The Escort - By Gina Robinson Page 0,39

thoughts gave away his inebriated state.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm no good at loving people, Angelina. Less so at protecting them." He stroked her hair. "Do you hear what I'm saying? Maybe I'm as warped as the man who raised me, unable to really love."

"I don't believe that," she said.

"Believe it. Did I tell you that just before he died, my uncle told me that he, not his brother, was really my father? I was so angry with Sebastion. I broke that old man's heart because I couldn't accept the truth from the man who treated me like a son, who loved me. I am a bastard." He leaned into her.

He ran his fingers lightly through Angelina's loose hair in a tender, lover-like gesture and stared at the gold cross she nervously played with. Under his appraisal she stopped her fidgeting. "My mother had a necklace very much like that one. She never took it off, even though she owned far finer jewelry. I always wondered what happened to it after she died."

He dropped his hand from her hair and lifted the necklace from her fingers. He studied it closely for a moment, then gently set it against her bosom. "It was probably a gift from Sebastian. Likely, my father melted it down after her death.

"My father is a bastard, as you like to put it. But he is one of the best men I know. More should be like him." Angelina put her hand on Tonio's arm. She wanted to take him in her arms and comfort him but wasn't brave enough.

She held up her gold cross. "How do you think my family came to own such a valuable treasure? My grandmother gave this to me when I was small. She told me it was a gift of true love, that someday I would find a man that loved me as much as the man that gave it to her loved her. I believed her. You could call me a fool.

"When I was older, I found out it was a gift to her from her lover, a wealthy landowner, a married one. She worked for him when she was very young. She got pregnant. His wife forced her to leave. He gave her this necklace in parting."

He pulled her close once again. "You didn't have to give up your family skeletons for my sake. That's the difference between us. You give love and comfort where you can. And me?? He leaned down as if to kiss her. "I can't save you from this damned arranged marriage of yours."

He kissed her but it was a rough, drunken kiss, fueled by alcohol and frustration. When he released her, she rose shakily.

"Not like this, Tonio. Good night."

The next day, as Tonio sat next to her poring over a long report filled with numbers, Angelina marveled at how easily they picked their routine back up. Tonio apologized for his behavior of the night before, stating as obvious defense his drunkenness. She accepted with the distinct feeling that his past was no longer open for discussion and he hadn't told her all he'd meant to.

He'd regained control of himself easily. At breakfast, he appeared freshly shaven, without any signs of suffering a hangover, or any genuine embarrassment for his confessions or actions. He ate a hearty breakfast, then spent the next two hours tutoring her in English, both pronunciation and writing, as he had for the last several days. Then he retreated to his mining reports.

Though she was curious about them, there was no use peering surreptitiously over his shoulder to read them. They were written in technical terms in English. She recognized few of the words. Seated in his lap was a leather bound ledger. From time to time he entered numbers into its neat columns.

"What are you working on?"

He was so absorbed in his work that she had to repeat the question twice before he looked up. He continued copying numbers as he spoke. "Assay reports for the Jupiter."

"I thought you were a miner, not an accountant." She nodded toward the ledger.

"I'm a mine owner. That makes me bookkeeper, miner, slave."

"Tell me about your mine, Tonio."

"You must be bored. No one opens that topic with me willingly."

She shrugged.

"What do you want to know?"

"How you got it, what it's worth, how much money you make from it."

He laughed. "You'll be sorry you asked." He set his reports aside. "I bought in as a minority partner last winter before leaving for New York, for

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