Deserving of His Diamonds

He had got it wrong. Horribly, terribly, unforgivably wrong.

He had been so adamant about it, so stubborn. He had not listened to

Gisele‘s protestations of innocence. She had begged and pleaded with him to

believe in her but he had not. She had cried. She had screamed. She had

pummelled at his chest with tears pouring down her face and yet he had

walked away. He had cut her ruthlessly from his life just days before they

were to be married. He had cut all contact with her. He had sworn on his life

he would never see or speak to her again. And yet she had been innocent.

His gut clenched with guilt and shame. He had always prided himself on

never making an error of judgement. He aimed for perfection in every area

of his life. But this time he had got it wrong—horribly, terribly, unforgivably

wrong.

THE OUTRAGEOUS SISTERS

The twin sisters everyone‘s talking about!

Separated by secrets …

Having grown up in different families, Gisele and Sienna live lives that are

worlds apart. Then a very public revelation propels them into the world‘s

eye …

Drawn together by scandal!

Now the sisters have found each other—but are they at risk of losing their

hearts to the two men who are determined to peel back the layers of their

glittering façades?

This month Gisele will find out if she really is

DESERVING OF HIS DIAMONDS?

Look out for Sienna‘s story, coming soon from Mills & Boon® Modern™

Romance!

About the Author

From as soon as MELANIE MILBURNE could pick up a pen, she knew she

wanted to write. It was when she picked up her first Harlequin Mills and

Boon novel at seventeen that she realised she wanted to write romance.

Distracted for a few years by meeting and marrying her own handsome hero,

surgeon husband Steve, and having two boys, plus completing a masters in

education and becoming a nationally ranked athlete (masters swimming) she

decided to write. Five submissions later she sold her first book and is now a

multi-published bestselling, awardwinning USA TODAY author. In 2008,

she won the Australian Readers Association‘s most popular category/series

romance, and in 2011 she won the prestigious Romance Writers of Australia

R*BY award.

Melanie loves to hear from her readers via her website,

www.melaniemilburne.com.au, or on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/pages/MelanieMilburne/351594482609.

Recent titles by the same author:

HIS POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL THE WEDDING CHARADE

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

SHOCK: ONE-NIGHT HEIR

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

SCANDAL: UNCLAIMED LOVE-CHILD

(The Sabbatini Brothers)

Did you know these are also available as eBooks?

Deserving Of His Diamonds?

Melanie Milburne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Carol Marinelli—

not just a fellow author

but also a fabulous and fun friend. XX

EMILIO was sitting in a café in Rome not far from his office when he

finally found out the truth. His chest seized as he read the article about twin

girls who had been separated at birth due to an illegal adoption. The article

was journalism at its best: an intriguing and poignant account of how

identical twins had finally been reunited, quite by chance, after a shop

attendant mistook one for the other in a Sydney department store.

One mistaken for the other …

Emilio ignored his coffee and sat back in his chair and looked out at the

bustling city crowds wandering past. Tourists and workers, young and old,

married and single —everyone going about their business, totally unaware of

the shock that was consuming him until he could scarcely breathe.

It hadn‘t been Gisele in the sex tape.

His throat felt as if a spanner were going down sideways. He had been so

adamant about it, so stubborn. He had not listened to Gisele‘s protestations

of innocence. He had refused to listen. She had begged and pleaded with him

to believe in her, but he had not.

He had got it wrong.

She had cried. She had screamed. She had pummelled at his chest with tears

pouring down her face, and yet he had walked away. He had cut all contact

with her. He had sworn on his life he would never see or speak to her again.

He had got it wrong.

Emilio‘s company had almost folded over the scandal.

He‘d had to work so hard to get back to where he was today. Eighteen-hour,

sometimes twenty-four-hour days, sleepless nights, endless travel, jet lag so

bad he didn‘t sleep properly any more, no matter how utterly exhausted he

was. He went from project to project like an automaton, putting in the hours,

signing up the deals, paying off the debts and then finally banking the

millions, his drive to succeed knowing no bounds. And for all this time he

had blamed Gisele. He had fuelled his hatred of her every day since. It had

festered inside him like a gangrenous wound. He had felt it in every pore of

his body. Every time he had thought of her the temperature of his wrath had

risen. It had burned like a roaring furnace deep inside him. It had blazed like

wild flames through his veins. Some days it had almost consumed him. It

had been like a fever he could not control. His gut clenched with a fist of

guilt. He had always prided himself on never making an error of judgement.

He aimed—some would say ruthlessly—for perfection in every area of his

life. Failure was anathema to him.

And yet with Gisele he had got it wrong.

Emilio looked at his phone. He still had her number in his contacts. He had

left it there as a reminder to trust no one, to let no one under his guard. He

had never thought of himself as the sentimental type, but when he brought

her details to the screen his fingers shook slightly as they hovered over her

name. Somehow calling out of the blue to say sorry didn‘t seem the right

way to handle things. He owed her a face-to-face apology. It was the least he

could do. He wanted to erase that mistake, to draw a line through it and

move on with his life.

He clicked on his phone‘s rapid dial instead and called his secretary. ‗Carla,

cancel all of my appointments for the next week and get me a flight to

Sydney as soon as you can,‘ he said. ‗I have some urgent business to see to

there.‘ Gisele was showing a first time mother the handmade christening

gown she had embroidered when Emilio Andreoni came in. Seeing him

standing there, so tall, so out of place in her baby clothes boutique made her

heart leap to her throat like a gymnast on an overused trampoline. She had

practised this day over in her head just in case he took it upon himself to

apologise once he found out about her long-lost identical twin. She had

imagined how vindicated she would feel that he would have to admit he had

got it wrong about her. She had imagined she would look at him and feel

nothing, nothing but the bitter hatred of him for his cruel and ruthless

rejection and his inexcusable lack of trust. And yet that first glimpse of him

sent a shockwave through her that made her feel as if the floor beneath her

feet were suddenly shifting. Emotions she had bolted down with bitter

determination suddenly popped against their restraints. One by one she could

feel them spreading through her, making her chest ache with the weight of

them. How could it physically hurt to see someone face to face? How could

her heart feel pain like a stab wound at seeing his tall, imposing frame

standing there? How could her insides clench and twist when his coal-black

eyes met hers? Gisele had seen him in the press several times since their

break-up and although each time it had made her feel a tight sort of ache, it

had felt nothing like the raw, claw-scraping pain of this.

He still had the same darkly tanned olive skin. The same Roman nose, the

same penetrating dark brown eyes, the same intractable jaw that right now

looked as if it hadn‘t seen a razor in the last thirty-six hours. The slightly

wavy black hair was a little longer than the last time she had seen him—it

was curling around the collar of his shirt and it looked as if his fingers had

been the last thing that had moved through it. There were bruiselike shadows

beneath his thickly lashed bloodshot eyes, no doubt put there by yet another

sleepless night out with one of his one-night stand bimbo bedmates, she

imagined. ‗Excuse me …‘ she said to the young mother. ‗I won‘t be a

minute.‘ Gisele walked over to where he was standing next to the premature

baby clothes. He had one of his hands on a tiny vest that had a pink rosebud

with little green leaves embroidered at the neck. The vest looked so tiny

against his hand and it occurred to her then that Lily would have been too

small for it when she had been born. ‗Can I help you with something?‘ she

asked with a brittle look. Emilio‘s eyes meshed with hers, holding them

captive. ‗I think you know why I am here, Gisele,‘ he said in that deep, rich

voice she had missed so much. It moved along her skin like a caress, settling

at the base of her spine like a warm pool of slowly spreading honey. Gisele

had to fight hard to keep her emotions in check. This was not the time to

show him she was still affected by him, even if it was only physically. She

had to be strong, to show him he hadn‘t destroyed her life with his lack of

trust. She had to show him she had moved on, that she was self-sufficient

and successful. She had to show him he meant nothing to her now. She drew

in a

breath and lifted her chin, keeping her voice cool and composed. ‗Of

course.‘ She gave him an impersonal onoff movement of her lips that was

nowhere near a smile. ‗How could I forget? The two-for-one sale on all-in-

one suits we have on at the moment. You can have blue, pink or yellow. I‘m

afraid we‘re all out of the white.‘ His gaze never once wavered from hers; it

was as dark and mesmerising as ever. ‗Is there somewhere we could talk in

private?‘ he asked. Gisele straightened her shoulders. ‗As you can see I have

customers to see to,‘ she said, indicating with a waft of her hand the young

woman browsing along the racks. ‗Are you free for lunch?‘ he asked, still

watching her steadily. Gisele wondered if he was studying her for flaws.

Could he see the way her once creamy skin had lost its glow? Could he see

the shadows below and in her eyes that no amount of make-up could

disguise? He had always prized perfection. Not just in his work but in every

facet of his life. He would find her sadly lacking now, she thought, in spite

of her name and reputation finally being cleared. ‗I own and run this

business,‘ she said with more than a hint of pride. ‗I don‘t take a lunch

break.‘ Gisele saw his dark critical gaze sweep over the baby wear boutique

she had bought a few weeks after he had cut her from his life just days

before their wedding. Building it up from yet another struggling suburban

retail outlet to the successful exclusive affair it was now had been the only

thing that had got her through the heartbreak of the past two years. Some

well meaning friends, along with her mother, had suggested it would have

been better to have sold the

business as soon as she had been told Lily wasn‘t going to make it, but

somehow, in her mind, holding on to the shop was a way to hold on to her