The Inheritance (The Donatelli Series) (14 page)

The maid unpacked for Blade and then went to help Maria.

Blade stood in Maria’s open doorway and watched her settle into her room. “Blade, this furniture is exquisite.”

“It’s French,” said Margaret, the maid. “The yellow room is Italian.”

Blade and Maria went down the hall to see. “Oh, look,” Maria said on a sigh. “My mother would die for furniture like this. The secretary is outstanding, and the bed... who wouldn’t love sleeping in that beautiful bed.”

Blade made a mental note to put that furniture in the guest room at his house, for Sophia. He took several pictures of the Italian room with his new digital camera. “We’ll keep this.”

There were two other bedrooms on this floor. One had a big four-poster bed with sheer fabric draped around the top and the four corners. The armoire and dresser and bench coordinated perfectly. The brocade bedspread looked a little dressy for a kid Molly’s age, but it matched the bench. There was even a little dressing table in the corner. Perfect for a girl’s room. “We’ll keep this, too.”

The other bedroom had a gleaming cherry sleigh bed and matching armoire. A small chest served as a lamp table between two overstuffed armchairs covered in the same chintz fabric as the bedspread. “Would Angelo and Teresa like this?”

“I’m sure they’d love it, Blade. It’s beautiful.”

They walked down to the other end of the floor, to Blade’s room.

“I don’t much care for the furniture in this room, Blade. It’s okay in here, but it takes a huge room and a high ceiling to pull this off. It’s too formal for you anyway.”

He didn’t care for it either, and the buyers had offered to purchase everything in this room, including the painting over the bed.

Maria opened a door off the hallway and found a linen closet the size of a small bedroom. The wide upper shelves were labeled with the size sheets and the rooms they were meant for. Coordinating towels were stacked beside the sheets. Deep lower shelves held blankets, quilts, and comforters. “There must be at least six dozen sets of sheets in here, and look at the towels. There’s enough here to supply a hotel.” She ran her hand over the softest sheets she’d ever touched. “This is a wonderful find.”

“We’ll keep the sheets and towels for the sleigh bedroom for Angelo and Teresa, give a few sets to your mother, and keep some for ourselves.”

Maria heard something in his tone of voice and in the words he used to know something wasn’t quite right. His thoughts today had been on his new house and the work that had to be done here, in his grandfather’s house. It was almost as if he’d been blocking his real thoughts. She crossed her arms and gazed deeply into his eyes.

I want to marry you, Maria. I want to make a home for you and your children. I want to give you a happy life.

“Blade, I’ll help you find someone to—”

Without looking away, he shook his head. “Gerry found something in the will. I have to marry before my fortieth birthday, and that’s May second. I’m running out of time.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Marry
him?

“You wouldn’t let me go out on the street looking for a hooker or bag lady to marry, would you?”

“This isn’t funny,” she snapped.

“Lila would have married me.”

“Cara’s maid?”

“
Former
maid. She heard things in the house and used them to try to seduce me. Not that I wasn’t tempted—every single guy is looking for his next lay—but I was holding out for a better offer.”

Maria turned back to the linens. She couldn’t discuss this without caving in, and the only impulsive decision she’d ever made had given her a baby that wasn’t her husband’s. “What color towels do you like?”

“Whatever you want in our bedroom and bathroom is fine, Maria.”

She felt the heat from his body behind her, and then his hands gently ran down her arms to her hands. He brought her hands back to his hips and then unbuttoned her blouse and reached inside. She inhaled sharply, but didn’t pull away. His hand felt rough, yet gentle, and his sensuous touch made her skin tingle.

“We’d make beautiful children together, Maria. Girls with their mother’s beauty and gentleness, and boys with a fascination for motorcycles.”

“I already have a boy with a fascination for motorcycles.”

“Then we’ll make another one,” he said, brushing kisses on her neck.

She felt herself weakening, but she couldn’t move away. He rubbed his erection against her behind, and she leaned back into him and turned her head toward him. The first kiss was so hot it burned through her entire body, and she knew without a doubt that they’d make love tonight. This was the real reason he brought her to New York. He wanted to seduce her.

If she didn’t agree to marry him, would he still want to make love to her? Did she want him to make love to her? Yes, but she wasn’t convinced that marriage was a good idea. Still, she’d never again have to worry about how to support her children.

He took her into her bedroom and locked the door. “This isn’t a good idea, Blade. I don’t know you well enough to sleep with you and I certainly don’t know you well enough to marry you.”

He straightened her clothes and buttoned her blouse, and without another word, he left the room. She couldn’t hear his thoughts, but she knew she’d hurt his feelings. Instead of bringing her here, he should have been looking for another woman.

Did she want him to find another woman?

Maria ran a hot bath and sank into the bubbles, soaking away the tiredness from the trip and the feel of Blade’s big, rough hands on her body. If he loved her, her decision would be an easy one, but Blade didn’t love her. He wanted to use her to accomplish a goal.

She could use him the same way. She could live in a nice house, Robbie could go to a private school where bright children were challenged, and Molly could have a bathroom she didn’t have to share with her brothers. If they had a prenuptial agreement with a specified amount going to her if the marriage failed, she’d never have to worry about paying the bills again.

A slight breeze stirred the bubbles in the tub, and Blade stood in her bathroom doorway. With a slight smile, he walked over and sat on the side of the tub. Reaching through the bubbles, he ran his hand over her breasts and then leaned down to kiss her.

“The cook is bringing dinner up in a half-hour. She said she’d speak with you in the morning about the menu for the week.”
I told her we were getting married.

“Don’t do that.”

Do what?

“Get into my head.”

He dipped his head for another kiss. “Honey, I want to get into more than your head.”
Marriage to you would be heaven. Let’s make a baby. Let’s make five babies.

“Five?”

“How about two?”

“I’m not even sure I can make one, Blade. I’ve had four miscarriages. If you want children of your own, you should look for another woman. Find someone to build a family with.”

“I have found someone, Maria.”
I found you.

He kept talking about marriage, but he’d never once mentioned love, not even in his thoughts. Maria gazed into his blue eyes and wanted to tell him she’d marry him, but she couldn’t. Maybe it was selfish of her to deprive her kids of the stability that money would bring, but she wanted more. She wanted love, the deep, passionate, soul mates kind of love her parents had.

“What’s this?” Blade wiped a tear off her cheek, and she hadn’t even realized she was crying.

“I’m just tired.”

“Nah. You’re afraid you’ll pass up the chance of a lifetime and I’ll marry a hooker or a bag lady. You don’t want to lose me, do you?”

“No.”

Then marry me.

“I can’t, Blade.” She wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear, but marriage was hard enough when people started out loving each other. She wouldn’t set herself up for another failed marriage.

You don’t love me, Blade.

“Oh, my God,” Blade whispered. “I
heard
that.”

“Heard what?”

“That I don’t love you. Maria, I care for you more than I’ve ever cared for anyone. I admire you and respect you, I lust after your gorgeous body, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If that’s love, then I love you. I need you, honey. I don’t have time to find another woman, and I don’t want to find another one. I want you.”

Maria stood and let the bubbles slide off her body. She couldn’t listen to this without doing something she knew she’d regret in the morning. Why had she agreed to come here? It was foolish to be in this house with him when she was so confused about her feelings.

Blade wrapped one towel around her shoulders and wiped her breasts with another. She closed her eyes and felt every gentle stroke, and then she felt his mouth tug at her left nipple. Running her fingers through his hair, she held his head there, while he stroked her hot body with the towel.

Could she love Blade if he didn’t love her back? She couldn’t control how she felt, but she could control what she did about it. There wasn’t enough money in the world to marry a man who didn’t love her. Still, she could give the kids a better life and a full-time father. Blade wouldn’t beat them down like Fred always had.

Had she gone crazy? She couldn’t consider marriage now. Jumping into a marriage when you were nineteen and naïve was one thing. Doing it with kids, knowing what could happen if things didn’t work out, wouldn’t just be risky. It would be foolish.

She gazed into Blade’s eyes and asked a question without words.
Would you marry me without the inheritance?

I don’t know, Maria.

“This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had,” said Blade. “Can you do it with anyone else?”

“With my mother sometimes, but until now, she was the only one.”

He grinned. “There’s a message in that. It means we were made for each other.”

You’re crazy.

I want to make love to you, Maria. Give us one night together, honey, and I’ll show you how good it can be.

Don’t hurt me, Blade.

I don’t want to hurt you, honey. I want to make love to you.

But you don’t love me.

I don’t know what love is. Will you teach me, Maria?

Someone tapped on the bedroom door, and Blade pulled the bathroom door closed so Maria could get dressed.

He needed a wife, and with five weeks until his birthday, he was running out of time. If he couldn’t convince Maria to marry him, he could kiss the rest of his inheritance goodbye, including a place on the board of his grandfather’s company.

The cook wheeled in a cart with their dinner. Blade breathed deeply. “It smells wonderful, Bridget.”

“Thank you, Mr. Banner.”

“I thought you’d found a job elsewhere.”

“It didn’t work out. If the new people don’t want me I’ll have to find a new place to live and work.” She cocked her head. “You wouldn’t happen to need someone out your way, would you?”

“Do you clean or just cook?”

“Oh, I help Margaret out with the cleaning all the time.”

Blade told her what she wanted to hear. “I’ll talk it over with Maria.” If Maria didn’t want a full-time cook and housekeeper, Cara might be able to use her. Bridget was a nice woman who’d probably fit in quite well with the other members of Cara’s staff.

Bridget beamed. “Thank you, sir.”

<>

Sophia spoke with Maria on the phone and assured her that everything was fine at home. Molly could be a handful, but she never gave her grandmother any trouble.

Daisy stretched out on the back of the sofa, watching out the window for her boys. She was a cute little dog, and she’d helped the boys get through the hard times.

Maria worried her the most. She’d gone off with this man. Blade was hiding something from her, and Sophia didn’t like secrets. He wasn’t what he seemed. At one time she thought of him as simply another rough biker, but there were deeper layers to the man, layers of pain and loneliness, of striving for something just out of his reach.