Deserving of His Diamonds? by Melanie Milburne

Author:Melanie Milburne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Romance, Fiction, Adult, Contemporary
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

EMILIO watched later that evening as Gisele came down

the stairs towards him. She was wearing a simple but

elegant fuchsia-pink cocktail dress with a matching

chiffon wrap. She had skilfully styled her hair into a

smoothly coiffed up-do that gave her a regal air. He

had never seen her look more beautiful as she smiled at him, albeit briefly. Her smile was like sunshine breaking through the clouds on a bleak day. He had forgotten how wonderful it made him feel to see it. It was like a spill of warm fluid inside his chest, slowly spreading

until all the places inside him were no longer echoing

with emptiness.

It was a big step for him, taking her with him tonight.

He had thought about going alone, like he usually did.

Few people outside the charity knew how deeply he was

involved and why. Over the past year or so he had felt

the need to stop ignoring where he had come from and

do something to help others escape the hell he had es-

caped. He had done it through sheer grit and determi-

nation but he had come to realise others didn’t always

have the confidence or willpower to do it.

Giving Gisele a glimpse of his former life would be

uncomfortable for him but that was the price he had

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DESERVING OF HIS DIAMONDS?

to pay for wanting to make a difference. It wasn’t easy facing the dark shadows of his past. He always came

away from these things feeling unsettled. He felt as if those ghostly shadows were reaching out of the darkness to drag him back to the gutter and leave him there, cold and shivering and alone.

Emilio took Gisele’s hand as she stepped off the last

stair and brought it up to his mouth, pressing his lips against the soft skin of her bent knuckles. ‘You look

stunning,’ he said. ‘Pink suits you.’

She gave him another fleeting smile. ‘Thank you.’

He reached for the jewellery box he had left on the

hall table. ‘I have something for you to go with your

ring.’

Her eyes looked at the box and then up at him with

a little frown. ‘You shouldn’t be spending so much

money,’ she said.

‘I have the right to spoil my fiancée, don’t I?’ he asked.

He opened the box and she touched a finger to the

diamond-and-sapphire necklace glittering there. ‘I’m

not really your fiancée,’ she said. ‘It’s just a game of pretend to the press.’

‘We could make it real,’ Emilio said.

Something flickered in her grey-blue gaze before

she turned so he could put the necklace about her neck.

‘You want the old Gisele back but she’s gone, Emilio,’

she said. ‘You can’t get her back, no matter how much

money you spend trying.’

Emilio put his hands on her slim shoulders once he

had fastened the necklace, breathing in the summery

fragrance of her until he felt intoxicated. He felt her skin lift in a shiver beneath his fingers, just as it always used to do. He liked that he still had that effect 9780373130863_CS5_txt.indd 114

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MELANIE MILBURNE

115

on her. He liked the way her body instinctively reacted to him, in spite of what she said to the contrary.

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