One Last Night (14 page)

He tipped up her chin again with the blunt tip of his finger. He looked into her eyes for a long moment, his gaze deep and dark and inscrutable. 'Sometimes I wonder if I have ever known you,'

he said ruefully. 'The real you, I mean.'

Likewise, Maya thought as his lips came down and pressed against hers.

MAYA had almost forgotten about her shopping date with Bronte. She suddenly heard Gonzo barking and then realised it was right on eleven o'clock.

She opened the door and Bronte immediately swept her into a tight hug. 'Are you OK?' she asked. 'Oh, my God, that awful, hideous story in the paper.' She pulled back to look at Maya.

'You didn't believe a word of it, did you?'

Maya bit her lip, uncertain of how to answer.

'Giorgio would not lie to you, Maya,' Bronte said. 'Luca told me how his brother's word is his bond. If he said he didn't sleep with that woman, then he didn't.'

'He was going to,' Maya said, feeling the hurt all over again.

Bronte looped her arm through one of Maya's. 'But he didn't and that's the main thing. There are women out there that are predators. They see rich and powerful men as prizes to be claimed.

Giorgio is too smart to let himself be taken in by a trashy little gold-digger like that. Give him some credit. He wants your marriage to succeed. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardise it now.'

Maya gave her a rueful smile. 'You seem to know him better than I do and you only just met him a couple of months ago.'

'Ah, yes, but I know Luca and he's cut from the same cloth,' Bronte said. 'Now, let's go shopping.

I have left Ella with Giovanna but I don't want to tire her too much. She is still very sad over Salvatore's death. How is Giorgio taking it?'

'He hasn't said much,' Maya said, thinking of how Giorgio had acted in the week since his grandfather's death. 'It's business as usual for him. That has always been the way he handles things. I think he grieves in private, however. In fact I know he does. He's away now for the next few days.'

'Did he tell you where he was going?'

Maya shook her head. 'No, and I didn't ask. All I know is he didn't want me to go with him.'

Bronte frowned. 'Maybe he didn't want to tire you with long hours of travelling. Living out of hotels, even Sabbatini ones, can be exhausting when you are pregnant.'

Maya shrugged. 'I guess…'

Bronte touched her on the arm. 'But you really wanted to be with him, didn't you?' she asked.

Maya bit down on her lip again, this time trying not to cry. 'I just want him to love me. Is that so very much to ask?'

'How do you know he doesn't love you?' Bronte said. 'There are lots of ways of saying it, other than in words. I know the words are important-I need to hear them too-but some men are just not comfortable revealing how much they love someone. It's a guy thing.'

'Does Luca tell you he loves you?'

'Yes, but he didn't until we got back together. Be patient, Maya. A few weeks ago, you were head to head with Giorgio in an acrimonious divorce. He's not going to let you get any power over him by admitting how much he needs and loves you. You might take it upon yourself to walk away from him again. No man in his right mind would lay himself open to that happening, especially a Sabbatini. You know how impossibly proud they all are.'

Maya knew what Bronte said was right, but she still didn't have the confidence to believe that Giorgio loved her the way she longed to be loved. All she could do was hope that by sharing the bond of a living child he would one day tell her what he felt, if anything other than lust.

The shopping expedition was a great success, so much so that Bronte insisted she come back to their villa for the rest of the afternoon. The afternoon drifted into the evening and then, because Luca was also away on business just for that night, Maya decided to stay on for dinner with Bronte rather than spend the evening alone at Giorgio's villa.

One of the staff drivers took her home just before ten p.m. and, as she opened the door, she could hear Gonzo howling because the phone was ringing incessantly.

She dropped her shopping bags on the floor and, giving the dog a quick reassuring ruffle of the ears as she moved past, she snatched up the phone. 'Hello?'

'Do you have any idea of how worried I have been about you?' Giorgio raged at her, his voice tight with anger. 'Where the hell have you been and why haven't you got your mobile with you?

I've been calling it all bloody day and night.'

Maya grimaced as she remembered how she'd turned it to silent when she and Bronte had lunched in a High Street restaurant. She had forgotten to turn it back to the ringtone. 'Sorry about that,' she said. 'I went shopping with Bronte. I went back to spend the rest of the evening with her at Luca's in London. My phone was on silent.'

'Don't ever do that again,' he said. 'I thought something must have happened to the baby.'

Maya suppressed her instinctive retort and, taking a calming breath, said, 'The baby is fine. I had a lovely day. I bought my first maternity outfit.'

There was a long drawn-out silence.

Finally Giorgio broke it but his voice sounded creaky. 'What colour is it?'

'Pink and white,' Maya answered. 'I don't really need it yet, but Bronte talked me into it.'

'It's good you have her to spend time with,' he said. 'I just wish you had told me your plans ahead of time.'

'I forgot all about her offer to take me shopping,' Maya said. 'Anyway, why should I tell you where I am going when you don't tell me anything about where you are going?'

'I told you I am on a business trip.'

'You didn't tell me where.'

'I am in Prague at the moment, I will be in Lyon in France tomorrow and the day after I am going to New York. I will be back by the weekend. There is a charity ball at the hotel on Saturday night. I would like you to accompany me, if you're feeling up to it, of course.'

Maya gave her assent and, after another little silence, said, 'Bronte and Luca are going to the villa at Bellagio this week, just for a couple of days. They invited me to come along. Would you mind? I will be back in time for the ball.'

'Of course I don't mind,' he said. 'In fact, I think it would be good for you.'

There was another silence.

'Gonzo misses you,' Maya said softly.

'I miss him too.'

'Do you miss me?' she asked, kicking herself for being so transparent.

'I miss having you in my bed,' he said in a smoky tone.

Maya felt her insides flip over with longing. 'I miss that too,' she said.

'Maya…' he began, but then paused for so long she wondered if he had changed his mind about what he was about to say.

'What?' she prompted.

'Nothing,' he said. 'Just be safe while I'm away, OK?'

'I'll be fine,' she said, squashing her disappointment that he just wouldn't say what she most wanted to hear.

Maya had fed Gonzo after their return from Bellagio with Luca and Bronte and Ella and was about to unpack her small bag when she heard Giorgio's car pull into the villa grounds. Her heart leapt at the deep throaty sound. Gonzo gave a joyful bark and bolted down the stairs. Maya followed at a more leisurely pace, not wanting to show such blatant enthusiasm until she was more certain of where she stood with him.

Giorgio looked up from patting the dog when she came down the staircase. 'Cara,' he said, smiling, 'you are positively glowing. Did you have a good time with Luca and Bronte?'

'I had a wonderful time,' she said, lifting her face for his kiss.

She tasted of strawberries and he wanted to keep kissing her until she was beneath him, begging for the release he had been dreaming of giving her the whole time he had been away. 'I have something for you,' he said, picking up the packages he had brought in with him from the car.

Her grey eyes flicked to the bags nervously. 'But I don't need anything,' she said. 'I have too many clothes as it is.'

'It's not clothes,' he said, 'or at least not clothes for you.'

She took a step backwards when he held the first bag out for her to take. 'No,' she said. 'No, Giorgio, take it away. Take it all away.'

Giorgio frowned. 'What's the matter, Maya? It's just stuff for the baby. I bought this sweet teddy bear; let me show you.' He bent down to pull it out of the tissue wrap but by the time he'd straightened Maya had turned on her heel and stalked out of the foyer.

He picked up the bags and followed her into the salone, his frown tightening when he saw that she had gone out of the French windows and to the furthest edge of the balcony.

He felt the all too familiar panic seize him, the perspiration starting to pop out of his pores as he looked at her holding onto the balustrade, her ramrod-stiff back turned towards him.

'Maya, come in here and talk to me,' he commanded.

She turned and, leaning on the balustrade, sent him a challenging glare. 'Why don't you come out here and talk to me?'

He clenched his teeth together, sure he would be spitting out tooth enamel dust for weeks hence.

'Get the hell away from the edge of that balcony,' he said, the perspiration dripping down now between his shoulder blades.

She continued to challenge him with her stony expression. 'You will have to come and get me because I am not coming in until you get rid of those bags and everything in them.'

Giorgio felt like scratching his head in bewilderment. He had spent a fortune on baby goods, he had shopped when he should have been working but he had enjoyed every minute of it. He had trawled through baby wear shops instead of through the company's figures. He had bought a train set for if it was a boy and fluffy animals and dolls for if it was a girl, and he had even ordered a make-it-yourself crib set that was being delivered from the States. He couldn't wait to teach himself how to assemble it and varnish it. He couldn't wait to get started on making a nursery.

He now regretted redecorating the previous one. But Maya hadn't gone in there for years and at the time he'd been glad to have it removed, as it had only reminded him of his failure.

'Maya, this is ridiculous,' he said, holding out a hand to her. 'Come inside and let's discuss this like adults.'

She shook her head indomitably. 'Get rid of the bags. Now.'

He swore viciously and spun around, snatching up the bags and taking them to one of the storage cupboards in the foyer.

He came back in, relieved beyond belief to see her now back in the salone, but her face was still rigid with anger. 'Do you want to tell me what's going on?' he asked.

Her grey eyes rounded with hurt. 'How can you ask that?' she said, her chin starting to wobble.

Giorgio still didn't get it. He was trying to but her reaction didn't make any sense to him. He was trying to be a good husband. He was trying to be the sort of involved father-to-be that he knew young mothers these days wanted and needed. 'Maya, tell me what's upset you. I am not good at reading between the lines. I deal with facts and figures: concrete things, not abstract ones.'

Her eyes were filling with tears as she faced him. 'Do you have any idea of what it's like to come home to a fully prepared nursery when you've just lost the baby you longed for with all of your heart? Do you?'

Giorgio swallowed what felt like a coil of barbed wire. But he didn't answer. He couldn't. The words were somehow stuck in amongst those cruel barbs, scraping his throat, tearing at him with those awful dagger-like teeth.

'Four times,' she said, holding up four slim shaking fingers. 'Four times I did exactly that. I came home to teddy bears and toys and Babygro suits and b-booties I'd knitted myself. I felt such a fool, such a failure. I felt I had jinxed the baby's future by assuming too much too soon. I am not going to make that mistake again. Never. Not until I hold this baby in my arms am I going to buy a single item and nor will I let anyone, most of all you, buy them for me.'

Finally Giorgio found his voice. 'Cara, I am so sorry. I should have thought.' He swallowed and lifted his hand to rake through his hair but it was shaking so much he let it drop uselessly by his side. 'I can't believe how stupid I have been. I should have known you felt this way. I was trying to be positive but it's not what you need right now, is it? It's not what you needed before either.

What you needed was someone to meet you where you are emotionally.'

She nodded on a broken sob as his arms came around her to hold her close. He held her like that for long painful minutes, his own eyes moist with burning tears of regret of how badly he had handled everything.

No wonder she hated him.

No wonder she kept threatening to leave him.

He had not shown her how deeply he felt for her, for what she had gone through, for what she was still going through, with the uncertainty she felt was hanging over her with this pregnancy, even though the doctor had reassured her that everything was going according to plan.

For Maya, given what she had been through, she could not allow herself to relax until she was holding that baby. It was less than twenty-five weeks until she could do so, but that was a lot of days of worrying to get through.

It was going to be a long wait, for both of them.

'Maya,' he said, holding her in the circle of his arms, his eyes meshing with hers. 'Forgive me for being so insensitive to your needs. Let me try and make it up to you. I am not sure how I can, but I am going to try.'