The Accidental Engagement (19 page)

She didn’t know how to respond. “I—I didn’t expect you to give up anything for me.” She waited for him to continue, to explain what had brought this on. But instead he turned away from her and started walking away.

“Don’t forget why you’re here, Ivy. Nothing else matters.”

* * * *

The car was filled with tense silence on the way back to the villa. Once there, Ivy escaped to her room where she had plenty of time to replay the events of the afternoon. It wasn’t long before anger replaced hurt and there were a million things Ivy wished she’d said. A million things she
needed
to say.

She went off in search of him, down the many hallways and into empty rooms but Daniel was nowhere to be found. The more she looked, the angrier she became until, by the time she found him and Lucia alone together in Brunelli’s study, she was ready to scream.

They both looked up in surprise when she stormed in and Ivy caught herself just in time before she started in on a rampage.

“Oh, hi Ivy,” Lucia said. The younger, glamorously gorgeous woman was beaming at her and in that moment, Ivy knew what jealousy was.

Daniel was lounging beside her, looking at pictures on her phone, by the looks of it—and looking like a man without a care in the world. Meanwhile she’d been stewing and obsessing and boiling over with rage.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked. She was looking at Daniel, only at Daniel, but it was Lucia who spoke.

“Nothing important. Danny just wanted to see some pictures of my designs. I’m studying to be a fashion designer.”

Ivy turned to Daniel with a look of surprise. “I had no idea you were interested in fashion design.”

The look in his eyes was so cold, so distant; it turned her hot fury into bone-chilling horror. His detachment was a dagger in her heart. He ignored her completely and turned to Lucia with that dazzling smile that she loved so much.

“Your designs are amazing, my dear. You have true talent.”

Lucia basked in his praise and started to put her phone away. “I’m so glad you think so. Now come, both of you, Grandpa will kill us if we’re late to dinner.”

Ivy tried her best to put on a happy face over dinner that night but was eternally grateful to have the ever-smiling Jack at her side to keep the conversation flowing. She was too distracted by watching Daniel flirt with Lucia at the other end of the table. They were speaking Italian but she could interpret high-pitched giggles and whispered asides with no help from a translator.

She tried to focus on the conversation that Jack was having with Brunelli but all she could think of was what she should have said. What she should have done. Of all times for her big mouth to suddenly take a vacation, it had to be this afternoon when the man she’d been intimate with—the man she thought she loved—all but accused her of being a pathetic child with a crush.

She felt red-hot fury course through her body every time she remembered his cruel words.

“Really, Brunelli, your home and this village—it may be the most beautiful place on earth,” Jack was saying. The younger family members all cheered this declaration and Brunelli grinned. “I’m so glad you like it here. And what about you, my dear?” he asked Ivy.

She turned her attention away from Daniel. “I adore it,” she said with all honesty. “Your home, the town, this landscape…it’s pure magic.”

“It’s very romantic, no?”

Ivy and Jack both agreed that it was indeed romantic.

“Good. “ Brunelli clapped his hands as though a deal had been struck. “Then it is official. You shall marry here.”

Ivy knew her jaw was gaping unattractively but couldn’t seem to close it. Jack recovered first. “Excuse me?”

“We will host your marriage ceremony here.” And then for the final kicker, “In two days.”

“B-but, we can’t,” Ivy stammered.

“Isn’t that a bit quick?” Jack asked.

“Why not?” All eyes turned to Daniel. “I think it’s a fantastic idea.”

Ice water rushed through Ivy’s veins. This could not be happening. She turned to Jack, who looked just as horrified by the sudden turn of events. Daniel on the other hand seemed completely unfazed. She couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from his face, from those cold, unfeeling eyes. What had happened to him? What had happened to
them
?

Daniel put down his fork and leaned back in his chair. “I think it’s a terrific idea,” he repeated.

Brunelli looked overwhelmed with excitement. “Yes, yes. It’s been too long since we’ve had a celebration in this household. It will be perfect.”

Ivy and Jack open their mouths to interrupt but he cut them off. “Don’t worry about a thing. My family and I will take care of everything. Every detail will be accounted for. It will be perfection.”

He launched into conversation with his daughters and nieces who seemed equally enthusiastic about the plan.

She and Jack shared a look of horror. This was spinning out of control. Were they really discussing marriage? As in
marriage
?

She shot Daniel a pleading look but it went unanswered. Whether he was pointedly ignoring her or was truly fascinated by the wedding planning going on around him was unclear. Rage began to replace her initial shock. How could he go along with this? How could he take Brunelli’s side? Didn’t it bother him at all that she would be marrying another man?

“No!”

All eyes turned to Ivy with varying shades of shock. All but Daniel. He was glaring at her like she was some disobedient child.

This could not be happening.

She turned to Jack who tried to intervene. “I think what Ivy means is, we have a plan of our own for the wedding and—”

“But Ivy told me you two haven’t started planning yet,” Lucia interrupted. All sweetness and wide eyed, Ivy had an urge to strangle her. It was true, the two women had been chatting over breakfast a few days before and the younger woman kept asking her questions about the wedding, where it would be, how many guests, what kind of flowers…Ivy had thought the safest answer would be ‘we haven’t even begun to think about it.’

She was wrong.

Jack turned to her with a look of panic that she was sure mirrored her own.

Ivy tried in vain to give reasons why a wedding in Tuscany would not be possible. Her family, first and foremost—Brunelli rushed to assure her that he would fly them all over here on his private jet. But what about her friends? He laughed, had she not heard the part about the private jet?

Jack tried, too, but all of their worries and concerns were waved away and their excuses to put off the wedding grew more and more absurd. Ivy was ready to kick Daniel she was so furious with him. All throughout the conversation, rather than taking their side, he did everything in his power to help convince them that Brunelli was right. He was all for the wedding.

She could see his mind ticking away; if they married, then and there, Brunelli would have absolutely no room left to procrastinate. It would be a done deal. For one paranoid moment she was convinced that he and Brunelli had concocted this scheme together. But she couldn’t bear the thought that he would plot against her or Jack like that. Even if he had been a jerk that afternoon, she still couldn’t bring herself to believe he’d go behind their backs.

Ivy made her excuses early; telling the two puppet masters that she had a lot to think over. It wasn’t long before there was a knock on her bedroom door. She knew who it would be before she opened the door.

“Can I come in?” Daniel asked.

Ivy’s lips were compressed into a thin line. She scanned the hallway in an exaggerated motion. “Aren’t you worried one of the Brunellis will catch you speaking with me?”

He pushed past her. “Listen, I know you’re upset—”

“Oh, really? How perceptive of you, Sherlock Holmes.”

“There’s no need to be snarky.” His condescending tone only added fuel to her fire.

“Don’t you dare tell me how to behave. Not here in my bedroom. You already pull all the strings out there.” She jabbed a finger toward the hallway. “But in here I am my own woman.”

He folded his arms and eyed her like she was a troublesome student. “This is the only way to finish this deal. Once it’s done, we’ll sign the deal and you can have the marriage annulled. Everyone will go their separate ways. No harm, no foul.”

She was staring at him in horror. “Is that what a wedding means to you? That’s what marriage is for you? A means to an end?” She was choking on pent up tears but refused to let him see her cry. “Well, in my world, a wedding means something. It’s—it’s
sacred
.”

“Ivy, you’re being childish,” he started.

She wouldn’t let him finish. “I’m being childish? You’re the one who is falling for these stupid games.” She jabbed a finger at his chest. “Don’t you get it? Brunelli is testing you. He’s testing
us
. He wants to see how far we’ll go to get his signature. He doesn’t want to see a loveless marriage any more than I do.”

Daniel’s face was somber and the look in his eyes unreadable. This was the man who had shown up at her door in Brooklyn, the man who had offered to pay for her silence. This was a stranger.

“I honestly don’t care what his motives are. He’s agreed that if this marriage occurs, he will sign the deal. No questions asked. The lawyers have already drawn up the paperwork. You can get an annulment immediately after the ceremony if you’d like.”

“If I’d like,” she repeated. “If
I’d
like. What about you, Daniel? What is it that you’d like? Do you really want to see me marry another man?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, Ivy, I don’t care who you marry once this deal is done. But for now, yes, I would like very much to watch you walk down the aisle to marry Jack.”

“I thought you....” She swallowed back tears and tried again. “I thought we had something. I thought you cared—”

His sigh of exasperation cut off her trail of words. “Listen, Ivy, I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression. It was stupid of me to sleep with you. I should have known you couldn’t handle it.” He made a face of disgust. “You still believe in fairy tales.”

Ivy gaped at him in horror. Who was this man? She tried to speak but couldn’t get past the lump in her throat. This Daniel was a stranger to her—a cruel, cold-hearted stranger.

“But I made it clear from the very beginning—nothing is going to get in the way of this merger going through. Certainly not some silly fling.”

She flinched. There was that word again. She couldn’t speak. If she opened her mouth she wouldn’t be able to keep the tears at bay. But he wasn’t done. “We had a deal, remember? You signed up to do everything that was required of you to make the merger a reality. If you bail on me now, our contract is null and void. There will be no money, no promotion—hell, you’ll be lucky if you have your old job waiting for you.”

She tried to will away the tears that were threatening to spill in the face of Daniel’s cold glare. Please stop talking. One more hurtful word from this man—the man she loved—it would be her undoing.

“You don’t mean that,” she said. He turned away from her but she moved to block his path. The anger she’d felt this afternoon was returning in full force. “I don’t know what’s happened to you. I don’t know why you’re acting like this. But I know this isn’t the real you. The Daniel I know would never be so cruel.”

“Do you really think you know me so well?” he mocked.

“Yes,” she shot back. “Or at least I thought I did.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. Maybe she was the one who had been wrong all along. Maybe
this
was the real Daniel and the man she’d had an affair with was a façade. He could have been using her all along. Hadn’t he told her from the beginning that he would do whatever it took to make this deal happen? What if that included seducing the infatuated idiot from Ohio?

“Did you...” her voice trailed off. She cleared her throat to try again. “Did you sleep with me to get me to play along with this charade?”

His silence was deafening. She searched his eyes for an emotion. Any emotion. But all she saw was the cold, hard glint of steel.

“Say something,” she whispered.

His answer was a shrug. “What do you want me to say? I told you from the very beginning that this was always about business.”

She struggled for a response. “I thought you cared about me.” She hated how weak her voice sounded compared to his matter-of-fact tone.

“You’re a little girl, Ivy. A little girl in love.”

Ivy opened her mouth to protest but she couldn’t. A little sob escaped her lips when she tried to speak. It was the truth. But the way he said it—it was an accusation. It was a damning judgment.

He laughed off her unspoken protest. “Oh, please. It’s written all over your face.”

Disbelief warred with anger. He was laughing at her. He had dealt a deathblow to her heart and now he was laughing at her?

“How can you do this to me?” The words were torn from her. Even she could hear the desperate sadness that laced her voice. Her heart was exposed and vulnerable…and this man could not care less.

He reached out a hand and brushed a curl back from her face in a pale imitation of tenderness. “I told you, Ivy. Everyone has a choice and you made yours. No one is forcing you to do anything.”

That touch was her undoing. The tears that had been threatening to spill finally fell and trickled down her cheeks. Still, he remained unfazed.

“You’re right, I did make my choice,” she said, forcing the words out despite the tremble in her voice. “I chose to go along with this farce for my parents’ sake and my own.” She swallowed the thick lump in her throat, all hope of maintaining pride long since gone. “I…I also chose you. I chose to give myself to you and to trust you. I—I chose to love you.”

The only reaction she got was a tick in his jaw and a weary exhale.

“I made my choice and now it seems you have made yours,” she continued. “You chose money over love and now you have to live with it.”

His lips curved into a scornful smile at that and the look he gave her could only be described as pitying. “Ivy. Don’t you get it? There was never a debate, no choice to be made. For men like me, it always comes down to business. Loving you was never even an option.”