The Mistress Wife

by Lynne Graham

  ‘I thinks Marco needs to be washed,’ Lucca pointed out, wondering whether she was annoyed because his meeting had dragged on longer than he had originally forecast.

  Vivien focused on Marco, who had spread her peach lipstick all over his face and his father’s shirt and who was now being held at arm’s length like a source of dangerous contamination. Her throat was so choked with tears she could not speak. She did not know whether she was angrier with Lucca or with herself. But beyond the anger lurked a great horrible well of humiliation. She had chased him in time-honoured style and got her just deserts, it seemed. She was exceedingly grateful when the housekeeper chose that moment to show Rosa Peroli out to the terrace.

  Vivien chattered relentlessly all the way to Rome and thought she had done a remarkable job of concealing her emotional devastation.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Lucca demanded the instant they arrived at the family villa and Rosa had been installed in the nursery suite with their son.

  ‘Nothing…why should there be anything wrong?’

  ‘I just know there is,’ Lucca countered squarely, dark golden eyes striving to read her pale delicate face and shuttered gaze. ‘Why do you want to go out alone this afternoon? You hate shopping.’

  ‘Not always.’

  Lucca reached for her hand. It lay in his like a hand carved in ice. ‘I would like to come with you.’

  ‘You can’t. I might decide to get my hair done,’ she protested.

  When Lucca had left the room, Vivien removed her wedding ring and set it down on an elegant chest of drawers. The ring had been a symbol of their marriage and she no longer wanted to wear it. She hoped he did not think that she was making some kind of cheap point. But she knew that she had to rethink their relationship as it now was. At best she was having an affair with her ex-husband. At worst, she was likely to be labelled his mistress. Something rather less respectable than being a wife and decidedly less safe in terms of commitment. Her choice was to accept that or reject it. Right at that moment she reckoned that she hated Lucca as much as she loved him.

  It was the very best possible time for Serafina to knock on the bedroom door and hurry in with a delighted smile. A slim young woman with warm brown eyes and a torrent of black curls, she gave Vivien an excited hug. ‘We are going to have a wild time tonight,’ she swore. ‘But don’t feel the need to tell Lucca…he still treats me like I’m a child!’

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘NO WAY should you be going out dressed like that!’

  As if Lucca had not spoken, Vivien added another layer of mascara to her lashes. What she wore was really none of his business. She had gone shopping with Serafina, who had been terrific company and exactly the distraction she needed from her unhappy thoughts. Serafina had persuaded her to buy a short cream leather skirt, a very flattering pale green fitted top and a pair of knee-high soft suede boots.

  ‘It’s a very sexy outfit…OK,’ Lucca conceded, striving to hang onto his temper, which was difficult when he was in the act of working out that about sixty-five per cent of Vivien’s fabulous figure and stunning legs were on show. ‘Wear that kind of stuff for me but don’t go out in it. It’s not appropriate.’

  ‘You think I’m too old and staid for a skirt that shows my knees?’ Vivien asked in a tight little voice.

  ‘No, but it will attract the sort of attention you dislike. Other men are likely to come on to you,’ Lucca delivered, wondering what the hell had come over her for about the hundredth time since they had left Il Palazzetto. All the way to Rome she had talked to their nanny, Rosa, and to Marco but had continually left him out in the cold. She looked at him and yet somehow managed never to meet his eyes direct.

  It was only at that point that his attention fell on the wedding ring lying on the chest of drawers beside him and whipped straight to her newly bare left hand. For a split second, he felt as if he had been punched in the gut and flung over a cliff.

  ‘You’re not wearing your wedding ring,’ Lucca breathed flatly.

  ‘Now that we’re divorced, I don’t think I should.’ Vivien was proud of the level voice that emerged from her dry mouth.

  ‘I’m very shocked that you would take it off, cara mia,’ Lucca confided with sincerity, striving not to react to the news that she had finally discovered that they were divorced. He concentrated on the ring issue, which he realised had quite overpowering significance for him. ‘I think you should keep your ring on.’

  ‘No, it’s part of the past and I’m not your wife any more. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing it now.’

  A silence screaming with undertones fell. She kept on adding more mascara to her lashes and was vaguely surprised that they didn’t fall off under the weight. She lifted a lipstick.

  ‘When did you realise that the divorce had gone through?’ Lucca asked abruptly.

  She explained and added, ‘You must have guessed I didn’t know…I wish you’d told me.’

  Lucca sought to excuse the inexcusable. ‘It didn’t seem important.’

  Her teeth gritted on the angry words of distress that threatened to pour from her in spirited disagreement. Their marriage had been extremely important to her.

  Aware that what he had just said had come out wrong, Lucca regrouped and murmured urgently, ‘What I meant to say is…what’s important is that we’re together. We’re very much together—’

  ‘And divorced,’ Vivien slotted in helplessly.

  ‘We’re happier than we were when we were first married.’ His lean powerful face was taut, dark golden eyes intent. ‘We know what went wrong and we don’t need a marriage licence to tell us that what we have is worth keeping.’

  Involuntarily, Vivien was impressed. At least his words proved that he valued their relationship and that he did see a future for them. But inside herself she still felt savaged by the knowledge that they were no longer man and wife.

  Lucca extended her wedding ring. ‘Please put it back on.’

  ‘I said no,’ she reminded him tightly and resisted the urge to tell him that if he wanted her to wear a wedding ring he shouldn’t have divorced her.

  His lean dark features clenched. ‘People are likely to think you’re single.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Dannazione…what the hell is that supposed to mean?’ Lucca growled with sudden aggression.

  Vivien gave him a frowning appraisal.

  ‘And what’s with all the make-up?’ Lucca’s famed self-discipline slipped another notch. ‘You rarely even use lipstick but here you are tonight painting yourself from head to toe! Any guy would be forgiven for wondering if you were going out on the pull!’

  ‘With your sister in tow, I think that’s unlikely.’ Vivien rose from the dressing stool and hid a smile. Maybe he had expected her to dress all in black and sob in the corner on the day she learned that they were divorced. Well, she was grateful to have disappointed his expectations and if he thought that she was in the mood to party, even better.

  As the limo door closed on Vivien and Serafina, the younger woman grinned and shook her head in apparent wonderment. ‘Lucca’s so incredibly possessive of you…it’s sweet. I used to have this very cool image of my brother but he’s in a cold sweat just because you’re looking gorgeous and going clubbing without him!’

  Vivien’s smile grew a little less forced and her eyes warmed. ‘You think so?’

  ‘I never thought I’d see the day but I think so. Umberto had invited Lucca to join his friends tonight but Lucca turned him down. But I bet you anything that Lucca goes now. The men are supposed to be meeting up with us at midnight.’

  Seated in a dark corner, Vivien saw Lucca the instant he entered the club.

  He was with a group but she saw only him. His height was distinctive. A down light gleamed over his arrogant dark head and gilded his strong cheekbones. Her heart skipped a beat and she breathed in deep. She was planning to play it very cool but she was really relieved that he had decided to come.

  She had spent
the evening smiling until her jaw ached and avoiding male advances. Men had continually approached her. Serafina and her friends were split in their opinion of whether it was the leather skirt or the high-heeled boots that was the main attraction. But Vivien knew she should have listened to Lucca. While she had thought it would be nice to be admired, men cornering her to chat her up put her in just as big a panic now as they had done when she was a teenager.

  She had thought over what Lucca had said and she felt a lot calmer and a little less hurt and rejected. To be fair to him, it had been a bit late in the day to call off their divorce. She had to be realistic: it was only ten days since they had got back together. He was right too in that they were more together than they had ever been. Without a doubt, she understood him an awful lot better and probably loved him a great deal more. Losing him once had scarred her but it had also, she had finally grasped, made her stronger and more independent. So, what was in a wedding ring? No magic answer, she decided, determined to keep up her spirits.

  Lucca sank down behind the table and tugged her towards him. His stunning dark golden eyes locked to hers. Either she moved or he moved or they both moved simultaneously. Whatever, he closed his hands into her hair to hold her entrapped and took her mouth with a passionate urgency that lit her up inside like a bonfire.

  ‘Lucca…’ she said breathlessly, subsiding against him.

  A satisfied smile chased the tension from his wide sensual lips. ‘We’ll get married again as soon as it can be arranged.’

  In total disconcertion, Vivien studied him. ‘Why?’

  ‘You’re happier being married, bella mia,’ Lucca murmured smoothly. ‘I want you to be happy.’

  He might as well have prodded her with a hot toasting fork. She pushed herself back from him. She was horribly tempted to slap him but was unsure that she would be able to stop at just one slap. As proposals went it was a killer, for it both patronised and humiliated. How dared he?

  ‘Of course, it will make me happy too,’ Lucca added belatedly.

  ‘Then you’ve got a problem because I don’t want to marry you again. Once was quite sufficient.’

  ‘You want me to get down on my knees in a public place?’ Lucca raked at her in a raw undertone.

  She almost said yes just to see him explode. She was furious with him. ‘Which part of the word no don’t you understand?’

  ‘You’re driving me crazy…’ Lucca groaned, scorching golden eyes welded to her lovely face.

  ‘Let me tell you something…I’m quite happy being single—’

  ‘You weren’t happy about it this afternoon,’ Lucca interposed very drily. ‘So what’s changed? Has some toy boy caught your eye?’

  ‘It would serve you right if one had!’ Her sea-green eyes flashed at him, her temper fully alight.

  ‘I’d kill him…if another man touched you, I’d tear him apart with my bare hands!’ Lucca swore explosively. ‘Stop playing games with me. Why don’t you want to marry me?’

  ‘I’ll only marry for love …and you don’t love me.’

  Raw frustration blazed in his brilliant gaze. He grabbed both her hands to hold her because she was backing away. ‘Vivi…’

  The silence pulsed and roared. She waited. He compressed his stubborn mouth. She thrust him back from her in angry rejection. ‘Leave me alone!’

  In the midst of that high-voltage moment, a guy leant over the table to say to her, ‘Can I buy you a drink?’

  ‘She’s with me!’ Lucca told him curtly.

  ‘I saw her push you away…is he annoying you?’ the stranger turned to ask Vivien.

  ‘Stay out of this,’ Lucca warned with a lethal quietness that made the nape of Vivien’s neck prickle.

  Vivien could see a situation developing and she scrambled up to head for the cloakroom, believing that that would give Lucca the chance to calm down. But Lucca moved faster than she did. Before she could step out from behind the table, Lucca had swung a punch at the stranger. As she cried out in horror a fight broke out with a speed and violence that appalled her.

  It was amazing how many men flung themselves with frightening enthusiasm into that free-for-all of a fight. While Vivien and Serafina looked on in disbelief from a safe distance, the police arrested Lucca and several other men.

  ‘My brother is never going to live this down.’ Serafina laughed because nobody had really been hurt, but Vivien was still horrified.

  She blamed herself. Lucca had proposed and it had been a clumsy proposal but nobody knew better than her that he was dismal at proposing. She had said no when he’d least expected it. He was very confident and he had not been mentally prepared for that negative response. How he had gone off the deep end into that fight she did not quite comprehend, but she believed that it was her fault that he had lost control. He had never, ever done anything like that before. She felt that she should have recognised that, though Lucca might be better at hiding it than she was, he had been under a lot of stress too.

  Lucca was not released by the police until the next morning. No charges were laid against him. The paparazzi had photographed him leaving the nightclub in police custody and the picture made headlines in the gossip columns. ‘Saracino fights over ex-wife.’

  When the drawing-room door opened, Vivien glanced up, expecting it to be Lucca. She was astonished to see her sister instead. ‘Bernice?’

  ‘Are you still angry with me? I was scared to phone ahead,’ Bernice pulled an anxious face. ‘I thought you might refuse to see me because I was so rude the last time we spoke.’

  Vivien stood up to welcome her with a smile. ‘I wouldn’t behave like that. You’re my sister,’ she reminded her quietly. ‘How did you find out where I was staying?’

  ‘I guessed. Lucca threw your engagement party here…don’t you remember?’

  Vivien had forgotten and, recalling how nervous and awkward she had been that evening, she smiled more naturally. ‘What on earth has brought you all the way to Italy?’

  As she took a seat Bernice lowered her pale blue eyes. ‘There’s something I have to tell you. I probably should have told you years ago but I didn’t want to hurt you. However, now that you’ve gone back to Lucca, I feel it’s my duty to speak up.’

  Listening, Vivien became very tense. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I was really shocked to find out that Lucca had been arrested for violence,’ her sister added with a satisfaction she could not conceal. ‘It’s in all the newspapers.’

  ‘That was a misunderstanding…’ Vivien looked across the room because Lucca had appeared in the doorway. He gave her a smile that turned her heart upside down and held his finger to his mouth to let her know that he didn’t want her to mention his presence to Bernice.

  ‘I wouldn’t be too sure. He might be thumping you next—’

  ‘I really don’t think so,’ Vivien said hastily, watching Lucca freeze in the act of walking away and then swinging back at decisive speed. After that comment from Bernice, she felt she could hardly blame him for choosing to stay around. ‘Let’s not talk about this.’

  ‘You know I don’t like Lucca. Didn’t you ever wonder why?’ Bernice probed as if Vivien hadn’t spoken. ‘Well, it’s quite simple. A couple of months after you got married, Lucca made a very heavy pass at me.’

  Vivien could feel her own face tighten like concrete setting and she could not bring herself to glance in Lucca’s direction. ‘Why have you waited so long to tell me this?’

  ‘There was no need to tell you when you were getting divorced. But now you’re back living with him.’

  ‘How much cash are you hoping to make from that allegation, Bernice?’ Lucca asked, cool as a mountain spring.

  Visibly dismayed by that interruption, Bernice flushed to the roots of her hair and sprang upright as Lucca strolled into view. ‘What are you trying to imply?’

  ‘That greed for money has to be connected in some way to this dramatic tale,’ Lucca contended levelly. ‘I ca
n’t let this go. I’m going to have to tell Vivien about some of the other things you’ve done—’

  ‘Don’t you dare tell Vivien lies about me!’ Bernice hissed at him.

  Lucca dealt her a sardonic appraisal. ‘I can prove everything I have to say. If I kept quiet until now, it was only to protect Vivien. But when you attempt to threaten us, you have to be stopped,’ he murmured grimly, and he turned his keen dark gaze on Vivien. ‘Bernice took your late father for everything he had. He had paid her debts several times over by the time he died. As soon as we were married, she approached me for money.’

  ‘That’s not true…’ the brunette condemned.

  ‘Her boutique was in trouble once again and she needed a loan,’ Lucca explained. ‘I knew she was a very poor financial risk but she was your sibling and you were fond of her. A loan was extended to her. As I had expected, it wasn’t repaid and I felt I’d done as much as I could do for a member of your family—’

  ‘He’s talking rubbish,’ Bernice interrupted, focusing pleading eyes on her silent sister. ‘You can’t trust a word he says. Don’t you know that yet?’

  ‘I understand now why you were so eager to keep Lucca and I apart.’ Vivien sighed heavily, for she was very hurt that her sister should have plotted and planned and lied solely in an effort to enrich herself at her expense. ‘If we reconciled, you were very unlikely to gain access to more money. You knew Lucca would tell me the truth if he found out that you were trying to persuade me into giving you a loan.’

  ‘Why aren’t you listening to my side of the story?’ Bernice shouted at Vivien, incredulous at the reception she was receiving. ‘Why won’t you believe me?’

  Vivien winced. ‘Because you’ve always told lies,’ she responded reluctantly. ‘Quite blatant lies too. Lucca, on the other hand, tells the truth and shames the devil!’