Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame

She gaped at him incredulously. ‘Reconciled?’

‘You are unfamiliar with the word?’ He leaned back in his chair indolently and explained, ‘It means to restore opposing factions to a state of harmony or friendship.’

She threw him a suspicious glance. ‘What’s all this about, Patrizio?’ she asked. ‘Why don’t you get straight to the point instead of playing these stupid little dictionary games with me?’

‘All right,’ he said, putting his coffee cup down on the desk as he leaned forward once more. ‘As you have no doubt heard, my nephew Bruno has been making life pretty miserable for your brother. I am deeply ashamed of his behaviour, which, I suspect, has come out of his loyalty to me, which of course does not excuse it, but rather explains it.’

Keira remained silent as her hands twisted into tight knots in her lap. It had always amazed her how gracious and forgiving he was towards his own flesh and blood, and yet when it came to her behaviour he could not find it in himself to overlook her one fall from grace.

‘I have come to the conclusion that the only way to settle this war between them is for us to get back together,’ he continued.

She jerked upright in her seat. ‘You mean…for real?’

‘No, Keira, I do not mean for real.’ His tone yet again mimicked that of an adult speaking to a particularly obtuse and inattentive child. ‘We will pretend to be back together until the boys have safely completed their schooling.’

‘Pretend?’ She frowned at him. ‘How do you propose we do that?’

His gaze was unblinking as it held hers. ‘You will move back into my house immediately.’

Keira swallowed back her dread. ‘You’re surely not serious?’

‘I am, indeed, very serious, Keira,’ he said. ‘The boys are not stupid. If we go out on the occasional date in the hope they will think we have settled our differences they will immediately know something is amiss. Living together again as man and wife is the best way to convince them it is for real.’

‘Define what you mean by living together as man and wife,’ she said, watching him guardedly. ‘You’re not expecting me to sleep with you, are you?’

‘You will have to share my bed due to the regular presence of the household staff,’ he said. ‘If anyone reported to the press that we were not sharing a bedroom it would blow our cover. However,’ he continued, ‘I have no intention of sharing my body with you. That is something I no longer have any desire to do.’

His statement hurt far more than he could ever have realised, Keira thought. She felt the pain of his rejection in every nerve and cell in her body. He had desired her so passionately in the past, his body driving into hers with such urgency and potency she had sobbed his name in ecstasy each and every time. Her mind filled with the erotic images of their rocking bodies in every position imaginable. He had taught her so much about sensuality; nothing had been off limits. He had worshipped her as, indeed, she had worshipped him.

Keira became aware of the creeping silence, her face feeling the slow burn of shame spreading over it as she encountered that dark steely gaze.

She hadn’t seen him for two months but she had not forgotten how very black his hair was, its loosely controlled style with its slight wave making her ache to run her fingers through it as she had done so many times in the past. His lean jaw was shadowed with the late-in-the-day stubble that marked him as a virile man. His shoulders were broad and his stomach flat and rock-hard from the punishing early morning physical regime he adhered to with the sort of self-discipline she admired but totally lacked herself.

His clothes hung off him with lazy grace, his tie loosened, his shirt undone at his neck giving him an air of casualness that was totally captivating and dangerously attractive.

‘You have gone very quiet,’ he observed. ‘Were you expecting me to ask you to resume an intimate relationship with me?’

Keira moistened the parchment-dryness of her lips. ‘No, of course not,’ she said. ‘I’m just trying to get my head around your suggestion.’

‘You do not think it will work?’

She bit at her lip. ‘I’m not su

re…Won’t the boys suspect something when we get back together so suddenly?’

‘Not when you recall how quickly we got together in the first place,’ he pointed out neatly. ‘Remember?’

Keira did and it made her skin tingle from head to foot in reaction. She had met him at a school sports day, her instant attraction to him totally overwhelming. After the final game they had taken the boys out for pizza and, instead of dropping her home, Patrizio had taken her back to his house and made her coffee. Coffee had led to kisses, kisses to caresses and caresses to consummation of their relationship. Keira hadn’t had a lover before and had been expecting her first time to be uncomfortable but it was anything but. Her body had responded to his as if it had been fashioned especially for him, the pleasure she had felt in his arms something she would never be able to forget—certainly not now with him sitting so close.

‘You haven’t answered, Keira,’ he said. ‘Does that mean you are having trouble recalling our time together or do you save your memory lapses for when you hope it will exonerate you from taking responsibility for your—shall we say—less than honourable actions?’

Keira dragged her gaze back to his, her lips growing tight with anger. She hated herself enough without having him rub her nose in it every chance he could. Couldn’t he see how very distressed she was? She had begged for his forgiveness, she had cried and cried and yet he had shunned her totally, refusing to even speak to her other than through his lawyer.

‘As you said earlier, we are here to discuss the boys,’ she clipped out. ‘Could we please stick with that topic?’

He held her gaze for interminable seconds.

‘I think the plan will work,’ he finally said. ‘The boys were once the best of friends. Bruno will hardly continue his appalling behaviour if I tell him I have fallen in love with you again. I suspect that within days of our announcing our intention to resume our marriage they will restore their friendship.’