by Kendrick, Sharon; Lawrence, Kim; Crews, Caitlin; Milburne, Melanie
‘Oh, you know, the usual stuff.’ Allegra paused and added, ‘Have you spoken to Loukas lately?’
‘Not since the wedding. Why?’
‘Just asking.’
‘Just asking…why?’
She chewed at her lip for a beat. ‘He and Emily got it on after the wedding.’
Draco gave a deep chuckle. ‘Yes, well, I did tell you he had a thing for English girls.’
‘He didn’t ask for her number.’ Allegra said it as if it was a personality defect.
There was a small pause.
‘Was that a problem for her?’ he said.
‘A bit, I think.’
‘She liked him?’
‘She slept with him, didn’t she? She’s not the sort of girl to put it out for just anyone. Although she did have a bit to drink.’
‘Loukas wouldn’t have taken advantage of her, if that’s what you’re suggesting.’
‘I wasn’t,’ Allegra said. ‘She was keen on him but over-played it out of nervousness or something.’
‘Over-played it?’
‘She mentioned the M word.’
‘Bad move.’
‘Yes, it was apparently quite a dampener. Poor Em. She’s such a sweetheart but she always falls for the wrong men.’
‘Do you want me to have a word with him?’ Draco asked.
‘God, no. I think it’s best if we keep out of it. We have enough problems of our own to interfere in anyone else’s.’
Another silence ticked past.
‘I mean…we have to sort out stuff, you know?’ Allegra said. ‘The living situation, for instance.’
‘I thought we discussed that.’
‘But what are people going to say when they find out we’re keeping two houses in London on the go?’ Allegra said. ‘It’s hardly the behaviour of a normal couple.’
‘Then move in with me. Problem solved.’
‘Why don’t you move in with me?’
‘Mine is a much bigger house,’ he said. ‘It makes sense to move in with me. You can rent yours out if you’re not keen to sell it.’
‘Why do I have to be the one who compromises?’
‘It isn’t about compromising, Allegra. It’s about doing what’s sensible.’ Draco sounded as if he were talking to a child who had failed to grasp the simplest information.
Allegra wished she were still wearing her heels so she could dig them into the carpet. ‘So far, I’ve made all the sacrifices in this relationship. You simply get on with your life as if nothing’s changed.’
‘Look, I have to go,’ he said. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’
Allegra put the phone down and sighed. It wasn’t the most satisfying way to end a conversation. But so far the only satisfying thing about their relationship was the sex. And even that was out of the question now, with Draco travelling thousands of miles away for days on end. Maybe she was being silly about the house. It made sense to use the bigger of the two. It was a big step for her, but not as big as marrying him. How could she expect him to fall in love with her if she kept harping on about silly little issues that weren’t worth worrying about?
You expect him to fall in love with you?
Allegra chewed her lip until the skin felt raw. Was it too much of a dream to hope he would?
* * *
Draco leaned his head back on the headrest once he’d boarded his plane and closed his eyes, wishing he could close off his thoughts as well. Truth was, he could have sent someone else to Russia, but he needed some distance to sort out of few things in his head.
Why was everything suddenly so complicated? He had a filthy headache and a gut full of worry over Yanni back at home, who was giving his staff merry hell over being under house arrest. Now he’d upset Allegra over real estate. Her house was nice but it was practically a doll’s house compared to his. Besides, he didn’t want to live on her territory. He was the one calling the shots in their relationship. If he moved in with her, she would have the power to ask him to leave. He wasn’t giving her that power, no matter how good they were together in bed and out of it. He could pack his house up and rent it out, but why should he? She was being stubborn.
Like you.
Of course he was being stubborn. Being stubborn was how you got things done. How you set goals and saw things through to completion. Being stubborn was how you built up a business into a global empire that was worth millions. Being stubborn was how you rescued a drug-addicted kid of the street and got him clean so he could have a life.
It meant Draco’s life was a little more stressful than he’d like it, but that was the way things were. Allegra would come round. It was early days and she was still getting used to sharing her life with someone. As was he. This short separation would hopefully help him get some perspective. He had never been this close to another person. Not just physically, but emotionally. He looked forward to being with her, and he dreamt about her when he wasn’t.
He had to rein it in. Draco didn’t want to turn back into that callow youth of nineteen who’d fancied himself in love only to find it was a mirage. A fantasy. A dream built on air. He wasn’t in love. His heart was in a straitjacket, where it belonged. He would miss Allegra while he was in Russia, badly. But it didn’t mean he was in love with her. It meant he cared about her.
It was a mild word, yes, but the way he felt about her was anything but mild.
* * *
But when Draco got back to his hotel, from his third and final difficult meeting with his client, he sat in his suite and thought about how lonely it was eating yet another meal on his own. He could have gone out to a restaurant but the thought of dining out alone held zero appeal. No one to sit opposite him, challenging him, debating with him, smiling at his jokes and giving him those sparkly-eyed looks that signalled the same desire he could feel burning in his loins.
He missed Allegra. More than he’d thought he would. This time away was meant to give him some breathing room but instead it was stifling him. There was no trace of her perfume in the hotel room, not even on his skin. When he turned over in bed, the place beside him was cold and empty. That had never bothered him before. An empty space beside him meant he was free of emotional entanglements, but now it made Draco feel…well…empty. He’d tried calling her a few times but the time difference and the long meetings he or she had been in hadn’t always worked in his favour. He’d been left feeling strangely out of touch with Allegra. Wanting her with an almost violent ache. Needing to see her like he needed his next breath.
He wondered if she was missing him. Did she stare into space and daydream about their honeymoon the way he did? Did she get a shuddery shiver all over her body when she thought about how they had made love on deck under the star-studded sky? Did she reach for him in the middle of the night and get a sinking feeling in her stomach when she realised he wasn’t lying beside her?
Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to move in to one house when he got back. A little bit of compromise wouldn’t go astray, especially when it got him what he wanted—Allegra.
* * *
Allegra got back from court the following day to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers on her desk. She picked up the card and read the message.
Miss you. Draco.
Her heart gave a leap and she pressed the card against her chest just as Emily buzzed her on the intercom.
‘Allegra, your stepmother is here. Have you got time to see her?’
Allegra put the card down on her desk. Elena was in London? Why hadn’t she mentioned it at the wedding? Or was it a spontaneous trip? But that didn’t seem like Elena at all. She was a homebody through and through. She didn’t really enjoy travelling all that much and had said only recently how content she was to stay at home with little Nico. ‘Sure. I haven’t got anyone till four, have I?
’
‘No, you’re all good. I’ll send her in.’
Elena came in pushing Nico in his pram. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her face puffy, as if she had been crying. ‘Sorry to barge in on you…’
Allegra came up to her and took her hands. ‘What’s happened?’ She glanced in the pram to make sure Nico was all right but he was sleeping soundly. She looked back at Elena. ‘What are you doing in London? Is Dad with you? Why didn’t you tell me you were—?’
Elena shook her head. ‘He’s in Paris.’
An ice-cold tap began to drip down Allegra’s spine. ‘Paris? What for?’
Elena’s bottom lip quivered. ‘He’s got a mistress there. I only just found out about her. He’s been seeing her since I got p-pregnant.’ The tears started in earnest then, accompanied by hiccoughing sobs.
Allegra hugged her close and stroked her back in soothing circular motions. What was her father thinking? He had what he wanted, didn’t he? He had a son and heir and a loving and attentive wife. What more did he want? The selfishness of it appalled her. The cruelty of it made her stomach churn with anger.
Once Elena got some of her composure back, she eased out of Allegra’s embrace. Her watery gaze went to the bouquet of flowers on the desk. ‘That’s how I found out.’ She pointed to the flowers. ‘The florist must have got our names mixed up. I got this lovely bunch of red roses, and when I looked at the card it said “To Angelique, love always, Cosimo.”’
‘I’m so sorry.’
Elena turned a sharp eye on Allegra. ‘Did you know? Have you known all along?’
‘No, of course not,’ Allegra said, shocked and more than a little hurt Elena would think it of her. ‘Could it be a mistake? Another Cosimo?’ Even as she said it, it sounded implausible.
‘No, it’s him,’ Elena said. ‘He didn’t deny it when I called him. He ordered the flowers online for me and for her. He made some excuse about how he didn’t want to pressure me for sex while I was pregnant. And here I was, thinking how kind and considerate he’d been when I was having all that wretched morning sickness. It makes me want to throw up all over again.’
Allegra wanted to throw up too. How could her father be so pathetic? ‘What are you going to do?’
Elena’s eyes streamed with tears and she brushed at them with the back of her hand. ‘I want to leave him, but I’ve got little Nico to consider. If your father cuts my allowance, how will I afford a good lawyer to represent me?’
‘I’ll act for you,’ Allegra said, handing her a bunch of tissues from the box on her desk. ‘I know it’s a little unusual, given he’s my father, but I would never allow him to do you out of what’s rightfully yours.’
‘Oh, would you?’ Elena asked, mopping at her eyes. ‘Really?’
‘Of course,’ Allegra said, knowing it would be the end of her relationship with her father, but she no longer cared. Elena and Nico’s welfare was a much higher priority.
Elena’s situation was an unwelcome reminder of how much she herself had to lose. She was exactly like Elena—in love with a man who didn’t love her back. He ‘cared’ for her. Like her father ‘cared’ for Elena. But at least Draco had had the decency to refrain from saying those three little words, unlike her father, who rattled them off all the time. And, unlike her father, he might be faithful to her for the duration of their marriage, but he planned to end it when it suited him.
He didn’t love her.
That was the bottom line.
She would spend the next couple of years of her life—precious years she would never get back—waiting, hoping, praying he would fall in love with her. What if she had the baby she secretly longed for? She would be just like Elena, left holding it when he decided he wanted out. She didn’t want to live like that. To be the sort of woman other women pitied. As she pitied Elena right now. If Draco couldn’t say those words and mean them, then she had to make a choice.
‘What are your immediate plans?’ she asked Elena. ‘Are you staying in London or flying home to Santorini?’
‘I’m flying back to Athens to stay with my parents. I haven’t told them yet. They’ll be so disappointed but I have to leave him. I can’t live with someone who doesn’t love me enough to stay faithful. I just wanted to see you in person. I was worried you’d known about it.’
‘I would never hide something like that,’ Allegra said. ‘I’m appalled at Dad’s behaviour. I’m shocked and sickened by it. I’m on your side in this. I’ll get the paperwork drawn up and we’ll take things from there.’
‘I couldn’t bear to lose Nico in a custody battle,’ Elena said with a haunted look in her eyes. ‘I’d rather die than face that.’
Allegra gave Elena another hug. ‘I’m here for you every step of the way, okay? I can talk to Dad but I’m not sure it will do much.’
‘No, please don’t. This is my problem, not yours.’ Elena took a calming breath and then gave a shaky smile that was a little off the mark. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t even ask you how the honeymoon went. Did you have a good time?’
‘It was lovely, thanks.’
‘You’re so lucky,’ Elena said. ‘Draco loves you. Anyone can see that.’
If only he did…
* * *
Allegra got home after a lengthy and arduous court hearing on Friday evening. She had only spoken to Draco a couple of times during the week, as he’d been in transit or busy with work commitments, or she had been in court and the time zones had made it even more difficult to connect. Besides, the conversation she intended to have with him was not one she wanted to have over the phone. She wanted to see him face to face. He’d arranged to meet her at her house. She had prepared a meal the night before and now she popped it in the oven to reheat before she showered and changed.
The doorbell rang as she was drying off her hair. The fact that he’d rung the doorbell was another reminder of how odd their relationship was. He didn’t have a key to her house and she didn’t have a key to his.
But then she didn’t have the key to his heart, either.
Allegra’s resolve took a punch when she opened the door to him. Draco looked as heart-stoppingly gorgeous as ever in an open-neck dark blue shirt and white chinos that showcased his olive complexion. ‘Hi…’
He stepped over the threshold and took her in his arms, covering her mouth with his in a long, spine-melting kiss that made her resolve roll over and play dead. Her arms went around his waist, her hips flush against the potent heat gathering in his pelvis, her own body quaking with the need to get even closer. Draco pulled back to look down at her. ‘That was a long week. Did you miss me?’
Allegra dropped her arms from his body and stepped back with a cool smile. ‘I’ve been too busy to think about anything but work. How was your trip?’
His expression registered her response with a slight tightening around his mouth. ‘Exhausting. I’ve crossed so many time zones in the last five days, I’ve got no idea what time to eat or sleep.’
‘Come through.’ She led the way to the sitting room where she had laid out drinks and some pre-dinner nibbles. ‘Can I get you wine or beer or…?’
‘What are you having?’
‘White wine.’
‘Half a glass will do.’
Allegra handed it to him with another impersonal smile. ‘Here you go.’
He took the wine but put it straight back down on the coffee table. ‘I have something for you.’ He took out a package from his back pocket—a flattish square box wrapped in black tissue, tied with a gold ribbon.
She took it from him and carefully untied the ribbon and tissue to find a jeweller’s box with a sapphire-and-diamond pendant inside. It was a delicate and elegant setting, almost simple in design, but the brilliant blue of the sapphire and the tiny sparkling diamonds that surrounded it made it one of the most beautiful piec
es of jewellery she had ever seen. ‘It’s…gorgeous…’ She glanced up at him. ‘Thank you. It was very thoughtful of you.’
‘Glad you like it,’ Draco said with a smile. ‘The sapphire reminded me of your eyes.’ He took the box back from her. ‘Here, let me put it on for you.’
Allegra turned around and lifted her hair out of the way while he looped the fine gold chain around her neck and fastened the clasp. The brush of his fingers against her skin made her whole body shiver in reaction. She turned back around to face him, her fingers absently playing with the sapphire. ‘Thanks for the flowers, by the way.’
He placed his hands on her shoulders and meshed his gaze with hers. ‘Why don’t you tell me what’s troubling you?’
Allegra pressed her lips together for a moment. ‘I had a visit from Elena today.’
‘Here? In London?’
She nodded. ‘She flew over to talk to me face to face.’
‘About…?’
‘About my father’s mistress in Paris.’
Draco’s brows snapped together. ‘He has a mistress? Already?’
Allegra slipped out of his hold and stood some distance from him with her arms crossed over her body, her hands cupping her elbows. ‘Yes. Her name is Angelique. He sent flowers to her and Elena but the florist must have got the messages mixed up.’
He shook his head as if the situation was beyond belief. ‘He’s a fool. A damn fool. What’s she going to do?’
‘She’s leaving him,’ Allegra said, keeping her gaze steady on his. ‘She says she can’t live with a man who doesn’t love her enough to stay faithful. I agree with her. You can’t make someone love you—they either love you or they don’t.’
There was a beat or two of pregnant silence.
‘Allegra…’ Her name came out on a heavy sigh that had ‘don’t do this’ written all over it.
‘I’ve been thinking this week while you’ve been away,’ Allegra said, refusing to be daunted now she had made up her mind. ‘This is how it’s always going to be, isn’t it? You don’t love me. Not the way I want to be loved. The way most women want to be loved. The way Elena wants to be loved. I want love I can rely on, no matter what. Caring isn’t enough for me, Draco. Flowers and expensive gifts and great sex aren’t enough. I want you to love me. But, because you don’t, our marriage has to end.’
