Uncovering the Silveri Secret

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  He scraped a hand through his hair. ‘Not usually.’ He let his hand drop back by his side. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I will be when I get my heart to get back where it belongs,’ she said with an attempt at humour. ‘You scared the living daylights out of me. I didn’t hear you make a sound. I thought you’d gone the other way around the house.’

  ‘What on earth were you doing?’ he asked, still frowning darkly.

  ‘I was taking Fergus out for a comfort stop.’

  ‘Then why hide in the shadows like an intruder?’ he asked.

  She gave a little shrug, suddenly feeling foolish and gauche. ‘I didn’t want you to see me…’

  ‘Why not?’

  She waved a hand over her night attire. ‘I’m not…um, dressed.’

  ‘I’ve seen you in a lot less,’ he said.

  Bella was glad of the muted moonlight because her face felt suddenly hot. ‘So, how was your date?’ she asked.

  A shutter came down over his face. ‘Where’s Fergus?’ he asked.

  ‘Good question,’ she said as she made her way back to the kitchen door. ‘I was trying to find him when you came home. He’s not very obedient, is he?’

  ‘He’s deaf and practically blind,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have left him on his own. He gets disoriented at night.’

  ‘You were the one who left him while you went off sowing your wild oats,’ she tossed back. ‘You find him. I’m going back to bed.’

  * * *

  It was mid-morning when Bella came downstairs the next day. She supposed Edoardo had been up since dawn, or maybe he hadn’t been to bed at all—or at least not his own bed, she thought with a niggle of pique.

  She was halfway through a cup of tea and a muffin when she heard a car come up the driveway. She went outside and watched as a slim, elegant woman of about thirty got out from behind the wheel.

  ‘Hello,’ the woman said with a friendly smile. ‘You must be Bella. I’m Rebecca Gladstone. I moved into the area a few months ago.’

  ‘Um…hi,’ Bella said.

  ‘Is Edoardo about?’ Rebecca asked. ‘I was passing and thought I should check on Fergus.’

  ‘Fergus?’

  Rebecca smiled. ‘I’m the new vet.’

  ‘Oh…’ Bella pasted a stiff smile on her face. Was this Edoardo’s latest lover? Beautiful, classy, educated, good with animals and probably children as well. She felt a tight pinching feeling close to her heart. Somehow she hadn’t been expecting him to go for someone so…so likeable. Did this mean he would get married and fill Haverton Manor with a brood of kids and pets? He had stolen her house and now he had stolen her dream as well. It should be her children and her pets filling up the place, not his. ‘Come this way,’ she said. ‘Fergus is asleep in the kitchen.’

  Bella watched as Rebecca greeted the dog. Fergus, the old fool, practically gushed. His tail wagged like a metronome on steroids and he even gave a puppy-like wriggle of his hindquarters. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. ‘He seems to really know you well,’ Bella said.

  ‘Yes, we’re old friends, aren’t we, Fergus?’ Rebecca said, ruffling his ears.

  Bella wanted to hate her but she couldn’t quite do it. She decided to hate Edoardo a little bit more for choosing someone so damn perfect. Why couldn’t he have a shallow, self-serving mistress she could really have a good bitch about?

  After a minute or two, Rebecca stood up from examining the elderly dog. ‘I’ll leave some vitamins in case he’s not eating properly,’ she said, taking out a little bottle and placing it on the table. ‘Irish wolfhounds don’t live much longer than eight or so years. He’s doing well for his age, but it’s best to be on the safe side.’

  Bella tried on another smile. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘So, how long are you staying for?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Just a few days,’ Bella said. ‘I haven’t been home much just lately… Actually, not since my father’s funeral.’ Not since he gave away my home to my worst enemy, she added silently.

  ‘I’m sure Edoardo will be glad of the company,’ Rebecca said as she clipped shut her bag. ‘He works far too hard, but I guess I don’t have to tell you that.’

  ‘I’m not sure Edoardo enjoys my company too much,’ Bella said, pursing her mouth.

  Rebecca looked at her quizzically. ‘Oh? Why do you say that?’

  Bella wished she hadn’t been so transparent but it was a bit late to retract what she’d said. In with a penny, in with a pound, she thought. Anyway, why should she sugar-coat her relationship with Edoardo? He had probably derided her to Rebecca every chance he could. ‘He thinks I’m a spoilt brat who hasn’t grown up,’ she said.

  Rebecca studied her for a moment. ‘You’ve known him a long time, then?’

  ‘Since I was seven years old.’

  ‘So you’re like brother and sister?’

  ‘Um…not quite,’ Bella said, blushing in spite of every effort not to. She paused for a beat. ‘We’re not exactly bosom buddies.’

  ‘He’s your financial guardian, isn’t he?’ Rebecca said.

  Bella felt like a fool. Who on earth had financial guardians these days? Kids under eighteen or elderly people with dementia, that was who. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I expect Edoardo has told you all about it.’

  Rebecca gave her a reassuring smile. ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I didn’t hear it from him. He never talks about you. I heard it from Mrs Baker. She told me your father set things up in a rather complicated fashion.’

  ‘Very complicated,’ Bella said, blowing out a breath. ‘I can’t do anything without Edoardo’s approval. It’s incredibly annoying.’

  ‘I’m sure he would never stop you doing anything you really wanted to do,’ Rebecca said. ‘Anyway, it won’t be long, and you’ll be free to do what you like. I seem to remember Mrs Baker saying it’s only until you turn twenty-five.’

  ‘Or until I marry.’

  ‘Are you planning on doing that any time soon?’ Rebecca asked, glancing at Bella’s left hand.

  ‘It’s not official as yet,’ Bella said. ‘I’m just waiting until he gets back from a trip abroad before we announce anything.’

  ‘Congratulations,’ Rebecca said. ‘You must be so excited.’

  ‘I am,’ Bella said. Or I would be, if it weren’t for Edoardo standing in the way of my plans.

  There was the sound of firm footsteps, and Bella watched as Rebecca Gladstone’s cheeks took on a pink hue as Edoardo strode in. He glanced at the dog in the basket before meeting Rebecca’s gaze. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.

  ‘I was in the area and thought I’d drop by,’ Rebecca said. ‘I’ve left some vitamins for Fergus. They’ll boost his immune system.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Edoardo said. ‘How much do I owe you?’

  ‘Isn’t it me who owes you?’ Bella said with a pointed look. ‘He was my father’s dog, after all.’

  ‘You don’t owe me a thing, either of you,’ Rebecca said. ‘That’s just a sample pack in any case.’ She smiled up at Edoardo. ‘Want to walk me to my car?’

  His expression was as blank as a sheet of paper. ‘Sure.’

  ‘It was lovely to meet you, Bella,’ Rebecca said. ‘I hope you enjoy your stay.’

  ‘I will,’ Bella said with a smile that cracked her face.

  * * *

  ‘She’s in love with you,’ Bella said as soon as Edoardo came inside a few minutes later.

  He reached for a glass and filled it with water from the tap. ‘And you can tell that how, exactly?’ he asked.

  ‘She blushed as soon as you came into the room,’ she said.

  He turned from the sink to look at her. ‘Just because a woman blushes doesn’t mean she’s in love,’ he said. ‘Take you, for instance.’ He let his eyes run over her slowly but thoroughly. ‘I could make you blush within seconds. Does it mean you’re in love with me?’

  Bella jerked her chin back against her neck in disdain, her cheeks feeling like they had been too clo
se to a fire. ‘I would never fall in love with someone like you.’

  ‘That’s very reassuring,’ he said with a mocking slant of his mouth.

  ‘Rebecca seems a very nice person,’ she said. ‘The least you could’ve done is said a proper hello to her.’

  ‘I don’t like impromptu visitors,’ he said. ‘If she wanted to see me, all she had to do was call me and arrange a time.’

  ‘Maybe she doesn’t like being called in the middle of the night to suit your needs.’

  He gave a loose shrug. ‘She’s not my type.’

  ‘No, because she’s got a brain between her ears,’ she shot back. ‘I can only imagine what your type is like: big boobs, toothpaste-commercial smile, long legs and no conversation. Am I close?’

  A half-smile kicked up the edges of his mouth. ‘Close enough,’ he said.

  ‘Have you dated her?’ she asked.

  ‘We had a drink a few weeks back,’ he said.

  ‘Have you slept with her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why not?’ she asked.

  He put the glass down on the counter. ‘What’s with all the questions?’ he asked. ‘Are you jealous?’

  ‘Of course I’m not jealous!’ Bella retorted. ‘I just think you could really hurt her if you don’t do the right thing by her.’

  ‘It’s not my problem.’

  ‘It is your problem,’ she said. ‘You should nip it in the bud before she gets too involved. You shouldn’t encourage her to just drop by if you’re not serious about her.’

  ‘I didn’t encourage her to drop by,’ he said. ‘I’ve given her no encouragement, full-stop.’

  Bella folded her arms across her chest. ‘She obviously thinks you have,’ she said.

  ‘Then she’s mistaken.’

  ‘Is she who you went to last night?’ she asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Who did you see?’

  He leaned back against the counter in an indolent fashion. ‘Are you sure you’re not jealous?’ he asked.

  She rolled her eyes. ‘How could I be?’ she asked. ‘I’m about to get engaged.’

  ‘It’s not official.’

  ‘It will be soon.’

  ‘There’s been nothing in the press about your relationship with your preacher boy,’ he said. ‘Not even a whisper.’

  ‘That’s because Julian doesn’t attract press attention,’ she said. ‘Anyway, I want to wait until he gets back from Bangladesh before we tell anyone anything. I’m going to meet his family and then we’re going to make a formal announcement.’

  ‘You’re assuming, of course, that I’ll agree to this match.’

  Bella unfolded her arms and clenched her fists. ‘You can’t prevent me from marrying the man I love.’

  His blue-green eyes challenged hers. ‘If you love him so much then why aren’t you over there with him?’ he asked.

  Bella floundered for a moment. ‘I…I have things to see to here,’ she said. ‘I’d be in the way over there. I need to learn the ropes a bit before I go with him on a mission.’

  He made a sound of scorn in his throat. ‘I just can’t see you handing out trinkets to the natives.’

  ‘That’s not what missionaries do these days,’ she said. ‘They help to build schools and hospitals.’

  ‘And what will you do when you do accompany him?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ll support him in any way I can,’ she said.

  ‘It’s what every man of the cloth needs,’ he said with a curl of his lip. ‘A rich wife to bankroll every do-good project.’

  Bella glowered at him. ‘You think I haven’t got a clue, don’t you? You think I’m too stupid to do anything but get my nails done.’

  ‘You’re not stupid,’ he said. ‘You’re naïve. You’ve lived a sheltered life. You don’t know how the other half lives. You don’t know how desperate and ruthless people can be.’

  ‘Like you, you mean?’ she said with an arch look.

  His eyes glinted as they locked down on hers. ‘I can be very ruthless when I go after something I want.’

  Bella felt the skin of her arms lift in a tiny shiver. ‘You can’t always have everything you want,’ she said.

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a devilish smile. ‘Who’s going to stop me?’ he asked.

  She quickly moistened her parchment-dry lips, her heart doing double time inside her ribcage. ‘I’m not going to sleep with you, Edoardo.’

  He picked up a lock of her hair and coiled it around his finger. She felt the gentle pull on her scalp; it made her backbone tingle and fizz like an effervescent liquid was being poured down its length. ‘I’m not planning on us doing too much sleeping once I have you in my bed,’ he said.

  Bella’s insides flickered and flashed with red-hot lust. She felt shocked at her involuntary response to his incendiary words. After years of keeping her distance, her body now seemed to have a mind of its own. It totally disregarded her common sense. Her body was drawn to him, lured into his sensual orbit like a satellite.

  ‘Read my lips, Edoardo,’ she said stiffly. ‘I am not going to end up in bed with you, asleep or not.’

  He slowly unwound her hair, his eyes meshed with hers in a sensual lock that felt like an intimate caress at the secret heart of her femininity. ‘Want to put money on that, princess?’

  Bella gave her head a toss as she stepped away from him. ‘I don’t need to,’ she said. ‘I already know who’s going to win.’

  ‘So do I,’ he said and, before she could get in the last word, he left.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BELLA kept out of Edoardo’s way for the next couple of days. She caught up with some old friends in the village and ate out rather than spend time alone with him at the manor.

  But as the week drew to a close, she felt increasingly bored and restless. She hadn’t heard from Julian, as he had gone to a new mission in the mountains where the telephone signal was poor. With each day that passed without a message from him, she felt more insecure. She needed his reassurance and encouragement. She needed his enthusiasm and positive attitude to life.

  A niggling doubt had started playing at the corners of her mind about how she would fit into his life of self-sacrifice. She admired his commitment and faith enormously, but she sometimes wondered if he could be passionate about anything other than trying to save the world. She knew it was selfish of her to want to be the central focus of his attention, but she couldn’t help wondering if he truly loved her the way she wanted to be loved.

  Her mother’s desertion when she was so young had made her insecure about intimate relationships. She loved too deeply and too quickly, only to be disappointed when the other party pulled away from her. Was Julian’s trip abroad his way of distancing himself? She knew he loved her, but it wasn’t a passionate all-or-nothing love.

  It was a safe love.

  A love she could count on to get her through the bad times as well as the good. A love that would be the solid foundation of a well-ordered family life.

  It was what she wanted. What she needed. She didn’t want to be like her mother, flitting off to somewhere exotic on yet another passionate fling that would only end in tears and heartbreak.

  She didn’t want the hair-raising, nail-biting, gut-twisting rollercoaster ride of passion. She wanted the smooth, predictable ride of a merry-go-round.

  Bella was in the kitchen poking about in the fridge when Edoardo came in from outside.

  ‘Eating in tonight?’ he asked as he hung up his jacket on the hook behind the door.

  She closed the fridge guiltily. ‘I can get something later,’ she said.

  ‘I can rustle up something for both of us,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to hide away in your room.’

  ‘I’m not hiding away in my room,’ she said. ‘I’ve been busy catching up with friends.’

  He grunted and moved across to wash his hands at the sink. ‘Give me half an hour,’ he said. ‘I have to sort something out on my computer.’

>   ‘Who taught you to cook?’ she asked.

  He dried his hands on some paper towels and dropped them in the pedal bin. ‘No one in particular,’ he said. ‘I didn’t stay anywhere long enough to pick up more than the basics.’

  ‘What was the longest you stayed with a foster family?’

  Edoardo felt the familiar tension crawl over his skin like a cockroach. He hated thinking about his past, let alone talking about it. He wanted to forget it had ever happened. He wanted it erased from his brain. He mostly had erased it from his mind. Every time Bella pushed him for more information, it made his head ache with the suppressed memories. They felt like they were busting out of the shackles he had bound them with all those years ago. ‘Can you quit it with the twenty questions?’ he said. ‘I’m not in the mood for it.’

  ‘You’re never in the mood,’ she said. ‘You’re like a closed book. Lots of people come from difficult backgrounds. I don’t see why you have to be so secretive about it.’

  He stepped into her body space, watching as her big brown eyes rounded. ‘You’re playing with fire,’ he warned. ‘But I think you already know that, don’t you?’

  A silence throbbed between them.

  ‘I’ve known you since I was a child, but I hardly know you at all,’ she said in a husky tone.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and watched as the tip of her tongue snaked out to sweep over her lips. He had never seen a more kissable mouth. Desire twisted and tightened in his groin. He felt his body surge and swell. He wanted her so badly it was like a drug his system craved. The trouble was, he knew one taste would never be enough. He wasn’t sure how long with her would be enough. For years he had thought of this moment, when she would come to him with that look of wanting in her eyes. He saw it: the need, the lust and the longing. It pulsed in the air in a hot, swirling current that was almost palpable.

  Her eyes flickered to his mouth and back again to his. ‘I want to know who you are,’ she said. ‘Who you really are.’

  ‘This is who I really am,’ he said.

  ‘I want to know why you’re so closed off emotionally,’ she said. ‘You push everyone away. Why do you do that?’