'And those shoes are Prada! He got you out of your Barbour and your wellies fast enough!' Nina gibed thinly.
'It's such a dangerous sign when a man tries to change a woman into something she's not.'
On her lofty passage towards the drawing room, Margo winced. 'And green simply screams at your red hair, Darcy!'
'But Darcy doesn't have red hair,' a deep, dark drawl interceded across the depth of the hall from the library doorway. 'It's Titian, a shade defined by the dictionary as a bright, golden auburn.'
Darcy threw Luca the sort of look a drowning swimmer gives to a life jacket.
Margo and Nina weren't quite quick enough to conceal their dismay and surprise at Luca's appearance.
'I understood that you were still in Italy, Luca.' Her step¬mother's smile of greeting was stiff.
'I thought that might be why you were here.' As Luca strolled over to the fireplace and took up a relaxed stance there, he let that statement hang a split-second, while their uninvited visitors tensed with uncertainty at his possible meaning before continuing smoothly, 'How very kind of you to think that Darcy might be in need of company.'
'I'm sure Richard Carlton's been dropping in too,' Nina said innocently.
'Yes, and what a very entertaining guy he is,' Luca coun¬tered, smiling without skipping a beat while Darcy's fas¬cinated gaze darted back and forth between the combatants. Margo and Nina had definitely met their match.
'Nina and I were only saying yesterday what a coinci¬dence it is that Darcy and Maxie Kendall should have got married within weeks of each other!' Margo exclaimed, watching Darcy stiffen with suspicious eyes.
'Now what was the name of Nancy Leeward's other godchild?'
'Polly,' Darcy muttered tightly. 'Why?'
'Naturally I'm curious. That old woman left such an ex¬traordinary will! I expect we'll be hearing of Polly's mar¬riage next...'
'I doubt it,' Darcy slotted in. 'When I last saw her, Polly had no plans to marry.'
Nina directed a brilliant smile at Luca and crossed her fabulous long legs, her abbreviated dress riding so high Darcy wouldn't have been surprised to see pantie elastic. 'I bet you haven't a clue what we're talking about, Luca.' Margo chimed in, 'I'm afraid it did cross my mind that Darcy might—'
'Might marry me to inherit a measly one million?' Sardonic amusement gleamed in Luca's steady appraisal. 'Yes, of course I know about the will, but I can assure you that an eccentric godmother's wishes played no part what¬soever in my desire to marry your stepdaughter.'
'Yes,' Darcy agreed, getting into the spirit of his game with dancing green eyes. 'I believe Luca would say that when he married me, he had his own private agenda.'
'Ouch,' Luca breathed for her ears alone, and her cheeks warmed.
But Margo was not so easily silenced. 'I don't know how to put this without seeming intrusive...but frankly I was concerned when I learnt from friends locally that Darcy had come home alone after spending only forty-eight hours with you in Venice—'
'Mummy...it's hardly likely to be her favourite place,' Nina said with a meaningful look.
'I love Venice,' Darcy returned squarely.
'I know you gave your poor child that silly name— Venezia—but I notice you soon gave up using it,' Margo reminded her drily.
'Venezia?' Luca queried abruptly.
Darcy's sensitive insides turned a sick somersault. She encountered a narrowed stare of bemusement from Luca and turned her head away abruptly.
'Such a silly name!' Nina giggled. 'But then Darcy never did have much taste or discretion.'
Darcy felt too sick to glance again in Luca's direction.
Her nerves were shot to hell. She wanted to put a sack over Nina and suffocate her before she said too much.
'Your sense of humour must often cause deep offence,' Luca drawled with chilling bite, studying Nina with con¬tempt. 'I have zero tolerance for anything that might dis¬tress my wife.'
Two rosy high spots of red embellished Nina's cheeks. Heavens, Darcy thought in equal shock, he sounded so in¬credibly protective. Her strain eased as she realised that Nina had abandoned her intent to make further snide com¬ments about Zia.
'Yes, you were very thoughtless, Nina,' Margo agreed sharply.
"That's all in the past now. I actually came here today to express my very genuine concern over something Darcy has done.'
'Really, Margo?' Darcy was emboldened by the suppor¬tive hand Luca had settled in the shallow indentation of her spine.
'You brought Luca to the engagement party I held and not one word did you breathe about his exalted status,' Margo returned thinly.
Too enervated to be able to guess what her stepmother was leading up to, Darcy saw no relevance whatsoever to that statement.
'So what on earth persuaded you to do this?' Her step¬mother drew a folded magazine from her capacious bag, her face stiff with distaste and disapproval. 'Is there any¬thing you wouldn't do for money, Darcy? How could you embarrass your husband like that?'