The Forced Bride (26 page)

she’d marched straight through to its rear door and out into the cool spring day. It was a dirty trick to play on someone

she’d grown to like, but she’d told herself she had no choice. She didn’t have much ready cash, either, but there’d been

enough to get her a cab to the airport.

She’d brought with her, too, the credit card Raf had given her with its astronomical upper limit, using it for the first and

last time to buy herself a first class air ticket to Britain, courtesy of a cancellation.

Now she smiled at Mr Henshaw, brighter than bright. ‘It’s rather more than a visit. I’ve come back here to live. At the

Manor.’ She paused. ‘As you know, it’s my birthday soon and the trust will end. I really need to know the level of

income I can expect from the money my father left, so that I can make proper plans for the future.’

‘Plans’ Mr Henshaw’s jaw dropped. ‘But my dear child—your husband—Rafaele. He must have spoken to you.’

Emily looked down at her bare hands. Thought suddenly of lean brown fingers intertwined with hers. Fought once again

for control, and won.

Just.

She said quietly, ‘The Count Di Salis and I have parted. For good this time. And please don’t look so unhappy for me,’

she added swiftly. ‘At least I have my own home and my own money. Everything will be fine.’

‘My dear girl.’ Mr Henshaw was visibly agitated. ‘This is terrible. Rafaele was supposed to tell you—to explain.’

Emily lifted her chin. ‘I find I don’t care for the Count’s explanations—about anything. If there’s something I should

know, I’d rather hear it from you.’

Leonard Henshaw rose and walked over to the window.

‘Your father had no money.’ His tone was heavy. ‘In the two years before his death he invested in unwise speculative

ventures, looking for quick profits. But none of them prospered and he lost almost everything he had. Even your husband

could only retrieve a little on his behalf from the ensuing mess.’

Emily stared at him. ‘But the trust…’

‘Established with your husband’s money at the time of your marriage.’

‘I want nothing from him,’ she said curtly. ‘If there’s no other way, I’ll—sell the Manor.’

He gestured almost helplessly. ‘My dear—your father remortgaged the property for far more than it was worth to finance

his business deals. Your husband repaid the loans and, as a consequence, Sir Travers made the Manor over to him.’

‘So I have nothing,’ she said flatly. ‘Why wasn’t I warned’

‘Your father was a proud man, my dear. Nothing could be said in his lifetime. And, as Rafaele’s wife, what was his would

naturally become yours too.’

‘Rafaele,’ she said wildly. ‘Oh, God, why didn’t he simply pay my father what he owed him and let us keep our home

Couldn’t he have done that Did he have to take everything from me’

Mr Henshaw gave her an austere look. ‘Your husband has been generosity itself. And he never owed money to your

father,’ he added. ‘It was a different kind of debt.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Some years ago, when Rafaele Di Salis was just starting out in the financial world, he was offered what seemed the deal

of a lifetime,’ he told her quietly. ‘He would have become a billionaire before he was twenty five. Only a man—someone

he’d met only once—came to him as a friend, warned him quietly that things were not as they seemed. That his potential

partners were taking advantage of his inexperience and were involved in a scam that could destroy him. That he could

even go to jail.’

He paused. ‘That man was your father. And the Count never forgot the good advice that had saved him from disaster. So

when Sir Travers was in difficulties, he came immediately to his aid. The only one who did,’ he added with some

bitterness.

There was a silence, then Emily said jerkily, ‘I—see. I only wish that his offer of assistance hadn’t involved me.’

‘And I’m sorry that you feel like that, my dear.’ Mr Henshaw looked at her sadly. ‘I have always found your husband’s

conduct admirable.’

She managed a shadow of a smile. ‘But then, Mr Henshaw, you’re not a woman.’

Her mind was reeling as she drove back to the Manor—the house she’d always thought of as her ultimate sanctuary, until

an hour ago.

And Raf hadn’t said a word. He’d let her go on thinking that, once she was twenty-one, freedom and independence

would be hers for the taking.

Yet here she was, with hardly more than the clothes she stood up in. Untrained for anything, homeless and pregnant.

Also, if she was honest, scared. And—lonely.

But she wouldn’t let herself think like that. She couldn’t afford to. She had to make a life for herself where she was no

longer dependent on or answerable to anyone.

After all, as Valentina Colona had reminded her, she was young and healthy. She could cope.

Just as long as she didn’t allow herself to look back—to remember…

The house received her quietly. She dropped her bag on to the hall table, calling, ‘Penny dear, I’m—back.’ Reminding

herself that she could no longer say, I’m home.

There was no answer and she shrugged and walked into the drawing room. Then checked, her hand going to her mouth.

Because Raf was standing by the window, tall and dark against the thin sunlight. Unmoving and silent as he looked at her

across the endless space of the room. Waiting—for her.

Eventually, she said unevenly, ‘If you’ve come to tell me this is your house—you’re too late. I already know. And I’ll be

moving out as soon as possible.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘That is not why I am here.’

‘I thought—if we spoke—it would be through our lawyers.’

‘If we spoke’ he repeated almost wonderingly. ‘You leave without a word to anyone—least of all myself. When the first

I know of your departure is Stefano contacting me, weeping, convinced that you have been kidnapped. When I find my

servants, who adore you, distraught, asking if they are to blame for your absence.

‘When I discover there was no rendezvous with Fiona. That she too has heard nothing.’

His voice rose harshly. ‘And you thought, did you,mia sposa , that I would simply accept your desertion’

‘You don’t have a choice,’ she said. ‘I’ve left you,signore , and I’m not coming back. But you don’t have to worry. I

want nothing from you. I intend to get a job and somewhere to live, and I’ll do it on my own.’

He moved forward and Emily saw him clearly for the first time. He was haggard and unshaven and his eyes looked raw.

For one helpless moment, her heart twisted inside her.

He said, ‘How simple you make it sound—your decision to deprive me at one blow of both my wife and my unborn

child. But finding work is not easy without qualifications.’

‘But I’ll manage,’ she said. ‘If all else fails, I can always put my training at your hands to good use and become a high

class hooker. Maybe I can even ask you for a reference.’

He gasped and she saw the blood blaze into his face. Saw the anger in his eyes as he took a step towards her.

She recoiled instantly, her hands going up as if to ward him off, but in an instant he had himself under control again, turning

back to look out of the window.

He said slowly, ‘My mother died when I was born, Emilia. One of those tragic mischances that no one can foresee, but

which my father, who adored her, was never able to accept.’

He flung back his head. ‘And because of that he never truly accepted me either.’

Emily said, ‘Raf…’ but he shook his head.

‘Let me finish. I need, even as things are between us, to tell you this. For him, the world stopped on the day he lost her.

And, some years later, when he neglected a chill he’d caught out hunting and it turned to pneumonia, he did not even try

to fight for his life.

‘I swore then, as a boy, that I would never allow a woman to have such power over me. That I would never care so

deeply that I could not walk away.

‘And I kept my vow,’ he added, his mouth twisting sardonically. ‘Until, one day at your father’s house, you came flying

into his study, and it seemed as if every springtime I had ever known came with you.

‘And, for the first time in my life, I understood how my father had felt. What had driven him.’

Emily felt herself begin to tremble. She told herself she couldn’t listen to this. That she must stop him—now, but no words

would come, and after a moment, Raf went on, his voice quiet and reflective.

‘You told me once that you hated me. I hoped—I think I even prayed—that it was not true. I told myself it was

impossible that I could love you so much and receive nothing in return. That eventually everything I felt for you must reach

you—touch you, and I had only to be patient.

‘That there would be a moment in my arms when you would smile at me and whisper, “Ti amo.I love you.” But you said

nothing. Ever. Not even when you knew we had made our first child together. And somehow that was the most hurtful

thing of all.’

Emily shook off the spell that had her in its grasp.

‘You talk about hurt’ she threw back at him hoarsely. ‘You dare mention the word love—when your mistress paid me a

visit, apparently at your instigation.’ She lifted her chin. ‘When she set me straight on the future you both had planned for

me, and—and the baby. You wonder that I decided I’d rather be alone That I want nothing more to do with you’

‘If you refer to Valentina Colona, I learned she had been at my house.’ His voice was hard. ‘It seems your maid,

Apollonia, admitted her secretly, knowing you were alone.’

He paused. ‘I said, if you remember, that I thought I had seen the girl before, and I was right. She had once worked for

Valentina. And she was still being paid by her—to report back on every detail of our marriage.’

Her lips parted in shock. ‘Apollonia was—spying on us There were times when I wondered…’

‘She confessed everything on the day you left,’ he said. ‘Rosanna caught her trying to sneak out through a side door with

her suitcase while the house was in uproar. She thought it strange, so she locked her in a pantry to await my return.

‘Apollonia had taken some of your clothes and a few small items of jewellery, so the threat of prosecution loosened her

tongue admirably.

‘And Valentina Colona is not my mistress,’ he added with cold emphasis. ‘We were once briefly involved and I have no

defence to offer except that I was alone and unhappy and she made it clear she wanted me. But it was over almost as

soon as it began. And it has never been resumed in any way.’

She drew a sharp breath. ‘I—I don’t believe you.’

‘No,’ he said bitterly. ‘You would, naturally, prefer to put your faith in the lies of a vengeful bitch.’

‘Do you deny there were stories in the papers about your plans to marry her’ she challenged.

‘Si,’ he agreed. ‘There were stories but solely of her invention. They bore no relation to any plan of mine.’

‘Why should she do that’

He shrugged. ‘Because she believes she is irresistible, and clearly I did not agree. Something she could not forgive, so her

self-esteem demanded that the record must be adjusted—publicly. Not merely a transientaffaire ,’ he added drily, ‘but a

permanent relationship.’

His mouth twisted. ‘She told me at the time that she would make me sorry. I assumed that the lies in the newspapers

were as far as she would go. But I was wrong.’

He paused. ‘Also, and more importantly, I rejected the opportunity to finance the expansion of her business ventures,

after she learned that her husband would invest no more money in Valentina X. And she, with equal determination, has

refused to accept my decision.

‘Even when we were in Scotland, her company accountants were bombarding me with requests for further meetings, all

of which I declined.

‘So, according to Apollonia, I had to be punished. And, it seems, she saw the manipulation of my already shaky marriage

into breakdown as her ideal revenge. Because I too would undergo public rejection. And by the girl that all Rome knew

was carrying my child.’

She swallowed. ‘But that’s impossible. I didn’t know myself—not until the day I left. I was horribly sick when I woke up,

so I started doing sums.’

He almost smiled. ‘Davvero I did my own mathematics several weeks ago. And almost immediately I was tackled by

Marcello’s mother,’ he added drily. ‘She told me that she could see it in your face, and that she was never wrong.’

‘After that, I found myself being congratulated on all sides over my impending fatherhood.’ He paused. ‘By everyone,

that is, except the girl who would make it a wonderful reality for me.

‘Every day I hoped—I waited for you to come to me—to tell me, but you said nothing.’ He bent his head. ‘And I began

to think that your silence meant you were angry. That you did not want our baby, because it would tie you to me and you

wished only to be free. And then I began to be angry too.’

She stared at him. ‘Is that why you stopped sleeping with me’

He said quietly, ‘A friend of mine is an obstetrician—a good man. I went to him because I had begun to think about my

mother, and there were questions I wished to ask.’

Emily’s heart missed a beat. ‘Did he put your mind at rest’

‘He said it was a rare condition, a one in a million thing, and that these days medical science could deal with it.’ He

paused. ‘But he also said that making love in the early months might harm the baby. That it would be better to wait until

your pregnancy was well-established.

‘That night I saw how tired you looked and I knew he was right.’ His mouth twisted wryly. ‘So I decided it would be

better to remove myself from temptation altogether by sleeping in another room.’