‘Perhaps it is too late but I’m trying now,’ she countered painfully. ‘Is that such a crime?’
Without any warning the door opened and a very tall, striking brunette appeared on the threshold.
‘Bliss…I’m almost finished,’ Lucca murmured smooth as glass. ‘I’ll be with you in a few minutes.’
Bliss? Bliss Masterson? Vivien had not recognised that name when it had been hurled at her by the paparazzi, but she did recognise that fabulous face from the marketing campaign in which the supermodel posed as a warrior princess to sell exotic perfume.
Like a mouse charmed by a deadly cobra, Vivien found herself staring at the most beautiful woman in the world. She couldn’t help staring because Bliss was gorgeous enough to stop traffic. Hair the colour of polished jet fell straight and smooth as silk framing perfect features and turquoise eyes. The brunette was slim and shapely and extremely elegant. Vivien’s heart sank as she realised that the whole time she had been with Lucca, Bliss must have been waiting for him. While Vivien had been engaged in her desperate clumsy struggle to persuade Lucca to give their marriage and her another chance, Lucca must have been wishing her a world away.
‘Vivien…’ With enviable social poise, Bliss glided gracefully forward. ‘We haven’t met before but I feel I know you already through your son.’
‘My son…?’ Vivien felt sick with mortification.
‘Marco is so delightful…and very like his father.’ Bliss sent an intimate smile in Lucca’s direction. ‘I just adore children.’
‘Yes,’ Vivien mumbled, ducking her head to hide the anguished strain in her eyes. She felt horribly out of place and humiliated not only by the other woman’s presence, but also by Bliss’s unexpected familiarity with Marco. Appreciating that she herself was the uninvited guest only made Vivien feel worse.
Bliss seemed very much at home in Lucca’s townhouse and quite unruffled by the appearance of Lucca’s wife. Vivien’s throat tightened. Would Lucca tell Bliss that Vivien had begged him for a second chance? Would they share a pitying laugh about her? Compared with Bliss Masterson…but how could she possibly compare to such a woman? She was small and fair and imperfect in every way. Even her hideously expensive new dress looked stupid next to the brunette’s simple cream shift!
Tears burning the back of her eyes, Vivien headed towards the door that led back out into the hall.
‘You should wait,’ Lucca in
formed her. ‘We don’t want to create another media frenzy. Bliss should leave first by the rear entrance. She’s running late for a charity event.’
Entrapped, Vivien hovered and fought to keep a lid on her distress while also maintaining a fake smile on a mouth that felt as though it had been carved out of wood. Being forced to tolerate the sight of Lucca with Bliss affected Vivien like a dagger plunged to the hilt in her heart. Mercifully, Lucca escorted the exquisite model from the room.
‘I do hope we meet again,’ Bliss bubbled sweetly on her way past.
Vivien closed her hands together in an effort to stop them trembling. Why the heck had she come back to see Lucca? What madness had possessed her? When had Lucca ever been free of female company? What price courage now?
The mobile phone in her bag rang and, numbly, she dug it out to answer it.
‘Where are you?’ Fabian Garsdale enquired thinly. ‘I’ve been waiting for almost half an hour.’
‘Oh, Fabian…’ Guilt engulfed Vivien, for only now was she remembering that she had agreed to attend an evening lecture with the older man while his mother minded Marco. The arrangement had been made weeks earlier and Mrs Garsdale would be justifiably offended by so belated a cancellation. ‘I’m so, so sorry…something came up. How can I excuse myself? I totally forgot we were supposed to be going out tonight!’
In the doorway, Lucca came to a sudden halt. It took a great deal to disconcert Lucca, but that latter snatch of overheard dialogue achieved the feat. He levelled startled dark eyes on Vivien’s delicate profile. She had acted so innocent. She had even talked as if she still cared about him. Indeed, just a few minutes ago, she had fallen into his arms with alacrity. Yet, in spite of all that, Vivien had another man in her life. Lucca was outraged by that revelation. Fabian? What a deeply creepy name! Probably some boring nerd built like a stick insect, a smug, bookish weed more at home in the library than the bedroom, Lucca decided with sardonic distaste.
Unaware that she had an audience, Vivien was wincing with regret at her lack of tact in admitting that she had forgotten her arrangement with Fabian. ‘I had better call your mother personally and apologise…after she made such a generous offer to help out too.’
‘I’ve already informed Mother that you’ve been taken ill, so there’s no need to call this evening.’
Vivien was relieved that Fabian sounded mollified by her response.
Lucca went rigid at the revelation that Vivien’s relationship evidently extended to an acquaintance with the nerd’s mother. So it was that serious. Dio mio…could that mean that Vivien, the last of the twentieth-century puritans, was actually sharing a bed with the guy? Lucca was disgusted, one hundred per cent disgusted, and sincerely appalled at that unexpected fall in Vivien’s very high moral standards. Certainly he did not begrudge Vivien the right to lead her own life. However, Marco’s needs had to come first and Lucca did not consider what he perceived to be the threat of a stepfather to be in his son’s best interests.
‘Did Bernice tell you where I am?’ Vivien asked Fabian uncomfortably.
‘Bernice isn’t here. There are lights on but there doesn’t seem to be anyone at home.’
Vivien was very surprised to hear that. Bernice would have had to get Marco out of bed to go out anywhere and, once wakened, Marco was not easily settled again. She frowned and then caught sight of Lucca.
‘Talking on mobile phones is very expensive,’ Fabian complained.
Bang, bang, bang went Vivien’s heart while she stared at Lucca’s lean bronzed features and she cringed for herself. How could she still be so susceptible? What a very sad individual she must seem to Lucca and his breathtakingly hip girlfriend! Poor, lonely Vivien, chasing romantic rainbows two years too late and a husband who believed their entire marriage had been a ghastly mistake!
Painfully conscious of Lucca’s dark, glittering appraisal, and convinced that he was embarrassed by her inability to match his cool attitude, Vivien forced another false smile onto her down-curved lips. With as near an approximation of a chirpy giggle as she could manage, she told Fabian that she would see him when she got back.