The Italian's Wife

44

'I'm sorry I spoke to you like that,' Rio murmured curtly as he stood

back for her to precede him out of the lift.

She nodded with a bowed head.

'Go to bed and rest,' Rio advised harshly, stopping dead on the

threshold of her bedroom but going not one step further. 'I'll have a

supper tray sent up.'

'I'm not hungry,' Holly whispered shakily, no longer able to look at

him. She listened to him walk away, feeling the loss of his vibrant

energy and despising herself for that sensitised awareness.

A bloke like Rio Lombard would never look twice at her, which was just

as well, she conceded dully. She was useless in bed. Frigid as a corpse.

She stilled a shiver of revulsion at that unforgettable description of

her less than adequate performance: Jeff had spelt out exactly why he

had lost interest in her. She might not have enjoyed that single session

of physical intimacy that had none-the-less resulted in Timmie's

conception, but Jeff had made it clear that he had enjoyed it even less.

How could she have actually believed his drunken assertion that she was

the girl he wanted to marry? That had just been a standard line to get

her between the sheets.

'Why the hell didn't you get an abortion, you stupid cow?' Jeff had

railed at her before he'd hit her smack in the face with his fist. He'd

knocked her right off her feet in his rage almost five months back and

had terrified her with his violence. 'If you think I'm forking out my

hard-earned cash to keep you and your little bastard, you'd better think

again! If you try to hang rum round my neck, I'll make you sorry you

were ever born...'

She was sorriest of all that she had been so unforgivably stupid as not

to see through Jeff's superficial charm to the user and abuser of women

that he was. He had slept with

those girls he'd dumped her for twice over. He had lied about that, and

in her heart of hearts she had always suspected that truth but had

blindly refused to face the fact that a man who treated her that way

could have no caring feelings for her. Jeff was the kind of creep whose

ego could not bear female rejection. The instant he had taken her

virginity, he had begun losing interest.

So she had got her punishment for being a silly, credulous doormat,

dreaming of white dresses and the 'Bridal March'. What she could not

stand was that her parents, and now Timmie, seemed to be sharing that

ongoing punishment with her. For of course her parents would be missing

her, but she could never go home as long as she had her son and no ring

on her finger. Farming communities were not liberal. An unwed daughter

and fatherless grandchild would shame and mortify her parents.

As Holly slumped down on the bed, slight shoulders sagging, Ezio

appeared in the doorway, clutching Timmie. 'I got his clothes out of the

drier but I'm afraid you'll have to change him.'

'Thanks...' she said chokily, getting up to reclaim her son.

Ezio hovered on the threshold. 'The boss is on a pretty short fuse at

present. I did try to warn you.'

She was just no good at listening. Her stubborn pride had offended Rio

Lombardi. She had slighted the one person who had tried to be kind to

her in countless months of indifference. A rich, good-looking guy of

Rio's calibre could not have any ulterior motive in helping her and she

was ashamed of the reality that she wished that he had, ashamed that she

reacted as she did around him.

The phone ringing by the bed woke her the next morning.

It was Rio. 'I'm taking you shopping and I don't want

46

to hear any arguments. The sight of you running round dressed like a bag

lady embarrasses me.'

Holly was poleaxed. 'But-'

'I've hired a nanny to take care of Timmie. You got to sleep in because

she's already here. He's now getting his morning constitutional in the

garden. As soon as you've had breakfast, I want you downstairs.'

Click went the phone as Rio cut the connection. Even as Holly replaced

the receiver in sleepy, shell-shocked bewilderment, a manservant was

knocking on the door and entering with the promised breakfast. A nanny

had been hired just to take care of her Timmie? For goodness' sake, had

Rio Lombardi gone mad? She could not possibly allow him to buy her

clothes! It was out of the question.

However, hunger made her succumb first to the tempting dishes on the

beautifully arranged bed tray. She explored the bruising at the base of

her skull. The spot was still tender but she felt fine after a really

good night of sleep. As soon as she had eaten she had a quick shower.

Dressing in her clean jeans and shirt, she pulled on the man's sweater

that she had found at the very foot of the pretty-much useless bag of

clothing which Ezio had brought to her.

Her bronze ringlets fanning wildly round her narrow shoulders after a

too vigorous and impatient brushing, she hurried down the stairs. Rio

was pacing the hall floor and her first glimpse of him just took her

breath away. His superb tailored suit in palest grey set off his exotic

darkness and bronzed skin to perfection. His black hair gleamed in the

light coming through the windows and was so temptingly touchable to her

dilated gaze that her fingertips actually tingled.

'I can't let you take me shopping,' she told him unevenly.

A curious expression tensed Rio's darkly handsome features and his

strong jawline hardened, his gorgeous dark golden eyes almost bleak. 'I

need a distraction today. You're it. You'll be doing me a favour.'

So disconcerted was Holly by the roughened sincerity patent in that

unexpected response that she was halfway into the limo before she

recalled that she had not yet seen her son. 'Just two minutes, Rio.' She

said his name for the first time and then reddened with self-consciousness.

The nanny was a really nice young woman and she even wore a uniform. She

looked like the sort of nanny that might be hired by royalty and Timmie,

propped up in an incredibly impractical but imposing coachbuilt pram,

might even have aspired to being a little prince, had it not been for

his shabby clothing.

'Satisfied, cara?' Rio asked as Holly got into the limo.

'Timmie seems happy

enough-'

'You should ditch the Timmie and call him Timothy.' Rio informed her

just as she glimpsed Ezio's unusually grim expression before the older

man turned away to swing into the front passenger seat.

'Why?'

'He's timid. Give him a name he can grow into, not one that makes him

sound like a pet pooch.'

Holly flushed but she said nothing. She was overwhelmed by the sensation

that she was being carried away by a very forceful personality on a trip

she did not understand. 'Is...is there something wrong today? I mean,'

she muttered awkwardly, 'that you feel you need a distraction?'

His lean, powerful face tautened, brilliant eyes veiling. He had the

most extraordinary long, inky dark lashes, Holly noted, studying his

classic profile with helpless fascination.

'Everything's right. Everything is as it ought to be,' Rio

48

stated in a cold tone that contrived to chill her to the marrow.

The uneasy silence dragged.

Holly made a frantic effort to redress the apparent damage she had

caused. 'So you're not working today?'

'No.'

'And you taking me out shopping is just a whim...the sort of thing rich

people do when they're bored?'

The taut line of his sensual mouth eased and he flashed her a glittering

glance that sent her heart racing like an express train. 'You could put