She took care not to wake Gregorio as she scooted backwards until her bottom came into contact with his groin. She was more than a little disappointed to feel the brush of denim against her skin where her nightshirt had rucked up as she’d moved about in her sleep.
‘If you move back a little further you will discover that I am fully aroused.’
Lia instantly tensed at the unexpectedness of discovering that Gregorio was awake. Was it because she had woken him? Or had he already been awake when she’d been fidgeting about trying to discover what was curved about her waist? And in her careful—and obvious—efforts to discover if Gregorio was naked...?
She moistened her lips before speaking. ‘What are you doing in here?’
‘Until a few minutes ago I was sleeping.’
‘I meant—’
‘I know what you meant, Lia.’ Gregorio moved up to roll her gently onto her back so that he could look at her, careful not to jar her arm. Her face had more colour than earlier, thank goodness. Her eyes no longer had that haunted look, either. ‘I wanted to be here when you woke up.’
‘Why?’
‘Two reasons.’
‘Which are?’
‘Silvio contacted me shortly after you had gone to sleep. He and Raphael discovered Richardson was booked on a flight to Dubai.’
Her eyes widened. ‘He was fleeing the country?’
‘I believe in the beginning, with your father dead, he thought he could weather the storm and his life here in England would go on as before, with no one any the wiser as to what he had done. But—’
‘But yesterday I alerted him to the fact that wasn’t going to happen.’ She winced. ‘I’m so sorry, Gregorio. I just wanted him to know I wasn’t as stupid as he thought I was, but all I did was give him the opportunity to leave England as soon as possible.’
‘Do not feel bad about that. Richardson’s response to your warning was damning in the extreme. Besides,’ he added with satisfaction, ‘he is now in police custody, after an anonymous phone call informing them he was booked onto the Dubai flight.’
She gave a shudder. ‘He’s a lawyer, Gregorio—do you think the charges against him will stick or will he manage to wriggle out of them?’
‘His attack on you will certainly stick. The FSA will also be very interested in Richardson’s behaviour. Especially as I have now given them all the information I have so far on his having embezzled money from Fairbanks Industries. It may take some time but, yes, I believe eventually Richardson will be made to answer for all his crimes.’
Lia gave a shaky sigh. ‘I can’t believe it’s over.’
‘In time it will be,’ Gregorio cautioned again.
Lia had no doubt that with the powerful Gregorio de la Cruz’s involvement that time would come sooner rather than later, and that David would one day end up in jail—as he fully deserved to.
‘You said there was a second reason you wanted to be here when I woke up?’ she reminded him softly.
Gregorio felt the frown lift from his brow. ‘I believe you are suffering under a misapprehension in regard to something you overheard me say earlier.’
Lia’s tension was immediate in the wariness of her expression. ‘Oh...?’
He nodded. ‘I am not...comfortable with emotions.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘I noticed.’
‘Let me finish, Lia,’ he reproved gently. ‘Sebastien was being his usual irritating younger brother self this morning.’
‘Obviously I can’t speak from personal experience, but I believe that’s part of a sibling’s job description.’
‘Perhaps,’ Gregorio allowed dryly. ‘Sebastien seems to think it is, at least.’ He sobered. ‘What I said to him, about resolving the situation with Richardson so that you could return to your apartment, was not meant as literally as I believe you have taken it.’
She frowned her puzzlement. ‘I don’t understand...’
‘Nor did I until I tried to find a reason why you were being so dismissive of me,’ he admitted. ‘Lia, you were the one who brought an end to our...relationship.’