Page 33 of Bride of Betrayal
Almost without thinking, Leo found that he was moving towards her. Until he was standing right beside her. She was oblivious. There was a small smile playing around her mouth, a secret smile. Like on the plane earlier. He went cold inside.
Acting on an impulse driven by something hot and red, Leo reached out and plucked the phone from Angelica’s hands. Her head jerked up and she saw him and her phone in his hand and went white.
Leo looked down and scanned the text quickly, reading:I know, mi amor, I can’t wait to see you too, if I can get away I will, I’ll be in touch…
Like lightning, she had snatched the phone back and clutched it to her chest. There were two spots of pink high in her cheeks. ‘How dare you?’
The thing uppermost in Leo’s head was the familiar acrid sense of betrayal. Even more acute after last night.You can tie me up.The exposure was excoriating.
He bit out, ‘You can tell your lover that you’ll be free to meet him after all.’
But she was shaking her head. ‘It’s not like that…like you think.’ She had a stricken look on her face, reminding him of that morning when she’d told him she loved him and he’d sent her away, out of his sight, before she could annihilate him.
She’d annihilated him anyway. He was done. He’d been weak to pursue revenge like this. She’d all but made him a laughing stock over the past week—had it only been a week? It felt longer. He was a fool.
He turned away but she put a hand on his arm. ‘Leo. Stop. Wait.’
Against every self-preserving instinct inside him, urging him to keep walking all the way out of this studio, until she was far behind him, he stopped. She came around him to stand in front of him and even in the midst of his recrimination she was exquisite. He knew in that moment that if he never looked at another woman again, he wouldn’t care. Damn her.
‘Angelica—’
She put up a hand. ‘I’m not texting a lover.’
‘Then who are you texting?’ How was she going to weasel her way out of this? And also, why wasn’t she just standing aside with a triumphant smile on her face, watching him walk away? Asking for a divorce?Because she wants more. She’s up to something.
He saw her swallow. She looked nervous. Looking at him as if she wanted to look all the way into the deepest part of him. Losing patience, Leo was about to look away when she said, ‘It’s my brother. I’m texting my brother, Paolo.’
The words hung between them. Leo couldn’t fully compute them. A brother. ‘You never mentioned a brother before.’
‘I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe.’
What on earth was she up to now? As if hearing his thoughts she shook her head. ‘Just…please give me a chance to explain. I need to change out of this dress. Security are waiting for it because it’s haute couture. Will you wait for me?’
Leo didn’t know which way was up right now. She’d blindsided him. Much as she had when he’d seen pictures in the paper of her and Aldo.
‘Please, just wait, OK?’
Angelica was changed back into her own clothes, jeans and the cashmere top. Make-up scrubbed off. Hair pulled back. She looked pale in the mirror. She hesitated before leaving the dressing room. She wasn’t even sure if Leo was still outside. He might be gone. He might feel that whatever she was about to tell him was just one more provocation too far.
The intimacy of last night felt like aeons ago. Two steps forward and ten steps back.
Was she really going to reveal her family to him?You just have,pointed out a voice.
Yes. She had to tell him. She owed him this. The past week had worn away at her defences as she’d seen a man who had been betrayed heinously pick up the pieces of his life and start to rebuild it, brick by brick, with a cool, determined pragmatism.
She had to trust that he wouldn’t use the information to threaten them, or her.He wouldn’t.Somehow she knew that now. He had integrity. He wasn’t Aldo. He hadn’t changed in that respect.
She collected her bag and went outside where crew were packing up. At first she couldn’t see him but then she did, and felt a spurt of relief. His tall, broad-shouldered figure was silhouetted in the opening to the studio. Back to her, hands in his pockets.
Her heart tripped and her pulse quickened. Damn him. As if sensing her, he turned around. She walked over, aware of her skin prickling.
His face was expressionless but he put out a hand for her bag, and just that small courtesy made her feel as though she was doing the right thing.
His car was waiting and he opened the back door to let her get in, before getting in on the other side. No words were exchanged. Angelica could feel the tension thrumming between them.
When they pulled up outside a Madrid hotel they got out. The concierge greeted Leo effusively. Angelica barely took in the sumptuous furnishings and hushed exclusivity. She just followed Leo. The elevator journey up to the suite was made in silence.
Their suite was at the end of a plushly carpeted hall and Leo opened the door, allowing Angelica to precede him. The suite was gorgeously lavish and luxurious. French doors led out to a terrace and she opened them, needing air.
