by Croft, Nina
She blinked and stared down at the paper, pretending to reread it, wanting to get herself under control before facing him. At last, she found the strength to look up.
Luc’s eyes were focused on her. He didn’t appear particularly upset by it all, but she knew that unlike her, Luc was exceptionally good at hiding his feelings.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“What for, cara?” His voice was gentle; Lia had never heard that tone before. It didn’t help the tenuous grip she had on her emotions. She bit down on her lip to stop the trembling.
“For getting you this negative publicity,” she said. “I’ll pack and be out of here. I’ll go home. You can release a statement saying we’ve split.”
“And how would that make me look? Dumping my fiancée because of a bit of bad press, and not even bad press about her.” He spoke soothingly. “There’s absolutely nothing bad about you in there, Lia, only your father.”
“I know, but they’re bound to dig deeper. They’ll find out about you.”
“About me?”
“About prison.”
He gave her a curious glance as if she was not behaving as expected. “My time in prison is a matter of record. It’s no secret.”
“Yes, but it’s not on the front pages yet.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry about me. But we do need to get you away until all this dies down, which it will, given time. I have the perfect place for us to go.”
Lia felt a strange unexpected lift. “Us?”
“Of course.” He cast her a glance that she didn’t quite understand. “After all, you wouldn’t want me to come out of this a heartless bastard, would you? No, I definitely think it’s best if we go away together. I’ll take my beautiful, innocent fiancée away from the horrible muckraking press. I may even come out of this a hero.”
Lia felt like she was missing something. “Why aren’t you more upset about this?”
“I’ve lived with the press for years and truthfully, unlike you, I really don’t give a damn what people I don’t know think of me.”
Lia blinked. This was all moving too fast. Luc didn’t want her out of his life. He wanted them to go away together? “I can’t leave Mike and Sally to cope with this alone.”
“I’ll send Gary over. He can make sure they’re okay, and if any reporters do turn up he can always take them over to Shellwood for a few days. Security there will make sure no one bothers them.”
“So is that where we’re going, Shellwood?”
“No. We’ll go to my place in Italy—it’s more private. Give it a few days, and this will all blow over, and we can come home.”
“I can’t go to Italy. I don’t have my passport.”
“Gary can pick that up as well.”
She frowned. “You’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you?”
He smiled blandly. “Planning is my forte, cara. Just leave it all to me. Now, drink your coffee, and I’ll organize everything. I’ll be in the office.” He bent down and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.
Why was he taking this so well? She would have expected him to be furious. Then the truth of the situation hit her. She was going to Italy with Luc. She couldn’t believe it. It felt like a huge weight had lifted from her, and she realized with something approaching fear how much she had actually dreaded leaving him. This would only put it off, and that was as it should be; she didn’t want anything permanent, even if it was an option. But to have some time alone with Luc, in Italy, was beyond anything she could have imagined.
She finished her coffee and made some phone calls. Sally took it extremely well and said she would talk to Mike. She only appeared concerned when Lia mentioned she was going abroad with Luc, but Lia managed to put her mind at rest. She also called Kelly, who was bubbling over with excitement.
“Did you know all this about my father?” Lia asked.
“Of course I did. I just never talked about it because I presumed it was a bad subject. I’m sorry, Lia, but don’t let it upset you; it’s nothing to do with you and the person you are.”
“I can’t believe my mother kept it from me, told me all those lies.”
“Can’t you?” Kelly made no effort to hide her disbelief. “Knowing your mother, I would have found it stranger if she had told you the truth. You know how obsessed she was with keeping up appearances. She probably lived in constant fear of someone mentioning her husband, the bank robber.”
“Bank robber?”
“Oops. Is that something else you didn’t know? Honestly, Lia, sometimes I think you lived your whole life with your head in a hole.”
Kelly’s irreverent attitude did make her feel slightly better, but also made her reflect on what her mother’s life must have been like. If she ever loved a man like that, she wouldn’t be ashamed of anything he did. Which brought her back to Luc.
She drifted into the kitchen and poured herself another coffee, then took it up to the rooftop garden. She sat in her favorite chair with Murphy on her knee and tried to get her head around what was happening. On one level, she was devastated, but on another, it felt almost like a reprieve. She had thought she had reconciled herself to leaving, to never seeing Luc again, but now the tight band around her chest was loosening. She knew it couldn’t last forever, but at least she had a few more days with him. And she knew with clarity that she was going to make the most of those days—and nights.
Chapter Fifteen
Luc sat opposite, watching Lia sleep. She was obviously emotionally exhausted, and he knew that he was going to take advantage of that—he was going to sweep her off her feet.
He felt a slight twinge and recognized it as guilt, not an uncommon emotion for him these days. He tried to shake off the feeling; after all, how could he have known what a shock that newspaper article would be? He’d thought they had done an extremely good job. He and Gary had worked on it so it gave enough information without being too unpleasant. Then he had seen her face as she read it and knew he had made a mistake in his assumptions.
So he had miscalculated slightly; it had never occurred to him that she was unaware of exactly what her father was. It was inconceivable—although she had only been twelve when he disappeared.
He shook his head. The damage was done now. He hadn’t planned it, but he wasn’t above using it to his advantage.
…
Lia opened her eyes to find Luc studying her. She wriggled uncomfortably and sat up; she didn’t like the idea of someone watching her while she slept. He had a strange, almost pensive, expression on his face. When he saw she was awake, he picked up the phone by his seat and spoke a few words into it.
A flight attendant appeared almost immediately, carrying a tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She put down the tray, expertly poured the wine, and disappeared with a slight smile.
Lia sat staring around at the sumptuous interior of Luc’s private jet and wondered how things could have moved so fast. She shook her head; this sort of wealth was beyond imagining. Three o’clock that same afternoon and they were 30,000 feet above the ground and well on their way to Rome.
Picking up her glass, she stared at it for a long moment. She had been so careful since she had moved into Luc’s place, so determined that she wasn’t going to do anything that might undermine her ability to withstand Luc, and alcohol had been on the top of her things-not-to-do list. Now, she watched the bubbles rise to the surface and accepted that she no longer had any wish to withstand Luc. She wanted whatever small part of him she could get and whatever memories she could take away from their time together. She swallowed the champagne in one gulp and held out her glass for more. Luc picked up the bottle and refilled her glass, a small smile playing across his features.
“This might seem commonplace to you, but I’ve never had champagne on a private jet before,” she said.
“May it be the first time of many.”
She sighed and put down her glass. “You must think me a naïve fool.”
Luc�
�s smile widened.
“What?” she asked.
“The first time I laid eyes on you, I thought you must be naïve, stupid, or a very good actress.”
“Brilliant. And what do you think now?”
His smile broadened. “Well, I know for a fact that you’re an extremely bad actress, and I’m pretty sure you’re not stupid.”
“Thanks,” she said, laughing slightly. She supposed she had asked for it.
“There are worse things than being naïve, cara.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“It’s like my whole childhood was a lie. Oh, I knew my father wasn’t a good man, but not this. And I always thought my mother was painfully honest—she drummed it into me constantly for as long as I can remember—don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t…” she shook her head in confusion. “Was it all an act?”
“Maybe she was trying to protect you. Maybe it was what she believed, but she loved your father and was ashamed of it.”
“Perhaps. Were you ashamed?”
“Of what, cara?”
“Of your father.”
He shook his head. “No. Well, not in the way you mean. My father was weak. I recognized that as I got older, and I suppose I was ashamed in a way. Where I grew up, being weak got you into trouble, which was definitely true of my father.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died when I was sixteen. He was killed in a robbery that went wrong.”
“And your mother went back to Italy?”
“No, not then. My mother is a proud woman—she wouldn’t go crawling back unless she had to.”
“It’s where you got it from. But she’s back now?”
“When I was convicted she returned. She knew only a good lawyer could do anything for me. She put aside her pride and went to her family.”
“So her family have money then?”
“Just a little.”
“And they got you out?”
He regarded her curiously. “Have you read about my case?”
Lia shook her head.
“Why not?”
“I think there’s a lot of rubbish on the Internet. I never know what to believe and what not to.”
“Weren’t you curious as to what sort of monster you were living with?”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop being so melodramatic.”
He sighed. “Yes, they got me out, and the conviction was overturned.”
“How?”
“One day I’ll tell you, but now isn’t the time to talk of this. Drink your champagne. Forget it for a while.”
She wanted to know, but also she remembered back to that night when they had fought. Luc was being so… she tried to think of the word. Agreeable maybe. Luc was being agreeable, and she really didn’t want to spoil the mood. All the same, a flicker of unease prickled across her skin, and she rubbed her arms. She took another sip of champagne, feeling the bubbles in her stomach, and pushed the unease to the back of her mind. “Okay,” she said, “tell me where we’re going then. Are we staying in Rome?”
“No. We’re going to an island off the coast. I have a villa there. It’s private, and we’ll be entirely alone. I hope that will be okay.”
A ripple of excitement shivered through her at the thought of being alone with Luc. She sipped her champagne and allowed her worries and inhibitions to slide away. This was time away from reality.
…
After that, the whole day took on a dreamlike quality. Everything moved fast. They’d been transported swiftly through the airport in Rome, seemingly unfettered by the restrictions that plagued the ordinary traveler. A long black car had driven them across the airport to where a black helicopter waited for them, the blades already turning as they pulled up beside it. Luc had steered her from the car and helped her climb on board and fasten the safety harness.
She was sitting ramrod straight in the seat, her knuckles white as they gripped the armrests, her heart beating fast with excitement. Luc pried open the fingers of the hand closest to him, loosening its deathlike grip, tugging it toward him.
“I’ve never been in a helicopter before,” she said as they slowly rose into the air.
“Another first then.” He stroked her palm, and she shivered in reaction. “Relax,” he said, “and you’ll enjoy it.”
“I am—it’s fantastic—I’ve always wanted to.”
She tried, but relaxing wasn’t really an option with Luc beside her, toying with her fingers. As he raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, the damp tip of his tongue stroked across the sensitive flesh, and heat coiled tight in her belly. He bit softly down on the fleshy mound at the base of her thumb and kissed the soft skin inside her wrist. Lia wanted nothing more than to melt into a puddle at his feet; she was sure that only the safety harness was keeping her from doing that. She glanced at the back of the pilot’s head, then out of the window. They were in the air and she hadn’t even noticed. She swallowed; it was one thing to accept that she was going to do this, but this feeling of being out of control was scary. She tried to pull her hand free, but Luc kept a tight hold. At least he stopped kissing it and she could think again. He placed it on his thigh and clamped it in place with his own much larger hand on top. Lia felt the heat through the material of his trousers.
She cleared her throat. “So, how long will it take?”
“How long will what take, cara?”
His voice made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Shaking her head to clear it, she tried again to tug her hand free, but he held it firmly in his grip.
“To get to this island.”
“About twenty minutes.”
She stared down out of the glass bubble at the world moving swiftly below her. Luc started speaking, pointing out places passing beneath them, and Lia slowly relaxed. They were flying along the coast now, the sea calm and unruffled.
“There,” Luc said.
Lia stared out to sea and gasped. The island lay like an emerald in the turquoise ocean, green mountains circled by golden beaches. They were flying over it now. It seemed deserted; when Luc had said they were going to be alone he had meant it literally.
“Let me get this straight,” she said as Luc pointed out the single building. “You own this whole island.”
“My grandfather left it to me.”
“And no one else lives there?”
“It’s where I go when I need to be alone.”
They were coming to land, the helicopter blowing up a cloud of red dust beneath them. Luc finally released her hand, and Lia fumbled with the harness, but her fingers didn’t seem to be working. Luc brushed them out of the way.
“Let me.”
Lia sat quite still as Luc unfastened the buckles and released her. He spoke briefly with the pilot, then opened the door and jumped down, holding out a hand for Lia. Threading her fingers through his, she jumped down. Luc took their bags and then waved the pilot away, and they watched as the helicopter rose slowly into the air and headed off toward the mainland.
The air was warm and heavy with the scent of tropical flowers, which seemed to grow rampant all around them, and Lia breathed in deeply.
“Welcome to my island,” Luc said from beside her. “Come on, we’ll put the bags away and you can shower.”
It was early evening, still balmy but without the oppressive heat she’d felt in Rome. Cicadas sang in the nearby trees. Beneath that, the ebb and flow of the sea provided a soothing ambiance, and the last remaining tension oozed from her.
They had landed at the rear of the building, and Luc led her around the side. The house was spectacular: not large, but beautiful, a long white graceful villa. A series of arches formed a covered terrace that ran along the front, and over which crimson and orange bougainvillea ran riot. Smooth green lawns ran down to the cliff’s edge, where they gave way to terra cotta tiles surrounding a cobalt blue infinity pool.
She stared for a long moment before following Luc
beneath one of the archways and through French doors into a large airy bedroom.
“This is yours,” Luc said. “I’m next door if you need anything.”
The room was simply but beautifully decorated, the walls white, the floors terra-cotta tiles, cool yet welcoming. The space was dominated by an enormous four-poster bed draped with mosquito netting, and a suitcase lay on the ottoman at the foot of the bed.
Lia frowned. “This isn’t mine.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not. I’ve never seen it before in my life.”
Opening it, she examined the contents. She picked up a bikini that lay on top, three tiny triangles of silky scarlet material. Definitely not hers; she owned a sensible black one-piece. Placing the bikini on the bed, she picked up a sundress that lay wrapped in tissue paper beneath. It was lavender, with narrow straps, and like the bikini, she had never seen it before. Mind you, she thought, holding it up in front of her, it did look like a perfect fit. She peered at Luc suspiciously.
“Where did these clothes come from?”
“I asked Maggie to get a few things for you. She knew your sizes from shopping with you for the party.”
“But,” Lia said, rummaging through the suitcase, “this is all holiday gear. We only decided to come away this morning. You’re not telling me that Maggie bought all this between then and now. On a Sunday.”
Something wasn’t quite right here, but she really couldn’t think what it was. She glanced at Luc, but he turned away from her before she could see his expression. He stood, staring out of the window, his hands in his trouser pockets, his shoulders rigid with tension.
“Luc?”
He turned around to face her, and she forced herself to continue. “I found out today that my whole life has been a fabrication of lies. Can’t we at least have the truth between us now?”
