Enemies at the Altar

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘She is employed to keep order in the villa, not to speculate on my private life,’ he said. ‘She knows she would be fired immediately if she spoke out of turn. Anyway, if you’re bored, why not take the car out I bought you?’

  ‘I’m not bored,’ Sienna said. ‘I’ve got plenty to do; it’s just I don’t like having to pretend things are normal between us when they’re not.’

  ‘There’s one way to change that,’ he said with a glinting look in his eyes. ‘We can make them normal. You can move into my bed tonight.’

  Sienna felt her stomach do a flip turn. ‘How can you be so clinical about this?’ she asked. ‘We don’t even like each other.’

  ‘Liking one another has nothing to do with it,’ he said. ‘Physical compatibility is what matters. I’ve had lovers I didn’t like much at all, but they were perfectly fine as sexual partners.’

  ‘Have you ever been in love?’ Sienna asked.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s not that I don’t believe it exists. I’ve seen it and admire it in others. I just haven’t felt that level of attachment.’ He took a sip of his drink. ‘What about you?’

  ‘I think my twin got all the love genes instead of me,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people more in love than Gisele and Emilio. Their wedding is in three weeks. You haven’t forgotten, have you? I called your secretary to put it in your diary. I’m going to go a couple of days before to help with things. I’ll meet you at the hotel.’

  ‘No, I haven’t forgotten,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to meeting them both, particularly your sister.’

  ‘We’re nothing alike,’ Sienna said. ‘Well, apart from looks, I mean.’

  ‘You must have more in common than looks,’ he said.

  ‘Not much,’ she said. ‘Don’t get me wrong. I adore her. She’s so sweet and caring I can’t help but love her. But because we haven’t shared the same parents, or the same experiences, we want different things for our lives. I wonder if it would have been different if we had grown up together. I guess we’ll never know now.’

  He studied her for a moment as if he was memorising her features in fine detail. ‘I wonder if I’ll be able to tell you apart.’

  ‘I’ll give you a tip-off,’ Sienna said. ‘My sister will be the one wearing white and she’ll have a big smile on her face. Oh, and a wedding band on her finger to match the fabulous diamond engagement ring Emilio gave her.’

  ‘That reminds me.’ Andreas put his drink to one side. ‘I have something for you,’ he said. He took an antique ring box out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘You might recognise it. It belonged to my mother and my grandmother before her.’

  Sienna opened the tiny box to find the diamond and sapphire dress ring she had often admired on Evaline Ferrante’s hand, nestled in the groove of black velvet. ‘I do recognise it,’ she said, looking up at him with a little frown. ‘But shouldn’t you be keeping such an heirloom for your future bride?’

  ‘If you don’t like it then I’ll get you something else,’ he said.

  Sienna wasn’t sure what to make of his expression or his curt tone. ‘Of course I like it,’ she said, putting it on her finger. ‘I’ve always thought it was a gorgeous ring. But I’ll give it back to you when we get divorced. That would only be fair.’

  ‘Fine,’ he said, refilling his glass. ‘But I’ve noticed you don’t seem to have a lot of jewellery.’ He took a sip of his drink. ‘What happened to all the diamonds you had dripping from you when you were with Littlemore?’

  ‘I gave them back to his family,’ she said. ‘I didn’t feel comfortable keeping them.’

  He gave her another one of his thoughtful looks. ‘I got the impression from what was reported in the press that his family never accepted you,’ he said. ‘At times they were quite vitriolic in their comments.’

  ‘Yes, well, they loved their mother dearly and didn’t want anyone to take her place,’ Sienna said. ‘I totally understood where they were coming from.’

  ‘Do you think they would have accepted his mistress any better?’

  She shifted her gaze from his. ‘No.’

  ‘And yet, by all accounts, he had been involved with her a long time,’ he said. ‘It seems strange he didn’t offer to marry her instead of you.’

  She shrugged off his comment and took a sip of her wine.

  He continued to study her. ‘You’re very loyal to Littlemore, aren’t you?’ he said.

  Sienna forced herself to meet his gaze. ‘Why wouldn’t I be? He was good to me.’

  ‘There’s more to it, isn’t there?’ he asked. ‘It’s been niggling at me for days. Why didn’t he marry his mistress? Why marry a woman younger than one of his daughters instead of the mistress he had kept for all those years?’

  ‘Maybe his mistress was already married,’ she said.

  Andreas lifted her chin with his index finger, locking his gaze with hers. ‘That’s not the reason, though, is it?’ he said.

  Sienna remained silent. The intense scrutiny of his hazel gaze made her heart beat faster and faster. It was harder and harder to hide anything from him. He seemed to see through the layers of her skin to the very heart of her.

  ‘Brian Littlemore wasn’t involved with a woman, was he?’ Andreas said. ‘His long-term lover was a man.’

  Sienna swallowed tightly. ‘That’s not true.’

  ‘Don’t lie to me, cara,’ he said. ‘I hate being lied to. Don’t you think you’ve told enough lies by now? Surely you can be honest with me over this. It will go no further than this room.’

  She chewed at her lip. ‘How did you find out?’ she asked. ‘No one is supposed to know. Brian didn’t want his children to find out. He was worried it would hurt them. He didn’t think they’d understand. If this gets out in the public arena it will hurt so many people.’

  ‘It’s not common knowledge, as far as I know,’ he said. ‘I came to the conclusion myself so it’s likely others will do so as well. But if it goes public, I can’t see how you should be blamed.’

  ‘Brian wanted to protect his family,’ Sienna said. ‘He came from a very conservative background. His parents would’ve disowned him if they’d known. He did all the things that were expected of him. He got married and raised a family. Even after his wife died he still had to maintain the lie. Do you know how hard that was on him? He was trapped. You mustn’t let anyone know about it. You mustn’t, Andreas. So many people will get hurt.’

  He stroked her chin with his thumb, back and forth like a slow-moving metronome. ‘You care more about his family’s feelings even though they’ve trashed you any time they could in the press?’

  Sienna looked into his warm hazel eyes and felt something reposition itself in her chest. A soft little gear change of emotion that was totally unexpected and deeply unsettling. She didn’t want to lose her grip on her feelings. She wanted to keep her emotions under lockdown. Falling in love with Andreas would be the biggest mistake of her life so far. She couldn’t afford to let her feelings get involved. She had to be strong enough to walk away when the time was up. ‘I care about what Brian wanted,’ she said. ‘He trusted me. I didn’t want to betray that trust.’

  Andreas’s eyes held hers in an intimate lock that made her insides flutter. His thumb was still doing that mesmerising little caress that made her feel as if her nerves were pirouetting beneath the surface of her skin. ‘So you were prepared to let me carry on thinking you were a gold-digger?’ he said as his hand fell away from her face. ‘Does my opinion of you mean absolutely nothing to you at all?’

  Sienna swept the surface of her lips with a quick dart of her tongue. ‘I figured after this six months is up it won’t be relevant what you think of me,’ she said. ‘We don’t mix in the same circles. We probably won’t see each other again.’

  Something passed through his gaze as it held hers. ‘That will be a shame, don’t you think?’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I have a feeling I’m go
ing to miss doing this,’ he said, and lowered his mouth to hers.

  CHAPTER NINE

  SIENNA felt the warm, gentle pressure of his lips as they met hers. It was a slow kiss, no sense of urgency or out of control passion, just his lips moving at a leisurely pace as they explored the softness of hers.

  She returned the kiss in much the same way, slow and soft, touching down, lifting off, touching down again, varying the pressure ever so slightly, but not the speed.

  It was a getting-to-know-you kiss. It felt like a romantic first kiss between two people who were attracted to each other, but were mindful of overstepping the boundaries too early. A kiss where the two parties were taking tentative steps to see how well they worked together intimately.

  No other parts of their bodies were touching. He didn’t gather her to him. He didn’t put his arms on her shoulders or her waist. She didn’t put her hands on his chest or around his neck. Only their lips bridged the gap between them, but, even so, Sienna felt a roar of heat go through her. Her insides melted like the wax of a candle under a powerful heat source.

  After endless dreamy minutes, Andreas slowly lifted his mouth away. His expression was faintly bemused as he looked down at her. ‘You have such a soft, kiss-able mouth,’ he said. ‘It’s surprisingly soft given how razor-sharp your tongue can be.’

  Sienna couldn’t hold back a rueful smile. ‘Yes, well, you do seem to bring the shrew out in me at times.’

  He made a little sound of amusement, a deep and totally male sound that made her belly quiver like unset aspic. His hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb lazily stroking her skin as his eyes made love with hers. ‘You haven’t always brought out the best in me either,’ he said. ‘But maybe, once this period of time is up, we can walk away from this as friends. Do you think that’s possible, ma petite?’

  Sienna felt her breath come out in a little flutter but she hoped he hadn’t noticed. ‘I’m not sure I could ever get used to thinking of you as a friend,’ she said playfully. ‘I guess I’ll have to find someone else to sharpen my claws on, won’t I?’

  He stroked her cheek one last time before dropping his hand back down by his side. ‘I bet it won’t be half as much fun with someone else,’ he said, his expression now inscrutable.

  Sienna had a feeling he wasn’t just talking about their verbal sparring. The crazy thing was, she couldn’t imagine kissing another man now. She couldn’t imagine another man holding her and caressing her and making love to her.

  She only wanted Andreas.

  She gave herself a swift mental slap. He wanted the chateau, not her. She was a means to an end. In six months it would all be over. He would walk away from her, just as his father had done to her mother.

  This wasn’t forever.

  ‘No, perhaps not,’ she said. ‘But I won’t know that until I try, will I?’

  His eyes flickered as if something behind them had momentarily become unstuck. ‘We should have dinner,’ he said, putting his glass down as if it had suddenly turned into a poisoned chalice. ‘I still have some work to see to afterwards.’

  ‘Do you ever take time to relax?’ Sienna asked. ‘You can’t possibly go at this pace for weeks on end. It’s not healthy.’

  ‘I have a lot of people depending on me for their incomes and their futures,’ Andreas said, scraping a hand through his hair. ‘My father’s death couldn’t have come at a worse time.’

  ‘I’m quite sure he didn’t plan to die just then to personally inconvenience you,’ Sienna said in a dry tone.

  ‘Don’t bet on it,’ he said with an embittered scowl.

  ‘You didn’t really hate him, did you, Andreas?’ she asked.

  He held her look for a moment before he let out a long breath. ‘I used to look up to him when I was a young child,’ he said. ‘I wanted to be just like him when I grew up: successful and wealthy. But as I got older I started to see that, like most people, he had a dark side. He was driven by his emotions. He was selfish and at times outrageously ruthless in getting what he wanted. He exploited the love my mother felt for him. I don’t think he ever truly loved her. I think he only married her because he knew she would never challenge him. She would just accept whatever he did without question. She could’ve left him over his affair with your mother but she didn’t. She stayed until the bitter end.’

  ‘Sounds like your father didn’t want you to make the same mistake in your choice of a bride, don’t you think?’ Sienna asked.

  His gaze narrowed. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Perfect Portia,’ she said. ‘The wife who would never do or say the wrong thing. The wife who would meekly turn a blind eye when her handsome, charming, virile husband took up with someone else every now and again. That was the sort of marriage you had planned, was it not?’

  His frown closed the space between his brows. ‘You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.’

  ‘Don’t I?’ she asked with an arch of one brow.

  He threw her an irritated look as he wrenched open the door. ‘I’ve changed my mind about dinner,’ he said. ‘I’m going back to the office. I’ll see you when I see you.’

  Andreas came home the following evening to find Sienna wasn’t home. The villa felt completely different without her in it. The air didn’t have that intoxicating trace of her perfume lingering in it, and the scatter cushions on the sofas were all neatly propped in place. There were no half empty cups or glasses littered about, and the television wasn’t blaring with some inane reality show or the sound system shuddering with noise that he wouldn’t even go as far as calling music.

  It was quiet and peaceful, ordered and neat, but sterile.

  A bit like his life.

  He quickly dismissed the thought and snatched up his phone and rapidly dialled her number. ‘Where are you?’ he asked as soon as she answered.

  ‘I’m on my way back now,’ she said. ‘I’m about ten minutes away.’

  ‘Back from where?’

  ‘I’ve been … erm … at the doctor’s,’ she said.

  His heart gave a sudden lurch. ‘The doctor?’ he said. ‘Why? What’s wrong? Are you sick?’

  ‘Not really …’

  He heard the hesitancy in her tone. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.

  ‘I had a bit of an accident,’ she said. ‘I had to have a couple of stitches in my hand. Nothing serious, however.’

  ‘An accident?’ His heart jerked again. ‘What happened? Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine but you have to promise you won’t get rid of Scraps.’

  Andreas frowned as he clutched the phone until his knuckles whitened. ‘Did that mongrel attack you?’

  ‘It was my fault,’ she said. ‘I tried to get too close to him. I tried to put some ointment on his sore leg but he wouldn’t let me. He snapped at me in pain, not spite.’

  ‘I told you to keep away from that dog,’ Andreas said. ‘Are you all right to drive? Why didn’t you get Franco to take you? Pull over and I’ll come and get you. Where are you?’

  ‘Stop fussing, Andreas,’ she said. ‘You’re really starting to scare me. You sound just like a doting husband.’

  Andreas drew in a sharp breath and strode over to the windows to scan the driveway of the estate to see if he could see her in the distance. ‘That’s an expensive and very powerful car you’re driving,’ he said. ‘It needs two hands on the wheel, not one.’

  ‘I won’t hurt your precious car,’ she said and hung up on him.

  Sienna pulled up in front of the villa but didn’t even get time to turn the engine off before Andreas had the driver’s door open.

  ‘You silly little fool,’ he railed at her as he helped her out. ‘Why didn’t you call me as soon as it happened?’

  ‘I didn’t want you to overreact,’ she said. ‘It’s just a scratch.’

  He gently picked up her thickly bandaged hand. ‘How many stitches?’ he asked.

  Sienna considered fibbing but decided against it. ‘Five,’ sh
e mumbled.

  ‘Five?’ His eyes flared in alarm. ‘That’s not a scratch. You could have lost a finger or even your hand.’

  ‘Well, I didn’t so everything’s all right, isn’t it?’ she said.

  ‘That dog has to go,’ he said trenchantly. ‘I will see that Franco destroys it first thing in the morning. And if he won’t do it, then I’ll do it myself.’

  Sienna glared at him as she cradled her hand against her stomach. ‘You do that and I swear to God I’ll never speak to you again.’

  His hazel eyes collided with hers. ‘Why are you so determined to rescue a dog that clearly doesn’t want to be rescued?’ he asked.

  She raised her chin at him. ‘He does want to be rescued,’ she said. ‘He just doesn’t know who to trust. He’ll get there in the end. I just have to be patient.’

  Andreas let out a curt swear word as he cupped her by the elbow to lead her into the villa. ‘You’re going to give me a heart attack one day, ma petite,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise one small woman could cause such chaos.’

  Sienna threw him a pert look. ‘Just as well I won’t be around any longer than a few months, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘Once this is over you can settle back into your boringly ordered life and forget all about me.’

  He shouldered open the heavy front door of the villa as she stalked past. ‘I can hardly wait,’ he muttered darkly.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SIENNA woke during the night and had trouble going back to sleep as the local anaesthetic had worn off. The painkillers the doctor had given her were still in her handbag in the car. With all the fuss Andreas had made, she had forgotten to bring it with her into the villa. She tossed off the covers and padded downstairs, turning on the minimum of lights as she went.

  She walked past Andreas’s study and saw the thin line of light shining from beneath the door. She heard the tapping of his computer keyboard and the squeak of leather as he shifted in his chair. There was a pause in the tapping as she heard him mutter a very rude word, and then the tapping resumed.