‘I’ve brought you a drink.’ Vito paused in the doorway, holding a glass of iced water in his hand, and watched at her gazing out at the view.
She looked beautiful. There was a gentle glow to her cheeks, and in profile he could see the slightly upturned tip of her delicate nose. Her hair was tied back at the nape of her neck, but long blonde curls had escaped and were coiling prettily around the side of her face.
‘Thank you.’ She turned to him and smiled, the expression— lighting up her already radiant face. Suddenly he was pleased he’d brought her away from the city. He could have her all to himself without any distractions. Soon the child would be born and, although it was the whole point of this marriage, he knew everything— would change. Lily would have a new focus in her life, and the pleasant routine they had established would be replaced.
‘It seemed a good bet that you’d like a drink—you’re always thirsty these days.’ He passed her the glass and sat in an armchair, facing her.
‘I didn’t know about this place,’ Lily said, ice-cubes— clinking as she took a long drink of water. ‘Do you use it often?’
‘For skiing in the winter,’ Vito said, grimly remembering— how he had spent nearly two weeks after Lily had left at Easter hurling himself recklessly down black runs. ‘And it makes a quiet place to get away from it all in the summer. It’s not too far—even by road—from Venice.’
‘You never brought me here,’ Lily said. There was a slight crease between her brows as she gazed out at the view.
‘It didn’t snow until late this year, and then you had your stomach bug,’ Vito said. ‘What we thought was a stomach bug,’ he amended.
‘Oh.’ Lily put her hand up to smooth her blonde hair. She hesitated self-consciously, as if she’d just realised it was still a riot of curls after their love-making in the shower. He’d left her sleeping in bed, and then there hadn’t been time for her to style it in her usual careful way before they’d left the city.
‘I do remember saying I liked your hair smooth,’ Vito found himself saying. ‘It has a beautiful sheen when you straighten it, almost like polished-gold foil embedded in Murano glass.’
Lily was staring at him, her eyes wide with surprise at his confession.
‘Then why did you say you didn’t like it straightened?’ — she asked.
‘I didn’t mean that,’ Vito replied, suddenly wishing he hadn’t brought the subject up. ‘It’s just that I prefer it curly.’
‘Well, that’s good.’ Lily put her glass down on the coffee table and stood up to walk across to him. He tilted his head back, looking at her as she perched on the arm of his chair and lifted her hand to run her fingers lightly through his short black hair. ‘Because that’s how it goes naturally.’
His body responded instantly. It always did. Just looking at her was enough to make him hard with desire. Hell, just thinking about her when he was at work was enough. She was gorgeous. Even with her body changing— shape, and slowing her down slightly, he still couldn’t get enough of her.
‘I brought you here to rest.’ Looking into her face, he reached up and traced her delicately defined cheek bones with his fingertips. Her eyes glowed with a sultry sexual invitation, and hot desire pulsed through him.
‘Then you’d better show me the bedroom,’ she said, pulling him to his feet.
Over the next couple of days Lily honestly thought she’d never been so happy in her entire life. She’d made a conscious decision not to let her worries about the future intrude, and she focussed completely on the present, knowing it might be her last opportunity to be truly alone with Vito.
She’d never spent such wonderful, uninterrupted time with him before, and she was revelling in it. As far as she was aware he’d totally ignored his mobile phone and laptop to concentrate entirely on their time together. It was like heaven.
Vito was simply amazing. Attentive to her every need, he looked after her so well, and they visited the most incredible— places each day. Then at night he took her in his arms and made wonderful, exquisite love to her.
‘You are lucky to have grown up near here.’ Lily sighed, rotating on the spot to enjoy the breathtaking panoramic view.Vito had brought her to a beautiful alpine meadow filled with wild flowers for a picnic lunch.
‘Sit down and rest,’ he instructed, spreading out a blanket on the lush green grass. ‘You still have to walk back to the chair-lift.’
‘I am feeling it a bit,’ Lily admitted, passing her hand over her stomach protectively, then curling her spine forwards and rubbing the small of her back.
‘Let me.’ Vito dropped down beside her and began to tirelessly rub the exact spot that was aching, right above the base of her spine.
‘Oh, that feels good,’ Lily murmured, taking a long breath and enjoying the firm, hot pressure of Vito’s palm on her back. ‘I wish I had the energy to walk down there,’ she added, gazing across the incredible landscape— to the crystal-clear mountain lake.
‘I’ll take you tomorrow,’ Vito said. ‘I know a different— route that will involve less walking.’
‘You’re spoiling me.’ Lily turned and looked at him. ‘But don’t you have to get back to the city?’
‘Business can wait.’ Vito shrugged. ‘Summer will be over soon and, beautiful as this place is in winter, it’s not so warm and welcoming for a picnic then.’
‘I can’t imagine it bleak and windswept, or covered with snow,’ Lily said. ‘We’ve had such lovely weather.’
‘Let’s make the most of it.’ Vito opened the hamper he had carried with them, pulling out a bottle of mineral water, some chilled fruit-juice and a mouth-watering array of food that the housekeeper had prepared.
‘You know, I don’t think we should stay away too long,’ Lily said. ‘I hate to think of Giovanni with no one visiting him.’
‘He has visitors,’ Vito replied shortly. ‘He wasn’t a total recluse before you came.’
‘I didn’t say he was,’ Lily said, upset by the sudden abruptness in Vito’s tone. ‘Anyway, I thought you were pleased I’ve been keeping your grandfather company.’
‘And I thought you were happy staying here,’ Vito said. ‘But if you’d rather go home we’ll fly back this afternoon.’
‘Why does it always have to be all or nothing with you?’ Lily voiced her frustration without thinking. She loved the fact that Vito was a strong, decisive man—but sometimes she wished he didn’t have to see everything in black and white.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he said, briskly passing her a plate of food. Lily took it glumly. Suddenly it didn’t look so delicious any more.
‘I mean I have been happy here—incredibly happy,’ Lily said, watching Vito’s thunderous face. ‘That doesn’t stop me thinking about Giovanni. But I didn’t mean we have to go back immediately.’
‘He has people caring for him twenty-four hours a day.’ Vito took a savage bite of bread and stared at the rugged mountains across the valley.
He thought about his grandfather. He owed it to him to make his last days as happy as possible. And, although for some reason it suddenly irked him, he did know how much Giovanni counted on Lily’s visits to cheer him up.
He cursed his selfishness at wanting to keep Lily away from the city for his own pleasure. There was nothing for it now. They’d have to return to Venice.
‘I love your grandfather,’ Lily said unexpectedly, catching his full attention. ‘He accepts me and he doesn’t judge me.’
‘He doesn’t know what you’ve done,’ Vito said in a tightly controlled voice, wishing Lily hadn’t said something— to remind him of her betrayal. ‘I do know what you’ve done,’ he added. ‘But I’m not the one who keeps bringing the subject up. I know the truth.’
‘Our son won’t grow up knowing his great-grandfather,’ — Lily said, as if she was wrapped up in her own thoughts and hadn’t heard a word he’d said. ‘But Giovanni wants him to grow up knowing about his family history—with a real sense of where he ca
me from and where he belongs.’
Vito stared at her, unable to believe that she was still carrying on in the same vein. He felt a muscle start to pulse at his temple, and he clenched his fists, trying to control his rising anger. Why would she say things that were bound to make him remember that she had been unfaithful to him?
‘I never felt I belonged. My father didn’t want me, and my mother could barely cope,’ she said. ‘More than anything I want our son to know he’s truly wanted and loved. Know he belongs with his family.’
Vito gritted his teeth, not trusting himself to speak. Why didn’t she seem to care, or even realise, that she was skating on thin ice?
‘My grandfather is old now,’ Vito said. ‘You wouldn’t have found him so easy-going in his younger days. He was a formidable man.’
‘Of course he was. He still is,’ she responded instantly,— looking at him sharply. ‘It obviously runs in the family.’
‘Now that he’s old, he knows his time is limited,’ Vito continued. ‘I believe that has brought his remaining wishes into very sharp focus.’
‘I agree,’ Lily said. ‘I thought that’s what we were talking about.’
‘We are talking about his desire for a grandson.’
‘That’s what we are giving him,’ Lily said.
‘That’s what he thinks we are giving him.’ Vito spoke through gritted teeth. ‘The fact that for the sake of my grandfather’s happiness I am prepared to publicly— accept the child as my own does not mean I have forgotten the truth.’
‘Nor have I,’ Lily said quietly. She pushed her curly hair off her face with an exasperated gesture.
‘I thought we’d got past this,’ Vito said. ‘The pretence that the baby is mine is for the rest of the world. Don’t insult me by acting like I don’t know the truth.’
‘You don’t seem to,’ Lily said simply. ‘And I don’t know why you won’t give me a chance. I agreed to your wishes not to mention it any more, because I knew there was no chance we’d ever sort things out if we kept arguing. But I thought a bond was growing between us now, and I don’t understand why you keep shutting out what I’m saying.’
Vito clenched his fists and dragged in a controlled breath. No matter what he said, she just kept on claiming innocence. It was starting to grate on his nerves. He would not put up with it any more.
‘I know he’s not mine,’ he said. ‘Because I know that I can’t have children.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LILY stared at him in shock. His expression was tightly controlled, but she could see the strain he was feeling by the lines of tension around his blue eyes. Suddenly, despite the fact she knew he could father a child, she realised that he really did believe that he couldn’t.
‘Of course you can,’ she said at last. ‘You are. I mean, I’m pregnant and you are the father.’
‘For God’s sake!’Vito exclaimed, surging to his feet and raking his fingers through his short hair. ‘It’s time to let that ridiculous charade go.’
She looked up at him carefully, trying to see what he was keeping hidden beneath his rigid expression. She was still sitting on the rug in the meadow and he towered over her, his white shirt and black hair outlined by the blue mountain-sky.
A light breeze tugged his fringe forwards, and he scraped it back from his face again with an impatient jerk of his hand. The gesture revealed just how tightly wound he was.
Lily got to her feet, her aching back and increased size making her feel awkward, and stood in front of him. Instinctively, she reached out a hand and placed it on his forearm. The skin was warm and supple beneath her fingers, but his muscles were as hard and immovable as steel.
‘I can’t let it go, because it’s the truth,’ Lily said simply.
She saw the change in him instantly and, despite the tight rein his was keeping on his temper, she knew he was about to explode if she didn’t say something to defuse the anger that was building in him.
‘Why do you think that?’ she asked gently. ‘Were tests done?’
Vito took a shuddering breath and turned to stare in the direction of the crystal-clear lake. Lily knew he wasn’t really seeing the spectacular view. He was deep in his thoughts and memories.
‘Capricia and I were unsuccessful when we tried to start a family,’ he said, startling Lily with his sudden candour. ‘After a time we submitted ourselves to fertility testing.’ He paused for a moment, but when he continued— Lily could hear the strain crackling in his voice. ‘I was the one who could not have children.’
‘A mistake must have been made,’ Lily said automatically.
‘There was no mistake,’ Vito said curtly. ‘Sit down and eat something. Then we’ll pack up and leave.’
He pulled his mobile phone out of the back pocket of his dark jeans and pressed a speed-dial number, presumably— for his assistant. Without another glance for Lily, he turned his back and walked away a few steps as he talked, effectively shutting himself off from her.
She sat down on the rug, watching him with a troubled— expression. Suddenly everything that had happened was starting to make sense.
He believed that he was infertile—so when she’d become pregnant he’d assumed that she’d been unfaithful. In his mind, that was logical. He thought there was no other way she could have conceived. That explained his anger towards her—but it did not excuse it.
If he had told her the truth that Easter weekend, she would have tried to reason with him, persuade him that there’d been a mistake. He could have had the results of his fertility tests double-checked. Obviously there must have been a mix up. Or maybe something had changed. She wasn’t an expert on fertility, but she knew that she was pregnant, and that he was the only one who could be the father.
She looked at him talking on his phone. Standing there with the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Dolomite mountains behind him, he looked as magnificent as the noble terrain. But he was also as cold and uncompromising— as those harsh, jagged peaks that soared above the verdant valleys.
She understood that his belief that he could not have children must have hurt him—especially when he was the last surviving man in his proud Italian family. But he had hurt her—throwing her out onto the street when she had done nothing wrong, and then coercing her into a marriage that he’d never meant to be permanent.
He should have told her the truth. Instead he’d misled her—first making her believe she was responsible for birth control that in reality he thought was unnecessary. Then making vicious accusations when she had never, ever given him any reason to doubt her. Then finally, worst of all, he had shamelessly used his knowledge of her troubled childhood to manipulate her.
Suddenly a wave of anger rose up out of nowhere, startling her with its intensity. He’d trusted a medical report over the woman he had shared his life with. He’d never given her a chance.
She stared up at him balefully. He had treated her appallingly, and she had let him get away with it. Well, not any more.
At last he finished his conversation with his assistant,— slid his phone back into his pocket and sat down on the rug.
‘You haven’t eaten,’ he said, finally looking at her again.
As she met his gaze a crackle of energy passed between— them.
His eyes widened in surprise, and she knew he had recognised the anger that was building inside her.
‘When we get back you must have the fertility tests repeated.’ The sound of her own voice thrumming with intensity startled her. But she continued to stare him down, determined to make him see that she meant business.
‘Why would I subject myself to that humiliation again?’ Vito bit out, the planes of his face tightening as he spoke. ‘In the circumstances, don’t you think it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie? Or are you simply masochistic enough to want incontrovertible proof of your infidelity?’
‘I want proof of my innocence!’ Lily snapped. ‘And, if you won’t have those tests repeated, I’ll get a DNA test after the bab
y is born.’
‘Are you mad?’ Vito demanded. ‘If I won’t submit to a fertility test, what makes you think I’ll be party to a DNA test?’
‘I’ll go to Giovanni,’ Lily declared. ‘His DNA will prove a family connection.’
Vito cursed violently in Italian and surged to his feet, hauling her up by her arms.
‘You go too far!’ His words throbbed with barely contained fury, and suddenly Lily felt herself quaking under the sheer force of his rage. Of course she’d never do anything to hurt Giovanni, but Vito’s refusal to listen to reason was driving her to distraction.
Then, with one powerful arm around her waist and one hand gripping her upper arm, he started marching her away, back in the direction of the chair-lift.
Everywhere they made contact she could feel Vito’s thunderous energy burning into her body. It felt like she was caught up in an escalating storm, still waiting in trepidation for it to reach its maximum force.
In barely any time they reached the main footpath, and Vito eased his grip slightly as two young male hikers approached them. He hailed them in English, then quickly switched to fluent German as he identified their nationality.
Lily couldn’t catch everything he was saying, but, as he thrust a wad of euros their way and pointed back to the abandoned picnic-hamper in the meadow, she understood— what had just transpired. Vito was so used to issuing orders and being obeyed that apparently he’d thought nothing of paying the young men to clear away their mess.
She didn’t have time to ponder what it must be like to be Vito—so powerful and self-assured that he expected complete strangers to jump to do his bidding—because— at that moment he continued walking her briskly towards the chair-lift.
They flew back to Venice in virtual silence, and the days that followed were miserable for Lily. Refusing point-blank to engage in conversation with her, Vito kept well away. He left for work early, returned late at night, and only spoke to her when absolutely necessary.
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