He heard the derision in her voice and was struck, once again, at hidden depths swirling just out of sight.
It confused him and that was a sensation he was not accustomed to dealing with. Least of all in a woman whose motivations had left him in no doubt as to the sort of person she was. Not one with hidden depths, for starters.
He raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head impatiently, clearing it of the sudden fog of doubt that had descended.
Did she enjoy the novelty of pretending to do good undercover? Was that it?
‘Now, you were asking about the other rooms downstairs.’ She briskly took him on the tour he had requested. More rooms with more low bookshelves and a scattering of stationery. She could have equipped the entire school with computers had she so desired simply by flogging one of the items of jewellery locked away in the safe in her bedroom. But she had chosen not to and he presumed that that was because she wanted, as she had told him, to keep her identity under wraps. To keep the extent of her wealth under wraps.
And yet how did that make sense?
She had been a Bishop, through and through. Surely the last thing she should have wanted would be...this.
He looked around at the shabby walls which someone had optimistically painted a cheerful yellow, similar to the walls in the hallway. Nothing could conceal the wear and tear of the fabric of the building, however, and the fact that it was practically falling down.
‘Mark should be back shortly.’ She ended the downstairs tour in a room that was very similar to the others he had been shown. ‘If you’re really interested, you can ask him whatever questions you like.’
‘Think I’ll pass on that one.’ He leaned against the wall and looked at his wife whose face had become smudged with pencil at some point during their tour. ‘I wouldn’t want to have to administer smelling salts because he has a fainting fit seeing me still here.’
‘Very funny,’ Lucy muttered, making sure to keep a healthy distance.
‘I have some questions to ask you, though. Is there anywhere around here we can go for lunch?’
‘Lunch?’ she parroted, because lunch, just the two of them, was not something they had done since getting married.
‘Unless you’ve travelled with sandwiches and a flask of hot coffee...? In your anxious attempts not to stand out...?’ He could have told her that she stood out just looking the way she did.
‘There’s a café just round the corner.’
‘Café?’
‘It’s not much but they make nice enough sandwiches and serve very big mugs of tea.’
‘I’ll give that one a miss. Any other suggestions?’
Lucy eyed him coolly and folded her arms. ‘You’re in my territory now, Dio.’
‘Your territory? Don’t make me laugh.’
‘I don’t care what you think but I feel I belong here a lot more than I belong in any of those soulless big houses, where I’ve had to make sure the fridges are stocked with champagne and caviar and the curtains are cleaned on a regular basis just in case...’
Dio’s lips thinned. ‘If you’re trying to annoy me, then congratulations, Lucy—you’re going about it the right way.’
‘I’m not trying to annoy you but I meant what I said. If you want to continue this conversation and ask whatever questions you want to ask, including questions about the divorce I’ve asked you for, then you can jolly well eat in the café Mark and I eat in whenever we’re here! I can’t believe you’re such a snob.’
‘I’m not a snob,’ Dio heard himself reply in an even, well-measured voice. ‘But maybe I’ve seen enough of those greasy spoon cafés to last a lifetime. Maybe I come from enough of a deprived background to know that getting out of it was the best thing I ever did. I certainly have no desire to pretend that it holds any charm for me now.’
Lucy’s mouth fell open.
This was the first time Dio had ever mentioned his background. She had known, of course, that he had made his own way up in the world, thanks to her father’s passing, derogatory remarks. But to hear him say anything, anything at all, was astounding.
Dio flushed darkly and turned away. ‘I’ll talk to you when you return home this evening.’
‘No!’ Seeing him begin walking towards the door galvanised Lucy into action and she placed a detaining hand on his arm.
Just like that, heat from his body seared through her, and she almost yanked her hand back as if it had been physically burnt.
‘We...we should talk now,’ she stammered, stepping back. ‘I know you must have been shocked at what I’ve asked and I never thought that you would...well, that you would see what I’ve been up to here...but, now that you have, well, I don’t mind having lunch with you somewhere a little smarter.’
Dio sighed and shook his head before fixing fabulous, silver eyes on her flushed face. ‘Take me to the café. It’s no big deal.’
She locked up behind her and they walked side by side to the café where she and Mark were regulars.
She was desperate to ask him about his past. Suddenly it was as though locked doors had been opened and curiosity was bursting out of her.
He’d grown up without money but had he been happy? As she knew only too well from personal experience, a moneyed background was no guarantee of happiness.
She sneaked a glance at his averted profile and concluded that he wasn’t in the mood for a soul-searching chit chat on his childhood experiences.
And it surprised her that she was so keen to hear all about them.
‘It’s not much,’ she reminded him as they pulled up in front of a café that was still relatively empty and smelled heavily of fried food.
‘Understatement of the year.’ Dio looked down at her and noticed the way the sun glinted off her blonde hair; noticed the thick lushness of her lashes and the earthy promise of her full lips. His breathing became a little shallower. ‘But I won’t forget the virtues of the brimming cups of tea and the big sandwiches...’
They knew her!
Dio was stunned. Two of the people working behind the counter had kids who had started drifting in to do maths lessons and there was a brief chat about progress.
‘And this...’ she turned to Dio and glanced away quickly ‘...is a friend. Someone thinking of investing in the building, really turning it into somewhere smarter and better equipped...’ She felt him bristle next to her. She’d always removed her wedding ring before coming here; it was just too priceless to take chances. She sneaked a sideways glance and caught the look of annoyance in his eyes and she returned that look of simmering annoyance with a special look of her own, one that was earnest and serious. ‘He’s very interested in helping the kids in this area really reach their full potential at school.’
‘Because...’ Dio said instantly, with the sort of charming smile that would knock anyone off balance, which it seemed to be doing to Anita, whose mouth had dropped open the second she had clocked him. ‘Because I happen to have grown up not a million miles from here,’ he said smoothly. ‘On an estate not unlike the one we passed and, take it from me, the only way to escape is through education.’
Anita was nodding vigorously. John was agreeing in a manly fashion. Lucy was feeling as though she had been cleverly outmanoeuvred.
‘This lovely young woman and I...are in discussions at the moment. It could all hinge on her acceptance of my proposal: no more rising damp, all the rooms brought up to the highest specification. Naturally, I would buy the building outright, and the cherry on the cake would be the equipment I would install. I find that computers are part and parcel of life nowadays. How else can children access vital information? Like I said, though, Lucy and I are in talks at the moment...’
As soon as they were seated, with mugs of steaming tea and two extra-large doorstop sandwiches filled to bursting in front of the
m, Lucy leaned forward, glaring.
‘Thanks for that, Dio!’
‘Any time. What else are friends and potential investors for? Why didn’t you introduce me as your husband?’
‘Because there would have been loads of questions to field,’ Lucy said defensively. ‘They would want to know who I really was...’
‘To have snagged me?’
‘You have a ridiculous ego.’ She sipped some tea and looked at him over the rim of the mug. ‘Were you lying when you said what you said?’
Dio knew exactly what she was talking about. Why had he suddenly imparted information about his past? He had always kept the details of his background to himself. Growing up on a tough estate, where the laws of the jungle were very different from the jungle laws of the business world, he had learnt the wisdom of silence. It was a habit that was deeply ingrained.
‘Be more specific,’ he drawled. ‘Nice sandwich, by the way.’
‘Did you grow up near here?’
‘We are breaking into new and unexplored territory, aren’t we?’ he murmured, his fabulous eyes roving over the stunning prettiness of her heart-shaped face. It amazed him that he had never seen that body. His success with women had started at a very young age and was legendary and yet, with her, his wife, he had yet to discover what lay underneath the tee-shirt and the jeans.
Bitterness refused to dampen the sudden thrust of his erection and it occurred to him that he had spent an awful lot of time fantasising about the untouchable ice-maiden who had conned him into marriage.
Not for much longer. That was a very satisfying thought.
‘Unexpected announcements, revelations all round, time together without high society peering over our shoulders... Where does it end, I wonder? Oh, yes, I know. In bed.’
Lucy flushed. Those amazing pale eyes sent her nervous system into freefall and as soon as he mentioned the word ‘bed’ she couldn’t stop the tide of graphic images that pelted into her head at breakneck speed.
The principles she had held so dear became gossamer-thin under the impact of those images.
But for her, sex and love were entwined. They were!
‘You were out of order implying to John and Anita that you were willing to sink money in the place if I agreed to your demands.’
‘Was I?’ Dio shot her a perplexed frown. ‘I thought that I was only being honest. Nice people, by the way. They seem to have bought into the usefulness of having the after-school tutoring scheme there, but then I guess they would, considering they both have children who attend. Must be tough.’
Lucy was beginning to feel as though she had been stuck in a washing machine with the speed turned to full.
‘What must be tough?’ She knew what was tough. Tough was the way her carefully laid plans had unravelled at the speed of light in the space of twenty-four short hours. She had suspected that talk of divorce wouldn’t fall on completely fertile ground, because her husband was nothing if not proud, but she had not banked on the route he had taken which had now landed them both up here.
With talk of sex shimmering between them.
‘Tough being a working parent, trying to make ends meet while still attempting to find the spare time to sit and do homework with kids. I guess that’s the situation with your two...friends.’
‘They’re going to repeat what you told them to Mark.’
‘Oh dear. And would that be a problem?’
‘You always have to get your own way, don’t you?’ Lucy looked at him resentfully and then immediately diverted her eyes, because he was just too sexy and too good-looking to stare at for very long. Especially now that the dynamics between them had changed, subtly but dramatically.
‘Always,’ Dio confirmed readily. ‘What do you think your caring, sharing friend will think when he discovers that you’re the person standing between the success and failure of his little baby...? Because, from what you’ve told me, this has been more than just a flash in the pan, try-it-on-for-size experiment for him.’
Lucy bristled. ‘Are you implying that that’s what it’s been for me?’ she demanded, sinking her teeth into her sandwich and chewing angrily on it.
‘I never noticed just how cute you are when you’re angry,’ Dio murmured. ‘But then, anger didn’t score high on the list of required emotions in our marriage, did it?’
It surprised him just how much he was enjoying himself. Was it the bizarre novelty of the situation? He didn’t know and he wasn’t going to waste time with pointless questions. He was in very little doubt that as soon as he had had her, as soon as he had slept with her, he would regain healthy perspective on just the kind of woman she was, at which point he would bid farewell to his manipulative wife. But in the meantime...
Lucy lowered her eyes, reminded of just how hollow and empty their marriage had been, and then further reminded of all the high hopes and girlish dreams that had driven her to marry him in the first place.
‘I find working with these kids fulfilling,’ she told him, ignoring his barb. ‘Much, much more fulfilling than making stupid small talk to people I don’t like and barely know. Much more fulfilling than going to the opening of an art gallery or a society wedding.’
Privately, Dio couldn’t have agreed more. One of the more odious things he had to do in his steady, inexorable rise to the very top of the pecking order was attend events he couldn’t give a damn about. But it came with the job and he was too much of a realist to think otherwise.
Funnily enough, it had never occurred to him that his well-bred wife would ever have found that side of life a bore. In fact, he would have thought that that might have been one of the many things she enjoyed about the position into which she had cleverly manoeuvred herself.
Now he looked at her with a frown, trying to work out the little inconsistencies he was beginning to spot underneath the polished veneer he had always associated with her.
‘It’s going to be all round the neighbourhood that a big shot investor has taken an interest in our little local after-school club.’
‘Not just any old big shot investor, though.’
‘What am I supposed to say?’ she demanded, pushing her plate to one side, making sure to keep her voice low and calm because people were beginning to filter into the café now and curious looks were being directed at them.
‘You could tell them that you didn’t care for the terms your big shot investor demanded.’
‘You should never have followed me!’
‘You know you want me...’
‘I beg your pardon!’
‘Shocking, isn’t it?’ He leant back in the chair and was amused when she leaned forward, all the better to make sure that their conversation wasn’t overheard. ‘You don’t want to face up to it, but let’s cut to the chase. You’re hot for me.’
‘I am not!’
‘Would you like to put that to the test?’ He cast his eyes round the small café and the curious faces. ‘Why doesn’t the hot shot investor apply a little physical pressure...? Hmm...? How about I reach across this table and kiss you? Remember that kiss? How about we have a repeat performance right here? Right now? Then we could take a vote...find out how many people agree with me that you’re attracted to me...’
‘You took me by surprise when you kissed me!’ Patches of red had appeared on her cheeks. She knew that she didn’t look like the calm, composed teacher everyone around here expected her to be. She looked just like she felt. Hassled, overwhelmed, confused.
Excited...
‘So this time you’ll be prepared. We can both gauge just how much you can withstand what’s simmering between us.’
‘There’s nothing simmering between us!’ Desperation threaded her voice.
‘Of course there is.’ Dio dismissed her in a hard, inflexible voice. ‘And it’s been there all the wa
y through our sexless marriage.’
‘Shh!’
He ignored her frantic interruption. ‘I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at me when you thought you weren’t being observed. You may have connived your way into marriage, and then pulled back once you’d got me hooked, but you still can’t quite help what you feel, can you?’
Lucy rested her head in her hand and wondered if she could just wish herself some place else.
‘Tell me...did you find it offensive to think of me in terms of being your lover?’
She looked at him, horrified. ‘How can you say that? What are you talking about?’
‘We couldn’t have come from more opposite sides of the tracks,’ Dio said drily. ‘Did you imagine you might catch a working class infection if you got too close to me?’
‘I’m not like that! We didn’t have a proper marriage and I wasn’t going to...to...’
He waved aside her half-baked, stammering explanation with an air of sudden boredom. ‘Not really interested in going down this road,’ he drawled. ‘The only thing I want is you, my beloved wife. I want to feel your naked body writhing under me. I want to hear you scream out my name and beg me to bring you to orgasm.’
‘That’ll never happen!’
‘Oh, it will. You just need to give the whole thing a little bit of thought and stop pretending that it’ll be any great hardship for you. It won’t be.’
‘And you know this because...?’ She was aiming for snappy and sarcastic; she got reedy and plaintive.
‘Because I know women. Trust me. It won’t be a hardship. And just think of the rewards... Fat alimony allowance...your little school shiny and well-equipped...grateful parents and happy little children... Could there be a better start to your wonderful bid for freedom...?’ He leaned forward so that they were both now resting their elbows on the table, their faces close together, locked in their own private world. ‘In fact, I have a splendid idea. Let’s take our honeymoon, Lucy. Two weeks. After that, I have to be in Hong Kong to close a deal on a company buyout. I’ll head there and you can... Well, you can begin your life of independence. How does that sound...?’
The Wedding Night Debt: Christmas at the Castello (bonus novella) Page 7