Page 59 of Bought For The Marriage Bed

A tiny footstep of apprehension stepped on to a nerve in her spine. ‘What do you mean?’

Lucia smiled a knowing smile. ‘You might have fooled Signore Marcello but I am not so easily duped. It took me a few days to work it out but you are not Georgia’s mother, are you?’

Nina’s hand tightened a fraction on the banister. ‘W-what makes you say that?’

‘You could not possibly be the woman who seduced Andre.’

‘W-why not?’

‘Because I have met the woman you are pretending to be.’

Nina stared at her in shock, her hand falling away from the banister. ‘You’ve met Nadia?’

Lucia nodded. ‘Yes. She came to the house to see Andre. I had stayed later than usual and ran into her. She was everything I had expected her to be: shallow and vain. She didn’t even acknowledge me; I was just a nameless servant to her. Those first few days after you came I was confused. You acted like her, looked like her and even sounded like her. Then I had my suspicions, and when that phone call came and the voice sounded so like you I finally realised what was going on. I have twin sons myself. They are all grown up now but they often used to switch places for sheer devilment.’

Nina swallowed painfully. ‘Have you told Marc?’

‘No. I thought I would leave that to you.’

Nina caught her lip between her teeth for a moment.

‘You have to tell him, you know,’ Lucia said.

‘I know.’ She gave the housekeeper an agonised look. ‘I just don’t know how to do it. He has been through so much just lately…I didn’t want to hurt him any more. I feel so guilty.’

‘That guilt belongs to Nadia, not you. I suppose she left you with Georgia?’

‘Yes. Believe me, it’s the habit of a lifetime.’ She gave a ragged sigh. ‘Our mother was exactly the same: restless, moody, impulsive and irresponsible with a propensity to chase after totally unsuitable men.’

‘He will understand,’ Lucia assured her. ‘He is a good man, Nina. He will be good to you once he knows who you really are.’

Nina wished she had her confidence. Somehow she didn’t see Marc taking the news that well. No man liked to be made a fool of, and she had done that and more.

She heard the sound of his voice as he spoke to one of the staff as he came down the hall and she sent the housekeeper a tremulous smile as she tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. ‘Wish me luck, Lucia.’

‘Just be you, Nina,’ Lucia advised. ‘That is all you need to do.’

The dinner was held in a small but elegant hotel, the function room decked out with fragrant summer flowers and candelabra, the majority of the guests suited men with the occasional wife thrown in here and there. Nina had never felt less like socialising. She stayed close to Marc’s side, her arm linked through his and smiled her way through the many introductions, but her heart wasn’t in it and she couldn’t wait for the night to be over.

After the meal was over a small band began to play and several couples got up to dance. Nina excused herself from the table and made her way to the ladies’ room, more to escape the prospect of Marc’s arms going around her on the dance floor than any other reason.

She locked herself in a cubicle and took several calming breaths, garnering up the courage for what she had to say to him as soon as they returned home.

She suddenly became aware of two women speaking just outside her cubicle, their voices rising above the sound of the hand dryer next to the basins. Though they spoke in Italian Nina was able to understand every damning word.

‘I heard she was a topless dancer at a nightclub when his brother met her first. Apparently they had a hot affair for a while but then Andre Marcello decided he had better return to the respectability of his fiancée’s arms.’

‘I heard she’d had a baby,’ another female voice said.

‘Yes, rumour has it that’s why Marc agreed to marry her. He wants his brother’s child and marrying its mother was the only way to get it.’

‘I hope he doesn’t live to regret it. Women like Nadia Selbourne are trouble.’

‘Apparently she goes by the name Nina now,’ the other woman said with a little snicker. ‘No doubt she wants to distance herself from her foray into blue movies. Apparently there was some other scandal that was hushed up too. Mind you, she has a great body considering she’s not long had a baby. I wonder if Marc has been tempted to sample her for himself?’

‘They’re married, aren’t they?’

Nina heard the cap of a lipstick tube being replaced.

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