The Italian's Wife

than anything she had sensed anger...anger and bitterness. Anger against

himself, anger presumably against Christabel, bitterness that their

relationship hadn't worked out?

'I always know what I'm doing,' Rio made that claim as though it was

etched in stone on his soul, a credo through which he lived his entire life.

But Holly wasn't convinced. She had often thought that she knew what she

was doing and then later looked back and marvelled at how persuasive

other promptings could be in overruling all caution and common sense.

'What did you do? Decide to turn round and marry the very first woman

you met?' Holly demanded shakily, striving for an ironic note with that

question, for she was not serious in asking it.

'Believe it or not, that thought did cross my mind,' Rio ground out

fiercely.

Holly just stopped breathing altogether and gazed back at him in horror.

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'Only to be just as quickly set aside because I am not a lunatic!' Rio

continued with raw force.

'But that's just what you did. You married the first woman you met. Dear

heaven...I could've been anybody!' Holly gasped.

'Don't be ridiculous. Do you think I would marry just anybody?' Rio

roared back at her, visibly outraged by that suggestion.

Holly lowered her head and studied her tightly linked hands. She was

more or less just anybody on her own terms. She was young, female and

reasonably presentable but that was that. She was trembling. 'Maybe you

would if you were angry enough. Tell me, did Christabel dump you?'

'Per amor di Dio... I could snap my fingers and get her back right now

if I wanted her!' Rio slammed back at her.

The silence sparked like hay threatening to whoosh into flame.

'I didn't say that...' Rio groaned out loud. 'OK...I said it but I

shouldn't have,'

So now she knew who had done the dumping. But now she also knew

something she would have been happier not to know: that Christabel

wanted Rio back and that he was well aware of the fact. That news was

like a cold wind chilling her sensitive skin.

'Just tell me why you broke up with her,' Holly prompted dry-mouthed,

her tummy churning at the terrible tension in the room.

'We wanted different things,' Rio said flatly.

'What kind of different things?'

'I think that's my business and hers.'

Holly paled as if he had slapped her. Then she got up and began to walk

towards the door but Rio was ahead of her. He leant back against the

door and trained smouldering

golden eyes on her, his angry frustration unconcealed. 'This

is crazy-'

'Get out of my way,' Holly demanded.

Instead, Rio closed strong brown arms round her and jerked her up

against him. 'No,' he said, soft and succinct. 'I won't let you make

Christabel a bone of contention between us.'

'You're the one doing that...' Holly condemned chokily, tears of stress

and agonised confusion clogging up her vocal cords.

Long fingers swept up to frame her cheekbones. Her bright blue eyes

evaded his. She was rigid, refusing to give an inch, but then he took

her by surprise. He lowered his dark head and drove her lips hungrily

apart with his own, his tongue delving deep into the moist interior.

Angry, unhappy, confused, she fought her own response for the first time.

She shivered against him, insanely conscious of every hot, taut angle of

his lean, muscular body, and she thrust her hand against his shoulder to

push him away. But her enervated state of mind made her all too

vulnerable and the sudden excitement burning like a betraying flame

inside her was her undoing. Just as quickly, she was kissing him back

with the same breathless fervour.

He lifted her up, brought her down on the bed, came down over her. He

lifted her skirt and brought up her knees to deprive her of her briefs

and tights. And all the time he was taking her mouth time after time

with the same drugging, demanding heat and her heart was racing like an

express train, every fibre of her being madly aware of him and on fire.

By the time he slid between her parted thighs and entered her she was

more out of control than she had ever been, overwhelmed by a wild,

desperate craving which left room

136

for nothing else. The excitement of release threw her to the heights and

then dropped her down again lower than ever before.

'Now you can join me for a shower,' Rio murmured huskily, gazing down at

her with a scorching satisfaction as he leant down to kiss her.

Sick at her own weakness, but outraged by his manipulation, Holly took

him by surprise by twisting her head away and jack-knifing out from

beneath him to roll off the bed. Clawing down her skirt, her face

feverishly flushed and her eyes glittering like blue sapphires, Holly

shot him a look of furious mortification.

'Do you think that's likely to solve anything?' she snapped in a voice

that shook with the force of her disturbed emotions. A wolfish and

irreverent smile slashed Rio's darkly handsome features. 'There's

nothing to solve, bella mia.'

The anger went out of her then, leaving her feeling hollow and

miserable. The craven part of her wished she had not forced him to tell

her even part of the truth. One hour, she kept on thinking, one hour

between leaving Christabel and meeting her. Of course he had been on the

rebound. How could their marriage have a hope of surviving? He would

eventually wake up and feel trapped with her and Timothy, marvel at his

own impulsiveness, his own failure to take a long-term view. Why would

he stay with her when he didn't love her? Why would he settle for her

when he could have Christabel Kent or her equivalent as a wife? Off with

the old, on with the new...but life wasn't that simple. Sooner or later,

Rio would regret marrying her.

As the door thudded shut on the bathroom Holly sagged. He wouldn't

discuss Christabel. Why not? Loyalty? Or lingering feelings? And did he

even care how she felt, knowing that Christabel would still take him

back? A relationship that had lasted almost two years when she herself had

only been with him for a month wouldn't be easily forgotten. Was she

making herself unhappy over nothing? What, after all, had changed? Just

twelve hours ago, she had been

/>

so happy.

Timothy was having a nap when she went into the nursery. She was

chatting to Sarah when Ezio phoned to tell her that she had a visitor

waiting downstairs. A Mr Danby. Holly paled. Jeff? Jeff had come to see

her? How on earth had he known where she was and what could he possibly

want?

Jeff was in the drawing room. Slim and dark, he was more smartly dressed

than she had ever seen him, but he had grown a goatee beard and a tiny

clipped moustache that struck her as affected. And somehow he seemed

much smaller than she recalled him being.

'Well, don't you look good?' Jeff remarked, studying the fashionable

skirt and cashmere twin-set that fitted her slim figure like a glove.

'But then, why not? I suppose you have a whole string of credit cards now-'

'How did you find out where I was living?' Holly interrupted, hating the

familiar way he had eyed her up and carefully keeping her distance.

'After seeing your wedding photos splashed all over the newspapers, I

didn't need to hire a detective. You've fairly landed on your feet here,

haven't you?' He glanced round the beautifully furnished drawing room

and his full mouth twisted in acknowledgement of the staggering change

in her circumstances. 'Well, more power to you. It's great that you've