The Cost of Her Innocence

by Jacqueline Baird

  ‘Yes, of course. Consider it done. But to get back to my problem... As you know, Monday was my birthday and I had dinner with my parents—boring! So on Saturday I plan to have a party for all my friends, and you are invited! We’re a bit short on women, so please say you’ll come.’

  ‘Why am I not flattered by the invite?’ Beth queried mockingly. ‘Making up the numbers is bad enough, but I also remember your last party, at Christmas, when I served most of the food and drink and then ended up chasing the guests out when you and Mike passed out! Not to mention cleaning up afterwards....’

  Tony chuckled. ‘That was unfortunate. But it was a great party—and it will be different this time, I promise. For a start, it’s going to be a barbecue. The guests are invited for four in the afternoon until late, and we’ll be outside, so no cleaning up.’

  ‘Ah! I see. So what you really mean is can you use my garden as it is twice the length of yours?’

  ‘Well, there is that, yes—but more importantly Mike is making a list of the food he thinks we need. Personally, I think a few dozen sausages and burgers and a bit of salad would do, but you know what he’s like—he thinks he’s a great cook. He’s talking marinated chicken, special kebabs, fish and stuffed heaven knows what! As for the salads—you name it and he is going make it. You have to help me, Beth,’ he declared, looking at her with pleading puppy-dog eyes.

  ‘You are such an actor,’ she said dryly. ‘But your boyish charm does not wash with me.’

  ‘I know, but it was worth a go.’ He grinned. ‘But, honestly, I really do need your help. We had a barbecue last month, when you were away for the weekend, and it was a bit of a disaster,’ he confessed sheepishly. ‘I knew you wouldn’t mind, but unfortunately Mike nearly poisoned half the guests with his stuffed pork loins. We will never hear the end of it from our pals at the bank.’

  ‘Oh, my God, he didn’t?’ Beth exclaimed with a laugh.

  ‘Oh, yes, he did,’ Tony said wryly, getting to his feet. ‘Which, when I think about it, is probably why we are short on females this time. What right minded girl is going to risk getting food poisoning again?’

  ‘All right, all right. I’ll come and help,’ Beth agreed when she could stop laughing. ‘On condition the barbecue is set up in your garden. I don’t want any of my plants burnt—which is quite likely to happen with you two in charge. The guests can use my garden to drink, eat...whatever. But my apartment is strictly out of bounds. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, you gorgeous woman, you. We can keep the beer bins on your patio.’ He grinned and walked back though the open gate. ‘And thanks!’ he called back, before disappearing into his own apartment.

  * * *

  At seven on Saturday evening the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, and a relaxed smile curved Beth’s lips as she looked around the garden, which was crowded with casually dressed people. Some were eating, drinking or standing chatting, whilst others were already dancing to the music. A few more guests were upstairs in the boys’ apartment, where the hard liquor was being served. Beer and white wine was stacked in big bins full of ice outside Beth’s kitchen window. She had taken the precaution of locking her back door, and had the key in the pocket of her jeans.

  ‘Alone, Beth?’ A slightly inebriated Tony slid an arm around her waist. ‘That will never do. Thanks to you talking Mike out of his flights of fancy over the food, the barbecue is going great and the party is really taking off. Have a drink.’

  Smiling, she shook her head. ‘You know I never drink.’

  ‘Well, I’m going to get another—catch you later.’ Tony’s arm fell from her waist and he half turned, then stopped. ‘I don’t believe it!’ he exclaimed, grabbing her waist again. ‘My big brother is here! I left a message at his London office, inviting him, but I never expected him to come. He’s a lawyer—the intense, intellectual type—and he speaks about six languages and travels all over the world with his work. In fact he’s a workaholic. I haven’t seen him since last year, but Mum told me he finally got engaged a couple of months ago. I guess the woman with him must be his fiancée.’

  ‘I didn’t know you had a brother,’ Beth said with a curious glance past Tony. Then she froze.

  There in front of her she saw a hard, handsome face with heavy-lidded eyes that seemed to look straight at her, before the man turned to smile down at the woman by his side. Fear gripped Beth for a moment at the sight of the couple Mike had just led into the garden, and he was now indicating where she stood with Tony.

  Cannavaro. It could not be! She stared in disbelief at the tall, broad-shouldered man walking towards them and felt a shiver run down her spine.

  Beth noted that the thick black hair was longer now, and brushed the white collar of his shirt. Belted chinos clung to his lean hips and followed the long length of his legs. She stiffened as an icy coldness washed over her. There was no mistake—it was him....

  She had only ever seen Cannavaro in a dark suit—the man in black who had haunted her dreams, her nightmares, for years. But he was just as intimidating in casual clothes, if not more so. His relaxed appearance would fool anyone into thinking he was one of the good guys. Not the smooth-talking devious devil Beth knew him to be.

  Beth had not set eyes on him since her court appearance eight years ago. She had followed Helen’s plan and with the help and guidance of Clive Hampton had settled in London, where it was easy to go unnoticed among the teeming millions of people. Or so she had thought until now.

  The odds against bumping into Cannavaro even once in London must be huge, but twice in a week they’d be astronomical... Or just sheer bad luck. And she was going to have to deal with the situation coolly and confidently. Running away would simply draw attention to herself.

  But surely Cannavaro could not be Tony’s brother? For starters he was a lot taller, and he looked nothing like him. Tony was fresh-faced, young, fun, and he laughed his way through life. Cannavaro had black hair, olive-toned skin and, though handsome, his face held a hard ruthlessness, an arrogance that she recognised all too well. Secondly, and more importantly, they had different surnames.

  ‘You don’t look anything like each other,’ she probed cautiously.

  ‘Same mother. Different fathers. I take after my dad. Mum’s Italian, and she was a widow with a thirteen-year-old son when Dad met her in Italy. They married almost immediately and he brought her back to England to live. Dante went to school and university in Italy and England, so we only saw each other on the holidays—half of which we used to spend at Mum’s old home in Italy. Mum and Dad still go there, but I haven’t been for years. Being stuck in the middle of the countryside is not my idea of fun, but Dante loves the place. Actually, it belongs to him now, as he inherited his father’s estate and oodles of money along with half of the family law firm.’

  It was that simple. They actually were brothers! Beth was horrified, and her whole body tensed. She was appalled at the thought of being in the hateful man’s presence for even a minute, let alone all evening.

  She listened with a sinking heart as Tony continued speaking. ‘With a fourteen-year age difference between us I’ve always been a bit in awe of him. Dante has it all—tall, good-looking, fit and incredibly wealthy. He doesn’t need to work so hard or even at all. I keep telling him, but he just ignores me. He’s far too cerebral for my mind, but he is a great guy when you get to know him, and all the women adore him. I’ll introduce you.’

  ‘No,’ Beth said abruptly. ‘You and your brother must have a lot to catch up on, and I need to feed Binkie.’

  She tried to excuse herself but Tony’s hand tightened on her waist when she tried to move.

  ‘The cat can wait. Do me a favour, Beth, and play along with me. With a stunner like you on my arm, for once I will get one over on my big brother. He has played the field discreetly for years with a string of beautiful women. To be honest I’m surprised he’s decided to get married.... His fiancée looks lovely, but she’s not as nice as you.’

  Beth
didn’t get a chance to refuse....

  ‘Good to see you, Tony,’ a deep, dark voice drawled, and Beth froze in Tony’s hold at the hauntingly familiar sound of the man’s voice.

  ‘And you, Dante. I’m surprised you could make it.’ Tony grinned and shook his brother’s hand. ‘And this must be the fiancée Mum told me about.’ Tony smiled at the woman at his brother’s side.

  Dante Cannavaro smoothly made the introductions. ‘Ellen, this is my younger brother, Tony.’

  ‘Lovely to meet the woman who can tame Dante,’ Tony declared with a grin and, dropping his arm from Beth’s waist, he introduced her to the other woman.

  Beth shook hands with Ellen and almost felt sorry for her as they exchanged the conventional greetings. She looked to be in her early thirties, her hair perfectly styled, her face perfectly made-up, and her casual trousers and top both designer label. She smiled, but there was condescension in the smile as her blue eyes took in Beth’s department-store apparel. Some of Beth’s sympathy for the woman faded.

  ‘Congratulations on your engagement. I wish you both a very long and happy marriage,’ Beth lied through her teeth. Personally, she hoped Cannavaro’s life was hell. ‘Have you chosen your dress yet?’ she asked enthusiastically. She was not in the least interested, but it delayed the moment when she would have to face the man she despised, and gave her time to control her wildly beating heart and the shock of seeing him again.

  Cannavaro was the man responsible for sending Beth to prison, and she had nearly died the first week she had been there. A group of women had thought that because she was in prison on a drugs charge she had the contacts to supply them with drugs. When she had told them she was innocent and that she had no knowledge of drugs she had been dragged into the showers and stripped. Her hair had been cut off and she’d been told her throat would be next... Luckily Helen, a middle-aged woman and her cellmate of three days, had walked in and saved her.

  It had been Helen who had convinced her to change her name to Beth Lazenby when she was released, and had made it possible for her to do so. Ironically, the women who had cut off her hair had helped too. Beth was naturally a redhead, but as a child she had been teased unmercifully from her first day at school, and as she had grown taller and bigger than most of her class the bullying had gotten worse.

  Finally, when she had been fourteen and they had just moved from Bedford to Bristol for her father’s work, her mother had suggested that Beth dye her hair dark before she attended a new school and made new friends. Beth had quickly agreed and the bullying had stopped. Her life had been content for a number of years—until she had turned eighteen and had been in her first year at college.

  Her parents, on their first holiday without her, had tragically died when the cruise liner they were on had sunk off the coast of Italy. This had been heartbreaking for Jane as the parents she had lost had been her adoptive parents, who had taken her in when she had been just a baby. Jane had no idea who her biological parents were, and had suddenly found herself all alone in the world.

  So the day Jane Mason had walked out of jail after serving eighteen months of her sentence she’d been almost unrecognisable. Her hair had returned to its natural red colour and she’d been almost two stone lighter in weight. With Clive’s help she had legally changed her name by deed poll to Beth Lazenby.

  Helen’s plan for Jane to change her name had made perfect sense; it was hard enough for an innocent young woman to make her way in the world without the totally unjustified tag of a prison sentence on her CV.

  Beth owed it to the memory of her friend to show no weakness now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  DANTE CANNAVARO WAS not in a good mood. When he had called at Ellen’s apartment earlier, contemplating their reunion after a month apart, he had casually mentioned his brother’s barbecue and suggested they call in. Ellen had yet to meet Tony, and Dante was considering asking him to be his best man at their wedding. Ellen had hated both ideas. Barbecues were ‘not her style,’ and she was adamant that one of Dante’s lawyer friends or a business associate would be much more appropriate as best man.

  Finally she had agreed to attend—but only if they went immediately, so that they would still have time to have dinner at their favourite restaurant. This was news to Dante, who hadn’t even known they had a favourite restaurant!

  Ellen had carried on in the same vein for the hour it had taken to get here, and Dante had switched off and let her chatter. But when he had glanced across to where Mike had indicated his brother and seen the woman with him he’d immediately switched on again.

  Now Dante studied the tall, striking redhead at Tony’s side. There was something about her that niggled at him. He had caught the name Beth, but he could not remember having met anyone called Beth before. Yet there was definitely something familiar about her. Then, as the sun’s rays caught her hair, turning it to flame, it came to him—she was the stunning woman he had noticed in the street a few days ago.

  Dante barely heard the conversation that continued. His dark gaze roamed over her instead. He noticed the swell of her breasts beneath the lemon silk shirt she wore tucked into white jeans that moulded her slim hips and long legs, before his gaze slid back to trace the creamy skin over the high cheekbones of her face, framed by the red hair that was styled to fall sleekly to her shoulders. Finally his look rested on her big green eyes. He was intrigued as to who she was, and what she was to Tony.

  ‘Beth—my brother Dante.’

  Tony made the introduction and Beth had no excuse but to finally look at Cannavaro.

  Dante offered his hand. ‘It is a pleasure to meet you, Beth.’ Her eyes were cold, he noted, and the fingers that briefly touched his and swiftly withdrew were smooth and cool. But the heated sensation he felt at her merest touch surprised him—and her, it would seem. He recognised the flash of awareness in her green eyes though she fought to disguise it. Her lashes flickered down and her full lips tightened. He sensed her antagonism. She had not wanted to shake his hand. Only social niceties had demanded the slight contact.

  Dante wasn’t a conceited man, but her reaction wasn’t the one he usually got from females. This woman had never met him but she was determined not to like him, and he had to wonder why.

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ Beth said, but she refused to use his name. Her fingers stung from the brief contact with his and she took a step back, shocked that he could affect her so intensely. His powerful physical presence provoked an instant reaction—a stomach-churning anger that she was barely able to control.

  ‘I’m considering following you, Dante.’ Tony reached his arm around Beth again, holding her close. ‘And talking Beth into marrying me. What do you think?’ he asked outrageously.

  Beth’s startled gaze flew to Tony. What on earth was he playing at?

  ‘Beth is a lovely girl, I’m sure,’ Dante offered with a cynical smile.

  He had met a lot of women in his time, and could see the beautiful Beth was probably older than Tony—maybe not so much in years, but, by the guarded look about her, certainly in experience. She could be more interested in Tony’s money than she was in the man. His brother worked in the merchant bank his father, Harry, owned and stood to inherit a fortune. The fact that he chose to share an apartment with Mike in suburbia, rather than a luxury apartment he could easily afford in the city centre, didn’t mean Beth did not know exactly who Tony was—an extremely good catch for any woman.

  Beth’s blood ran cold as Dante’s hard dark eyes met hers. Now she recognised the cynicism in his smile immediately—but years ago she had not, and it had been her downfall. Her anger and resentment grew at the memory as he continued speaking.

  ‘But you have only just turned twenty-three, Tony. Isn’t that a bit young to be contemplating matrimony?’ Dante queried. He had seen the anger in Beth’s eyes and his conviction that she was only after Tony’s money deepened. This woman was smart enough to know that as the older brother he was a possible threat to her plan. ‘Marriag
e is an expensive business—especially for a young man just starting his career. I’m sure Beth would agree.’

  His mocking tone did nothing to quell the bitterness bubbling inside Beth. No wonder Tony wanted to get one over on the arrogant swine. Rashly, she decided to help him. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Money isn’t everything.’ She shot Cannavaro a defiant glance before looking adoringly up at Tony. ‘Is it, darling?’

  ‘You’ve got that spot-on,’ Tony offered, his eyes dancing with amusement as he planted a brief kiss on her lips. ‘Isn’t she incredible, bro?’ he prompted.

  ‘Yes,’ Dante agreed curtly, surprised by the swift flare of irritation he felt at seeing them kiss. His dark gaze flicked to Beth and he caught the gleam in her green eyes. It wasn’t passion for Tony, he recognised, but a direct challenge aimed at him.

  There was nothing Dante liked better than a challenge, and there was something about the striking redhead that had aroused his suspicions the minute he had met her. Now he was in danger of arousing another part of him, and worryingly it had nothing to do with his fiancée. He hadn’t reacted to a woman so swiftly in a long time. He enjoyed sex, but was never blinded by it, and he chose his partners carefully—as he had Ellen. He was always in total control, as he was in all aspects of his life. Yet every instinct he possessed was telling him his surprising reaction to Beth was not just sexual attraction. It was as though he knew her—but how?

  He needed time to think, and changed the subject. ‘What about a drink, Tony? This is supposed to be a party. I’ll have a soft drink as I’m driving.’ And, concentrating on his fiancée, he added, ‘A vodka and tonic all right for you, Ellen?’

  ‘I’ll get them, Tony,’ Beth offered, her heart pounding in panic as she realised that playing along with Tony’s game to irritate his brother had been the height of stupidity. She had let her anger overcome her caution and drawn attention to herself—a big mistake. ‘You stay with your guests. You must have a lot to talk about with a family wedding coming up.’