Lucy Gordon - Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

‘You can’t return to that other life,’ Gino urged. ‘You don’t belong there any more.’

To throw him off the scent she quickly resumed her bantering tone.

‘You stop that. I told you, I see through your little schemes.’

‘Please, cara -’ he begged in comical dismay.

‘You’re as bad as Rinaldo. The two of you set it all up before I arrived. I wouldn’t put it past you to have tossed a coin for me.’

It was a passing remark but Gino’s alarmed gulp told her everything.

‘You did !’ she accused.

‘Yes-no-it wasn’t like that.’

‘I’ll bet it was exactly like that. You cheeky pair!’

‘You’re not annoyed?’

‘I ought to be, but oh, what the heck! I suppose I should just be glad you won.’

Emboldened by her matter-of-fact attitude Gino grinned and said, ‘Actually I didn’t.’

‘What?’

‘Rinaldo won, but he didn’t take it seriously. He claimed he thought I’d been using my two-headed coin or he wouldn’t have played. Anyway, he said he wasn’t interested and I could have you.’

‘Oh, really!’ she asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

‘But aren’t you glad you got me instead? Come on, admit it. You like me better than Rinaldo.’

‘I like anybody better than Rinaldo.’

‘I behaved badly, leaving you with him last night, didn’t I? I’m sorry if he offended you.’

‘ I may have offended him ,’ she said vaguely.

‘I wonder if that’s why he’s gone.’

‘What?’

‘Yes, he left early this morning. Something about checking out some second-hand farm machinery, but I didn’t know we needed any. He just upped and went.’

She should have been glad of the breathing space. Instead she felt as though she’d been dealt a blow.

They had unfinished business. Rinaldo knew that as well as she did. And he’d simply gone off and left her stranded in limbo. For a moment she looked around for something else to throw.

Then she forced herself to calm down and conceal the storm inside. That must remain her secret until she understood herself better.

She took a horse and rode for miles, noticing how the corn had grown since she first saw it, how the olives and grapes were flourishing in the sun.

How she loved the sun! It was as though she had only discovered it in Italy. There was sun in London, but it beat down in fierce strips of ugly road, baking pavements, suffocating. Here sunshine was fresh air and freedom, and a new awakening.

Her options were simple. She could return to England and fight, or she could stay here and fight. It was fighting either way, no question.

The prizes were uneven. A cold, soulless place in the firm, or another firm. There were plenty who would be glad to have her.

Or she could abandon London and everything she had worked for. All those years of striving for the best, the best clients, the best apartment, the best clothes, the best invitations-all gone to nothing.

In exchange she would have a life here, in a country that had seized her heart, in daily contact with a man who was rude, hostile, unrelenting, a man who’d rejected her out of hand without even seeing her, but who also troubled her heart and her restless body.

‘Nonsense!’ she said aloud. ‘I’m damned if I’m going to fall in love with him! Who the hell does he think he is? ’

After a while she made up her mind. It felt less like taking a decision than facing the inevitable. Mounting her horse she galloped back to the farm and began to pack. The following morning, in the teeth of Gino’s protests, she drove herself to the airport.

There she handed the car in at the local branch of the rental company. An hour later she was in the air, on her way to England.

Rinaldo was away for a week. Twice he called and left messages on the answerphone. Eventually the phone was answered by Teresa, who brought him up to date with events, including the fact that Alex had left and would not be returning.

The following evening Rinaldo arrived home.

He found Gino sitting at the desk in his office, frowning as he poured over account books.

‘You’ll never manage it,’ he said, grinning. ‘Give up.’

‘Rinaldo!’ Gino leapt to his feet and hugged his brother eagerly.

Rinaldo hugged him back, and for a moment the two brothers thumped each other on the back.

‘What’s been happening?’ Rinaldo asked.

‘Alex has gone,’ Gino said gloomily.

‘So I gather from Teresa.’

‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’ Gino demanded, outraged.

‘What do you want me to say? She was always bound to go back where she belongs.’

‘I felt she belonged here,’ Gino sighed.

‘That’s what she wanted you to think, to keep you off guard. Circe played her games, and we were nearly fooled. Forget her.’

‘You as good as told me to make love to her.’

‘Yes, and I should have known better. You’re no match for her. It’s lucky you didn’t fall for her seriously.’

‘Who says I didn’t?’

‘You forget how well I know you. Your most death-defying passion lasted a whole two days, I seem to recall.’

Gino shrugged despondently. ‘Yeah-well, she’s gone now.’

‘So forget her.’

‘Do you think she really loves him?’

‘I said forget her.’

‘Hey!’ Gino said, staring into Rinaldo’s tense face. ‘No need to get mad at me.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Rinaldo growled, rubbing his eyes. ‘I’ve had a long drive, and I’m not in the best of moods.’

‘You do look pretty done in,’ Gino said with his quick sympathy.

In fact, he thought, his brother looked as though he hadn’t slept for a week. Or if he had slept, he’d had nightmares.

Poor old fellow, Gino thought. The threat to the farm must be troubling him more than he let on.

‘Come and have something to eat,’ he said kindly. ‘And you can tell me about the machinery.’

‘Machinery?’

‘The stuff you went to buy.’

‘Oh, that. No, I didn’t find anything. Something to eat sounds a good idea.’

The maids had already gone to bed. Teresa served them in the kitchen, then retired.

Gino noticed that Rinaldo ate as though he barely knew what the food was.

‘So what have you been doing these last few days?’ he asked.

‘Oh-driving around.’

‘For a week?’

‘Am I accountable to you?’

‘If I vanished for a week I’d have some explaining to do.’

‘So you would. Now drop it and tell me the news. When did Alex leave?’

‘The day after you did. I keep waiting to hear from the lawyers, but nothing’s happened.’

‘We’ll hear when it suits her,’ Rinaldo observed. ‘She’s playing games.’

That was the mantra he’d repeated obsessively during the last few days. She was playing games, which meant he’d done the right thing to get the hell out.

From that first startling moment at his father’s funeral he’d known that he couldn’t afford to weaken where this woman was concerned. Hard on the heels of that thought had come fierce regret that he’d ‘given’ her to Gino. He’d said it casually, arrogantly, thinking life was that simple. In truth he’d expected a female dragon who would scare his volatile brother off.

Then he’d met her and known that this was a job for a man, not a boy.

Their antagonism was a relief, giving him a breathing space. But she’d been clever, offering sympathy like water in a desert to a man who’d spent too long being strong for others. The feeling was so good that he’d almost weakened, but he’d escaped in time.

So he’d won, as he made sure he always did. But now he found himself in a wilderness, his victory nothing but ashes.