Da Silva's Mistress

by Tina Duncan

  And she drank more champagne.

  She smiled. And she smiled. She smiled until her cheeks felt as if they were about to crack.

  And she laughed. Laughed until she almost cried.

  She thought she’d done a pretty good job of pretending that she was having a good time—until Greg deposited a premium box of Da Silva Chocolate in front of her.

  ‘Dessert,’ he said with a flourish.

  Morgan stared at the box as if it was a cobra dancing in the centre of the coffee table. Her face froze, her insides going rigid. Barely able to breathe, she put a hand protectively out in front of her. ‘Take them away.’

  ‘But they’re your favourites.’

  ‘I don’t care. Take them away.’

  Greg took one look at her face and did as she asked.

  As soon as they were alone, Stella sat forward on the couch. ‘OK—spill.’

  Morgan dragged her gaze away from the chocolates. ’What?’

  ‘Tell me what’s going on.’

  ‘With what?’

  Stella rolled her eyes. ‘What do you think? With Luca da Silva, of course.’

  Morgan flinched. ‘There’s nothing to tell.’

  ‘Oh, yes, there is. I mention the man’s name and you look like you’ve sucked on a lemon. You see a box of his chocolates and, instead of jumping on them the way you usually do, you look as if Greg has handed you a spider or something equally nasty. Why is that?’

  How could she explain that hearing Luca’s name hurt? How could she explain that she would never be able to look at a box of chocolates again without remembering the tender way Luca had made love to her?

  ‘You’re exaggerating.’

  Stella shook her head vigorously. ‘No, I’m not. You walk around like a ghost half the time. And while you’ve done a good imitation of looking like someone who’s happy in the last hour or so, you haven’t fooled anyone. Now, I’ve kept quiet and haven’t asked any questions, because that’s the way you’ve wanted it. But I’m not going to keep quiet any more. What did that man do to you?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Luca—’ She dragged in a breath. It hurt to say his name. ‘He didn’t do anything to me.’

  ‘Come on, Morgan,’ Stella said gently. ‘We’ve been friends far too long for you to pull the wool over my eyes.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Yes, you are,’ Greg said, as he walked into the room and sat down beside his wife. ‘There’s something odd about the whole situation. One day you’re spitting chips because the guy has had you fired, and the next day you’re going out with him as if nothing has happened.’

  ‘And you moved in with him after only knowing him for a matter of days,’ Stella said. ‘That’s not like you at all.’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ Greg said emphatically.

  ‘And then, barely two weeks later, you move back into your apartment and start walking around as if somebody has died.’ Stella folded her arms. ‘You’re not going anywhere until you tell us exactly what’s going on.’

  Morgan tried to stare them both down. But with two against one—and a couple of glasses of champagne under her belt—it was an unequal battle. Finally, she sighed, ‘OK. You win.’

  Briefly and concisely, and as unemotionally as she could, Morgan gave them a step-by-step account of the last month.

  When she told them how Luca had blackmailed her into becoming his mistress, Greg jumped to his feet and said, ‘I’ll kill the bastard.’

  They listened intently as she recounted what had happened during that last awful scene, when Luca had found her and Joseph together.

  When she had finished they sat in silence for quite a long time, before Stella whistled through her teeth. ’I bet Joseph made mincemeat out of Luca.’

  Morgan shook her head. ‘He didn’t get a chance. Luca walked out before either of us could get a word in edgeways, and he flew to the US that same day.’

  Stella rolled her eyes. ‘There are telephones.’

  Morgan sighed. ‘If you must know, I asked Joseph not to say anything.’

  ‘Why the hell not? And, come to think of it, why are you so damned miserable? I’d have thought you’d be jumping for joy. Your father knows everything. Luca can’t hold it over your head any more. His blackmail is over and done with. You’re free. Isn’t that what you wanted?’

  Morgan dragged in a deep breath that did nothing to ease the empty, bottomless void inside her and slowly shook her head.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Stella said, clearly confused.

  ‘I did something really stupid,’ Morgan whispered.

  Stella and Greg exchanged puzzled glances before Stella asked quietly, ‘What did you do?’

  Morgan’s composure, which she’d built around herself like a fortress, began to crack and crumble. Tears filled her eyes and emotion clogged her throat as she croaked miserably, ‘I fell in love with him.’

  Stella’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, you poor thing! That explains everything.’

  ‘Luca, are you listening to me?’

  Luca’s head shot up, his eyes focussing on the face of the woman sitting opposite. Kristy—or was it Kathy?—was beautiful. Very beautiful. He’d met her at a party the last time he was in New York, and had promised to call her the next time he was in town.

  He’d waited until he’d wrapped up his business—which had only taken him a week when it should have taken at least two. He’d worked everyone around him hard, and he’d worked himself even harder.

  But even though he’d fallen exhausted into bed every night it hadn’t stopped the dreams.

  Every night he dreamt about her.

  Tormenting dreams that—

  ‘Luca! Did you hear what I said?’ the blonde asked with a pout.

  He hadn’t.

  Not a single word.

  He was doing what he’d promised himself he would not do.

  Thinking about Morgan.

  About how she tasted when he kissed her.

  And how she looked when he was deep inside her.

  ‘Luca!’

  The pout turned into a full-on glower. Luca realised that sitting opposite her was the last place he wanted to be. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘But I have to go.’

  She gazed at him as if he’d lost him mind, and Luca wondered if indeed he had. He tossed some money onto the table to pay for the meal that was yet to be served to them, escorted Kathy or Kristy or whatever her name was into a taxi, and then flagged Gino over.

  ‘Where to, boss?’

  ‘Take me back to my apartment.’ He had apartments in several major cities around the world, including New York. ‘Be ready to leave first thing in the morning.’

  ‘We’re going home?’

  Luca tapped his thigh. In theory he should return to London. It was the principal base of his operations and he had meetings scheduled.

  But he wasn’t ready to return home just yet.

  He refused to think about exactly why that was—and certainly wouldn’t accept that it had anything to do with Morgan.

  ‘No. If I can get Tad Okimura to bring forward our meeting we’ll go to Japan.’

  The following morning Luca had just boarded his private jet for the flight—Mr Okimura had willingly agreed to an earlier meeting—when Gino tapped him on the shoulder. ‘Luca, I think you should take a look at this before we take off.’

  Eager to be on his way, Luca was about to dismiss the suggestion when he saw the look on Gino’s face. ’What is it?’ he asked, holding out his hand.

  ‘This morning’s paper.’

  Luca took one look at the tabloid and froze. ’Da Silva Adoption,’ the headline screamed. It didn’t matter that Stefania’s surname was really Langdon. She was part of the da Silva family and the da Silva family was news.

  Quickly, he scanned the article. His scalp crawled when the column mentioned the seven failed IVF attempts and went on to reveal their recent decision to adopt.

  The journalist kept quoting
‘a confidential source’.

  There was only one person Luca could think of who was privy to that level of information and whom he didn’t trust as far as he could throw her.

  Morgan.

  He’d made the mistake of mentioning the adoption in front of her the previous week. Maybe this was her idea of payback. Or maybe it was her way of forcing Joseph’s hand. If that was the case then she was in for one hell of a big surprise—because, despite his declaration of love to Morgan, Joseph also loved his wife, and Luca was convinced he would never willingly leave her.

  Icy anger slithered serpent-like inside him. He’d warned Morgan what would happen if she did this. Promised her that if she harmed Stefania in any way she would regret the day she’d ever met him.

  It was a promise he was looking forward to keeping!

  His fingers closed around the paper so fiercely it ripped in several places. Luca looked at his security chief. ‘Tell the pilot we’re returning to London.’

  Gino nodded and headed to the cockpit.

  Luca gritted his teeth. She would pay for this. He would make sure of it.

  With every kilometre the plane flew Luca’s anger increased. By the time the plane taxied to the terminal in London he was practically jumping out of his skin.

  As soon as he was in the waiting car Luca dialled Morgan’s phone. There was no answer, so he left a message for her to call him.

  Then he waited.

  When Morgan turned on her phone there were two messages waiting for her.

  The first message was from Luca. As soon as she heard his voice she almost keeled over. If she hadn’t already been sitting down she’d have fallen down.

  ‘Morgan. It’s Luca. Call me as soon as you get this message.’

  Morgan frowned, dragged in a breath, and then pressed the requisite button to replay the message. His accent was thick, as it always was when he was angry or aroused. Given that his speech was also clipped, as if he’d been speaking through clenched teeth, she guessed it was the former.

  The second call was from Stella. The content of her call was disturbing. ‘What’s going on, Morgan? Have you seen the article about Stefania and Joseph in the paper? Call me.’

  Paper? Article? What on earth was Stella talking about?

  Morgan hadn’t seen a paper this morning. This was only her second day at her new job and she was trying to make a good impression.

  She hurried out of her office to Reception, where she knew they kept a stack of papers. She quickly flipped through and discarded several before finding the article in one of the tabloids.

  ‘Oh, no!’

  She put a hand to her mouth.

  How could this have happened?

  Who would do such a terrible thing?

  Suddenly her heart stilled, the breath locking tight in her lungs.

  So that was why Luca was looking for her.

  She didn’t need anyone to draw her a picture.

  Luca thought she’d done this.

  Well, he was wrong.

  He was wrong about a lot of things.

  And it was about time she told him so!

  It was hours—four, to be precise—before Morgan finally returned Luca’s call. By then he was so taut with anger and frustration that he didn’t know what to do with himself.

  He’d had Gino driving around and around in circles and the looks his security chief kept giving him in the rear vision mirror suggested he thought Luca had lost his mind.

  When the phone rang it took him all of two seconds to snatch it off the seat beside him. ‘Where the hell have you been?’ he gritted from between tightly clenched teeth.

  ‘Busy,’ she said, in a sweet tone that immediately made his hands clench into fists. ‘At my new job.’

  Luca ignored that. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Ah, now that’s an interesting question.’

  The tone of her voice immediately made his stomach muscles contract into a mass of tight knots. ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘It means I’ve just had afternoon tea with Joseph and Stefania,’ Morgan said softly. ‘Your sister is a lovely woman. As to where I am, well, I’m right here in their sitting room.’

  Luca was still trying to absorb her words when the phone went dead. Shock reverberated through his system in waves, his body stiffening until it felt as if he’d been spray-painted with quick-drying cement.

  Dio! He would have her head for this!

  ‘Gino. My sister’s house. And make it fast.’

  Putting the phone back to his ear, he pressed the speed dial number for Morgan’s phone, but it went immediately to her voicemail. Cursing under his breath in both Italian and English, he disconnected without leaving a message.

  ‘Can’t you go any faster?’ he demanded.

  ‘I’m going as fast as I can, boss.’

  Luca flung himself back against the seat and for the rest of the journey sat with his teeth clenched and his hands braced against his thighs.

  When they finally reached Stefania’s Knightsbridge home, Luca leapt from the vehicle before it had even stopped moving. He marched up the steps to the front door, where he pressed the doorbell with one hand while using the other to pound the ornate brass knocker against its matching panel.

  A maid opened the door. Luca brushed past her. ’Where is she?’

  ‘Your sister has stepped out for a short while,’ the maid replied nervously.

  ‘Not her. Morgan. Ms Marshall.’ Luca could barely force the words out through numb lips.

  ‘Oh, Ms Marshall. She’s waiting for you in the sitting room. Would you like me to bring through some refreshments?’

  ‘No, we won’t be needing any.’ They might need a body bag by the time he’d finished with her, though. He felt as if he’d left the civilised part of him behind somewhere.

  Striding through the foyer, Luca threw open the double doors by thumping them forcefully with his palms. His eyes scanned the room, coming to rest on the slender form of Morgan, standing by the window.

  For a moment all he could do was stare.

  She was dressed in the same outfit she’d been wearing the day he’d met her…including his favourite I’m-in-charge black leather boots.

  Two nights before he’d found her with Joseph Luca had finally lived out his fantasy of making love to her while she was wearing nothing else but those boots. When he’d told her to leave them on, she’d blushed. At the time he’d seen her reaction as evidence of her inexperience, but he’d obviously just been fooling himself.

  He crossed the room with a speed that would have surprised him had he had time to think about it. His hand went to her throat, where he applied just enough pressure to back her up against the window ledge.

  He put his face close to hers and bared his teeth. ‘I told you what would happen if you hurt my sister.’

  ‘I didn’t—’

  Luca wasn’t listening. He was a man possessed.

  If Morgan had been a man she would already be lying prostrate on the floor, knocked there by the series of blows Luca would have thrown. Because she was a woman, he did the next best thing.

  He dropped his head and fused his mouth with hers. He kissed her savagely, driven by the need to hurt. He forced her lips apart when she clamped her mouth closed. He gripped the tops of her arms in a vice-like grip when she struggled against him.

  And all the while her betrayal tormented him like swords of ice-cold steel digging into his flesh.

  Suddenly the stiletto heel of her boot landed on his left foot.

  Luca sprang backwards. He hopped onto his good foot, shaking the other one in the air, hoping the throbbing would dissipate.

  It was then, while he was teetering on one foot, that she struck. Moving so quickly she was nothing more than a flash of movement, Morgan quickly put her left foot behind his right ankle and pushed—hard.

  Surprise and momentum sent Luca tumbling to the floor. Keeping his wits about him, he grabbed a handful of Morgan’s jacket at the last momen
t and pulled her down with him.

  Luca landed on his back on the carpet with Morgan sprawled on top of him. She pushed her hair back off her face and glared at him, black eyes glittering. ‘Let me go!’

  ‘No.’

  She planted her hands on the carpet on either side of him and braced her body to push herself away from him.

  Acting quickly, Luca rolled over, reversing their positions.

  ‘Let me go, you…you jerk,’ she said, struggling harder.

  Luca gasped as her elbow connected forcefully with his ribcage. She was wriggling like an eel, her arms and legs whipping around like a windmill gone crazy. A knee just missed his groin.

  Adjusting their position, Luca pinned her more securely, capturing her arms and legs against her sides. When she was lying quiescent beneath him, Luca asked again, ‘What did you do that for?’

  ‘You were hurting me, damn it!’

  Luca froze.

  He’d rushed over here crazed with anger. Mad with rage. He’d wanted to lash out at her for hurting Stefania. But now that he was here—now that he’d seen her again and had tasted her again—Luca realised his wild behaviour had very little to do with his sister and everything to do with him.

  He’d thought he’d found the one woman he could trust, and she’d taken his heart and smashed it into a million pieces.

  The realisation gutted him, and it was all he could do not to howl with pain.

  He’d wanted to hurt her as she’d hurt him.

  Emotionally…not physically.

  Her words had brought him crashing back to reality.

  Dragging in a breath, he felt a small measure of sanity return. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said roughly.

  She didn’t answer him.

  With carefully controlled movements, he rolled off her and rose to his feet. He held out his hand for her to take but she ignored it, scrambling to her feet without his assistance.

  Luca stared at her as she tucked her blouse into her skirt and smoothed her hands—shaking hands, he noted—down over her slender hips.

  ‘Why, Morgan?’ he asked hoarsely. ‘Why did you come here?’

  ‘Because it was time the truth was told,’ Morgan said calmly.

  Luca inhaled sharply. Ice slid down his spine. He couldn’t comprehend that Morgan had just said what she’d said to him. Couldn’t grasp that the woman who had looked at him so tenderly as she melted in his arms could so coolly and calmly tell him she’d just destroyed his sister’s life.