Page 8 of Forbidden Until Midnight

‘I was looking for some peace and quiet.’

‘Well, you came to the wrong party,’ she observed, as if uncomfortable with the noise and press of bodies out there in the larger area of the wine cellars.

‘That I did,’ he agreed, swirling the amber liquid around the glass in his hand.

There was a pause.

He opened his mouth to speak when a noise near the wine stacks stopped him.

‘Here...in here.’

They both heard her fiancé’s voice at the same time. Santo looked to Eleanor, whose eyes had widened in panic, presumably not wanting to be found in a dark corner with Santo. A mean part of him almost wanted it, wanted to see what that boy would do, but just when he expected that confrontation, he realised that no one was there.

He stepped forward just as a feminine giggle could be heard from over the wine stacks.

‘Shh, you have to be quiet,’ Tony could be heard saying.

‘You told me you’d get away,’ a whining voice replied.

‘What did you want me to do? She hasn’t left my side all evening.’

Santo turned to Eleanor just in time to see her realise what was going on, her eyes wide, skin pale, her lips opening to speak. He placed a firm hand over her mouth before she could. She wrestled against the arm he wrapped around her to stop her from rushing out to confront her cheating fiancé. She clearly couldn’t see the situation she was in.

The entire group of families had talked of nothing else than their engagement from the moment it had happened. The joining of two dynasties had always been a long-held dream and, whether she knew it or not, Edward Carson wouldn’t let go of it easily.

‘Wait,’ Santo whispered in her ear. ‘Just wait.’

He looked her dead in the eye and waited until she registered his words, anger and confusion as easy to read as words on a page until she blinked them away and he saw sense return.

Her eyes narrowed and slowly she nodded.

‘Oh, God, you don’t know what you do to me,’ the woman’s voice moaned. ‘I need you, Tony.Now.’

Santo didn’t recognise the woman’s voice, but from the sudden spark in Eleanor’s eyes it was clear that she had. Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes and it was the one thing, the only thing, that Santo had never been able to stomach.

‘Stop,’ he whispered harshly. ‘Don’t even think about shedding a tear over that bastard or whoever he is with. Youhaveto be stronger than that.’

She blinked slowly, a tear escaping over her cheek. He swept it away with the pad of his thumb, but more tears seeped into the fingers still across her lips.

His gut clenched to see them. Anger, swift, sure and poker-hot, turned his gaze red. Helplessly, Eleanor looked up at him, begging him to take this away, to make it not be happening. And, just like that, he was back home with his mother and his father. And, just like then, there was nothing he could do to make it go away.

He closed his eyes, needing to take a moment, needing to push back the anger that combined a devastating past with the dangerous present. By the time he had regained control, Eleanor was looking at him with concern. He took his hand away from her mouth.

‘Where is your phone?’ he whispered.

‘In my bag,’ she said, offering up the small clutch that hung on a strap from her wrist. He grabbed it and pulled out the slim mobile.

‘The PIN,’ he demanded, showing her the screen.

With shaking fingers, she typed in the four-digit code that unlocked her phone. He found the app he wanted and turned on his heel.

Eleanor stood there shaking, unable to move. Unable to follow Santo around to the other side of the wine stack to where she knew what she would find.

Tony, her fiancé, and Dilly, her supposed best friend, having sex.

She couldn’t believe it. She wanted to howl until she couldn’t hear those noises any more. The betrayal coursing through her made her feel utterly wretched. How had she missed it? How had she been such a fool?

Too many thoughts, too many questions crowded her mind. If she’d slept with Tony, would this be happening? Was it her own fault? Had she somehow brought this on herself? Or had this been going on before their engagement? How could they do this?

---