Claiming His One-Night Baby by Michelle Smart

Author:Michelle Smart [Smart, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2017-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

FROM THE CORNER of her eye Natasha saw the nib of Matteo’s pen hover over a sheet before he pressed it down and signed it, then placed it on the fresh pile he was making. ‘Because I no longer wished to be acknowledged as my father’s son.’

‘It got that bad?’ Their relationship had never been the same since the childhood fire that had ruined both little boys’ lives.

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know, bella. I’m sure you were told all the details.’

‘Are you talking about the argument you two had at your brother’s funeral?’

He jerked a nod and signed another form.

Pieta had asked her to go to Roberto’s funeral with him. It had been one of the only times she’d ever denied him anything he’d asked of her. She’d stood her ground doggedly, pointing out she’d never met Roberto and that seeing as it was going to be such a small, intimate funeral, it would be inappropriate for her to be there. Pieta hadn’t wanted her there for support—he hadn’t seen Roberto in years—he’d wanted her there for appearances’ sake. Even back then she’d known that. Appearances be damned, she’d thought; she wouldn’t put Matteo through it. He would have hated to see her there. It would have made a bad day even more difficult for him.

Thinking back on it, her refusal had been the moment she’d discovered that she did have a spine. She’d found it for Matteo’s sake.

‘I know you two had a blazing row and that you changed your surname two weeks later. I never knew what the argument was about but I assumed the two events were linked.’

‘You assumed? You never asked Pieta?’

‘I never asked about you, not to him or anyone. Any news I heard about you came about in general conversation.’

Slowly he turned his head to look at her, his green eyes narrowed.

She raised her shoulders and pulled her lips in before saying quietly, ‘I had this fear that if I brought your name up, they’d be able to see through me.’

‘What did you think they’d see?’

‘The truth about our past.’

And the truth that my feelings for you ran deeper than anything I tried to feel for Pieta.

‘Eventually it stopped mattering, but not speaking about you became a habit.’

He stared at her for a long time, so hard it was like he was trying to dig into her mind. Eventually he sighed and dragged a hand down his face. ‘At the funeral my father said it should have been me he was burying, not Roberto.’

Her mouth dropped open, utter shock thumping her.

‘Seriously? He said that to you?’

‘Sì.’

‘That’s outrageous. My God, Matteo, I’m so sorry. It must have been the grief talking—he couldn’t have meant it.’ How could a father say such a thing to a child? Her parents had manipulated her and twisted her emotions to suit their own purposes but never had they wished her dead.

Something sharp clawed into her chest, overlong talons scraping through her heart, making it bleed to imagine what

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