by Lynne Graham
Yet wouldn’t that only be because most ironically she would be the one to get in first and end their affair? Andreo had not yet betrayed any sign of boredom with her and why should he have? On her terms, the past nine days had been full of fun and passion and special moments. She was determined not to forget a single second that she had spent with him and had committed every single detail with religious care into her diary. However, nine days were also a very short period of time and she reckoned that Andreo had decided that it would be more convenient for him if he simply let their affair continue until the date of his own return to Italy arrived. Of course, as she had not even told him yet about her own plans, he still had no idea that she was on the very brink of leaving both Venstar and London herself.
Why hadn’t she told him? Perhaps she had been afraid that if he knew he might seek to replace her with someone who would be available for a little longer. At least she wasn’t fool enough to start imagining that someone as essentially ordinary as she was could possibly have any hope of a more lasting future with a male of Andreo’s legendary reputation.
No, she had made the sensible decision that she would make the utmost of every precious minute of her time with him but neither look for nor indeed hope for anything more. In return for her common-sense outlook, her careful, honest acceptance of her own limitations, she had had nine incredibly wonderful days living a fantasy existence with a guy whom…a guy of whom she had become very, very fond. That was all. Only a very stupid woman would have let herself fall in love with Andreo D’Alessio. And she wasn’t stupid, was she?
A limo was waiting at the kerb when she emerged from her home. Quite unconscious of the curtains twitching at the neighbours’ houses, she scrambled in and called Andreo on the car phone.
‘I told you I’d get the train,’ she scolded softly.
‘I want you to conserve your energy for me…I’ll see you at one for lunch.’
Even his rich, dark, accented drawl sent a little responsive quiver down her spine. ‘Hmm…’ She smiled while she thought about how much she enjoyed eating out in the exotic restaurants at discreet locations that Andreo chose for their daily assignations. ‘Can’t wait.’
A sudden silence seemed to fall when she reached her desk at Venstar. But then of recent she had progressed from being the first to start work in the morning to being the last to arrive and the first to leave. Furthermore, since the simple work she was currently being allotted was way below her capabilities she was free to daydream as much as she liked.
‘You know that’s a really fantastic suit you’re wearing…it’s so funky!’ Jonelle commented rather loudly.
Pippa gave the blonde a sunny smile of abstraction. ‘I think so too.’
Her colleague cleared her throat. ‘It looks very like a Versace outfit I saw in a shop window last week. Is it…I mean, Versace?’
Pippa shrugged without interest for she had never been into fashion. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t looked at the label,’ she said truthfully.
After all, Andreo had presented the outfit to her with the far more interesting news that he had had to buy it because it was the exact shade of her eyes. Apparently he had stopped the limo in traffic and got out the instant he’d seen it, so very probably the suit had featured in a window display. Whatever, Pippa kept on seeing a dazzling image of Andreo casting aside all cool sophistication and shouting at his chauffeur to stop and she thought such impetuous behaviour was incredibly romantic. It would have been true to say that had Andreo bought her a garment adorned with zebra stripes she would have been so affected by his going to so much trouble on her behalf that she would have worn it out of gratitude.
At that abstracted response, Jonelle and her equally inquisitive fellow listeners stared at Pippa in near disbelief.
‘You’re also wearing Jimmy Choo shoes,’ Jonelle dared, gazing enviously at the strappy works of art adorning Pippa’s slender feet.
‘The heel snapped off my shoe when I was out for lunch yesterday,’ Pippa confided.
‘I wonder if my heel snapped off would a total miracle take place in the street for little old me!’ With that acid comment, Cheryl shot Pippa a look of sullen resentment before she stalked out of the office.
Cheryl’s spiteful attempts to upset and humiliate Pippa and provoke her into leaving Venstar had got her nowhere, for in the mood that Pippa had been in of late, she would not have noticed Cheryl had she stood on her head and screamed. In vain did Cheryl complain about the very long lunch hours that Pippa now took. Pippa would mutter something vague about having lost track of the time and drift off looking very much as though she was existing on another mental plane entirely.
Minutes later, Andreo’s brother, Marco, phoned Pippa. It had to be about the sixth time he had called her. On the first few occasions he had asked for help with maths assignments, but since then their dealings had become more casually friendly and his latest request was for advice on what to buy for a six-year-old niece’s birthday. Ten minutes later, Jonelle answered the phone ringing on Cheryl’s desk and went off in search of the brunette. When neither Cheryl nor Ricky were to be found, Pippa received a call from a director asking her to go to the meeting room on the top floor to make herself available in Cheryl’s place for the client due to arrive.
In the act of stepping into the lift she discovered that Andreo was stepping out. Although it was only a matter of hours since they had last seen each other, she still could not drag her attention from his hard, handsome bone structure and she was utterly ensnared when she met his riveting dark golden eyes.
‘Is it long until lunch time?’ Pippa muttered, having left her watch behind in his bedroom.
Andreo lifted a lean hand and brushed a stray curl back from her cheekbone with a slow, heart-stopping smile. ‘Too long…where are you heading?’
‘The meeting room. Lester Saunders is due to arrive and Miss Long can’t be contacted.’
‘That could be Venstar’s biggest advantage over the competition,’ Andreo drawled with cutting dark humour, following her back into the lift to accompany her.
Minutes later, Andreo pushed back the door to allow Pippa to precede him into the comfortable room set aside for important appointments.
Halfway into the room, she stopped dead to gape at the man and woman writhing in passion on the sofa. Ricky Brownlow pulled himself up in consternation when he saw Pippa but his partner, Cheryl, gave Pippa a defiant look. ‘Don’t you know when to make yourself scarce?’
‘Don’t you?’ Andreo breathed smooth as silk when he strolled forward into view and proceeded to sack the guilty couple for gross misconduct.
Pippa had not even suspected that Ricky, who was a married man, and Cheryl might have been having an affair. While they slunk out, Pippa straightened the room for the client’s imminent arrival.
‘You were shocked. You really don’t listen to the rumour mill, do you?’ Andreo murmured. ‘Even I had heard that Brownlow was believed to have pushed Cheryl for your job because it would make it easier for them to spend time together. It only remains for me to appoint you back to Acting Finance Manager—’
Pippa stiffened. ‘No…no, I don’t want it now. Not this way and not when you and I are…er…involved.’
Andreo quirked a questioning brow. ‘That’s not a sensible decision.’
‘I think that’s my—’
‘No, you should start thinking like the career woman that you keep on telling me you are, cara,’ Andreo countered with sardonic bite, and left her.
While Pippa dealt with Lester Saunders, however, she asked herself why it was that she had automatically rejected the job that she had longed to have just two short weeks earlier. Was she that committed to her plans to relocate in France? Or had Cheryl’s appointment soured her on the idea of remaining at Venstar? Whatever, she could see that she did owe Andreo an explanation. After all, hadn’t she told him that he was responsible for her loss of promotion? Naturally he wanted her to accept the position that he beli
eved should have been hers in the first instance.
As soon as she was free, Pippa headed off to see Andreo, only to be told that he was busy and that she would have to wait. She took a seat and wished she had simply phoned Andreo direct instead of going through businesslike motions.
The receptionist leant across her desk to whisper confidentially, ‘I shouldn’t say but Mr D’Alessio is with his girlfriend. Apparently she’s just back from working abroad.’
‘Really?’ Jolted and then realising that she could only be hearing office gossip, Pippa grinned. ‘Tell me more.’
‘She’s Lili Richards…you know the famous model. You wouldn’t believe how breathtaking she looks in the flesh!’
‘Lili Richards…’ Pippa had never heard of her.
‘You could see how close she and Mr D’Alessio are.’
Pippa’s interested smile had grown a little fixed round the edges. ‘Could you?’
‘Yes. The minute she saw him, she just dived on him. A reaction most of us could sympathise with. Let’s face it, he’s to die for,’ the receptionist said dreamily. ‘And with his wild reputation, I bet she’s been worried sick that he would find someone else while she was away…’
Pippa’s mobile pulsed in her pocket. She took it out. It was Andreo calling and her tension dissolved. Honestly, an attractive woman visited him and the office grapevine went mental on colourful rumours!
‘I can’t make lunch,’ Andreo informed her without any preamble.
Pippa’s brow indented. ‘But I wanted to talk to you—’
‘Unfortunately, some business has come up. I’ll call you later…OK?’
Pippa opened her dry mouth but no sound emerged.
‘OK?’ Andreo prompted, sounding cool, distant and impatient.
‘OK,’ she almost croaked and he rang off.
Her hand trembling, Pippa put her mobile back in her pocket and slowly rose upright.
‘The boss and Lili Richards are about to leave!’ the receptionist was gasping into the phone for someone else’s benefit.
No, she wasn’t going to hang about behaving like a possessive girlfriend who didn’t trust him. She began to move down the corridor. All along it heads were emerging from offices. Every employee on the floor seemed to be angling to get a first-hand look at Andreo and his visitor. Pippa backed into a clump of indoor plants and hovered. He had said he had business and if he said he had business, she believed him because she trusted him absolutely. She was only hanging around to celebrity-spot.
Andreo strode into view and hit the lift button. He was not alone. A woman who looked even to Pippa’s unappreciative gaze like a fantasy pin-up was clinging to his arm. She had a mane of baby blonde hair and flawless features. She was just beautiful, just really, really, really beautiful, Pippa conceded in a daze. A famous model, yes, she looked as if she would be famous. There was something unearthly about someone that beautiful who did not even seem to be wearing make-up. Something rather sick-making too…
Maybe Lili Richards was really spoilt and had made it difficult for Andreo to avoid taking her out to lunch. Maybe she was a client, a family friend…a sister, cousin, childhood playmate? Maybe Andreo had been bullied into it. Maybe he was being kidnapped.
While Pippa watched, Lili slid caressing hands beneath Andreo’s suit jacket with the familiarity of a lover confident of her welcome. Making it patently obvious that she couldn’t keep her sex-starved hands off him, she stretched up to kiss him with similar enthusiasm…at which point Pippa could no longer stand to look.
‘Looks like they’re headed for the nearest bed!’ she heard someone laugh.
Forty seconds later, Pippa was horribly sick in the cloakroom. She reeled dizzily back from the cubicle wall and struggled to get a grip on herself. But indelibly etched on her mind’s eye was Andreo and his girlfriend. Two very beautiful human beings perfectly matched. Dear heaven, how could she have believed in him, trusted him? Pippa Plain…just when had she allowed herself to forget that that was her nickname?
Feeling like a robot, she freshened up as best she could and went off to clear her desk.
‘Is it true that Ricky and Cheryl have been sacked?’ Jonelle gushed.
‘Yes.’
‘So you’ll be the new manager, then,’ Jonelle assumed.
‘I don’t want the job any more.’
‘Of course…you’re seeing Mr D’Alessio,’ the blonde murmured soft and low and admiring.
Pippa froze.
‘We worked out it was you at the party by the second bunch of flowers,’ Jonelle confided with an appreciative giggle. ‘You really know how to surprise people, don’t you?’
‘Yeah…I just dumped him,’ Pippa responded, wondering how long it would take for word of Lili’s existence to work back to the finance section.
She went home and phoned HR to tell them that no, sorry, do what they will, she wasn’t coming back ever. Then she undressed and put the designer suit, the shoes and all the dripping flowers and the cards she had saved into a bin bag. Pulling out a couple of suitcases, she began to pack. Unable to tolerate even the minor risk of Andreo trying to see her again, she decided to check into a hotel for the night. But before she left her home, she had the bin-bag collected for delivery to Andreo’s apartment. Not that she imagined that either he or Lili would get out of bed to answer the doorbell.
CHAPTER SEVEN
PIPPA leant on the ancient stone balustrade bounding the shaded terrace at Duvernay and tried to suppress all her unhappy and self-pitying thoughts in appreciation of the wonderful views stretching in every direction.
The château’s glorious formal gardens were surrounded by rolling green fields that in turn gave way to apple orchards said to produce some of the best cider in the world. The remainder of the vast Duvernay estate, the ancestral home of Tabby’s husband, Christien Laroche, was the equivalent of a densely wooded nature reserve. But only a few miles to the west lay the jagged Breton coastline of rocky cliffs, sandy coves and picturesque fishing ports.
Her fabulous bedroom suite was worthy of a five star hotel and she had been royally entertained. For two long weeks she had done her best to put on a cheerful front for her hosts’ benefit, for who wanted to entertain a miserable, weepy guest? Unfortunately, being in the company of a very happy married couple had only made her feel more betrayed, more alone and more depressed.
Christien Laroche had been incredibly nice to her. In fact Tabby’s husband had been so much kinder than the rather arrogant character whom Pippa had recalled from the past that she had honestly wondered whether Christien had guessed that his wife’s childhood friend was suffering from a broken heart.
Yes, Pippa was no longer kidding herself: she had fallen madly in love with Andreo. She had pretended she was in control when she was not. But common sense told her why she had never actually got around to making arrangements to let her London home and why she had been waiting to the last possible minute to hand in her notice at Venstar. It would only have taken one encouraging word from Andreo to persuade her to drop any idea of making a permanent move to France. Neither her pride nor her intelligence had got a look-in when it came to Andreo D’Alessio.
While his lovely girlfriend had been abroad and unavailable, Andreo had used Pippa to fill the vacancy in his bed and satisfy his sexual needs. She despised herself for having surrendered her body so easily. What had seemed so very special now seemed cheap and tawdry. Andreo had lied about being free of other entanglements but then as she was well aware many otherwise upright men thought nothing of the lies that went hand in hand with infidelity. And she could not accuse Andreo of having promised her love or any kind of a future.
So why on earth had Andreo repeatedly attempted to contact her since she had left London? Surely he had guessed that she had found out about Lili? Yet he had initially texted her innumerable times. When that had failed to draw a response he had left half a dozen messages on her mobile phone. Messages that had sounded genuinely anxious about her a
pparent vanishing act. What on earth had he been playing at? Had the dustbin bag she sent him not been explanation enough? She had changed her phone number but had reluctantly passed on her new one to Marco when he had begged as hard as a fourteen-year-old boy could beg not to be made to pay for his big brother’s sins.
Tabby wandered out onto the terrace with a pretty toddler maternally anchored to one hip. While her five-year-old son, Jake, bore a close resemblance to his darkly handsome father, Jolie, her one-year-old daughter, had her mother’s toffee-coloured hair and lively green eyes.
‘I love this dress.’ Tabby smoothed an appreciative hand over the garment chosen by her friend from her favourite maternity shop, for it was styled to flatter the rounded shape of a woman more than four months pregnant. ‘I’m so grateful you went shopping with Christien. Left to himself, he always goes for fancy formal stuff and in this climate I prefer casual and comfortable.’
‘The summers here are warm.’ Pippa tossed her damp hair with her hand to cool the nape of her neck. In the act of tilting her head back, she was assailed by a sudden giddiness that forced her to steady herself on the balustrade with both hands.
Oh, dear, she thought fearfully, lashes lowering to conceal the anxious look clouding her eyes. More than a week had already passed since she had first noted that her period was late in arriving, an event unusual enough to rouse her concern. In addition, she had felt rather queasy on several occasions. Now she had had a minor dizzy spell. She knew the most common signs of pregnancy as well as most young women. However, she also suspected that her emotional highs and lows and even worry might well be making her imagine symptoms and could also have interfered with her system.