Page 17 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge

Now Flora was suspicious. ‘What’s that supposed to mean—take responsibility?’

Vittorio stood up and walked over to the window, hands in his pockets. The action drew the material of his trousers taut over his muscular buttocks. Then he turned around and Flora had to avert her gaze up, guiltily.

‘What that means is that I have a proposition.’

Now Flora felt nervous. ‘Vittorio—’

‘Call me Vito. The only person who called me Vittorio was my mother when she was angry with me.’

Flora’s heart squeezed at the mention of his mother. ‘Very well... Vito...’ she faltered. It felt incredibly intimate calling him Vito. Now she knew why he hadn’t invited her to address him as such before, because in his eyes she’d barely existed.

He’d just apologised for that.

‘What kind of proposition?’ And when she said that, why did she feel an illicit flutter of awareness across her skin? This man had no interest in her. Not like that.

‘The reason your uncle proposed a marriage arrangement was for his own benefit, of course, but also because he knew the media was speculating about my...social life. My bachelorhood. The fact that it was potentially affecting my business. He saw an opportunity and grabbed it.’

‘And then you grabbed it right back,’ pointed out Flora. Using her as the unfortunate pawn.

Vito conceded that with a nod of his head. ‘But the fact remains that there was some logic in your uncle’s plan outside his own nefarious aims. And the situation hasn’t changed.’

Flora frowned. ‘Meaning...’

‘Speculation is still rife as to my...love life. Standing you up at the altar didn’t exactly enhance my reputation.’

Flora’s heart quickened. ‘So you don’t...have a girlfriend at the moment?’ She winced inwardly. A man like Vito didn’t do girlfriends. She recalled seeing a picture of him in the papers shortly after that fateful day—he’d been at an event with one of Italy’s most beautiful models. The gossip had been intense. She’d actually been grateful that she wasn’t recognisable or else the paparazzi would have had a field day documenting her fall from grace.

Vito was shaking his head. ‘No, there’s no one in particular.’

A spark of something dark made Flora say, ‘Just casual lovers, then.’

Vito’s jaw clenched and then he said tightly, ‘Actually, not even casual lovers for a while. I haven’t had much interest.’

Flora’s silly heart skipped again. ‘It’s none of my business.’

‘It will be.’

‘How’s that?’

‘What I propose is that we get back together.’

‘But we never were together, not really.’

‘True. But that doesn’t really matter. If we’re seen to be together again, it’ll restore your reputation and it’ll stop the speculation about my private life.’

‘It wasn’t much of a secret that our marriage was a business deal,’ she pointed out, still stung by some of the whispers she’d heard from people leaving the church.

‘Of course, he was never going to marry a mouse like her. A man like Vittorio Vitale needs a real woman.’

It was that comment in particular that had galvanised her to come to his offices to find him. The thought of more humiliation wasn’t particularly appealing.

He said, ‘So who’s to say that it’s not something else now? Something more.’

That audacious thought sent an electric charge across her skin. But of course he didn’t actually mean it. It was a hypothetical question. Flora shook her head, struggling to understand. ‘But why...would you want to do this with me of all people? You hate me.’

Vito shook his head. ‘Not you. Your uncle.’

She frowned. ‘But won’t he benefit from you being seen with me?’