The Reluctant Husband

‘Yes, well, personally speaking, neither do L’ Matt shot a resentful glance of unease at Santino, who had gone rigid at the reference to the police, his jawline taking on a distinctly aggressive slant. ‘But you made the headlines on the television news last night. British tourist missing—’

‘Oh, no...’ Frankie mumbled weakly.

‘Della thinks you’ve either been kidnapped because of your secret wealthy connections or—’

‘Kidnapped?’ Santino incised in an outraged growl.

‘Or because of some crazy vendetta against you by that same secret connection,’ Matt completed with considerable sarcasm, surveying Santino with naked antipathy. ‘I think we can rule out both possibilities, since you appear to be on such cosy and intimate terms with your estranged husband.’

‘Oh, heck, I’d better phone Mum... Matt, I’m so sorry... I really don’t know what could’ve made Della carry on like this—’

‘Guilt,’ Santino ground out grittily.

‘You should’ve told me you were still married. You told me everything else.’ Matt glowered accusingly at Frankie. ‘Does he know how long you’ve been shacked up with me?’

‘Sh-shacked up with you?’ Frankie was thoroughly disconcerted by that misleading description of the terms on which they shared the same apartment.

‘Yes... what kind of kinky marital relationship do you two have?’ Matt sent Santino a malicious half-smile. ‘I hope you appreciate that she runs around with a lot of other men too... Here today, forgets you’re alive tomorrow. That’s my Frankie!’

Santino lunged off the wall like a ferocious tiger suddenly provoked by a whip. ‘You—!’

‘Please...!’ Frankie yelped in horror, and, grabbing Matt’s arm, she yanked the smaller man hurriedly into the lounge with her, speedily slamming the door on Santino’s unfamiliar and frightening aggression. ‘Why are you behaving like this, Matt? What the heck’s got into you?’

Matt stiffened with an angry jerk. ‘I thought I knew you! I thought we were a pretty successful team. I even thought I would marry you...it certainly would’ve made good business sense.’

Frankie stiffened at that revealing admission. Seemingly her share of the agency had been her greatest a

ttraction in Matt’s eyes. ‘But you never showed the slightest personal interest in me until Leigh moved out of the apartment. We were just flatmates. We led separate lives outside working hours—’

Matt wasn’t listening. ‘So that is Santino...your husband since you were sixteen, according to Della... and all the smooth bastard is prepared to offer you is a dirty weekend reunion in some godforsaken hole in the hills!’ Matt sneered. ‘Still, if that’s what it takes to turn you on, who am I to interfere?’

‘You deliberately let Santino think that you and I were lovers... why did you do that?’

Matt grimaced and compressed his mouth, the anger draining out of him to be replaced by sullen resentment ‘You really don’t have the foggiest clue how the average male reacts to being made to look and feel like a fool, do you? Hell, I’ve had enough of this nonsense! You’d better contact the police and sort it all out...and what about those villas?’

Still in shock, and feeling guilty about the trouble he had been put to on her behalf, she muttered, ‘I’m still working on that.’

‘This set-up is work?’ Matt opened the lounge door again and shot her a bitter look. ‘I’m glad you’re OK, but I feel like wringing your mother’s neck for all this!’

Santino was no longer in the hall, and in another thirty seconds Matt, too, was gone, striding out stiff-backed to the hire car parked outside.

Frankie breathed in deeply and then, her mind a whirling turmoil of chaotic thoughts, raced back into the lounge and lifted the phone to contact her mother.

A strange woman answered the phone and questioned her identity. Frankie’s voice trembled as she realised she was speaking to a police officer. Only then did the genuine gravity of the situation finally sink in.

Della came on the line, breathless and tearful. ‘Are you all right...? Are you really all right, Frankie?’

‘I’m with Santino, Mum,’ Frankie framed shakily, because she was beginning to feel pretty emotional herself. ‘You shouldn’t have got the police involved...for heaven’s sake...’

‘If you’re with Santino, then you’ll know everything,’ Della gathered in a strained undertone, and then she went off the line to plead audibly for some privacy. ‘Frankie?’ she began afresh.

‘I was shocked enough to find out that Santino and I were still legally married, but I was devastated when I found out about his financial stake in our lives,’ Frankie admitted tautly. ‘Della, how could you?’

‘I couldn’t just stand back and allow you to have your marriage annulled. It would’ve been like encouraging you to throw solid gold back down the mineshaft! I did it all for your sake—’

‘Della, please,’ Frankie breathed painfully. ‘Just be honest.’

‘How much more honest can I get? Santino broke your heart and then landed me with a seriously depressed teenager! He deserved to foot the bill for hurting you that much—’