Lost in a daze of her own making, ‘What?’ she said.
‘The keys to your Chelsea house,’ he gently extended. ‘Do you have them with you in that small bag?’
Natalia felt herself deflate like a popped balloon as reality pierced sheer fantasy. ‘No,’ she breathed.
Having made his point, Giancarlo let go of her hand, leaving her to complete the deflation by sinking shakily back into the soft luxury of leather, knowing now that, whatever else had been killed between them, the sex was still there, simmering quietly in the background waiting for its usual release.
‘I’ll just pick up my keys and go.’ She seemed to feel it necessary to state her intentions.
He didn’t even bother to reply, which to her stated his intentions far more ominously than an outright denial could have done. He had coerced her into getting into this car with him because he had been gunning for a complete showdown tonight even though he must know that it wouldn’t be fair.
Not after the evening she had just been put through. Not
after what she’d found out and hadn’t had time yet to decide what she really felt about it all.
Yet she didn’t persist with the point, and she didn’t understand why she didn’t. Which had her finishing the rest of the journey with the feeling of being trapped by herself as much as him.
The car stopped; the driver jumped out to open her door for her while Giancarlo got out on the other side. With a polite thanks to the driver, she walked off towards the glass-plated entrance to the apartment block leaving Giancarlo to tip the driver before following on behind.
The concierge was at his station, watching his portable TV set which sat beside his security monitor. He glanced up and smiled in recognition as he pressed the button to release the door lock. By the time the doors went swinging open Giancarlo was beside her and, with the usual exchange of polite good evenings with the concierge, they were making their way over to the lift.
As it took them upwards Natalia found herself making a comparison with this journey and the last one they had made together like this. Last time he had been crowding her into the corner, pulsing with suppressed emotion and ready for a different kind of showdown. Now they stood about as far apart as two people could get in such a confined space.
The lift stopped, the doors opened, she walked into the white-tiled private foyer, hesitated only for a moment before walking on again, passing the opening to the office on her left because she was no longer interested in doing that kind of business with this man. She walked by the sitting-room entrance because she’d never liked that room and if there was going to have to be a showdown then she wasn’t putting herself so close to the bedroom when it happened. Which left only the dining room she liked about as much as the sitting room, and the kitchen, which was about the only place left.
Walking in, she went directly to the fridge and got herself a small bottle of sparkling water and a glass, then went to sit down at the table. She was just removing the plastic cap when Giancarlo strode in. Almost ghosting her actions, he went to the fridge to get himself a can of cola instead of water.
The tab went fizz. Her water hissed as it hit the glass. He walked over to stand staring out of the darkened window while she sat staring down at her glass. His arm lifted as he took a drink from his can. She took a sip of the sparkling water. Other than for those two relatively innocent actions nothing else stirred in the room if you didn’t include the roaring speed with which two like-minded brains were working.
He began the battle. ‘Will you marry me, Natalia?’ he asked…
No answer, he noted. Did you really expect one? he then wryly asked himself. Only to wince when she suddenly started laughing, not loudly or hysterically but disdainfully.
‘You’ve got a nerve,’ she said.
Oh, I don’t know, he silently countered, staring grimly down at his can. It is a lack of nerve that made me ask the question. I am in dire straits here or the shrewd gambler in me would not be putting my last card on the table first.
‘You can’t even bring yourself to ask me that to my face,’ she added scathingly.
The jeer spun him round to face her. She was sitting there glaring an evil spell at him like the beautiful blue-eyed witch he always saw, and on a grunt of rueful surrender he threw himself in at the deep end.
‘I fell in love with you at first glance across a packed company dining room,’ he informed her. ‘Is that in your face enough for you?’
He could see that it most definitely was not. She had turned white again, very white, and the eyes had gone grey, permeating the air with a frost of cold disbelief. ‘You fell in lust with me, you mean,’ she denounced in disgust.
‘That too,’ he agreed, adding a wry shrug because it was the truth, and he was determined that they would only deal with the truth from here on in. ‘But at the time I believed you were my brother-in-law’s mistress and the woman who was threatening to ruin his marriage.’
‘Oh, that makes it all okay, then,’ she mocked him bitterly.
‘What else was I supposed to think?’ He sighed out impatiently. ‘Have you any idea what such a belief did to me?’
‘I know what it did to you!’ she threw back angrily. ‘It turned you into a rat, and a deceiver!’
‘That’s great,’ he derided. ‘Coming from the woman who has been lying to me from day one.’
‘At least I lied to protect someone I loved.’
‘So did I,’ he reminded her. ‘Alegra is just as important to me as Edward is to you.’