‘That wasn’t supposed to happen,’ he declared abruptly. ‘It won’t be happening again, either, so you can stop those little tricks, caro. I meant what I said—I’m no longer interested.’ With that he walked to the front door and let himself out, pausing only briefly to glance back at her. ‘Until tomorrow,’ he added, then was gone.
Sofie stared after him in bemusement, gently pressing her fingers to her kiss-bruised lips. For a man who had twice declared his lack of interest, that had been a very passionate kiss! She knew better than to read any finer emotions into it but, as to him feeling nothing, that was a lie. He was protesting too much. She knew how difficult it was to stop wanting someone. It wasn’t like switching a light on and off. Maybe he didn’t want to want her, now that he knew about Tom, but that was a different thing altogether.
Bending down, she picked up the roller skate and held it tightly in her hands. If the wanting was still there, then maybe, just maybe, there was a chance of rekindling the passion. She bit her lip and her heart skipped at the thought of herself and Lucas becoming lovers once more. She couldn’t hope for love, for the way she had hurt him had hardened his heart, but perhaps she could have him in her arms again. Know the taste, scent and feel of him. Yet did she want that? The answer was swift and sure. Oh, yes. She craved it. She wanted to feel warm again. Alive again. Only Lucas could do that.
She caught back a sob as tiredness overcame her. Lucas was everything to her and it really didn’t matter if she trusted him or not now. She had to do what he wanted in order to keep her beloved Tom. She was trapped but there was a faint glimmer of hope that her situation might not be as arid as she had expected. Passion without love was a poor substitute, but it was all she could hope for. Yet, if it happened, she wasn’t going to start believing everything was going to be all right because she dared not trust him. To do so would leave her open and vulnerable, so she had to harden her heart, take what she could, and hope and pray it was enough for the long years ahead.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEY flew to the South of France at the end of July. Lucas had stayed up north for a week, visiting Tom every day and forging a bond that had become unbreakable in no time at all. He had been friendly towards Sofie, but she was very much aware that a barrier had gone up. He had kept his distance without ever appearing to do so to their son. When he had had to go back to London to work he had phoned Tom every evening, chatting about this and that, whilst his conversations with herself had been businesslike. Well, they had not even been conversations. He had told her what he wanted her to do and she had to agree.
Tom was ecstatic about going to live with his father and had just as much enthusiasm about their holiday. Sofie listened to all the things he wanted to do with an aching heart. She would remember it all at the end of the day, after she’d put him to bed, and would laugh and cry at the same time. She had never given a hint of her misgivings. So far as Tom was concerned, she was as delighted about everything as he was.
Lucas had booked them into first class and that was as much a novelty for Sofie as it was for Tom, who had never flown before. He had the window seat so he could look out and watch the world go by below them. However, not long after lunch the excitement took its toll and he fell asleep.
‘Does your grandmother know we’re coming today?’ Sofie asked as Lucas sat down after angling Tom’s seat backwards so he could sleep more comfortably.
‘Of course. I couldn’t have the three of us descend on her unannounced,’ Lucas answered and she asked the question she had been holding back for days.
‘How did she take it?’
‘With a great deal of pleasure,’ he said, then quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘Are you worried about meeting her?’
‘How much does she know about us?’ she asked uneasily, thinking how it had occurred to her that she might not be too welcome in his grandmother’s house. She had the vague memory of meeting her at the wedding, but they hadn’t spoken for very long.
Lucas laughed mockingly. ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her that you left me because my money wasn’t quite the draw you thought it was. Or that the sex was great, but living with me wasn’t. I told her we had had a foolish argument, which had kept us apart too long. We’ve now patched things up and have decided we want to live together as a family.’
Sofie licked her lips nervously, knowing it wasn’t going to be that simple. ‘She believed you?’
‘As to that, I couldn’t say.’ He shrugged. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’
That was true, she admitted to herself, glancing down at her fingers, which had a tendency to fidget nervously these days. ‘Did you see my parents whilst you were home?’ she asked, looking up.
Lucas stared at her for a moment, his expression sardonic. ‘I did,’ he returned, but didn’t expand that further, clearly leaving her to do the questioning.
Sofie drew in a long breath, wondering when his need to punish her would end. OK, they would do it the hard way. ‘How were they?’
‘They’re in the best of health and over the moon to hear that we are getting back together again. They were a little surprised that you hadn’t rung to tell them yourself, but I explained how busy you were, getting ready for the move,’ he reported casually and Sofie could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. ‘Why didn’t you tell them, caro? Too much of a coward?’
That immediately roused her temper and she shot him a glare. ‘What did you expect me to say? Oh, by the way, I saw Lucas the other day and, guess what, he’s blackmailing me into going back to him,’ she snapped in a sibilant undertone and Lucas laughed harshly.
‘Telling the truth would be breaking the habit of a lifetime,’ he responded bluntly and the look he gave her was heavy with irony. ‘All you had to do was make up another lie,’ he went on provokingly and she ground her teeth together in impotent anger.
‘When it comes to lying, you’re pretty good at it yourself,’ she retorted gruffly. Of course, she was referring to his actions which had destroyed her trust and sent her running away from him in the first place. Lucas, however, was thinking of the present.
‘White lies hurt nobody. It’s the bald-faced black ones that destroy,’ he returned forcefully, blue eyes boring into hers.
She stared at him, breath caught in her throat. ‘Are you saying I destroyed you?’
He shook his head, lips curving into a grim smile. ‘I didn’t let you. Instead, I decided that one day I would have my revenge for the way you walked out on me.’
Swallowing hard, she looked deep into his eyes, but saw only herself reflected there. ‘Be careful, Lucas. Revenge can often destroy the one seeking it,’ she warned him.
He raised an eyebrow mockingly. ‘Worried for my soul, caro? Or just worried for yourself?’
‘Myself, obviously. Isn’t that what you expect me to say?’ she replied, managing to find the necessary amount of mockery to hide behind, and turned away from him to check on Tom.
She was reaching over, brushing a stray strand of hair off Tom’s cheek, when she felt Lucas take her left hand. She looked back at once, to see him frowning. ‘What is it?’
‘Damn, I forgot to get you a ring,’ he explained, patently annoyed with himself. ‘My grandmother will notice that right away. She has eyes like a hawk.’
Sofie’s heart gave an odd lurch and she eased her hand free as she reached down for her bag. ‘Don’t worry,’ she reassured him, searching the zip pocket inside for a chamois encased package. She unwrapped it to reveal her diamond wedding band. She hadn’t brought it with her intending to wear it, but because she couldn’t leave it behind. It always had and always would go everywhere with her.
Lucas picked it up and his surprise was evident in his tone. ‘You kept it? Now you really have astonished me. I thought you would have got rid of it long since,’ he murmured, looking at her curiously.
There was no way she could tell him she would never part with it, so she shrugged in an offhand way. ‘You know what they say about diamonds. I
t was always there if I needed it.’
He found that totally believable and his lips twisted into a wry smile. ‘A girl’s best friend, no less? And there was I thinking you might have kept it for sentimental reasons.’
Sofie gave him an old-fashioned look. ‘Why would I do that?’ she asked, and he laughed, picking up her hand and slipping the ring back on to her marriage finger.
‘Why indeed? There, you’re now official again.’
She stared at the ring, which still fitted perfectly, and couldn’t withhold the surge of emotion which welled up inside her. There had been such hope on the day he had first set it on her finger, but this time there was none. ‘What about your ring?’ she asked, attempting to divert the swell of emotion inside her, and he held up his left hand.
‘I never took it off. What kind of a fool does that make me? No, don’t bother to answer. We both know. Anyway, the rings are merely dressing. What you have to do is convince my grandmother that you’re madly in love with me still.’
Sofie took her hand back with feigned amusement, hiding the fact that her heart had just squeezed painfully. ‘I don’t know if I can do madly in love just like that,’ she remarked jokingly. Which was a downright lie, for it was the only thing she did know how to do, being the simple truth of her feelings for him.
‘Just do what you did before, amore. No doubt it will all come back to you. Like riding a bike, you never forget,’ he returned sardonically, and she drew in a pained breath.
‘You know, this can’t all be one-sided. You have to do your part too,’ she reminded him sharply and he smiled mockingly.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll manage to hide my distaste well enough to convince my grandmother,’ he informed her bluntly and, because that stung, she had to hit back.
‘Strange, I don’t remember you kissing me with distaste the other night. That came after, when you implied you regretted it,’ she retorted smoothly, and he looked at her with his eyes narrowed.
‘There was nothing implied about it,’ he declared forcefully, and she allowed a tiny smile to hover about her lips to show she wasn’t convinced.
‘OK, if you say so.’ She shrugged and for once quite enjoyed seeing his face tighten with annoyance.
‘I do say so. Don’t start with your tricks. I won’t be falling for them this time,’ Lucas cautioned and she cast him a look from the corner of her eye.
‘I get the message. There’s no need to belabour the point or I might think you’re protesting too much!’ she goaded lightly and her ears delighted to the sound of a sharply indrawn breath.
‘Cut it out, Sofie,’ he growled and, smiling to herself, she abandoned her taunts and reached for the headphones so she could watch a movie. Not that she concentrated much at first as her thoughts were still on Lucas. It felt good not to let him have it all his own way. Let him think she was playing games—that way he would never guess that what he saw were her true feelings and not the act he expected her to put on for the sake of his grandmother. After all, she needed to protect herself, too.
Nice Airport was bathed in glorious sunshine as they came in to land. Everything was going smoothly until they came out of Customs and then they found themselves caught up in a great uproar. Suddenly flashlights were going off all over the place and Sofie realised they were caught up in the entourage of a celebrity footballer. Tom, standing within feet of one of his heros, was in seventh heaven. For his parents it was another matter. With nowhere to go, they had to wait for the way to clear, and it was during this time that Sofie noted that English newspapers and TV were fully represented. She jotted down the relevant names, hoping that she might be able to buy a copy of a photo with Tom and the footballer in it. He would be the envy of all his friends.
Eventually Lucas managed to get the three of them, plus luggage, over to one side, out of the glare of publicity. ‘They’re moving off now. Let’s go and pick up the car I arranged for and get out of this madhouse.’
Sofie laughed at his disgusted expression. ‘Don’t you like football?’ she teased him and, for the first time in for ever, he looked at her with real humour.
‘Football, yes. Flashbulbs blinding me, no!’
She chuckled and they grinned at each other, sharing a rare moment of empathy.
Sofie grabbed the memory and stored it in her heart, where all her happy memories lived, then returned to the more mundane task of getting out of the airport. Once they were safely in the car and heading out along the coast road, however, she began to feel nervousness build inside her again. It was one thing to be compelled to do as Lucas asked, but quite another to put into practice. How could his grandmother be happy to see her, knowing what she had done? The woman didn’t need to know the details to be protective of her grandson. She would be angry on his behalf, and that did not bode well for their relationship.
Fortunately there were spectacular views as they drove along the coast and Sofie was distracted by the sheer beauty of that part of the country. She wished she had thought to put a camera in her bag, but they were packed away in her cases. The road twisted and turned, sometimes rising to giddy heights, and it was as they began to descend again that Lucas pointed out a red-tiled roof a little ahead and below them.
‘That’s the villa.’
‘Wow!’ Tom exclaimed in awed tones, his nose pressed against the window.
Though she didn’t say it, Sofie echoed his thoughts. The villa sprawled out below them, with gardens to one side and a sparkling blue swimming pool to the other.
‘It’s beautiful, but isn’t it a bit big for your grandmother?’ Sofie felt compelled to ask as Lucas steered the car round some very sharp bends, then in through a pair of iron gates and down the drive to stop by the garage.
‘Physically, yes, but it’s crammed to the gills with memories, so she will never part with it. Now, though, she has the prospect of family visits to fill the rooms with laughter again,’ Lucas explained as he switched off the engine and climbed out.
Their son could certainly sound like a herd of elephants, Sofie thought whimsically as she followed suit. Tom had already jumped out of the back and was running along the path.
‘I bet it’s got a hundred bedrooms!’ he exclaimed, grinning at his father, who had followed him.
Lucas laughed and ruffled his hair. ‘Not quite that many.’
‘Which one’s mine?’ Tom wanted to know next, jigging from one foot to the other, a sign Sofie recognised immediately.
‘Yours will be round the back. You’ll see it in a minute,’ Lucas replied.
‘The bedroom can wait,’ Sofie pronounced decisively, joining them. ‘Right now Tom needs the toilet.’
‘There’s one through the hall. Come with me, son.’ Lucas held out a hand, which Tom took, and the pair of them swiftly disappeared into the building.
Sofie slowly wandered inside after them, glancing around her with real pleasure. The understated elegance of the villa struck her immediately. Someone had a real eye for decoration.
‘Hello, there!’ a gentle voice exclaimed from behind her. ‘We meet again, Sofie.’
Spinning round, Sofie saw a shadowy figure standing in the doorway. She stepped forwards into the hall, and Sofie was finally able to see the elderly elegant woman, carrying a basket of flowers. Her smile was reserved, whilst her eyes were haunted, as a sign of her recent grief.
Sofie immediately felt the ever-present guilt she suffered from rise to the surface as she faced Lucas’s grandmother for the first time since the wedding. Warmth staining her cheeks, she took a step towards the older woman.
Drawing on all her courage, she held out her hand. ‘How do you do, Mrs Antonetti? I’m pleased to meet you once more. Er…Lucas won’t be a moment. He’s taken Tom to the bathroom,’ she explained, her smile coming and going under a forthright stare.
There was only the briefest flicker of hesitation before Eleanor Antonetti took Sofie’s hand and kissed her on both cheeks. ‘Please, call me Nell. Two Mrs Antonettis in the hou
se will be too confusing,’ she explained, looking her grandson’s wife over and seeming to like what she saw.
‘I was just admiring your home,’ Sofie went on conversationally and EleanorAntonetti glanced around her with simple pride.
‘Why, thank you, my dear. We worked hard on it for many years, getting it just the way we wanted it. My husband and I were very happy here. I was just picking some flowers for the lounge when I heard you arrive.’ She indicated her basket, which she set down on a side table. ‘Marco loved lilies,’ she added with a sigh, then made a visible effort not to get maudlin. ‘Tom is your little boy, my great-grandson?’
Sofie smiled, as she always did when speaking of Tom. ‘Yes. He can be a bit boisterous, I’m afraid.’
‘Good,’ Eleanor declared with satisfaction. ‘This place needs laughter again. Ah, that sounds like him now.’
On cue, Lucas, with an excited Tom in tow, re-entered the hall. Tom ran to Sofie, whilst Lucas greeted his grandmother with a warm hug.
‘You’re looking better, darling. There’s colour in your cheeks again. How do you feel?’
Eleanor patted his arm as he released her. ‘I’m fine. Don’t fuss. Sofie and I have been getting reacquainted. And this must be Tom…’ she declared, getting her first good look at him standing before Sofie. She gasped audibly, her hands going up to her cheeks as she registered the likeness between father and son. ‘My goodness! He’s the image of you, Lucas!’
Sofie bent down to her son’s ear. ‘Go and say hello to your great-grandmother, Tom,’ she urged him, giving him a gentle push forwards.
Tom shuffled forwards with all the awkwardness of a child towards an adult he didn’t know. ‘Hello,’ he said, frowning heavily, glancing back at Sofie, who nodded encouragingly.
The Millionaire's Marriage Revenge Page 11