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Wearing The De Angelis Ring
CATHY WILLIAMS
Falling for her fiancé?Tycoon Theo De Angelis lives life by his rules only…until a family debt nds him forced to propose the only merger he’s never chased – matrimony! Beautiful, inexperienced Alexa Caldini may be nothing like his usual blonde bombshell ‘type’, but that doesn’t mean their marriage bed must grow cold…Forced to marry the son of her father’s rival, Alexa is determined to impose certain ground rules on their inconvenient arrangement. Absolutely no emotions and definitely no physical relationship! But wearing the De Angelis ring is easier than facing the unexpected temptations of actually becoming Theo’s wife. How long before Alexa’s rules go up in smoke?
‘Are you suggesting that I actually want you to … to …?’
‘Kiss you? That’s exactly what I’m suggesting …’
‘Then you couldn’t be further from the mark!’ Alexa snapped, blushing furiously and hating him for reminding her of their kiss, which she would rather have forgotten. ‘I’m fine with you being …being attentive when we’re out together, but the last thing I want is to be kissed by you! Do you know something, Theo De Angelis? You’re the most egotistic, arrogant man I have ever met!’
‘I know. I think you told me already. But you make a valid point … just in case …’
She sensed what he was about to do and yet it still took her by surprise, and this time there was an urgency to his kiss that hadn’t been there before. His mouth assailed her, his tongue seeking out hers.
The Italian Titans (#ulink_7538cffc-8346-557b-932f-cc5f169ddaf2)
Temptation personified!
Theo and Daniel De Angelis have never wanted for anything. These influential Italians command empires and conduct every liaison on their terms … until now.
Because these enigmatic tycoons are about to face their greatest challenge in the most unlikely of forms— two gorgeous girls with demands of their own!
Find out what happens next in:
Theo’s Story:
Wearing the De Angelis Ring
January 2016
Daniel’s Story:
The Surprise De Angelis Baby
February 2016
Wearing the
De Angelis Ring
Cathy Williams
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CATHY WILLIAMS can remember reading Mills & Boon Modern Romance books as a teenager, and now that she is writing them she remains an avid fan. For her, there is nothing like creating romantic stories and engaging plots, and each and every book is a new adventure. Cathy lives in London and her three daughters—Charlotte, Olivia and Emma—have always been, and continue to be, the greatest inspiration in her life.
Contents
Cover (#ubd9303b8-4936-557d-a759-75b1da9fb256)
Introduction (#u2bb4cf5e-d958-55c9-93c8-b12884cbdd7d)
The Italian Titans (#u9c51b5d2-679c-536d-94c9-4778c510a6ff)
Title Page (#u86e6506f-f328-5370-915b-e38dfd54ca2f)
About the Author (#u3c4153ca-c22a-5702-a9ed-502377d29115)
CHAPTER ONE (#uca827a03-8c7e-5994-b32c-aff37cba8f70)
CHAPTER TWO (#u3b347f87-f3bd-5ceb-bff1-697569ab562c)
CHAPTER THREE (#ucec4f96e-8c29-595f-92e8-f703e3713523)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_2f56fd58-28f1-5bff-9b28-28d1f06e8dc9)
‘YOU’RE NOT GOING to like what I’m about to say.’
The very second Stefano had called his son and told him that he needed to speak with him as a matter of urgency, Theo had dropped everything and taken the first flight over to Italy, to his father’s enormous estate just outside Rome.
Stefano De Angelis was not a man given to drama, and both Theo and his brother, Daniel, had spent the past five years worrying about him. He had never really recovered from the death of his wife, their mother, Rose. The power house who had built a personal fortune from scratch had collapsed into himself, retreating to the sanctuary of his den, immune to the efforts of both his sons to pull him out of his grief. He had continued to eat, sleep, talk and walk, but his soul had departed, leaving only a physical shell behind.
What, Theo thought now, was he about to hear?
Cold fear gripped him.
‘Have you asked Daniel as well?’ He prowled through the huge sitting room, idly gazing through the window to the sprawling lawns, before finally taking a seat opposite his father.
‘This situation does not concern your brother,’ Stefano returned, his dark eyes sidestepping his son’s piercing green ones.
Theo breathed a sigh of relief. If Daniel hadn’t been likewise summoned, then at least a health crisis could be discounted. He had been tempted to phone his brother on the back of his father’s summons, but had resisted the impulse because he knew that Daniel was in the throes of a balancing act: trying to close a major deal and a minor love affair at the same time.
The deal, his brother had confided several days ago, when he had called from his penthouse apartment in Sydney, was a walk in the park compared to the woman who had been making noises about taking what they had ‘one step further’, and didn’t show any promise of retreating without putting up a fight.
‘So tell me... What am I not going to like to hear?’ Theo encouraged.
‘As you are well aware, son...’ Stefano’s hooded dark eyes gazed off into the distance ‘...things have not been good with me since your mother died. When my beloved Rose went, she took a big part of me with her.’
‘Of us all.’
‘But you and your brother are young. I, on the other hand, am an old man—and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. Perhaps if her death hadn’t been so sudden... Perhaps if I had had time to get used to the idea of her absence...’ He sighed. ‘But this is not why I called you here, Theo. To moan and complain about something that cannot be changed. I called you here because during the time that I was...shall we say mentally not present, certain unfortunate things took place within the company.’
Theo stilled. His keen eyes noted the nervous play of his father’s entwined fingers. His father was the least nervous man he had ever known.
‘Unfortunate things...?’
‘There has been some substantial mismanagement,’ Stefano declared bluntly. ‘And worse, I am afraid. Alfredo, my trusted co-director, has been involved in large-scale embezzlement which has only recently been drawn to my attention. It’s a wonder the press hasn’t got hold of it. The upshot, Theo, is that vast sums of money—including most of the pension funds—have been hijacked.’
Theo sat back, his lean, handsome face revealing nothing of what was going through his mind.
It was a problem, yes—but a serious one? Not really. At any rate nothing that he couldn’t handle.
‘If you’re worried about the man getting what he deserves, then you can leave that to me,’ Theo asserted with cold confidence, his sharp, analytical brain already formulating ways in which payback could be duly extracted. ‘And if you’re worried about the lost money, then likewise. It will be nothing for me to return what’s been misappropriated. No one will ever know.’
‘It’s not that easy, Theo.’
And Theo knew that now they were approaching the heart of the problem—the reason why he had been summoned.
‘I would never ask either you or Daniel for financial assistance!’ Stefano glowered, his fighting spirit temporarily restored as he contemplated the unthinkable. ‘You boys have made your own way in the world and my pride would never allow me to run to either of you with my begging bowl...’
Theo shook his head in frustration at his father’s pride—which, he had to concede, both he and Daniel had inherited in bucketloads. ‘It would not have been a question of—’
‘I’m afraid I went to Carlo Caldini,’ Stefano said abruptly. ‘There was no choice. The bank was not an option—not when there was a significant chance that they would turn down my request. If that had happened, then the business... Well, what can I say? Everything your mother and I built would have been thrown into the public arena to be picked over by hyenas! At least with Carlo we can keep this between us...’
Theo pressed the pads of his thumbs against his eyes.
Carlo Caldini had once been his father’s closest friend and now, for longer than he could remember, was his fiercest adversary. The fact that he had seen fit to go to Carlo for help threatened to bring on a raging headache.
There was absolutely no doubt that whatever his father was going to tell him Theo was not going to want to hear it.
‘And what’s his price?’ he asked, because there was no such thing as a free lunch—and when the lunch was with a sworn enemy then it was going to be the opposite of free.
Exorbitant was the word that sprang to mind.
Stefano fidgeted. ‘You’re not getting any younger, Theo. You’re thirty-two years old! Your mother dearly wished that she would see one of you boys settled... It wasn’t to be...’
‘I’m not following you...’
‘All of this unravelled over eight months ago,’ Stefano said heavily. ‘During that time it proved impossible to repay the loan. It’s been an uphill struggle just picking apart the extent of the losses and dealing with Alfredo...’
‘And you kept it all to yourself!’
‘There seemed little point in worrying you or your brother.’
‘Just tell me what ruinous interest rates Carlo has imposed and I’ll deal with it.’
‘Here is the part you may not like, son...’
‘I’m all ears.’
When it came to money there was nothing Theo couldn’t buy, and naturally he would pay the bill without complaint—although he was furious with his father for thinking it necessary to seek help outside the direct family circle.
Pride.
‘As you know, Carlo has a daughter. An only child. Sadly there were to be no sons for him.’
Even in the thick of disclosing what he knew his son would not want to hear Stefano couldn’t quite conceal the smugness in his voice, and Theo raised his eyebrows wryly. He had never known what had caused the enmity between his father and Carlo, but he suspected that the lifelong grudge stemmed from something ridiculously insignificant.
‘What has that got to do with anything?’ he asked, frankly bewildered at the tangent his father had taken.
‘Alexa... I think you may have met her... Or perhaps not... Well, it seems that the girl is not yet married, and Carlo...’ Stefano shrugged. ‘He is saddened at that—as I would be had I had a daughter... So part of the repayment schedule—which, in fairness to that sly old fox, is more lenient than at any bank—is that you help him out of his predicament with Alexa. In other words, Theo, I have promised him your hand in marriage to the girl...’
* * *
Alexa glared down at the outfit her mother had laid out for her to wear.
Something ‘suitable’ to meet a man she had no wish to meet, far less marry. A wildly ridiculous frothy dress in startling blue that swept down to the ankles with a plunging neckline and an even more ridiculously plunging back.
She was to be paraded in front of Theo De Angelis like a sacrificial lamb.
She wanted to storm out of the house, head for the nearest port and take a boat to the opposite end of the world—where she would hide out for maybe ten years, until this whole ludicrous situation had been sorted out.
Without her involvement.
At first, when her father had sat her down and told her that she was to be married to a De Angelis, she had thought that he was joking.
An arranged marriage? In this day and age? To a son of the man with whom he had had a stupid, simmering feud for thirty-five years? What else could it have been but a joke?
That had been a week ago—plenty long enough for her to discover that her father had been deadly serious.
‘The poor man is in serious financial trouble.’ Carlo Caldini had opened up to her in an attempt to pull at her heartstrings. He had looked at her with a sad expression and mournful eyes. ‘True, he and I have not seen eye to eye over the years...’
‘All thirty-five of them, Papà...’
‘But in the end who else does one turn to but a friend? I would have done the same in his position...’
Alexa had been baffled at this show of seemingly heart-wrenching empathy, but if her father had deemed it fit to rush to the rescue of a man he had spent over three decades deriding, then so be it. What did it have to do with her?
Everything, as it had transpired.
She had been bartered like a...a...piece of meat!
