on Leon. His black hair and striking looks compelled them to stare. Belle felt their envy when they glanced at her. She had to admit that if she’d been a tourist and had seen him with his little girl, she would have found him irresistible. There was nothing that captured a female’s attention faster than an attractive man out with his baby and enjoying it, especially this one.

“On the way home we’ll stop by the Delfinario.”

“That’s an intriguing word.”

With half-veiled eyes, he helped her and Concetta into the backseat of the sedan. “I think you’ll be entertained.”

“Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”

Leon burst into rich laughter. “You’ll get your answer before long.”

Her heart went into flutter mode, something that had started happening only since she’d been in Leon’s company.

He drove along the beach until they came to what appeared to be a theme park. After they got out he said, “I’ll carry Concetta. Come with me.”

Belle followed him to a large, open-air pool. She spotted some mammals leaping out of the water. “Dolphins?”

“Sì, signorina. Delfino.” Leon paid the admission and found them two seats in the packed arena where they were performing. Belle could pick out a few familiar words spoken by the man narrating the show in Italian. She loved the sound of the language. The children in the audience were enraptured by the sight.

“Look, Concetta!” Belle pointed to them. “Can you see the delfino?”

The baby got caught up in the excitement and clapped her hands like the kids surrounding them. More enchanted by her reaction than by the remarkable tricks happening in the water with the trainers, both Leon and Belle laughed with abandon.

After one spectacular feat, their eyes met and she flashed him a full, unguarded smile. Belle found it impossible to hold back her enjoyment in being here like this with the two of them, as if they were a family. It wasn’t until later, on their drive home, that she was brought back to reality, knowing she had a huge decision to make.