The Heat Of Passion

situation ‘

Carlo swung on his heel, .unmoved by her unhidden

distress. 'Your father's waiting downstairs for

you '

'My father?' she echoed weakly.

'I picked him up on the way through London. I thought you would want him here.'

She swallowed hard. ‘I '

'You'd better tidy yourself up before dinner,' Carlo cut her off with bite.

Why had she listened to Sunny? In retrospect, it seemed very foolish of her to have placed credence in anything the other woman said. Sunny was not reliable. Sunny had set her sights on Carlo and she was jealous. Jessica covered her face with shaking hands. And she herself was inclined to be jealous of Sunny, she acknowledged. Had it been easier to latch on to the accusation about his inheritance than confront him with

Sunny's confident belief that only filial loyalty prevented Carlo from admitting that he did want his father's wife? Sunny had been horribly convincing.

But Carlo was right. She didn't trust him. No faith, no trust. Had Simon done that to her as well? She had trusted Simon from childhood and he had let her down badly by using her, uncaring of how much he might hurt her. He had been too weak to care and he had depended on her loyalty and her pride to keep her quiet and carry on the pretence of their marriage. Suddenly she knew that she owed Carlo that truth, no matter how distressing she found sharing it.

In the bedroom, Carlo was halfway into a shirt, muscles flexed across his smooth brown back as he shrugged into it, and her mouth ran dry. 'Carlo.. .’ she whispered. 'I think I should tell you about my

marriage '

'You can keep him like some holy icon inside your heart.' He spun round and sent her a chilling glance of

impassivity. 'I'm not competing with a ghost '

'You wouldn't be competing '

'You don't understand,' Carlo breathed with cold dark eyes that froze her out. 'Simon's the past and as irrelevant as yesterday's newspaper to me. What is important is trust and you haven't got any to give. You hadn't any six years ago either!'

'Don't throw that up to me now. You said you'd never forgive me on the way over here,’ she reminded him shakily. "That does not create an atmosphere of trust.' 'I'll see you downstairs.' Carlo snatched up his dinner-jacket and strode to the door. 'You'd better wash your face. Your mascara's running.'

Jessica smacked her coiled fist against the wall in frustration as the door slammed and then curved the injured member into her stomach, wincing with pain. Sometimes, Carlo was so hatefully superior that she

wanted to hit him! Loving him didn't wipe out that temptation. And now he had brought her father over as if this were a normal wedding. Dazedly she shook her head.

Gerald Amory was chatting animatedly to Marika when she entered the drawing-room and Jessica barely had time to kiss his cheek before Lukas arrived and her father was taken over. Throughout dinner, Carlo's father shot questions at her father, demanding his opinions on business practices and frequently censuring them. Gerald Amory stood up to the interrogation well, wry amusement in his gaze when he caught Jessica's anxious look.

'Well, I wouldn't employ you,' Lukas grumbled over

his coffee. 'I don't believe in feather-bedding my

workers '

"The EC rulings won't give you much choice,' Gerald Amory dared.

After dinner, she was left alone with her father.

'Am I to believe you've finally taken leave of your wits?' he teased. 'I never thought I'd see the day that you did anything at reckless speed and here you are rushing into marriage within weeks of meeting Carlo again!'

Jessica tensed. 'What did he tell you?'

'Oh he was very persuasive,' Gerald laughed. 'Never shut up about you the whole flight!'

'Really?' Jessica encouraged.