‘Not any more, Lexi,’ Lorraine stated flatly, her dark eyes glittering oddly. ‘As of now, I am the manager by order of the new owner, as you know. Now, where is Jake? I need to speak with him.’
‘And hello to you too, Lorraine,’ Lexi murmured sarcastically. ‘Still as super-efficient as ever, I see.’ It hurt her to see her husband’s mistress; she hated herself for the weakness, and tried to hide it behind a cool control she was far from feeling.
‘If this man is anything to go by you could do with some efficiency around here. I have been trying for the past ten minutes to discover which room is Jake’s.’
It gave Lexi great satisfaction to say, ‘Franco probably didn’t realise Jake is sharing my suite; I left him asleep, he’s worn out, poor man.’ She deliberately dropped her tone suggestively. ‘But if you insist on disturbing him...’ And she held out the key. Lorraine snatched it from her hand and stalked off to the stairs without a word.
‘Is it true, Lexi, you’re leaving?’ Franco burst into impassioned speech; it took Lexi five minutes to calm him down and her explanation was inept, to say the least. Finally, fed up with the whole affair, she did what she should have done the night before. She walked out of the hotel and to her car, started the motor and drove off. She wasn’t running away, she told herself, but she needed time, time to think, time to plan, and she owed it to Dante to see him and tell him what had happened.
She drove down into Sorrento looking in her rear-view mirror every few seconds, afraid of being followed, although her rational mind told her it was highly unlikely. Jake, even if he was awake, was probably in no fit state to drive, and anyway Lorraine was with him... Jake had agreed last night to complete fidelity when or if they resumed their marriage, but technically they had not yet consummated their reunion. Did that mean Lorraine even now was occupying the space Lexi had so recently vacated. In bed with Jake...
Lexi brought the car to a screaming halt outside a small café that was open early in the morning. Dante’s apartment was two blocks away. She sat down at the bar counter and ordered a cappuccino. She drank the first cup in seconds, grateful for the reviving brew, and ordered another, along with a handful of loose change.
Feeling once more in control, she picked up the counter-top telephone and dialled Signor Monicelli’s number. She was not beaten yet, she swore silently. She needed to know for herself if Jake’s story was correct. Five minutes later she had her answer; by a bit of judicious questioning, Signor Monicelli had confirmed her worst fear: there was no way he could or would want to delay the hotel sale. He was expecting the cheque to be paid into his bank that morning and he was leaving with Marco tomorrow for America.
‘That’s great...’ Lexi heard herself murmur, her heart in her feet.
‘Si, si. I’m praying nothing goes wrong, and I am depending on you, Lexi, to work as well for
the new owner as you have done for me. It would be disastrous if he takes up his option of pulling out within twelve months, and I don’t get the final payment.’
‘Final payment?’ Lexi queried.
‘Yes, the finance is arranged in three instalments; I get the final one in eighteen months’ time. So remember, be nice to the man.’
At the mention of eighteen months, Lexi’s half-formed plan to disappear as soon as she got the opportunity bit the dust.
Lexi dropped the phone back in its cradle, his last comment echoing in her head. ‘Let me know when you and Dante are to marry and I will return for the ceremony.’ What a joke! But it solved one puzzle. Signor Monicelli had not betrayed her. He obviously did not know Jake was her wayward husband.
Reluctantly she picked up the receiver once again and dialled Dante’s number. He had already left for work. She glanced at her wrist. Damn! She had forgotten her watch. She looked up at the clock behind the counter and was surprised to see it was nine. She finished her second cup of coffee and rang Dante’s shop. She did not want to call round as that would be the first place Jake would look, she was sure. When she replaced the receiver for the last time, she had to brush the moisture from her eyes. It was so unfair—Dante was a good, kind man and he didn’t deserve what she was going to do to him.
She walked out of the bar, her footsteps slow and weary. It was a hot, clear morning, the sun brilliant in a clear, blue sky and the temperature was already in the eighties. Slowly, she walked across to her car and, getting in, sat behind the wheel. She was meeting Dante at nine-thirty and she needed to work out what she would say to him.
Lexi closed her eyes, her head falling forward to rest on her arms crossed over the steering-wheel. She had nowhere to run to. Her life and everything she owned was back at the hotel. A tear escaped to roll down her soft cheek. She thought of Marco and his father; she couldn’t possibly hurt them. Jake had done his work well, she was trapped and at his mercy. But the man she had seen last night didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘mercy’. She had seen it in his face, in his cold-blooded determination to have his own way. He was a ruthless bastard who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
She remembered the week before her marriage. She had assumed, because Jake had asked her to marry him and offered to pay her father’s debt, that they would naturally keep Forest Manor, and he had quite coolly told her that nothing had changed in that respect, the house would still be converted to a hotel, though he promised her he would convert part of the building into an apartment for their own use. So she would not really be losing her home. With hindsight, she realised she should have known then that Jake was the type of man who never wavered in his resolve to get what he wanted. Instead it had taken her almost a year and the loss of her baby to discover just what a conniving swine he was.
She lifted her head, a deep sigh escaping her. She had no idea what she was going to tell Dante; she only knew she could not tell him the truth. He was the type of man who would insist on standing by her and fighting for what was right. But Jake was a vicious enemy and deep down she knew Dante would be no match for him. Jake would gobble him up and spit him out if Dante attempted to thwart his plan.
Lexi walked into the Piazza Tasso, the main square in Sorrento and the focal-point of the town. It must be almost nine-thirty, she was sure, and, having parked her car in another hotel car park—the manager was a friend—she dodged between the never-ending stream of vehicles to reach the Caffè Fauno, the most popular meeting place in the town. All Sorrento life passed by the place, but today she was not really noticing the people around her. She turned her worried gaze over the tables and found Dante. He caught her eye and smiled, rising to his feet; she hurried towards him.
‘Not so fast, Lexi,’ a deep voice drawled in her ear as a strong hand closed firmly around her upper arm.
‘What?’ With sinking heart she looked up into the hard face of the man holding her. ‘Jake,’ she choked, her startled gaze skimming over his tall form. This morning he was dressed in cream chinos and a blue short-sleeve cotton shirt with a button-down collar, open at the neck to reveal the strong line of his throat and the beginnings of dark, curling chest hair.
‘Take your hand off my fiancée.’ Dante appeared in front of her, his deep brown eyes narrowed angrily on Jake, before flicking to Lexi. ‘Are you all right, cara?’ he asked, reaching to plant a kiss on her cheek.
Brutally, she was jerked out of Dante’s reach, as Jake’s arm closed around her waist like a band of steel. His eyes flashed with fury, and a muscle jerked in his cheek. ‘Keep your hands and your mouth off my wife,’ he said dangerously.
‘Wife?’ Dante’s brows rose in surprise as his gaze slid from one to the other then settled on Jake. ‘Not for much longer,’ he responded firmly, reading the situation at a glance and grasping Lexi’s other arm. ‘So, this is why you wanted to see me so urgently, cara. Is he trying to cause trouble?’ His dark eyes sought hers, puzzled but caring.
She felt like a rag doll pulled between the two bristling males, and, before she could open her mouth to speak, Jake spoke for her.
‘I’ll cause you trouble if you don’t get your hand off my wife. It’s over, and if I ever see you anywhere near Lexi again I will break every bone in your body. Understand?’ There was no mistaking the deadly intent in Jake’s tone and everyone at the surrounding tables was aware of it, never mind that it was in English.
Jake stood towering over Lexi and Dante, his dark face hard as rock, the venom in his eyes there for all to see.
Dante’s hand dropped from her arm. ‘What has happened, Lexi? Yesterday you said your divorce was only weeks away. You agreed to marry me.’