by Betsy Swann
He looked up, when he heard an unexpected noise from the doorway. Izzy stood there, wearing silk pyjamas and holding out his shoes to him. Her beautiful eyes were swollen from crying.
‘You forgot these,’ she said and softly put them on the floor when he didn’t come to take them from her. ‘And I wanted to thank you for… for making my first time so special. It was the most wonderful experience of my life.’
Dio! She thanked him, although he had behaved like an ogre. The woman had true grace.
‘Wait,’ he said when she turned to go back to her bedroom. Swiftly, he closed the distance between them. ‘Please, Izzy, I…I overreacted. I should never have said what I said, and I want to apologise.’
She turned back to him, her lips slightly quivering and a wary look in her eyes. ‘Do you really mean that?’
‘I do,’ he admitted huskily. ‘Please, Izzy, can you forgive me? I’d like to make a fresh start.’
‘You don’t even like me,’ she said. ‘Remember? You called me a slut, and a whore and a gold-digger.’
Conscience-stricken, he bowed his head. She was right. How could he ever make good for the insults he’d thrown into her face?
‘Dio, Izzy…’ He ran his hands through his hair. ‘You’ve hurt me so much when you spent that night with Samuel Carson, I can’t even start to explain what that did to me. Alone the thought of all the other men you’ve been with since drives me wild. Knowing that Hetherington pays for your flat…’
She stepped closer and took his hand into her own. ‘I told you. Nick does not pay for my flat. I’ve never taken money or gifts from any man. Why don’t you believe me, Enzo?’
He stared at her bleakly. Hetherington’s picture stood on the side board in her living-room, framed in silver. Wasn’t that evidence enough that she was lying?
‘I can’t,’ he whispered. ‘I just can’t.’
‘Can you at least promise me to try?’
Starving for her warmth, he took her into his arms and closed his eyes. He would try and give it his best shot, starting right now by not phoning that private investigator. Maybe that would work, taking it one step at a time.
‘I promise.’
Dio, she felt so right for him, like his perfect companion, and still… how was there any hope for a future when she was on the rebound? She was in love with his brother and had probably planned to save her virginity for Luca, not him. Only the fact that Luca’s picture with that stunning brunette had shown up online had made Izzy fall for his seduction.
How could this ever work?
‘Thank you,’ she whispered against his chest. ‘Let’s use our time in Italy to give this a chance, Enzo. And if it doesn’t work out…’
He didn’t even want to think about it. All he could concentrate on was the here and now.
‘Will you spend the night with me, Izzy? Stay in my bed?’
She looked up to him, her eyes shining brightly with hope and something warm and wonderful he couldn’t quite name. Almost like…
‘I’d love to,’ she whispered.
With a happy grin, he steeped her up into his arms and carried her into his bedroom.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Izzy couldn’t believe the wondrous change in Enzo’s behaviour towards her. Night after night, he made love to her, sometimes for hours, and during day time no man could be more attentive than him. Together they visited his hotels, all in stunning locations in different parts of Italy, and he really seemed to like the design ideas she came up with.
In the first few days, he’d been very reluctant to share anything private with her and had preferred to keep conversations at a business level or some light talk about general topics. But as time went by he had slowly opened up, sharing jokes with her and filling her in about his private likes or dislikes.
So far Enzo had totally avoided any mention of his brother, Izzy had noticed. She had no real idea how things were going in Las Vegas. All she received from Bella’s end where daily messages in the form of a Smiley. On some days the emoticon was happy, on others it was sad.
The one that had landed in her in-box just now looked utterly heartbroken. Sighing, Izzy snapped her phone shut and stuffed it back into her handbag. Luca still hadn’t professed his love to Bella, so much was sure. As this was already the fifth crying smiley she had received in a row, there was not much chance he ever would.
Everything could be so easy, if Bella simply told him the truth. But Izzy knew her twin well enough to be certain that she would never do that. Bella’s fear to be loved not for herself but for her money was deeply engrained into her confidence. No way she’d step over her shadow and let him know.
Izzy knitted her brows. She was no better in that respect, she had to admit. In the past seven days she’d had plenty of opportunity to tell Enzo the truth, but she had not used it. Her excuses, which sounded lame even to her own ears, had ranged from ‘this is not a good moment’ to ‘your confession will blow Bella’s cover’.
In truth she was afraid that he wouldn’t believe her again. Although he tried his best to have an amicable relationship with her and on the surface appeared to be the perfect doting lover, she was certain that deep down Enzo still didn’t trust her. Sometimes she felt his eyes resting on her pensively, as if he didn’t know what to make of her. But when she asked what he was thinking, he backed down and changed the topic.
At night, he made love to her with utter desperation. A desperation, she instinctively felt, that led from the knowledge that she was his for not much longer. That he would let her go at the end of their stay in Italy.
Bleakly she stared into the blue Sardinian sky that spanned the beach behind the vast expanse of the Vallorini hotel where they’d spent the last couple of days. In a few days Enzo’s private jet would bring them back to Rome, where they’d finalise the plans for the redesign of the hotel. In the evening, they would attend the glamorous ball in aid of ‘My Greatest Wish’ in the hotel’s ballroom. Enzo was the most generous host and had painstakingly made sure that Italy’s most famous racing driver would be there, including his car, to fulfil the greatest wish of a terminally ill nine-year-old. A ride in a red Ferrari.
Young Ruby would also be there to attend the ball in her fairy tale gown, accompanied by her loving family. Izzy felt her palms grow slightly damp. Having been at Ruby’s side throughout every stage of the design process, Ruby and her parents knew that she was Clarissa and that she also designed Hetherington’s Clarissima collection. It would be fatal, if Enzo found out about her true identity due to some innocent remark of the child or her parents.
Behind her sunglasses, Izzy closed her eyes. She couldn’t risk it. She had to tell him herself, but it was too early. He didn’t trust her, or did he?
When a shadow fell across her bikini-clad body, she opened her eyes. Towering above her, Enzo stood next to her in the sand, dripping wet in his swimming trunks and a happy grin on his face.
Izzy was relieved to see him smiling. Ever since that phone call that he had received this morning, he’d been in a dark mood. She hadn’t dared to ask who had phoned or what the call had been about. They had to take one step at a time. If Enzo was ready to share his problems or ask for her advice, he would.
Enzo dropped onto the beach towel next to hers.
‘Luigi will get a heart attack, when he spots us here,’ he remarked jokingly, referring to the hotel manager. ‘He’ll never understand why anyone could possibly prefer a towel on the sand to those amazingly expensive deck chairs he lined up around the pool.’
Izzy answered with a giggle. The elderly man would have an even bigger shock, if he discovered that the big boss had an affair with his PA and even shared a room with her.
‘Luigi is a devout Roman Catholic and old-fashioned to the core,’ Enzo had explained why they had moved into two separate but adjoining bedrooms. ‘And he has known me since I was a little boy.’
To keep up appearances, Izzy rumpled the sheets of her unused bed every morning. Why
raise the suspicion of the maids, who’d swiftly start gossiping about their affair amongst the staff? What Enzo and she had together was much too fragile to be picked to pieces in public.
‘So what have you been daydreaming about while I was swimming, cara? Anything nice?’
‘I’ve been thinking about the charity ball,’ she answered truthfully. ‘I can’t wait to see that boy’s face when he realises that his dream of driving in a red Ferrari is about to come true and in the company of such a famous driver. I bet his bedroom is plastered with posters of the man.’
Enzo grinned. ‘That’s exactly what my bedroom looked like, when I was a boy. My greatest wish was to become a famous racing driver, and my parents were much relieved when I later decided to be an astronaut.’
Laughing, Izzy rolled on her side to face him. ‘And what is your greatest wish now?’
A shadow fell across his face.
Instantly she knew she’d hit a sore spot. From one second to the other, his dark mood had returned. So he did have a greatest wish. Something really close to his heart and completely out of his reach, by the looks of it.
‘If you don’t want to talk about it…’
‘No it’s okay,’ he eventually replied. ‘You have every right to ask. It’s just that my dearest wish can’t be fulfilled, not with all my money.’
He grabbed a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers. ‘I had a phone call from Rebecca Morton this morning.’
‘Luca’s ex-wife?’
Enzo nodded, his hands still playing with the sand. ‘She phoned specially to let me know that she put our family mansion up for sale – and that there was no way Luca or I could buy it back, no matter how much we were willing to offer.’
‘Your home in Suffolk?’ Izzy frowned. ‘But that belongs to your family, not to Rebecca.’
‘Not anymore,’ Enzo replied grimly. ‘Not since it fell to her as part of the divorce settlement, when she split up with Luca.’
Izzy’s heart bled for him. She knew how much he had loved the beautiful home of the Vallorini family, where he had grown up. Even more so, she guessed, because he was adopted, and this was the first real home and the first real family he had known.’
Softly, she placed her hand over his. ‘I’m sure, if one of your cousins acquired it…’
He shook his head. ‘It’s impossible. Rebecca was very explicit about this. No member of our family nor any of our close friends will be able to acquire the place.’ He sighed. ‘Trust me, Rebecca will make sure the mansion goes to someone, who has a very good reason to hate Luca or me. Someone, who’d never sell it back to us.’
‘But who could possibly hate you?’ Izzy looked at him enquiringly. Wherever they had turned up, Enzo had been respected for his fairness, his honesty and his leadership qualities. ‘Your employees love you, as does your family, and just look at the amount of money you donate to charity.’
‘There are plenty of people, who fit that bracket - in business as well as in private life. Just think of yourself. Until very recently, you started spitting and hissing at the mere sight of me.’ Grinning, he bent over her and stroked his index finger across her cheek. ‘I’m certainly not unhappy about the way things have developed between us recently.’
So he wanted to change the topic. Izzy smiled up at him. He was hurt and desperate right now and at his wits’ end. Surely, there must be a way to get his home back. There was always a way. She’d think about it later. For now, all he needed was her love and attention.
‘Neither am I,’ she whispered, holding his look. ‘Fancy a massage with after-sun lotion in your bedroom?’
***
It was their final day on Sardinia and, although the stunning Mediterranean setting outside his hotel window resembled paradise, a strange feeling of foreboding took hold of Enzo. A deep frown on his face, he looked out across the calm blue waters beyond the beach. He had been convinced that his brother had left Izzy behind and found new happiness with the brunette he’d met in Las Vegas. The girl was a stunner, if the pictures could be trusted Enzo had seen on the internet. Too much of a Barbie doll for his liking, with these huge sunglasses and the cherry red lips, but Luca had seemed to be smitten. Until a few days ago.
Enzo hadn’t liked the text message he had received then.
‘This drives me crazy. I think I’ll forgive Bella the box room and follow my heart.’
What if she was still in love with Luca? Enzo didn’t even want to think about this possibility. Since they had become intimate, their relationship had become so amicable…almost loving. The warmth that shone in her eyes when she smiled at him made his heart rejoice. These last days he’d felt so happy in her company. So relaxed. As if he’d finally found the place where he belonged.
The eyes were the mirror of the soul. What he saw there couldn’t be fake, could it? She couldn’t be such a good actress.
Enzo turned, when two slender arms wrapped around his waist from behind.
‘Do I disturb you?’ Questioningly Izzy looked at him, and he drowned in a sea of periwinkle blue. So warm, so loving…
Smiling, he planted a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Not at all. In fact, I was just thinking of you. Of the way you look at me with those beautiful eyes of yours.’
She giggled and let her fingers tiptoe across his muscular chest to the top button of his shirt. ‘What about giving me a closer look of what you’re hiding under this shirt?’
‘I’m not that easy to get,’ Enzo whispered against her neck. ‘What about earning your access button by button?’
‘It’s my pleasure.’ Seductively she wrapped her arms around his neck and nibbled his lower lip. ‘Let’s start with a kiss…’
Her blond hair tousled and her cheeks still flushed pink from their recent lovemaking, Izzy lay next to him on the bed. With the satisfied look of a kitten that had got all the cream, she snuggled into his arm and smiled. There it was again, this warm glow in her eyes. The glow of love. It made him wonder…
‘What is it?’ she asked, gazing up to him. ‘You seem worried. Is anything wrong?’
‘You’re not acting, Izzy, are you?’ he burst out. ‘Please tell me whether you’re completely honest with me. I need to know.’
Her instant reaction was retreat. Fear. Dio! He could see it in her eyes that she hadn’t been honest with him.
Clearly disquieted she wriggled out of his arms and sat up. Nervously she twisted a strand of hair around her finger. ‘I am honest…I mean, I try to be as much as possible but maybe not every second,’ she whispered, wrapping her arms around her knees.
‘You are lying,’ he said. ‘You are lying now, this very moment and right to my face.’
He pressed his lips to a hard line. The guilty look on her face spoke volumes.
‘I…I may have used a few white lies,’ she said, staring at her knees. ‘I didn’t mean to, but sometimes there is no other way.’
‘White lies,’ he snarled. ‘So that’s what you call this. Tell me then, if I asked you not to see Nick Hetherington again, ever, would you do it?’
She looked up, her lips trembling. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘No, I wouldn’t do it.’
At least she was honest now, he recognised.
‘Do you love him?’
‘Please, Enzo,’ she whispered. ‘Stop this.’
‘Do you love him?’
She nodded. ‘But not…not that way. Nick is very special to me, like… a brother.’
Like a brother! Enzo snorted. Did she take him for a fool?
‘And Luca? What about him?’
For a second she stared at him like a deer that had met the hunter. Then she pushed her chin up defiantly. ‘I won’t answer this,’ she said, lifting herself off the bed. ‘Not now, and not in these circumstances. I guess I should go and pack now, and you should do the same. We’re off to Rome in two hours. ’
Izzy’s obvious dishonesty was not the only problem that had come to blacken Enzo’s mood. When he checked his phone after I
zzy had left his bed, he found a new text message from Luca.
I’ve thought about it, again and again, and hell Enzo, I love Bella. She’s the one. I’m going to propose to her at the first opportunity. Wish me luck!
His heart racing, Enzo stared at the message. Dio! This couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Suddenly feeling terribly weak, he sunk into the next chair and buried his face in his hands. Izzy couldn’t possibly marry Luca and become his sister-in-law. Not now, not after all they’d shared. Not when he was still as crazy about her as two years ago.
In despair, he combed his hands through his hair. He must speak with Luca and tell him to keep his hands off her. Tell him that Izzy was his girl. That he wanted her for himself. Needed her in his life. Loved her.
Dio, could you even love someone you didn’t trust?
He felt cold sweat break out on his forehead. Last night, in her sleep, she had told him that she loved him. Finally she had said the three magic words that he had secretly longed to hear from her, but when Izzy had whispered them in her dream, they had seemed too good to be true. What if the man she’d dreamed about was Luca or Hetherington?
Enzo couldn’t bear the thought that she might love someone else. He shivered. There was no future for the two of them. How could there be, if he knew she was a gold-digger and still didn’t trust her? But then again, why did this feel so much like love? Why did his blood run cold at the thought to let her go?
No matter from which angle he looked at the problem, it all came down to one thing. Izzy had no reason to stay by his side, if Luca offered her marriage, wealth and respect. Even if she had never loved Luca, she had proved to be a gold-digger before, so it was reasonable to assume she’d go down that route again and marry him.
But maybe you’re mistaken, an inner voice shouted in his ear. Maybe you were the man in her dream. Maybe you’re the one she loves.
A throbbing pain started to build in his head. All this uncertainty drove him crazy. He sighed. Izzy hadn’t even mentioned Luca after he had been pictured with that brunette beauty on his arm. Instead, she had embarked on an affair with him without even trying to get Luca back. Such behaviour didn’t seem much like love to him. But what if Izzy had loved Luca after all and was still on the rebound? What if she was still hurt and hoping for Luca to forget that other girl and return to her?
