Eleanor bent down towards him and smiled. ‘Hello, Tom. What a big boy you are! Would you mind very much giving an old lady a hug?’
Tom shook his head solemnly. ‘I don’t mind,’ he said brightly. ‘I like old ladies,’ he added and in the next second folded his little arms around her neck.
Sofie wasn’t sure how EleanorAntonetti reacted, because her own eyes were awash with tears. Oh, how she loved that little boy! When she was able to see again, Eleanor had Tom’s cheeks framed with her hands and was pressing a kiss to his forehead.
‘Ah, Tom, Tom. You’re a sight for sore eyes!’ she exclaimed, straightening up.
Tom blinked up at her. ‘Do they hurt? Did somebody hit them?’
‘What, dear?’ his great-grandmother asked, puzzled.
‘Your eyes. You said they were sore,’ Tom explained, and Eleanor chuckled delightedly.
‘No, dear. It’s just something we say when we see someone we like. Are you thirsty, Tom? I bet we can find something cold for you in the kitchen. Why don’t you come along with me and we’ll check it out?’
‘That went off remarkably well,’ Lucas observed, coming to stand beside Sofie as his grandmother and son went away together in search of cold drinks. ‘I can see already that he will be good for her.’
Sofie sniffed and wiped her eyes on a tissue she’d found in her pocket. ‘I’m sure you’re right,’ she agreed. ‘Your grandmother was very kind to me.’
Lucas looked at her, eyebrows raised. ‘What did you expect?’
‘She would have been well within her rights to be cool. After all, I was the one who walked out,’ she reminded him.
‘True,’ Lucas conceded, ‘but that’s all behind us now. We simply have to prove to her that it was all a silly misunderstanding and that we’re happy to be together.’
Sofie let out a long breath, pulling a face. ‘That’s a big ask.’
‘But not beyond your abilities. We both know what you’re capable of. You could do this blindfolded,’ he returned with heavy irony, but Sofie shook her head.
‘I’m no actress,’ she argued and he caught her chin in his fingers, raising her head until she was looking into his eyes.
‘On the contrary, you are a consummate actress. Your acting in the past deserved an Oscar. Just do what you do best and lie your head off. Tell her what you know she needs to hear, just like you did with me. You’ll have her convinced in no time at all!’
Sofie stared up at him, hot tears burning the backs of her eyes, knowing that she had not been playing a part. Her feelings had been honest and true. Unlike his. ‘You go too far!’ she protested thickly, forcing the words out.
His expression turned steely. ‘But you’ll take it, because of Tom,’ he told her coldly, and she let out a ragged breath.
‘You never used to be so cold!’
Lucas smiled mockingly. ‘No, I learned that the hard way, from you. Now, pull yourself together before my grandmother comes looking for us. Take my arm,’ he ordered and, when she hesitated, held it out. ‘Do it, caro. Don’t forget what you could lose.’
His reminder was unnecessary. She knew full well. Squaring her shoulders, she slipped her arm through his. ‘OK, I’m ready. Is this all right, or should I look a bit more besotted?’ she enquired dulcetly, batting her eyes at him, whilst inside her heart was weeping.
Lucas smiled wryly. ‘Don’t overdo it,’ he warned her.
‘You can’t overdo madly in love. It’s an all or nothing feeling,’ she reminded him, dropping the adoring look. She couldn’t have kept it up anyway.
‘I’ll bow to your superior acting skills,’ he shot back sardonically, and Sofie winced inwardly. He never lost an opportunity to shoot her down.
‘That wasn’t very lover-like,’ she reprimanded him, but he merely shrugged. ‘You have a part to play too.’
‘When the moment requires it, I’ll do my bit,’ he assured her, and she sighed heavily.
‘I could do with a drink.’
‘A large brandy would go down a treat, but it looks like all that’s on offer is lemonade,’ he said tersely. ‘Come on, let’s do this before my nerve runs out.’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘When did you ever get nervous?’ she asked, and he gave her a look.
‘On our wedding day. I imagined you not turning up. Which is laughable now, when you consider how things turned out.’
He had never told her that before and it turned her heart over. She, on the other hand, had been supremely confident on their wedding day. Certain that this was the right thing to do and that their love for each other would get them through their life together. She had believed him to be a man to be trusted, but ultimately he had let her down. Now she knew that she couldn’t trust any man. Not that it mattered. Lucas didn’t want her love or her trust. He wanted Tom and she was just part of the package.
However, she wasn’t going to think about that now. She had a job to do and she had to do it well, so as not to risk losing her son.
She was very much aware of Eleanor Antonetti giving them both a quick searching look when they walked into the kitchen. So his grandmother wasn’t quite as credulous as he thought. It would make her task that much harder, but she knew she could do it. After all, she really did love Lucas. The only acting she was doing was pretending to him it was all an act.
They all sat out on the terrace, with spectacular views of the sea, and drank deliciously cold glasses of homemade lemonade. Eventually Tom started to get antsy, as small boys did, and Lucas took him off to show him the wonders of the garden, leaving Sofie alone with his grandmother.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, but finally Eleanor spoke.
‘When my grandson visited here after you had left him, I was shocked. I had never seen him so distraught. I hope never to see him that way again,’ she said in her gentle voice and turned to look directly into Sofie’s eyes. ‘Do you love him?’ she asked and Sofie’s heart leapt at the direct question.
However, she had no trouble answering it with absolute honesty. ‘With all my heart. I always will, no matter what happens.’
Eleanor raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘Do you expect something to happen?’
Sofie was annoyed at herself for making the slip. She was supposed to be confident, not doubtful. ‘You have to know better than anyone that things don’t always turn out as planned, Mrs Antonetti…Nell.’
The older woman nodded wisely. ‘Ah, you’re referring to my husband. I wish we could have had more time together, but what we did have was a joy. He was the perfect husband, perfect father. I have many happy memories.’
How Sofie wished that she could say the same thing about her own marriage. The happiness had faded fast in the face of Lucas’s betrayal. He had pulled the rug out from under her feet and left her with nothing to hold on to. Her love hadn’t been enough. It had only made her more vulnerable. How could she believe that anything he had said and done was real?
A soft touch on her arm made her jump and she realised she had been lost in her own thoughts for a few minutes. One look at Eleanor Antonetti showed she was frowning with mild concern.
‘Are you all right, Sofie? You looked quite sad for a moment. Is there something you want to talk about?’
Sofie immediately shook her head and produced a bright smile. ‘It’s nothing. Really. Where do you think Lucas and Tom have got to?’ she said changing the subject swiftly. Whilst the other woman let it go, had Sofie been looking at her, she would have seen that she was not about to forget the last few minutes.
‘The swimming pool, probably. Let’s go find them, shall we? I can show you my garden at the same time,’ Eleanor suggested, and Sofie was quick to fall in with it, for the conversation had become too close for comfort.
They took a leisurely stroll through the garden and indeed found father and son sitting by the swimming pool. They spent the rest of the afternoon there, until it was time to freshen up for dinner. Then Sofie took Tom to his room, which she was ama
zed to see full of every toy and gadget a young boy could ask for. After she had given him a quick wash, she left him playing with some of the toys whilst she went to the bedroom she was to share with Lucas.
He was inside when she walked in, stripped to the waist as he prepared to change his shirt. He looked up as she closed the door. ‘Tom OK?’ he asked, and Sofie nodded whilst the thinking part of her brain shut down and the sensual one took control.
‘He’s playing,’ she reported, her voice getting croaky as she admired the tanned planes of Lucas’s powerful chest. She hadn’t seen him other than fully clothed since she had left him six years ago, and the urge to go to him and run her hands over the torso she had once been so familiar with was immensely strong. Her palms tingled and she curled her hands into fists at her sides. ‘Your grandmother must have raided the local toy store.’
Lucas chuckled. ‘As she didn’t know what he’s into, she probably got a bit of everything. Don’t forget, she’s got five years of birthdays and Christmases to make up for.’
The sound of his laughter turned her heart over and she took a shaky breath as she started to walk towards him. ‘He’ll get spoilt.’
‘Doubtless, but that’s what grandparents do best,’ he agreed, glancing at his wrist-watch. ‘You’d better get a move on. Gina unpacked for you,’ he added as he turned back to the bed where he had laid out his clean shirt.
Sofie couldn’t seem to take her eyes off all the tanned flesh that rippled as he moved. It was a magnet that drew her and it suddenly occurred to her that there wasn’t anything to stop her from doing exactly what she wanted to do—touch him. He wanted her to act the part of a woman in love, and what would such a woman do when she encountered her man only partially dressed?
Had she not been pretending to pretend, she probably wouldn’t have done it but, because she was, she allowed a wicked imp of mischief to take control and reached out to place the palms of her hands on him. ‘Mmm,’ she sighed sensually. ‘You feel good.’
Lucas didn’t exactly jump, but he straightened up at once and the tension in him was palpable. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ he growled, and there was something in his tone which made her smile. He wasn’t immune.
‘Touching you,’ she replied huskily. ‘I’m madly in love, remember. If you’re going to walk around our room half naked, you can’t expect me to keep my hands to myself,’ she enlarged on the theme, and gently drew her nails down his spine. ‘Do you like that?’
She knew he did from his swift intake of breath, and touching him was certainly raising her own temperature. Very softly, she pressed her lips to the silky smooth flesh and breathed in the heady scent of him. Her eyelids dropped down and, without thinking, her arms slid around his waist, her hands rising to find his broad chest.
Immediately Lucas’s hands grasped her wrists and pulled her hands away. ‘OK, that’s enough!’ he ordered sharply, making enough room for himself so that he could turn to face her. A nerve pulsed in Lucas’s jaw as he stared at her. ‘I’m sure you’ve discovered a whole load of fancy tricks in the years we were apart, but I don’t want you practising them on me!’
The claim stung and brought her head up. ‘Is that so? You know something, Lucas Antonetti, you’re a liar! I was getting a totally different message!’ she fired back and was pleased to see his jaw clench in reaction. At which time she moved away from him and made a production out of yawning and stretching. ‘Besides, there’s no need to get all hot and bothered; I was just practising. Getting my role right,’ she taunted, opening a couple of drawers until she found the top she was looking for, then faced him again. ‘How did I do?’
Lucas was watching her like a hawk and just knowing that did her a power of good. At least he wasn’t ignoring her. ‘Trust me,’ he said at last. ‘You don’t need any practice.’
That brought a saucy smile to her lips. ‘Now that’s what a woman likes to hear,’ she flirted and slipped into the connecting bathroom before he could form a reply.
Leaning back against the door, she pressed her hands over her thundering heart. Mercy, that had been an interesting few minutes. Even if Lucas wasn’t hot and bothered, she was. The thought entered her head that she needed a cold shower and that made her laugh and groan. Maybe it hadn’t been the wisest thing to do, but she wasn’t sorry because she had learned a lot. Lucas didn’t hold all the cards. When it came to the attraction he still felt for her she had the power to undermine his resolve. Not that he would make it easy. If she wanted them to make love, she would have to try and seduce him. So the big question now was, did she want to try it or not? Would it make things better or worse? She honestly did not know and it was easier to push it to the back of her mind and concentrate instead on washing and changing her clothes.
Dinner was a light-hearted affair and much laughter rippled around the table set on the patio to catch the warm evening breezes. Lucas was so relaxed that it was easy for Sofie to put all her troubles behind her temporarily and simply enjoy the moment. Eleanor had a wealth of stories to tell about her grandson, and she had Tom giggling with the tales of his father’s exploits.
‘Of course, your daddy had to do all these things on his own, Tom,’ she told him confidentially. ‘However, I’m sure Mummy and Daddy plan to give you a little brother or sister to play with. Maybe even two or three,’ she added, giving Lucas and Sofie an appealing smile.
‘We haven’t even thought about it yet,’ Lucas responded and his grandmother tutted.
‘Well, you should. You’re not getting any younger, you know.’
‘Thank you for pointing that out,’ he said sardonically. ‘Excuse me whilst I go and apply for my bus pass!’
Sofie laughed and, momentarily secure in the role she was playing, reached over and squeezed his hand. ‘Never mind, darling, I’ll still love you when you’re all old and wrinkly,’ she teased lightly, her heart lurching when he raised his eyebrows at her audacity. ‘I would love a daughter. Boys are great, but you can’t dress them in pretty clothes like you can a girl. Two would be even better, then a boy to even things up. How does that sound?’
‘It sounds like you’re going to be kept busy, Lucas,’ Eleanor put in with a gurgling laugh.
Something twinkled in Lucas’s eyes and he surprised Sofie by raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. ‘I think this is something we should discuss in private,’ he said huskily, squeezing her fingers just a little more than was necessary. Sofie hid her wince behind a soft laugh.
‘Oh, but I remember you once saying you wanted half a dozen children, at least…darling,’ she responded in a saccharine tone, pulling her hand free.
Tom stared at them both and pulled a sickly face. ‘Ugh…That means kissing stuff!’ he said disgustedly, and they all laughed.
Lucas reached across the table and ruffled his hair. ‘When you’re older, you’ll find kissing stuff isn’t so bad.’
‘Not me!’ Tom denied strongly. ‘Melanie Nicholls kissed me at school and it was all sloppy! I don’t want girls kissing me like that!’
‘Take my word for it, son,’ Lucas said seriously. ‘Not all girls kiss like Melanie Nicholls. Now, your mother here, she’s a good kisser,’ he added, giving Sofie a wicked look out of the corner of his eye.
Tom’s jaw dropped as he looked at his mother, seeing her in a whole new light. ‘She is?’
‘Sure she is! Don’t you like it when she gives you a hug and a kiss?’
‘Uh-hum,’ the little boy agreed happily, grinning at his mother and looking so much like his father that it squeezed her heart. ‘I like Mummy kissing me.’
Sofie smiled at him, all the love she felt glowing in her eyes. ‘That’s good, darling, because I like kissing you, too!’
‘Do you like kissing Daddy?’ he asked in the next breath, causing his great-grandmother to catch her breath, and his mother’s heart to tweak yet again.
‘As a matter of fact, Tom, I do. Now, I think you’d better eat up. It won’t be long until bedtime,’ she r
eminded him in a tone he knew well.
Conversation turned to more mundane topics for the rest of the meal. An hour later, Sofie took an exhausted Tom up to bed, where he was asleep before his head touched the pillow. Smiling gently, she tucked him up, pressed a kiss to his forehead, then went back to join the others.
Lucas and Eleanor were still sitting at the table, drinking coffee, but when Sofie went to sit down Lucas caught her hand as she passed. She looked at him questioningly.
‘Walk with me,’ he invited. ‘It’s a lovely evening and the views are quite spectacular at night.’
‘Yes, do,’ his grandmother encouraged. ‘It’s very romantic,’ she added with a twinkling smile.
Sofie smiled back. ‘Romantic? Sounds good to me.’
‘I’ll keep an ear out for Tom, don’t worry,’ Eleanor promised as Lucas stood up, still keeping hold of Sofie’s hand.
‘Don’t wait up. We may be some time,’ he told his grandmother, who laughed and waved them off.
They wandered along the terrace and down the steps into the very Italianate gardens of the villa. Everything was lush and a riot of colour and scents. It was highly romantic and extremely relaxing.
‘So,’ Lucas declared after a short while had passed, ‘you like kissing me, do you?’
Sofie’s heart leapt into her throat at the question. She knew she could lie, but what was the point? He had to know. ‘You’re very good at it.’
‘Hmm, you were pretty hot yourself. The sex was always good between us. It was a shame you couldn’t live with the rest of it,’ he said dryly, and Sofie sighed.
‘Why go raking over old ground? I’m here now, doing what you want,’ she pointed out tiredly. ‘You could try cutting me some slack, you know.’ Much to her surprise, he didn’t come back with a sharp remark, but merely sighed.
‘That doesn’t come easy, caro.’
Her laugh was almost defeated. ‘Why? I’m not going anywhere. If I want my son, I have to stay wherever you are. You know I could never leave him, so I have to do as you want. If that means pretending to your grandmother that we love each other, so be it. I’ll do anything so long as you don’t take my son away from me. I’m here to stay.’
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