by Sara Craven
He added, ‘Until later, then.’
And Maddie nodded, smiling back, and left him, her hands clenched by her sides to conceal the fact that they were trembling.
When she reached the suite, she went into her room and threw herself face downwards across the bed, pressing herself into the mattress as if it might open up and hide her.
She thought, ‘What am I going to do? Oh God, what am I going to do?’
Somehow she had to get through the rest of the day—and the night—without revealing the seething turmoil within her. To deal with the stranger that Andrea had suddenly become.
It was almost better when he’d been her enemy, she thought. Then, at least, he had looked at her as if she was human.
No, she amended quickly and guiltily. He’d looked at her as if she was a woman. She’d sensed it from the beginning, responded to it, at first against her will, then quite deliberately in an attempt to ameliorate a dangerous situation.
But only to be caught in her own trap, finding herself drawn to him and wholly unable to resist his attraction. This urgent, aching need he’d somehow awoken in her. And which he’d seemed to share.
Yet now...
She buried her involuntary moan in the pillow.
I never meant it to happen, she whispered silently, as if placating some unseen malevolent force. And I should have believed him when he said it was over. Should have made myself leave with the hateful Simpson.
Because she knew now that nothing—nothing—could be worse than inhabiting this—limbo she’d been consigned to.
At last she got up wearily, loosened her hair, removed her skirt and top and, after a brief trip to the bathroom to wash her face and hands in cool water, slid under the coverlet and tried to sleep.
It was not easy. Image after image chased through her mind, and all of them Andrea—devouring her with his eyes as she descended the stairs towards him, kneeling to attend to her blistered feet, and, above all, pleasuring her with such potent lingering sweetness that she ached at its memory.
Memories that were all she would have to take with her when she left.
Eventually, the pictures in her head began to blur and slip away and with them, if only for a little while, went the tension, the hurt and the unspoken yearning as she slept.
There were shadows in the room when she opened her eyes, but as she sat up she realised there was light coming from the bathroom together with the sound of the bath filling, and the next moment Luisa appeared in the doorway.
She checked. ‘Scusi, signorina.’ She indicated her watch. ‘E l’ora di cena.’
She went to the closet and extracted the black dress, but Maddie shook her head.
‘No, grazie. I will choose—decidere.’
Luisa’s expression as she hung the dress back in the closet plainly asked ‘What choice?’ But she ducked her head in assent and left Maddie to her own devices.
Her sleep had done her good, she thought, as she went into the bathroom. She had woken, seeing things much more clearly, knowing herself far better than she’d done an hour or so ago.
And, as a result, she’d reached a decision. One last throw of the dice, she told herself. Make—or break.
She sniffed at each of the array of bath essences and picked one with the scent of clove carnations, adding a generous capful to the steaming water.
After she’d bathed and dried herself, she used the matching body lotion rubbing it lightly and sensuously into her skin. She gave a slight grimace as the mirrored reflection of her nakedness showed that she was still bruised from her recent adventure, although the grazes were healing well.
But there was no time for the marks to fade, she thought, as she returned to the bedroom. She had to act now. Tonight.
Besides he already knew what she looked like without her clothes, bruises and all, she reminded herself, her skin warming at the recollection.
She opened the adjoining closet and took the black nightgown and robe from the rail. As she slipped the gown over her head, the delicate fabric, so sheer it was like a dark mist, touched her like a caress.
It hid almost nothing, of course. But wasn’t that exactly why he’d chosen it? And if she’d worn it the first time to throw his challenge back in his face, this time she intended it to be total enticement, she thought with satisfaction as she slid her arms into the sleeves of the robe, and fastened its buttons.
She brushed her hair into its usual smooth fall, before darkening her lashes and emphasising the curve of her mouth with her favourite soft coral lustre.
This time, she made her own way downstairs, underlining her new status as guest rather than prisoner. She walked to the panelling, found the hidden catch and silently opened the door into the salone.
Andrea was standing by the fireplace, staring down at the small heap of glowing logs.
Maddie took a deep breath. ‘You see?’ she announced. ‘I actually managed the door.’
He turned abruptly, glass in hand, standing as if transfixed as Maddie walked towards him, a faint smile playing about her lips.
‘My compliments.’ He did not return the smile. ‘You will be pleased to hear that your flight to London tomorrow has been booked, and that Camillo will drive you to Genoa. Perhaps you can be ready by noon.’
She was not deceived by the implied dismissal or the formal tone in which it was uttered. She had seen the swift flare in his eyes, and the involuntary movement of a muscle in his throat and knew that the significance of her attire—or lack of it—had not been lost on him.
She said with equal civility, ‘That’s very kind of you.’
‘Al contrario. We shall both be relieved when our lives return to normal, and I was anxious that no more time should be wasted.’ He paused. ‘May I get you a drink?’
‘Some white wine, please,’ she said, slightly unnerved by what he had said. This, she thought, was not going to plan.
She took the glass he brought her and raised it in a toast. ‘To the future—whatever it may bring.’
‘For you there seems little doubt.’ He raised his own glass. Drank. ‘You will marry the man you love. Your faith in him has not wavered.’
‘Apart from today,’ she said in a low voice. ‘When he didn’t come to fetch me.’
‘A small misunderstanding, soon forgiven I am sure.’
She stared at him. ‘But you said in his place, you’d storm the place to get me back.’
‘I said a good many things, none of which now matter.’ He briskly finished his whisky and set down the empty glass on the dining table, at which, Maddie noticed with sudden disquiet, only one place had been set.
He added, ‘And now you must excuse me, Maddalena. I am dining elsewhere tonight. I may not return before you go tomorrow, so please accept my best wishes for a safe journey and a happy arrival. What is it your Shakespeare says—that journeys end in lovers’ meetings? I hope it will be true for you.’
He took her nerveless hand and bowed over it. ‘Addio, mia bella. Your fidanzato is a fortunate man.’
Stunned, she watched him walk to the door. She said in a voice she didn’t recognise, ‘I don’t understand. You’re leaving me to spend this evening—our last time together—alone?’
His voice seemed to reach her across a million light years of space. ‘There is no “together”, Maddalena. How could there be? And we can part without regret. One day you will thank me for that, believe me.’
‘Will you at least tell me where are you going?’
He paused. Shrugged. ‘To Viareggio, carissima, as I often do.’ He added softly, ‘But I think you already know that.’
And went.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘MY GOD, DARLING,’ Jeremy said huskily. ‘It’s been absolute hell on bloody earth. I felt I was living through a nightmare.’
Maddie looked down at the glitter of the diamonds, now restored to her left hand. She said quietly, ‘It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for me, either.’
But her nig
htmare, she thought, had begun forty-eight hours ago and was still continuing.
Jeremy shuddered. ‘You must have been terrified.’
‘At first,’ she said. ‘Then I got angry.’
‘Although, as my father said, you were never in any real danger. It wasn’t as if you’d been grabbed by the Mafia.’ He lowered his voice confidentially. ‘In fact, I gather it was all rather a storm in a teacup.’
‘Really?’ She kept her voice even. ‘I didn’t see it like that.’
‘Perhaps not,’ he said. ‘Yet here you are, home, safe, and all in one piece.’
In one piece, Maddie echoed in silent incredulity. Are you blind? Can’t you see that I’ve fallen apart? That I’m in bits?
Jeremy was speaking again, ‘I suppose you’ve told your family—your boss—everyone—what happened to you.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘My aunt and uncle, the girls, Todd—they all think I’ve been running round Northern Italy trying to track my lost soprano, and have now admitted defeat.’ She gave him a steady look. ‘I thought that was best.’
‘Absolutely. It solves a lot of problems—awkward questions and stuff.’ He shook his head. ‘After all, the whole thing was utterly ludicrous. Completely OTT. All this panic and uproar just to get Dad to exonerate some long-dead former employee from a richly deserved charge of fraud. Well, who could believe that?’
‘Who indeed?’ Maddie agreed ironically. ‘But if it was such a trivial matter, why did it take so long to fix it?’
He looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, darling, it’s the kind of situation that could easily be misconstrued. Dad had the bank’s reputation to consider.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said. ‘Silly me.’
‘And what’s it to do with this Valieri guy anyway? He must be totally barking.’
‘No.’ Maddie considered for a moment. ‘Just—single-minded and very determined.’
‘Well, Trevor Simpson didn’t see him like that. His report was very different.’
‘I can imagine.’
He hesitated. ‘For one thing, it mentions that when he arrived, you were out driving round the countryside in Valieri’s company.’
Maddie turned her instinctive flinch into a shrug. ‘What of it?’
‘And then you refused to let Simpson bring you back.’ He paused. ‘You must see that it looks—odd.’
‘Actually, I don’t. I was offered a “get out of jail free” card for a few hours.’ Or free apart from the bitter cost in heartache, shame and regret.
‘I was going stir-crazy,’ she went on. ‘So I accepted.’
She added crisply, ‘And I found your Mr Simpson quite loathsome. Is that sufficient explanation?’
‘A bit of a rough diamond, perhaps,’ Jeremy said stiffly. ‘But Dad finds him useful and efficient.’ He took her hand. ‘I’m not trying to upset you, truly, but this is a difficult situation for me—and clearly I’m not handling it very well.
‘But I have to say that meeting in a wine bar after work isn’t the sort of romantic reunion I’d hoped for.’ He put his lips close to her ear. ‘Let’s get out of here and go to the flat. Dad’s promised we’ll have it to ourselves.’
Maddie controlled a sudden shiver. She said, ‘Jeremy, I can’t. Not yet. I’ve been through an ordeal. I—I need time.’
He sat back, his mouth tightening in obvious disappointment. ‘Which is something else we need to talk about. My father suggests that our wedding should be brought forward. That we have a quiet ceremony quite soon, and a big celebratory party as planned on the original date.’
‘Bring the wedding forward?’ she said slowly. ‘But why?’
Jeremy looked uncomfortable again. ‘He hopes it will make you feel more—settled. Besides, it’s only what you once claimed you wanted,’ he added defensively. ‘Let’s elope, you said. Special licence and a couple of witnesses.’
‘Which you refused.’
‘Surely I’m allowed to change my mind.’
‘Yes,’ Maddie said. ‘But so am I. And I think the previous arrangements should stand.’ She paused. ‘Needing some recovery time doesn’t make me a basket case.’
He took her hand again. ‘Sweetheart, can’t you understand that, after what happened, I don’t want to wait any longer?’
She bit her lip. ‘I think I’ve been subjected to enough pressure just recently. This is a major decision, Jeremy, and I won’t be rushed.’
‘Rushed?’ he repeated as if the word was new to him. ‘God, Maddie, we’re engaged to be married. You’ve promised to be my wife. Does it really matter if it happens sooner rather than later?’
Logic suggested that it didn’t. Gut instinct advised her to stick to her guns.
She said, ‘Tell me something. Why didn’t you bring that letter to Italy yourself?’
‘I wanted to, darling, believe me. But it was—tricky. You must see that.’
‘Tricky?’ she repeated. ‘What’s tricky about a storm in a teacup? Be honest, Jeremy. Your father said no, and you wouldn’t go against him. Not even if it meant being reunited with me a few days sooner.’
‘It was natural for him to be concerned.’
‘I wish he’d been equally concerned for me. I could have been free so much earlier.’ She paused. ‘Is that why he didn’t want me to go to Italy—because he was afraid the past might come back to haunt him?’
‘Of course not,’ he said quickly. ‘It was just some long-forgotten petty crime. He simply didn’t wish to be forced into a number of untruthful and potentially damaging admissions about it.
‘But, of course, your safety and well-being were paramount, so, in the end, he put his name to that tissue of lies. And that wasn’t all either. He had to ask not to be put forward for a life peerage. This hit him hard, but he said no sacrifice was too great.’
Maddie thought of the Contessa collapsing into a flood of tears because the honour of the man she loved had been vindicated at last. Of Andrea dropping the letter into the flames as if it was coated in slime.
But she supposed Jeremy, the devoted only son, could hardly be blamed for believing anything his father told him.
Jeremy’s voice became quiet, almost casual. ‘Tell me, my sweet, did the Valieri man ever say what he planned to do with it? Dad’s letter, I mean? He went to enough trouble to get hold of it, so he must have something in mind.’
He burnt it...
She almost spoke the words, but at the last moment something stopped her.
She said, ‘He was hardly likely to confide in me.’ And paused. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘For God’s sake, darling, isn’t it obvious? The bloody thing’s out there like a time bomb waiting to go off.’
Maddie said carefully, ‘Perhaps just having it is enough and he doesn’t mean to use it.’
Jeremy’s mouth hardened into an unpleasant line. ‘Sure—and watch out for flying pigs. Do you really think a bastard like that can be trusted?’
‘My experience of bastards,’ Maddie said, ‘is rather limited.’
He sighed. ‘Darling, this is why I want us to get married as quickly as possible. Maybe the notion of a man wanting to cherish and protect his wife is an old-fashioned one. If so, I’m an old-fashioned man and proud of it. So why make me wait?’
Maddie took a deep breath. ‘Maybe because of an inbuilt conviction that marriage is an equal partnership and that I’m quite able to take care of myself,’ she retorted.
‘Not,’ Jeremy said, ‘according to the evidence of the past few weeks.’
‘But I wasn’t the real target,’ Maddie pointed out quietly. ‘It was my association with your family that really exposed me to risk.’
‘And is this why you’re refusing to marry me?’
‘I haven’t refused,’ she said. ‘I just haven’t made up my mind.’
‘Well, we can discuss it at the weekend,’ said Jeremy. ‘Dad suggested we should go somewhere quiet and secluded together.’
Maddie wondered dispassionately h
ow many times Nigel Sylvester had been mentioned since they’d first brought their drinks to this corner table.
She said quietly, ‘I’m afraid that isn’t possible. I’ve already arranged to stay with my aunt and uncle.’
He looked dismayed. ‘Can’t you see them another time? Surely if you explained we need time together they’d understand.’
‘Perhaps, but I owed them a visit before I went away,’ Maddie returned. ‘And anyway a few days at home will give me time to think. Then I promise you’ll have your answer.’
She also refused more wine and dinner at her favourite restaurant. ‘Can I take a rain check?’ Sensing his annoyance, she gave him a placatory smile. ‘I haven’t been sleeping too well since I got back, and I need an early night.’ Alone...
Outside the bar, Jeremy signalled to a taxi. As it drew up to the kerb, he took Maddie’s face in his hands and looked into her eyes.
He said in a low voice, ‘I hate myself for asking this, but I must. This Valieri—I need to know what happened while you were together. Oh God, Maddie did he use you—force himself on you?’
She met his gaze, telling herself she should be thankful that she could. Glad that she could be truthful about this at least.
‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘He never did. On the contrary.’ She swallowed. ‘I was simply part of a business transaction. Does that reassure you?’
‘I suppose it has to.’ He bent his head and kissed her, and Maddie made herself respond to the pressure of his lips.
‘We’re together again,’ he whispered, as he put her into the cab. ‘Back where we belong. I know everything’s going to be all right, and I’ll be waiting for your answer.’
As the taxi drove off, Maddie glanced back and saw him still standing on the edge of the kerb, eyes narrowed, face frowning as he watched her go, and had the strangest impression she was looking at a stranger.
But then nothing in the past two days had seemed quite real.
Not from the moment she’d fled from the salone back to her room, ripping off the robe and nightgown and leaving them in a crumpled heap on the floor. Crawling into the bed like a small animal seeking its lair.
