Keira rolled her eyes in frustration. ‘That’s exactly my point. You’ve obviously been the target of a bully in the past and now you’re carrying on the pattern to the next generation.’
‘Thanks for the support, Keira, but I can stand up for myself,’ Jamie said as he eyeballed his father. ‘I am doing what I can to get through the next few weeks. I know it will be a huge disappointment to you and Mum if I don’t make the grade for medical or law school, but have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer?’
Keira watched as her parents exchanged horrified glances.
‘But you have to do something with your life!’ Kingsley was the first to find his voice. ‘You’re not thinking of being an artist or something equally time-wasting like your sister, are you?’
‘Keira is a very talented painter, Mr Worthington,’ Patrizio said with dignified calm. ‘You should be very proud of her achievements.’
Although Keira knew he was only maintaining the façade of their reunion, she still felt a swell of her heart at his vote of confidence. She gave him a grateful glance and her belly did a little flip-flop as she encountered the warmth in his gaze.
‘Surely it’s up to me to decide what I want to do with my life,’ Jamie argued.
‘Not when I’m paying, it’s not!’ Kingsley said.
‘But you’re not paying, are you?’ Keira put in with a challenging look. ‘Patrizio has been seeing to all that, hasn’t he?’
Kingsley pulled his mouth tight and rose from the table in one clumsy movement. ‘He’s a fool for taking you back,’ he said with spittle forming at the corners of his mouth. ‘I’ve got a good mind to tell him the truth about your—’
‘No, Kingsley,’ Robyn said with a desperate edge to her tone. ‘Please…’
Keira felt her body stiffen as she watched her father turn from the table and leave the room. She swallowed convulsively as her mother got unsteadily to her feet, her face pinched and white as she began to clear away the plates in a mechanical fashion. ‘Mum?’
Robyn Worthington pasted an overly bright smile on her face. ‘Dessert, anyone?’ she asked. ‘I’ve made lemon cheesecake and I’ve got strawberries fresh from the market and…and King Island cream.’
‘I’ll help you clear away,’ Jamie said, getting to his feet.
Bruno stood up as well, his voice a little gruff as he said, ‘I’ll give you a hand.’
Jamie gave him a slightly guarded smile. ‘That’d be great. Thanks.’
‘I help my mum all the time when I’m at home,’ Bruno said as they left the room.
Patrizio put his hand under the dark, curly curtain of Keira’s hair, his fingers stroking the tension away as his eyes met hers. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked gently.
She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. ‘I don’t know…Sort of, I suppose…’
‘Would you like me to speak to your father?’ he asked.
Her shoulders went down in defeat. ‘What would be the point? He’s not going to change, not now. He’s always had it in for me.’
Patrizio looked at the worried pleat of her brow and the shadows haunting her blue eyes. She had that little-girl-lost look again, which triggered all of his protective instincts all over again.
There were undoubtedly some disturbing undercurrents in this household, which he had not really noticed to this degree before. He had certainly been aware that things were not always rosy, but he had assumed it was merely a clash of wilful personalities, but now he was not so sure…
‘I need some fresh air,’ Keira said and pushed herself away from the table.
Patrizio accompanied her out to the patio, where the lights of the city blinked in the distance and the rattle and rumble of trams and trains sounded on the streets and tracks below.
He put his arms around her and held her close to him, breathing in the gardenia fragrance of her hair, his body instantly stirring as he felt her press herself closer.
It was getting harder and harder to keep her at a distance, he mused ruefully. With her so childlike and trusting in his arms like this, it was hard to think of her as the same person who had given herself to another man.
He didn’t want to think of her as that person.
He wanted to think of her as his spirited but, at the same time, touchingly vulnerable wife, the woman he had wanted to spend the rest of his life with from the very first moment she had looked up at him at the boys’ sports day and smiled at him so radiantly.
She had made a mistake, but then who hadn’t? But, as she had said to his nephew the other night, it was hard to get through life without one or two regrets.
‘Patrizio?’ she murmured into the front of his shirt.
He tipped up her head with a finger beneath her chin. ‘What is it, cara?’ he asked.
Her eyes were like twin pools of dark blue water, their shimmering depths suddenly making it hard for him to breathe.
‘Do you really think I’m a talented painter or were you just saying that?’ she asked.
He brushed the pad of his thumb over the curve of her cheek. ‘Is my good opinion so very important to you, Keira?’
The tip of her tongue came out briefly to moisten her lips, her eyes still connected to his. ‘Yes…yes, it is.’
His eyes moved downwards to look at the soft contours of her mouth. ‘I think you are very talented at many things,’ he said, ‘painting being just one of them.’
‘What other things am I talented at?’
His lips curved upwards in a small smile as he brought his eyes back to hers. ‘You are very talented at making me wonder why I am standing here at your parents’ house when instead I could be in my own home in bed with your beautiful and sexy body writhing beneath me.’
‘Oh…’
He touched her cheek again. ‘You are blushing.’
‘I’m hot.’
He smiled again and brought his mouth to just a whisper above hers. ‘I know you are,’ he said and pressed his mouth to hers.
Keira gave herself up totally to his kiss, the sensation of his tongue probing for entry making her skin tingle all over in erotic anticipation. She pressed herself closer to his jutting erection, the hot hard heat of him thrilling her senses as she clung to him like a drowning person did to a rescuer.
‘God, you make me so crazy for you,’ he growled as he nibbled sensually at her bottom lip. ‘I want to tear off your clothes right here and now, even though the whole of Melbourne is probably watching.’
Keira touched his tongue with hers in a flickering come-and-get me movement. ‘I’m pretty crazy about you too,’ she breathed.
He stroked his tongue against her bottom lip, back and forth, until her lips were buzzing with sensation and then, just when she thought she could stand it no more, he took her mouth again under the burning pressure of his, his tongue tangling with hers as one of his hands went to the gentle swell of her breast. She shivered as he pushed the shoulder strap of her dress aside so he could be skin on skin, her lack of a bra clearly delighting him if the deep sound he made in the back of his throat was any indication.
She arched her back as he brought his mouth to her breast, his teeth and tongue such an intimate torture on her quivering flesh that she hadn’t registered they were no longer alone on the patio.
Patrizio suddenly lifted his head and, pulling her dress back into place, faced his nephew. ‘Bruno, did you want me for something?’ he asked.
Bruno’s sneering gaze went to Keira’s dishevelled state. ‘No, but clearly she still does,’ he said with a cynical curl of his lip.
Keira felt her face light up like a furnace and had to look away from that irritating smirk.
‘But you’re not the only one she wants,’ Bruno continued coldly as he held out Keira’s mobile phone to his uncle.
Keira felt her skin shrink all over her body, her heart thumping like a jackhammer in her chest as Patrizio took the phone from his nephew. She held her breath as he looked down
at the text message on the screen, his jaw clenching as he read whatever was written there.
After what seemed an age, he flipped the phone shut and handed it to Keira with an unreadable look, before turning back to his nephew. ‘I am not sure it is very wise to read or listen to other people’s messages,’ he said. ‘There are instances when they can be easily misinterpreted and cause untold damage when in the wrong hands.’
‘I warned you she’s still seeing him,’ Bruno said. ‘Look at the guilt written all over her face.’
Keira lowered her gaze to the phone in her shaking hands and, with fumbling fingers, flipped open the screen and accessed her last received message. It was from Garth and, read out of context, was as damning as any could be.
Meet me Friday, four p.m. at my apartment—Garth.
She looked up to see Patrizio watching her. ‘It’s not what you think…’ she said.
‘No, I am sure it is not,’ he said and, taking her arm, led her indoors back to the table, where Robyn had set out dessert and coffee.
The boys made short work of the cheesecake and strawberries but Keira could see that Patrizio had other things on his mind, even though he was making a valiant attempt to be polite and get through the generous helping of dessert Robyn had set before him.
‘We will take the boys back to school on our way home,’ he said to Robyn after everyone had finished.
‘Thank you, Patrizio,’ she said, blushing slightly. ‘Kingsley’s gone to bed with a headache. He’s been under quite a bit of stress lately, as you can imagine.’
Keira felt like shaking her mother for always enabling her father to get away with his appalling behaviour. She exchanged rolled-eyed glances with Jamie and got to her feet. ‘Don’t make excuses for him, Mum,’ she said. ‘He’s nothing but an overbearing tyrant who’s been browbeating all of us for years. Why on earth do you put up with it?’
‘Please don’t cause any more trouble, Keira,’ Robyn said. ‘Haven’t you done enough for one evening? Your father has an important meeting tomorrow and now he’s unwell.’
Keira blew out her cheeks in frustration as she scooped up her purse. ‘This is such a farce,’ she said. ‘You insist on playing happy families when you’re as miserable as a wet weekend and have been for years.’
‘I’m not miserable,’ Robyn said. ‘I love your father. He’s a good man and stood by me when…’ She paused and put an agitated hand up to her throat. ‘I mean he’s always stood by me.’
‘Thank you for a lovely dinner, Mrs Worthington,’ Patrizio said, coming between Keira and her mother. ‘I will take Keira and the boys home. I apologise for Keira’s behaviour; she is under a great deal of strain with her final exhibition coming up in less than four weeks.’
Robyn dabbed at her eyes. ‘She should have become a teacher as we wanted,’ she said. ‘I hate to see her throw her life away after all I did for her…’
‘Oh, for God’s sake.’ Keira rolled her eyes as she left the room.
Patrizio put his hand on Robyn’s shoulder. ‘Do not worry about her,’ he said gently. ‘I am looking after her now and will not let her throw her life away.’
Robyn looked up at him through eyes brimming with tears. ‘He does love her, you know,’ she choked. ‘Kingsley, I mean. I admit he didn’t for years…not until Jamie was born and looked just like her…. he knew, then…’
Patrizio frowned, his chest suddenly feeling uncomfortably tight. ‘Knew what?’ he asked.
Robyn got to her feet and began clearing the dessert plates with jerky movements of her hands. ‘I’ve had too much wine to drink,’ she said, giving a forced laugh. ‘Silly me, I’ve always been hopeless with alcohol. Keira’s the same. More than half a glass and we can’t remember a thing we’ve said or done.’
‘Patrizio, are you taking us back or not?’ Jamie asked from the door. ‘We’ll get a detention if we’re not back by ten.’
‘Coming,’ Patrizio said over his shoulder.
Robyn gave him a sheepish look as she juggled the rest of the plates. ‘Go on, Patrizio. I’ll be fine…really.’
‘Are you sure?’
She smiled a tremulous smile. ‘Of course. I have to be, don’t I? I’m a senator’s wife.’
Patrizio’s frown deepened as he went to where Keira and the boys were waiting for him. Bruno and Jamie were arguing about something that didn’t sound particularly interesting or even very important. In fact he even had cause to wonder if their exchange of heated comments was genuine.
Keira, however, was staring into the darkness of the garden, her arms wrapped around her body as if she were cold, even though the bout of unusually warm spring weather had not yet abated.
‘Time to go home?’ he said as he brushed her bare shoulder with his hand.
She turned her head and, stripping her face of all emotion, followed him wordlessly to the car.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AFTER the boys were dropped off at school Patrizio let a few minutes of silence pass before he brought up the subject of the text message Keira had received. ‘While it distresses me that my nephew took it upon himself to invade someone else’s privacy in such a way, it raises the question in my mind as to whether or not you have been lying to me all this time about your continued relationship with Garth Merrick.’
‘I haven’t been lying to you,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen Garth for more than six or seven weeks.’
‘But you have been in recent contact with him.’
She twisted her hands in her lap. ‘Yes…I wanted to ask him about that night again. I thought it might help me remember something.’
He drew in a harsh breath. ‘I can jog your memory if you like,’ he said. ‘You were lying in his bed with your body on show like a street—’
‘Don’t,’ she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, her eyes clamped shut. ‘Please don’t.’
‘It is true, Keira,’ he went on ruthlessly. ‘You claim you don’t remember, but you did sleep with him. You said it yourself. There is no doubt of it.’
‘I know…’ she said in a strangled whisper. ‘He told me too.’
He flicked a glance her way. ‘Did he tell you how it happened? Who started it?’
She gave him a world-weary look. ‘What difference does it make? You’re never going to forgive me for it, so what does it matter who started it? It doesn’t even matter to you that I can’t remember doing it. As far as you’re concerned, I betrayed you by sleeping with another man. You haven’t even considered there might be another explanation.’
‘What other explanation could there be?’ he asked. ‘I saw you in his bed, for God’s sake.’
‘Yes, I know, and I saw those photos that woman Rita Favore sent me, but it turned out that what I saw wasn’t real,’ she pointed out. ‘What if there is some other explanation for what you saw?’
He brought the car to a halt in the driveway of his house, his dark gaze brooding. ‘If there is another explanation I would like to know firstly what it is, and secondly who is going to give it to me, for apparently you cannot remember.’
‘You think I’m lying about not remembering?’ she asked in increasing distress. ‘Do you realise how upsetting it is to wake up in one of your closest friend’s bed and not remember a single detail of how you got there? Do you?’
Patrizio held her tortured gaze for several pulsing seconds, his mind going back over what Robyn Worthington had said earlier. ‘Had you been drinking that night?’ he finally asked.
She pressed her lips together and looked back at her hands. ‘I had one or two sips of wine but I wasn’t keen on it. I hardly ever drink—you should know that about me from when we were together before. I don’t like the taste, for one thing, and I get a headache if I have more than one glass. I was very upset after we…we argued. I went to Garth’s because I wanted to be with someone I trusted, someone who knew me and would look after me. I had the beginnings of a migraine and I knew if I didn’t take something for it I would be out of it for days
.’
‘What did you take?’
She frowned, as if trying to remember. ‘I’m not sure…Garth had something he’d been prescribed when he tore a ligament in his knee. It was pretty powerful, as I can remember feeling woozy a few minutes after taking it, but then that could have been the fact that I hadn’t eaten for hours…’
His hands clenched the steering wheel as he tried to put out of his mind what he had seen that morning. ‘So what you’re saying is you have no recollection of what happened, no inkling of what led you to be in Merrick’s bed?’
Keira shook her head silently.
‘You said you were in no doubt that you slept with him,’ he said, still clenching the steering wheel with white-knuckled force. ‘Does that mean there was any evidence to suggest you had?’
She couldn’t hold his gaze as she thought about the state of the bed that night. ‘Yes…’ she said. ‘There was…’
She heard him release a ragged sigh as he opened the driver’s door, watching as he came around to help her out of the car. She got out on legs that felt unsteady and followed him into the house, her heart aching all over again for what she had done to him.
He turned to face her once they were inside the house. ‘This meeting you arranged with him for Friday,’ he said. ‘Are you telling me it was all above board? That you were only seeing him to search for answers?’
‘Yes. He’s moving to Canada in just over a month. He wasn’t keen on seeing me when I called him, but he must have changed his mind.’
His dark eyes probed hers. ‘I hope to God you are not lying to me, Keira,’ he warned. ‘If I find out you are, I will ruin you and your parents, and do not think I will not do it, for I will.’
She held his warning look for as long as she could. ‘I’m not lying, Patrizio.’ Only a little bit.
He let a few seconds pass before stating implacably, ‘I do not want you to see him alone. In fact, I absolutely forbid it.’
Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame Page 12
