‘I don’t need you to hold my hand,’ she said with a hoist of her chin.
His dark brown eyes held hers in that knowing way of his. ‘You’d better pack your things,’ he said. ‘We have to leave in an hour.’
The journey to London was surprisingly not as bad as Natalie had been expecting. Her anger at Angelo was enough of a distraction to keep her from dwelling on her fear. He hardly said a word on the flight. Once he had made sure she was comfortable he had buried his head in some paperwork and architectural plans and barely taken a break for coffee or a bite to eat.
Once they landed he introduced her to his staff member, and with a brief kiss to her mouth was gone.
Natalie watched him stride away as if he had just dumped a particularly annoying parcel at the post office and couldn’t wait to get on with his day.
‘This way, Signora Bellandini,’ Riccardo said, leading the way to the gate for her flight to Edinburgh.
‘It’s Ms Armitage,’ she insisted.
Riccardo looked puzzled. ‘But you are married to Signor Bellandini now, si?’
‘Yes, but that doesn’t mean I no longer cease to exist,’ she said and, hitching her bag over her shoulder, marched towards the gate.
Natalie was at her studio a couple of days later, leafing through the paper while she had a kick-start coffee before she opened the doors to her clients. Her eyes zeroed in on a photograph in the international gossip section. It was of Angelo, with his hand on the back of a young raven-haired woman as he led her into a plush hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The caption read: ‘Honeymoon Over for Italian Tycoon?’
A dagger of pain plunged through her, leaving her cold and sick and shaking. Nausea bubbled up in her throat—a ghastly tide of bile that refused to go back down. She stumbled to the bathroom at the rear of the office and hunched over the basin, retching until it was all gone. She clung to the basin with white-knuckled hands, clammy sweat breaking over her brow.
‘Are you all right?’ Linda’s concerned voice sounded outside the door.
‘I—I’m fine,’ Natalie said hoarsely. ‘Just a bit of an upset tummy.’
When she came out of the bathroom Linda was holding the newspaper. ‘You know the press makes half of this stuff up to sell papers, don’t you?’ she said, with a worried look that belied her pragmatic claim.
‘Of course,’ Natalie said, wishing in this case it were true. How stupid had she been to think Angelo was starting to care about her? He had been playing her like a fool from day one. Reeling her in bit by bit, getting her to pour her darkest secrets out to him and then, when she was at her most vulnerable, swooping in and chopping her off at the knees with his cold-hearted perfidy.
Was this how her mother felt every time her father found a new mistress? How did she stand it? The emotional brutality of it was crucifying.
How could Angelo do this to her? Did he want revenge so much? Didn’t the last week mean a thing to him? Had it all been nothing but a ruse to get her to let her guard down? How could he be so cold and calculating?
Easily.
He had never forgiven her for walking out on him. Her rejection of him had simmered for five years, burning and roiling deep inside him like lava building and bubbling up in a long-dormant volcano. He had waited patiently until the time was ripe to strike.
It hurt to think how easily she had been duped. How had she allowed him to do that to her? What had happened to her determination to keep her heart untouched?
Her heart felt as if it had been pummelled, bludgeoned. Destroyed.
‘Do you know who the woman is?’ Linda asked.
‘No,’ Natalie said tightly. ‘And I don’t care.’
‘Maybe she’s his assistant,’ Linda offered.
Assisting him with what? Natalie thought as jealousy stung her with its deadly venom. Her mind filled with images of him in that wretched hotel with his beautiful ‘assistant’. Their limbs entangled in a big bed, his body splayed over hers, giving the raven-haired beauty the pleasure it had so recently given her.
‘Are you all right?’ Linda asked again.
‘Excuse me …’ Natalie raced back to the bathroom.
When Natalie got home after work she wasn’t feeling much better. Her head was pounding and her stomach felt as if it had been scraped raw with a grater.
She hadn’t heard from Angelo—not that she expected him to contact her. No doubt he would be too busy with his gorgeous little dark-haired assistant. Her stomach pitched again and she put a hand on it to settle it, tears suddenly prickling at the backs of her eyes.
Her phone rang from inside her bag and she fished it out. Checking the caller ID, she pressed the answer button. ‘How nice of you to call me, my darling husband,’ she said with saccharine-sweet politeness. ‘Are you sure you’ve got the time?’
‘You saw the picture.’
Her hand tightened around the phone. ‘The whole world saw the picture,’ she said. ‘Who is she? Is she your mistress?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Tatty.’
‘Don’t you dare call me that!’ she shouted at him. ‘You heartless bastard. How could you do this to me?’
‘Cara.’ His voice gentled. ‘Calm down and let me explain.’
‘Go on, then,’ she challenged him. ‘I bet you’ve already thought up a very credible excuse for why you had your hand on that woman’s back as you led her into your hotel for a bit of rest and recreation. And I bet there was more recreation than rest.’
‘You’re jealous.’
‘I am not jealous,’ she said. ‘I just don’t like being made a fool of publically. You could have at least warned me this was how you were going to play things. I should’ve known you would have a double standard. One rule for me, a separate one for you. Men like you disgust me.’
‘Her name is Paola Galanti and she’s a liaison officer with my Malaysian construction team,’ he said. ‘She is having some difficulty dealing with a very maledominated work environment.’
‘Oh, so big tough Angelo had to come to her rescue?’ Natalie put in scathingly. ‘Another damsel in distress to rescue and seduce.’
‘Will you stop it, for God’s sake?’ he said. ‘Paola is engaged to a friend of mine. I have never been involved with her.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me your staff member was female when you told me you had to fly over there?’ she asked.
‘Because her gender has nothing to do with her position on my staff.’
‘You still could have told me, rather than let me find out like that in the press,’ she said, still bristling with resentment.
‘Thus speaks the woman who didn’t tell me a thing about her past until I dragged it out of her.’
Natalie flinched at his bitter tone. She bit her lip and wondered if she was overreacting. Could she trust him? Could she trust anyone?
Could she trust herself?
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘So now we’re even.’
She heard him release a heavy sigh. ‘Life is not a competition, Natalie.’
‘When are you coming back?’ she asked, after a tiny tense silence.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said, sighing again. ‘I have a few meetings to get through. There’s a hold-up with some materials for the hotel I’m building. It’s all turning out to be one big headache.’
She suddenly thought of him all the way over there, in a steamy hot climate, dealing with language barriers and a host of other difficulties on the top of a decent dose of jet lag. How on earth did he do it? He ran not only his own company but a big proportion of his father’s as well. So many people to deal with, so many expectations, so much responsibility.
‘You sound tired,’ she said.
‘You sound like a loving wife.’
She stiffened. ‘I can assure you I am nothing of the sort.’
‘Missing me, cara?’
‘Hardly.’
‘Liar.’
‘OK, I miss the sex,’ she said, knowing it would needle him. Let him think that was a
ll she cared about.
‘I miss it too,’ he said, in a low deep tone that sent a rolling firework of sensation down her spine. ‘I can’t wait to get home to show you how much.’
She felt the clutch of her inner muscles as if they were already twanging in anticipation. She tried to keep her voice steady, but it quavered just a fraction in spite of her efforts. ‘I guess I’ll have to be patient until then, won’t I?’
‘I bought you something today,’ he said. ‘It should arrive tomorrow.’
‘You don’t have to buy me presents,’ she said, thinking of all the gold and diamonds her father had given her mother over the years—presumably to keep his guilt in check. ‘I can buy my own jewellery.’
‘It’s not jewellery,’ he said.
‘What is it, then?’
‘You’ll have to wait and see.’
‘Flowers? Chocolates?’
‘No, not flowers or chocolates,’ he said. ‘What time will you be at home? I’m not sure the studio is the right place to have it delivered to.’
Natalie felt curiosity building in spite of her determination not to be out-manoeuvred by him. ‘I’m working from home all day tomorrow,’ she said. ‘I have some design work to do on my next collection. I usually do that at home because I get interrupted too much at the studio.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’ll make sure it arrives early.’
‘Will you at least give me a clue?’
‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow evening. Ciao.’
She didn’t even get a chance to reply as he had already ended the call.
The doorbell rang at nine-fifteen. Natalie answered its summons to find a courier standing there, with a small pet carrier in one hand and a clipboard with paperwork in the other.
‘Ms Armitage?’ he said with a beaming smile. ‘I have a special delivery for you. Could you sign here, please?’ He handed her the clipboard with a pen on a string attached.
She took the pen and clipboard after a moment’s hesitation. She scribbled her signature and then handed it back. ‘What is it?’ she asked, eyeing the carrier with a combination of delight and dread.
‘It’s a puppy,’ the courier said, handing the carrier over. ‘Enjoy.’
Natalie shut the door once he had left. The pet carrier was rocking as the little body inside wriggled and yelped in glee.
‘I swear to God I’m going to kill you, Angelo Bellandini,’ she said as she put it down on the floor.
She caught sight of a pair of eyes as shiny as dark brown marbles looking at her through the holes in the carrier and her heart instantly melted. Her fingers fumbled over the latch in her haste to get it open.
‘Oh, you darling little thing!’ she gushed as a furry black ball hurtled towards her, yapping excitedly, its tiny curly tail going nineteen to the dozen. She scooped the puppy up and it immediately went about licking her face with endearing enthusiasm. ‘Stop!’ she said, giggling as her cheek got a swipe of a raspy tongue. ‘Stop, stop, you mad little thing. What on earth am I going to do with you?’
The puppy gave a little yap and looked at her quizzically with its head on one side, its button eyes shining with love and adoration.
Natalie felt a rush of nurturing instinct so strong it almost knocked her backwards. She cuddled the little puppy close against her chest and instantly, irrevocably, fell head over heels in love.
* * *
Angelo checked the time difference before he called. He’d had a pig of a day. His meetings hadn’t gone the way he would have liked. He was finding it hard to focus on the task at hand. All he could think about was how much he missed Natalie.
Business had never seemed so tedious. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but in the last week or so making money had become secondary to making her happy. He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted to see her enjoy life. God knew she hadn’t enjoyed it before now. He wanted to change that for her, but she was so damned determined to punish herself. He still hadn’t given up on the idea of confronting her parents. How could she ever be truly free from guilt unless they accepted their part in the tragic death of their son?
He pressed her number on his phone, but after a number of rings it went through to voicemail. He frowned as he put the phone down on his desk. Disappointment weighed him down like fatigue from a fever. His whole day had revolved around this moment and now she hadn’t picked up.
He was halfway through a mind-numbing report on one of his father’s speculative investments when his phone started jumping around his desk. He reached out and picked it up, smiling when he saw it was Natalie calling him back.
‘How’s the baby?’ he asked.
‘She peed on the rug in my sitting room,’ she said, ‘and on the one in my bedroom, and on the absolutely priceless one in the hall. She would’ve done worse on the one in the study, but I caught her just in time.’
‘Oh, dear,’ he said. ‘I guess she’ll get the hang of things eventually.’
‘She’s chewed a pair of designer shoes and my sunglasses,’ she said. ‘Oh, and did I mention the holes in the garden? She’s been relocating my peonies.’
Angelo leaned back against his leather chair. ‘Sounds like you’ve had a busy day.’
‘She’s mischievous and disobedient,’ she said. ‘Right at this very minute she is chewing the cables on my computer. Hey—stop that, Molly. Bad girl. Mummy is cross with you. No, don’t look at me like that.’ Natalie gave a little tinkling bell laugh—a sound he had never heard her make before. ‘I am cross. I really am.’
He smiled as he heard an answering yap. ‘You called her Molly?’
‘Yes,’ she said wryly. ‘Somehow Fido or Rover doesn’t quite suit her.’
‘But of course,’ he said. ‘She comes from a pedigree as long as your arm. Both her father and mother were Best in Show.’
There was a little silence.
‘Why a puppy?’ she asked.
‘I’m away a lot,’ he said. ‘I thought the company would be nice.’
‘I have a career,’ she said. ‘I have a business to run. I haven’t got the time to train a puppy. I’ve never had a dog before. I have no idea what to do. What if something happens to her?’
‘Nothing will happen to her, Tatty,’ he said. ‘Not while you’re taking care of her.’
‘What about work?’ she asked. ‘I can’t leave her alone all day.’
‘So take her with you,’ he said. ‘It’s your studio. You’re the boss. You can do what you like.’
Another silence.
‘When will you be back?’ she asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘Things aren’t working out the way I want over here.’
‘How is your assistant?’
‘Tucked up in bed with her fiancé,’ he said. ‘I flew him out to be with her.’
‘That was thoughtful of you.’
‘Practical rather than thoughtful,’ he said. ‘She was missing him and he was missing her.’
A longer silence this time.
‘Angelo?’
‘Yes, cara?’
‘Thank you for not buying me jewellery.’
‘You’re the only woman I know who would say that,’ Angelo said. ‘I thought diamonds were supposed to be a girl’s best friend?’
‘Not this girl.’
‘You’re going to have to let me buy you some eventually,’ he said. ‘I don’t want people to think I’m too tight to spoil my beautiful wife with lavish gifts.’
‘Being generous with money and gifts is not a sign of a happy relationship,’ she said. ‘My mother is dripping in diamonds and she’s absolutely miserable.’
‘Why doesn’t she leave your father if she’s so unhappy?’
‘Because he’s rich and successful and she can’t bear the thought of going back to being a nobody,’ she said. ‘She’s a trophy wife. She’s not his soul mate and he isn’t hers. By marrying him she gave up her name and her identity. She’s an ef
figy of who she used to be.’
Angelo was starting to see where Natalie’s stubborn streak of independence stemmed from. She was terrified of ending up like her mother—bound to a man who had all the power and all the influence. No wonder she had run at the first hint of marriage from him. No wonder she had fought him tooth and nail when he’d blackmailed her back into his life. He had unknowingly sabotaged his own happiness and hers by forcing her to marry him.
‘It doesn’t have to be that way between us, Tatty,’ he said. ‘Relationships are not inherited. We create them ourselves.’
‘You created this one, not me,’ she said. ‘I’m just the meat in the sandwich, remember?’
‘Even if Lachlan hadn’t provided me with the opportunity to get you back in my life I truly believe I would have found some other way,’ he said. ‘I’d been thinking of it for months.’
‘Why?’
‘I think you know why.’
There was another little beat of silence.
‘I have to go,’ she said. ‘Molly is running off with a pen. I don’t want ink to get on the rug. Bye.’
Angelo put his phone down and let out a long sigh. His relationship with Natalie was a two steps forward three steps back affair that left both of them frustrated. Was it to late to turn things around? What did he have to do to prove to her he wanted this to work?
Would he have to let her go in order to have her return to him on her own terms?
CHAPTER TEN
A COUPLE of days later Natalie heard the deep throaty rumble of a sports car pulling up outside her house. She didn’t have to check through the front window to see if it was Angelo. It wasn’t the hairs standing up on the back of her neck that proved her instincts true but the little black ball of fluff that was jumping about, yapping in frenzied excitement at the front door.
She couldn’t help smiling as she scooped Molly up in her arms and opened the door. ‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘It’s Daddy.’
Angelo reached for the puppy and was immediately subjected to a hearty welcome. He held the wriggling body aloft. ‘I think she just peed on me,’ he said, grimacing.
Natalie giggled. ‘What do you expect?’ she said. ‘She’s excited to see you.’
Surrendering All but Her Heart Page 13