Her jaw set as if she were trying to keep emotion at bay. ‘If you still don't believe me you could tackle him head on. He'II deny it, of course. And if you ask the old woman for corroboration of the so-called engagement you'll draw a blank. He made sure she knew nothing about it. And I fell for it. I was madly in love with him and believed every lying word he said. I even thought with him being so filthy rich he would give me a whopping allowance after we were married and I could begin to pay Ma back. But face it, kid, his kind doesn't marry down. When he proposes and actually means it she'll be upper crust and filthy rich.'
Milly stared at her twin with shattered eyes as the words dripped agonizingly into her mind like poison. She didn't want to believe any of this but- Had Cesare given her twin a chain too? To keep their fake engagement secret? He'd insisted that they keep their plans secret hadn't he? Using his grandmother as an excuse the same excuse he'd given Jilly. In her twin's case to give him time to talk the old lady round', in her own case he'd insisted that they wait to break the news until his grandmother was strong again.
It came to the same thing .
And why on earth would Jilly lie about the pregnancy? It made no kind of sense, she thought on a wave of nausea. Such a wicked fabrication would gain her absolutely nothing. It made far more sense to take everything she'd said as the truth.
Pregnant and dumped by the man she'd believed she would marry, she'd admitted she'd been desperate. And so she'd stolen what she'd thought she was owed. It didn't excuse theft, nothing ever would, but it did explain it.
A wave of dizziness attacked her and Jilly's voice came as if from far away, at the end of a long, echoing tunnel.
‘Listen kid. Take my advice and dump him before he dumps you. Salvage some pride get out before he comes back-if he ever does. Go back home where you belong. Look.' She shot to her feet and crossed the room to pull a bundle of notes from beneath the scarlet-covered pillow. ‘I will even lend you the money for your fare back and call a cab to get you to the airport. So don't say I don't look out for you'
Milly shook her head and forced herself to her feet ignoring the proffered notes. Dragging in a deep breath she straightened her slender shoulders. 'We're twins. Part of each other ' she stressed her lips feeling as if they had been carved out of wood. 'Neither of us would knowingly do anything to harm the other. So do you swear that what you've said is the truth'?'
'You really doubt me'?' Green eyes rolled in expressive disbelief. 'Would I have told you all that stuff if it wasn't gospel, when it shows me up as a gullible idiot? Look, Milly. . . ' She attempted a hug but Milly stepped back too close to breaking down to allow a sympathetic gesture that would have her falling to pieces. ''Take my advice get out before he makes a fool of you too.'
Milly turned, her spine ramrod stiff. Cesare had said he'd give her time alone with her twin. But would he still be waiting in the car knowing that Jilly would surely spill the beans? Or would he have instructed the driver to take off, leaving her stranded? As she entered the narrow hallway she decided bleakly that she hoped he had taken off.
Being stranded in a strange city surrounded by people who didn't speak her language seemed preferable to seeing his handsome devious cruel face again.
The shock that had left her weak and shaky was replaced by searing anger. If she saw him again she would kill him! Beat him to a pulp just as he had taken her loving heart and ground it beneath his heels ! Blinded by rage, fuelled by a hurt that filled every inch of her with indescribable pain, she stepped out on to the hot pavement and collided with a wall of stunning Italian manhood.
Too stunning by half! Feeling those strong arms go round her she pushed him away and all dignity deserting her, she lifted her chin in wounded defiance and held his dark as night, devious eyes, dragged his ring off her finger, dropped it and yelled brokenly, ‘Put it back in the Christmas cracker'
‘Cara-' He reached for her but she leapt back her voice choky as she informed him of her opinion of his character.
‘Don't touch me you-you despicable louse! I never want to see you again'. And no way would she share that car with him! She'd find her own way back to the hotel on foot to collect her stuff, even if it took the rest of the day! She knew a brief flare of triumph as a youth on a skateboard bore down on the gap between them blocking Cesare's way.
She took the opportunity to scramble into the waiting car, not understanding the rapid flow of Italian Cesare directed at the driver not caring either. She gabbled, ‘Back to the hotel, pronto' hoping the driver understood and more desperately hoping that Cesare wouldn't climb in after her then sank in a heap of misery against the leather upholstery as the car drew away and Cesare turned abruptly and entered her twin's lodging place his stride ominous his shoulders rigid.
Stifling the urge to give way to wildly abandoned weeping kept her fully occupied as the car made its stately progress through the narrow streets and she was unsurprised when she was deposited outside the hotel they had used, where their luggage was waiting to be collected. The louse would have instructed the driver to bring her back here to collect her belongings then leave her she realized fuming, barely heeding the driver's thickly accented, 'You to wait. Capjcetz' before, as predicted, he drove away, leaving her to find her own way back to England. Which was no punishment she thought savagely, because that was precisely what she meant to do! Her small face grim she swept into the main reception area adamantly dismissing the driver's instructions to wait.
What for? To hang around like a spare part that had no further use, just for the privilege of seeing the wretch one last time when he finally appeared to collect his own luggage. Not likely! Thankfully, the chief receptionist spoke fluent English and was obliging enough to call a cab to take her to the airport exchanging the small reserve of sterling in her purse for euros to enable her to pay the fare.
Unfortunately, she would have to use her credit card to buy a ticket back to the UK. She would be in debt jobless and homeless. But those problems were small change compared with the devastating pain of a shattered heart and savaged dreams she thought wretchedly as she paid off the driver and made her way into the departures hall hardly having the mental energy left to wonder if there would be a spare seat on the next flight back home which, so the obliging receptionist had informed her was scheduled to leave in half an hour from now.
Cesare exited the hotel at speed and hurled himself back into the waiting chauffeur driven car and in moments they were heading for the airport.
She hadn't waited. His jaw tightened. Had he expected her to? After the admissions he'd dragged from her twin, he acknowledged bitterly that waiting for him would be the last thing she could stomach.
The seven kilometre drive to the airport seemed to be taking for ever. Venting a savage expletive he leant forward to instruct the driver to break all speed records. According to the receptionist the signorina was hoping to get a flight back to London. And that flight would be leaving in fifteen minutes! He ground his strong white teeth in desperate frustration then subsided in black anxiety.
Even if by some miracle the flight had been delayed and he caught up with her would he ever be able to regain her trust after what her sister had told her? By some unholy coincidence her lies would have struck a chord, ringing true to Milly. Even back when Nonna had insisted on hiring her, his instinct had told him that Jilly Lee was bad news. She was a thief, a liar, a self-centred taker. Her twin was a giver, a life enhancer. And he loved her more than life. His gut twisted.
He glanced at his watch and fisted his hands at his sides. They'd arrived at the airport environs just as her flight was taking off.
Frustration roared through him but never one to give up, Cesare was already deciding his next course of action. His private jet was scheduled to take off for London in an hour. He wouldn't be that far behind her. He had no means of knowing where she would go now that she'd vacated the flat. But he'd track down the friend whose wedding she'd attended and, through her, find the love of his life.
Simultaneously Cesare and the driver saw her. A slight figure standing outside the departures area. Cesare sent up a silent prayer of gratitude as the car slid to a rubber-burning halt.
She looked lost. He exited the car at speed, something twisting inside him as his eyes took in her lone, forlorn figure. His heart was bursting with a deep, protective love. He strode towards her his heart thumping heavily in the cavity of his chest. Paces away, she lifted her bright head and he could swear he saw relief spark in the depths of her lovely sea-green eyes.
He wanted to fold his arms around her hold her never let her go. But the situation was too delicate for that. Regaining her trust was his absolute priority.
Her slight shoulders straightened. ‘I didn't know if I would be able to find you.' Relief flooded her voice. ‘By the time I got back to the hotel you might have already left.'
‘But I would have found you, cara mia. I would have searched the whole world for you.'
Milly searched his eyes, the force field of strong emotion emanating from him holding her spellbound. Her voice shook as she confided, ‘I meant to try to get back to England. But I just stood there like a prune because it hit me that if what Jilly said had been true you wouldn't even have told me she'd been found never mind taking me there and giving me time alone with her because you would have known she would tell me-things.' A flush of colour stole over her ashen cheeks.
Controlling the driven impetus to take her in his arms rain kisses on her heartbreakingly lovely face, took some doing but he was rewarded when she stated with distress ‘I threw your beautiful ring back at you, called you names. I..I lost faith. I didn't even bother to ask you if what she'd told me was true-about you promising to marry her then ditching her when she told you she was carrying your child. I believed her as I always have. I'm so sorry.'
Her head bowed on the slender stalk of her neck and Cesare snatched in a deep ragged breath and gathered her in his arms regardless of interested onlookers who being Italian would probably start applauding any time now. ‘per amor di Diol You believe in me now; that is all that matters,' he murmured, his lips tantalizingly close to hers now. ‘I made your sister admit to the lies she had told and I must admit that for a moment I was furious that you hadn't trusted me over her! But my fabled common sense kicked in.'
A finger beneath her chin had her downcast eyes meeting his wry grin. 'And it told me that her lies would have sounded convincing and that somewhere away from me you were feeling in shock betrayed and hurting. It was unbearable for met' he claimed extravagantly. 'And I swear on my life and on yours that I never so much as touched your wretched sister! But I think you have worked that out for yourself. That I want you to be my wife that I truly love you, more than any words of mine can ever portray. Yes'?'
‘Yes' Milly's heart swelled with love, so much love she could barely contain it. Her hands rose, her fingers tangling in the soft dark hair at the nape of his neck and he brought his mouth down on hers with a passion that scorched her soul. She loved him so much and she had almost lost him.
Immersed in emotion it was long minutes later that Cesare raised his proud head and Milly saw through a daze of glorious happiness that they had gained an avid audience and she blushed to the roots of her hair as her stunningly handsome future husband gave the throng a wide grin then folded an arm around her shoulders and drew her to the waiting car, leaving the driver to retrieve her abandoned luggage .
A rapid string of instructions issued from lips that still echoed that grin. The moment the driver was behind the wheel and as the car was put in motion Cesare was already extracting a slim mobile from an inner pocket speaking rapidly in Italian his free hand clasping hers possessively.
The moment he finished she asked, 'Are we both going to London'?' strange of plan. My pilot is now getting ready to fly us to Florence. We are going home to break our news to Nonna. And if I have to tie her down to stop her from launching into wedding arrangements then I will! My PA will handle my London meeting. From now on where you are I will be during all the days of our wonderful future together.' His arm hooked around her shoulder drawing her closer and she snuggled into him as he explained over the past few weeks I have been away from you and every moment was a torment. But it was a necessary evil if I was to make sure that everything was in place making sure the more-than-able heads of the various enterprises knew of my plans . '
‘Plans'?' she murmured her eyes limpid as he placed a tantalizing kiss on the corner of her mouth.
‘To be with you. To spend the majority of my time with you and any future family we might have.'
This time the kiss was full-blown and so spectacular that Milly was totally disorientated when they reached the private airstrip where the company jet was waiting.
Immediately after take-off Cesare reached for her hand and slipped the emerald back where it belonged saying huskily,
‘It would be a shame to put it into a Christmas cracker! I much prefer to see it on your finger. ' Blushing over the cheap jibe she'd thrown at him, she was further modified when he lifted her hand to his lips and tenderly kissed each fingertip in turn and pronounced 6 It is a family heirloom one of many. I will delight in seeing you shine in glittering diamonds rubies as red as wine and more emeralds than you can possibly imagine.'
She wriggled in her seat as it really hit her that he must be one of the wealthiest men in Christendom. She faced him squarely and told him staunchly, ‘I only want you.'
'You have me. Body, heart and soul.' He settled her back into the curve of his arm. ‘But a little extra won't come amiss mi amore. And talking of extras I made a few phone calls this morning back at the hotel while you were dressing. I have arranged for your sister to take up a vacant receptionist's post in the New York Saracino complex. My agent will contact her with flight tickets and further instructions. And before you get one tiny doubt about why I should be so magnanimous when she deserves to be damned to hell, I did this for you, not for her. I knew you would be happier, with a little
long-distance help she could make a more hopeful future for herself away from that seedy place. I know you care for her and would worry about her-and more than any thing, I want you to be happy.
You are so loving and generous in your nature that you'll probably forgive her for what she's done-which is something I will never do, even should I live to be a thousand years old' he declared extravagantly.
‘So don't even begin to think that I arranged this for her out of anything but a desire to put your mind at rest.'
‘Oh, I don't. I truly don't' she assured him, smothering a giggle at his vehement protestations loving him all the more for his generosity towards a woman who had brought him nothing but trouble.
‘But-' she shot upright so that she could see his beloved face ‘I did have one nasty moment-even before Jilly told me those poisoned lies.'
'And that was'?' 'When we arrived at where she's living. I felt as if you'd gone away from me. That you'd had it in mind that I'd set out to deceive you, pretend I was my twin and it had hit you that we were tarred with the same brush. Bad blood.'
'Never! Never think that-! absolutely forbid it' He hooked a finger beneath her chin, his eyes scorching hers. ‘For the first time in my life I was scared witless. Terrified that she would say or do something to come between us. I knew how you valued the bond you have with your twin how you went against every natural inclination within you to try to protect her from me and what at that time you would have seen as my unfair accusations and threats of the courts. I was deeply afraid that somehow she would persuade you to stand beside her against me ' he confessed rawly.
‘I can face any disaster with courage. But not that. I had not gone away from you, as you feared. I was simply afraid.'
‘Cesarel' she managed shakily. That this wonderful man should love her so much and that what he had most feared had almost come about because it had taken her a good hour to work things out think logically, shook her to the core. She coiled her ar
ms around his neck her voice a thread as she whispered, ‘Kiss me.'
And he obliged with all the dedication and enthusiasm in the world.
Just over a year later Milly tucked baby Carlo into his muslin draped cradle while Maria, the comfortable nurse-maid Cesare had insisted they bring along to their villa in Amalfi drew the nursery blinds .
Milly smiled besottedly down at her son. At three months old he was already showing signs of developing into a carbon copy of the devastatingly handsome strong-willed father who adored him.
She couldn't be happier! Wonderful was too tame a word to describe life with her sexy, masterful yet achingly tender husband .
Nonna had welcomed her into the family with genuine joy and had become even more sprightly since the birth of her first great-grandson and the only small cloud-a tiny one-in her life had dispersed when a couple of months ago Jilly had written out of the blue expressing her deep regrets for the lies she had told confessing everything.
That Cesare had never been interested in her and that sheer spite and malice that he had fallen for Milly had motivated her lies. She apologized profusely for her behaviour and concluded with her own happy announcement. She had recently married Teddy Myerburg, the third, a really great guy. Jilly was sorry not to have invited her but felt it would be too soon for her sister to forgive her though she hoped that day might come.
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