Эль Кеннеди – Ruthless Revenge: Sweet Surrender: Seducing His Enemy's Daughter / Surrendering to the Vengeful Italian / Soldier Under Siege (страница 27)
Ella stared. ‘Your mother fell in love with him?’
Donato’s expression told her she was impossibly naïve. ‘He had a steady job and he was never violent. He cared for her and he was willing to accept me as well.’ He paused. ‘If you’d known our lives before you’d know how precious that was.’
Silently Ella nodded. As a nurse, she knew how tough life was for many. Yet, despite his time in prison, she’d never expected something like this was hiding in Donato’s past.
‘Did you like him?’
‘He protected my mother. And he gave us something like a normal life for years. I went to school, he worked and my mother cooked and cleaned. She smiled a lot too. Sometimes I even heard her sing.’ His expression softened. ‘She was beautiful, you know. Really beautiful. But life had worn her down. When we lived with Jack she blossomed.’
‘He sounds like a good man.’ At least Ella hoped he was.
Donato shrugged. ‘He had a short temper and an old-fashioned approach to discipline, but he never laid a hand on her.’ Something in his voice told Ella Donato would have put up with any amount of
‘He died when I was twelve and everything changed.’
‘What happened?’
‘He hadn’t left a will and his house went to a sister. My mother and I were out on the street and she took to prostitution again to support us. Social services found out and took me away.’ A muscle in his jaw spasmed. ‘I didn’t like being in care. I kept running away to find her. I didn’t last long in foster care. I got a reputation for being difficult.’
Ella tried to imagine Donato at twelve, parted from his mother for the first time. He was tenacious and strong and he obviously cared greatly for his mother. Of course he’d run away to look for her.
Her hand found his on the stone wall and he looked around, startled.
‘It’s too late for sympathy, Ella. I was a tough kid and it was a long time ago.’ Yet he didn’t move his hand.
‘Where is she now? In Melbourne?’ She’d bet one of the first things Donato had done when he became successful was provide for his mother.
‘She’s dead.’ The bald words stunned her.
‘Dead?’
He nodded. ‘Battered by a client.’ His voice dripped venom. ‘She died later of her injuries.’
‘Oh, Donato. I’m so sorry.’ Ella squeezed his hand. She remembered how lost she’d felt when her mother died. She couldn’t imagine the trauma of losing someone as a result of a violent crime. ‘How old were you?’
‘A teenager.’ Beneath her touch his hand tightened. Energy vibrated through him. ‘But I tracked him down when the police didn’t have enough evidence to convict him. I made him pay.’
‘That’s why you went to prison? You found the man responsible for your mother’s death?’
Donato nodded. ‘There was a problem with the scientific evidence and the only witness was another prostitute. The lawyers made mincemeat of her evidence and he walked free.’
Ella struggled to absorb it all. She’d thought Donato might have tried to protect someone in that fight. Now she realised it hadn’t been protection but vengeance that motivated him.
Or guilt because he hadn’t been able to save his mother?
Ella exhaled. She thought she’d had a tough childhood!
‘Heard enough of my disreputable past yet?’
‘Did you find him again after you left prison?’
Donato shook his head. ‘I learned a lot behind bars. Including that I didn’t want to serve a life sentence for murder. Anyway, when I got out I heard he’d died in a car crash.’
Relief made Ella dizzy. ‘Prison changed your life.’
‘Definitely. I realised education was the key to turning myself around. That plus hard work and a willingness to take risks.’
‘It’s amazing what you’ve achieved.’ Yet her mind wasn’t on his commercial success. It was still boggling at his past.
‘I was lucky. I was mentored when I left the justice system, part of a young-offenders programme. One mentor led to another and some opportunities opened up for me. I learned a lot and dedicated myself to taking charge of my life, getting some control.’
He made it sound easy. Ella could only guess at the struggle it must have been with a criminal record. ‘You must have dreamed big.’
‘Always.’ His other hand covered hers. ‘Have you heard enough?’ Despite his light tone, there was no mistaking the strain on his features.
‘Thank you for telling me. I...’ Ella shook her head. She felt overwhelmed, not only by what he’d revealed but by the fact he trusted her with such intimate details. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
‘You think I’m worried about that?’ He looked big and bold and forbidding, as if the world could spit in his eye and he’d take it in his stride. Now she understood a little of what made him that way. ‘Besides—’ his voice lowered to something like a caress ‘—I know you, Ella. You’ve got too much integrity to gossip about my private life.’
Ella looked into those serious eyes and wondered. Was it integrity to keep her father’s true character from Donato? Shouldn’t she at least warn him that Reg Sanderson was as slimy as any sewer rat, and totally untrustworthy?
ELLA’S DELIGHTED CHUCKLE took Donato by surprise.
‘What are you laughing at?’ Women didn’t find him amusing in bed. Yet his mouth curved at the sound. Her delight was infectious.
An hour ago, telling Ella about his mother’s death, he hadn’t imagined laughing again so soon.
He’d laughed more these last two months than he had in years.
She traced her index finger over his chest, trawling down to circle his nipple. He sucked in his breath as desire shafted through him, tightening his groin and his muscles as he leaned over her.
‘The fact we actually made it to your bed and we’re naked. Usually we don’t get this far the first time. Or if we do, we’re still half dressed.’ Ella’s silver-blue eyes danced and Donato was as intrigued as ever by their beauty.
There wasn’t one thing about Ella he didn’t find intriguing. From her lush mouth to her delicious body and her tendency to cover it rather than flaunt it in revealing clothes. Then there were her smart tongue, her quick wit and her love of her career. The more he heard about her work, the more he realised it was part of her, caring for others. She took pride in what she did, yet was curiously defensive about it.
‘I thought you’d appreciate the comfort of a mattress.’ His smile widened as he lifted his hand to her breast, mirroring her movement against his body, watching her expression as he tweaked her nipple.
He loved the way she responded so honestly, giving freely even as she demanded everything from him.
Donato pushed her thighs further apart and sank between them.
‘Don’t get too used to the bed,
He took her nipple in his mouth and she arched high, gasping. She tasted of apricots, warm from the summer sun, and her skin’s light floral scent was a heady draught for his senses.
Beneath him Ella shifted needily. ‘I like the fact you’re so...thorough.’
‘Always,
Except he’d never needed a woman as much and as often as he did Ella. He’d never known such unflagging desire.
He’d always been a discriminating lover—not surprising, given his mother’s experiences. But this felt different to any previous sexual relationship. Nothing matched the pleasure he found with Ella. Whenever she gave herself to him it was so good.
Better than good.
The best he’d ever known.
That must explain why he took such inordinate care and time now. Why he concentrated as much energy and focus on pleasuring her as he did on finalising any of his multi-million-dollar deals. He wanted to fill Ella’s senses till there was only him. He wanted her screaming his name as she flew apart beneath him, around him. He wanted her abandoned and sated.
Restless fingers burrowed through his hair. ‘Kiss me, Donato. Please.’
He relinquished her breast with one final lingering lick and was rewarded with a sigh of delight. He lifted himself higher, looked down into her flushed face and stalled, his heart thumping.
Her eyes had lost that glimmer of humour. Even the desire he was accustomed to seeing had been eclipsed. Instead that diamond-bright glitter looked awash, glazed with tears, and her expression...he couldn’t name it. It was more than arousal. More than sexual excitement. It was tender and sad and hopeful and a million things he couldn’t name.
Because he’d never seen them in any woman’s eyes before.
Except there was something there that reminded him of his mother when he’d been tiny and she’d cradled his skinny frame close, telling him everything would be all right, despite her bruises and his empty belly.
Emotion scoured him. His chest heaved and tightened.
How had sex morphed into
She grabbed his shoulders, her legs lifting to wrap around his waist, stopping him when he would have moved further away.