by Maya Banks
“Tell me, Dante,” she urged, because despite all the progress, despite their closeness, sometimes with Dante she had to. “Please, tell me what you were thinking.”
“That I loved her.” He was watching her closely for her reaction, an apology on the tip of his tongue, but he held it back as she smiled. “Is it OK to say that to you?”
“It’s more than OK, Dante,” came Matilda’s heartfelt answer. “It’s exactly how it should be.”
“I know we had our faults, I know that it probably wouldn’t have worked, but sometimes when I see Alex laughing now, sometimes when she is being cheeky or funny, I can actually see Jasmine in her and finally I am able to remember the good bits. Finally I know that she is in a peaceful place. I know that she is proud of the choices I have made, and it’s all because of you.”
She didn’t even attempt to hide her tears, just leant on him as he spoke on.
“It’s right to move on, right that we make a new start, with our little family.”
“But just because we’re looking to the future, it doesn’t mean we have to shut out the past,” Matilda assured him. “Even Katrina seems to have come around.”
She had. In the tumultuous weeks that had followed their revelation, it would have been so easy to hate her, but in the end Matilda had seen Katrina for what she was, a mother that was grieving, a mother terrified of the world moving on and leaving her daughter’s memories behind. And slowly the tide had turned. Alex’s stunning progress, Dante’s respect, coupled with Matilda’s patience, had won the coldest heart around.
“We need to do this,” Dante affirmed. “We need to make new memories, build new gardens and look to the future...” He didn’t finish, the words knocked from him as a very jealous young lady flung her arms around both of them, eyeing her new brother with blatant disapproval as she demanded to join in the cuddle.
“Together.” Matilda laughed, scooping up Alex, closing her eyes in bliss as the little girl rained kisses on her face. “We’ll do it together.”
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781459234673
THE MISTRESS
Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
THE MISTRESS
(Previously published as THE TYCOON’S PREGNANT MISTRESS)
Copyright © 2009 by Maya Banks
WANTED: MISTRESS AND MOTHER
Copyright © 2006 by The SAL Marinelli Trust Fund
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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