The Italian′s Bought Bride
The Italian's Bought Bride
Kate Hewitt
Step into a world of sophistication and glamour, where sinfully seductive heroes await you in luxurious international locations.One bride: purchased and paid for!Allegra Avesti never imagined that her fianc, wickedly handsome tycoon Stefano Capozzi, saw her as just another item on his agenda. On discovering the truth, Allegra fled. How could she share her life with a man whod negotiated the terms of their wedlock in the boardroom rather than the bedroom?Years later, Stefano needs Allegra and is determined to claim his runaway bride. Independent Allegra is no longer the innocent young girl Stefano remembers, but this ruthless billionaire always gets what he demands: the defiant but ohsodesirable Allegra will return to Italy with him and if he has to seduce her into agreeing, then that will make it all the more pleasurable for him
She was just about to pull her coat on when she heard a voicea voice of cool confidence and warm admiration.
A voice that slid across her senses and into her soul, stirring up those emotions and memories shed tried so hard to lock away.
It all came rushing back with that voice The memories, the fear, the regrets, the betrayal. She relived the worst night of her life once more, simply by hearing two little words that she knew somehow would change her world for ever.
Hello, Allegra, Stefano said.
Kate Hewitt discovered her first Mills & Boon romance on a trip to England when she was thirteen, and shes continued to read them ever since. She wrote her first story at the age of five, simply because her older brother had written one and she thought she could do it too. That story was one sentence long fortunately theyve become a bit more detailed as shes grown older.
She has written plays, short stories, and magazine serials for many years, but writing romance remains her first love. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, travelling, and learning to knit.
After marrying the man of her dreamsher older brothers childhood friendshe lived in England for six years, and now resides in Connecticut with her husband, her three young children, and the possibility of one day getting a dog.
Kate loves to hear from readersyou can contact her through her website: www.kate-hewitt.com
Recent books by the same author:
RUTHLESS BOSS, HIRED WIFE
THE GREEK TYCOONS CONVENIENT BRIDE
THE ITALIANS CHOSEN WIFE
THE ITALIANS BOUGHT BRIDE
BY
KATE HEWITT
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Abby, for being a wonderful friend and confidante. Youve seen my tears! Love, K.
CHAPTER ONE
STEFANO CAPOZZI SAT in the well-appointed office of one of Milans top psychiatrists, his eyes glittering in a face set like stone.
It has been eight months, he said flatly, even though Renaldo Speri had the case notes on his desk. Eight months of every treatment available, imaginable, and no change.
Speri smiled in sympathetic understanding. You cannot expect a miracle cure, Signor Capozzi. You may not be able to expect a cure at all. He trailed off as he took in Stefanos unrelenting gaze.
Stefano shook his head. I want better.
He would have better. He wouldnt accept brush-offs or excuses. Hed come to Milan to find the best therapist for the child in his charge, and he would have it.
Speri ran a hand through his thinning hair and sighed. Signor Capozzi, you must face the very real possibility that Lucio falls on the spectrum of pervasive development disorder
No. After eight months of Lucios silence and stress, he would not accept it. He was used to obstacles in business, and personal ones would prove no different, no more difficult. Lucio was normal before his father died. He was like any other child
Autism often manifests itself at three years of age, Speri explained gently. Lucio had only a little speech before his fathers death, and lost it completely in the months afterwards.
Stefano raised one eyebrow in scathing scepticism. And you are now trying to tell me that the two arent related?
I am trying to tell you that it is a possibility, Speri said, his voice becoming strained with patience. As difficult as it may be to accept.
Stefano was silent for a moment. There is no cure for autism, he finally said. Hed done his research. Hed read the books, seen the statistics.
There are therapies, diets, that alleviate some of the symptoms, Speri said quietly. And it also depends where he falls on the spectrum
Hes not on the spectrum.
Signor
I want something else. Stefano levelled his gaze at the psychiatrist and waited.
After a moment Speri raised his hands in a defeated gesture. Signor Capozzi, we have tried therapies and grief counselling, and as youve reminded me, there has been no change. If anything, Lucio has descended deeper into his own iron-walled world. If this were a case of normal grief
What, Stefano asked icily, is normal about grief?
The grieving process is normal, Speri said steadily. And accepted. But Lucios behaviour is not normal, and there should have been signs of improvement in communication by now. There have been none.
On his lap, out of sight, Stefanos hand curled into a fist. I know that.
Then accept that he might fall on the spectrum, and turn to the therapies and treatments that can help him best!
Stefano was silent. Carefully, deliberately, he flattened his hand, resting it on the desktop. When Lucios mother, Bianca, had asked him to help, to come to Milan and tell those doctors that her son was not autistic, Stefano had accepted. He had believed Bianca then, but now he felt the first flicker of doubt.
He would do anything for Bianca, anything for Lucio. Their family had saved him all those years ago, had pulled him up from the mire of his upbringing, giving him the steps and tools to be the man he was today.
He would never forget it.
Surely there is something we havent tried, he said at last. Before we accept this diagnosis.
The psychiatrists involved in an autism diagnosis are very thorough, Speri said. And competent. They do not make such a judgement incautiously.
Agreed, Stefano said tersely. But stillis there something else?
Speri was silent for a long moment. There is, he finally said, his voice reluctant, a therapist who had success with a child whod been diagnosed with autism. Misdiagnosed, as the case turned out. Hed suffered a severe trauma the therapists working with him were unaware of, and when it was uncovered he began to regain his speech.
Hopetreacherous, desperateunfurled within him. Then couldnt Lucio be like that boy? Stefano demanded.
I dont want to offer you false hope, Speri said, and the reluctance in his voice became more pronounced. That was one casean anomaly, a fluke
Stefano cut him off; he didnt want to hear about anomalies. He wanted hope, he wanted certainty. Who is this therapist?
Shes an art therapist, Speri said. Often creative therapies help children release suppressed emotions and memories, as was the case with this child. However, Lucios symptoms are more severe
Creative therapies, Stefano repeated. He didnt like the sound of it. It sounded abstract, absurd. What exactly do you mean?
She uses the creative arts to provide an outlet, whether through art, song or performance, for a childs suppressed emotions. Sometimes it is the key that can unlock a child who has been unable to be reached.
Unlock. It was an apt word, Stefano thought, when he considered Lucios blank face and staring eyes. And no words. Not one word spoken in nearly a year.
All right, then, he said shortly. Well try it. I want her.
It was one case Speri began, and Stefano silenced him with a raised hand.
I want her.
She lives in London. I read of the case in a journal and we corresponded briefly, but I dont know
Shes English? Disappointment sliced through him. Of what use to himto Luciowas an English therapist?
No, I wouldnt have mentioned her if that was the case, Speri said with a faint smile. Shes Italian, but I dont believe shes been back to Italy in many years.
Shell come, Stefano said firmly. He would make sure of itoffer whatever enticements or inducements she needed. How long did she work with this other child?
A few months
Then I want her in Abruzzo, with Lucio, as soon as possible. Stefano spoke with a finality that took the psychiatrist aback.
Signor Capozzi, shell have other patients, responsibilities
She can get rid of them.
Its not that simple.
Yes, Stefano said flatly. It is. It will be. Lucio cant be moved; its too upsetting for him. Shell come to Abruzzo. And stay.
Speri shifted uncomfortably. That will be for you to negotiate with her, of course. Such an intensive course is to be recom-mended, although there are no guarantees, but it is also costly
Money, Stefano replied with the barest flicker of a smile, is no object.
Naturally. Speri looked down at his notes; Stefano knew the highlights of his own CV were sketched there. Stefano Capozzi, founder of Capozzi Electronica. Liquidator of a dozen of Italys top electronics firms. Unrivalled.
Ill give you her details, Speri said with a little sigh of capitulation. I have the article about her and the case I mentioned here. I should tell you shes young, quite newly qualified, relatively inexperienced, but of course that case was remarkable
That boy recovered? He spoke again? Stefano demanded. He didnt like the flicker of compassionor was it pity?in the doctors eyes.
Yes, Speri said quietly, he did. But it isnt that simple, Signor Capozzi. And Lucio might be different. He might indeed be
Her details, please. Stefano held out his hand. He didnt expect things to be simple. He just wanted them started.
Just a moment Speri looked through his papers again. Ah, heres the article I mentioned. He smiled and handed Stefano a medical journal, opened to a folded page. Here she isa lovely photograph, dont you think? Allegra Avesti is her name.
Stefano didnt hear the last part of what Speri had said, but then he didnt need to. He knew her name. He knew her.
Or at least, he once had.
Allegra Avesti. The woman who should have been his wife, the woman he no longer knew.
His concern for Lucio fell away for a moment as he gazed at the caption: Allegra Avesti, Art Therapist, with patient. Memories swam to the surface and he forced them back down again, drowning them as his dispassionate gaze moved to the photo. He saw that she was older, thinner. She was smiling in the photo, hazel eyes glinting as she looked at the child by her side, his little fists pounding a lump of clay.
Her head was tilted to one side, her hair, a thousand shades of sunlight, piled in a careless knot, tendrils escaping to trail her cheek, her shoulder.
Her eyes sparkled and her smile was wide, encouraging, full of hope. He could almost hear the tinkling promise of pure joy. She had dimples, he saw. Hed never known. Hed never seen them. Had she not laughed like that in his presence?
Perhaps not.
He stared at the picturethe ghost of a girl hed once known, an image of a woman hed never met.
Allegra.
His Allegraexcept she wasnt, he knew that, had known it when hed waited while shed walked away. For ever.
He closed the journal, handed it back to Speri. Thought of Lucio. Only Lucio. Indeed, a lovely picture, he said without any intonation or expression. The look of joy and hope on Allegras face would be an inspiration to many a fearful and weary parent, seeking answers for their child. I shall contact her.
Speri nodded. And if for some reason she is occupied, we can discussalternatives
Stefano acknowledged this statement with a brusque nod. He knew Allegra would not be busy. He would make sure she was not. If she was the best, if shed helped a child like Lucio, he would have her.
Even if it was Allegra.
Especially if it was Allegra.
The past, he vowed, would not matter when it came to helping Lucio. The past would not matter at all.
Allegra Avesti gazed into the mirror of the ladies powder room at the Dorchester Hotel and grimaced. Her hair was meant to be in a carelessly elegant chignon, but it looked as if shed only succeeded with the first part of that plan.
At least her dress hit the right note, she decided with satisfaction. Smoky-grey silk, cut severely across the collarbone and held up by two skinny straps on each shoulder, it was elegant and sexy without being too revealing.
It had cost a fortune, far more than she could afford on her earnings as a therapist. Yet shed wanted to look good for her cousin Daphnes wedding. Shed wanted to feel good.
As if she fitted in.
Except, she knew, she didnt. Not really. Not since the night shed fled her own wedding and left everyone else to pick up the scattered pieces.
With a little sigh she took a lipstick and blusher out of her handbag. She didnt think of that night, chose never to think of itthe shattered dream, the broken heart. The betrayal, the fear.
Yet her cousins wedding this evening had brought her own almost-wedding to the forefront of her mind, and it had taken all her energy and emotion to push it back into the box where she liked to keep those memories. That life.
The wedding had been lovely, a candlelit ceremony at a small London church. Daphne, with her heart-shaped face, soft voice and cloud of dark hair, had looked tremulously beautiful. Her husband, a high-flyer at an advertising firm in the City, seemed a bit too self-assured for Allegras taste, but she hoped her cousin had found happiness. Love. If such things could truly be found.
Yet, during the ceremony, shed listened to the vows theyd spoken with undisguised cynicism.
Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?
As the words had washed over her, Allegra couldnt help but think of her own wedding day, the day that never happened, the vows shed never spoken.
Stefano hadnt loved her, wouldnt comfort her or honour her. Protect her? Yes, she thought wryly, he would have done that. Faithful? Doubtful
Yet she still felt, sitting in that dimly lit church, an unidentifiable stab of longing, of something almost like regret.
Except she didnt regret anything. She certainly didnt regret walking out on Stefano. Although her uncleand sometimes it seemed the rest of societyblamed her for that fiasco, Allegra knew the real fiasco would have been if shed stayed.
But she was free, she told herself firmly. She was free and happy.
Allegra turned away from the mirror. Shed survived Daphnes wedding, slipping out before anyone could corner her, but she wasnt looking forward to the reception tonight. She was in a melancholy mood, didnt feel like chatting and laughing and dancing. And although she loved Daphne and her Aunt Barbara, her relationship with her Uncle George had always been strained.
She hadnt spoken to her uncle more than a handful of times in the seven years since hed first sheltered her when shed fled Italy, and those conversations had been uncomfortable at best.
Straightening, she left the luxurious powder room. It had been a hell of a dayrunning from appointment to appointment at the hospital, grappling with one serious and seemingly hopeless case after another. There had been no breakthroughs, no breath of hope.
Not today.
She loved her job, loved it with an intensity that some said should be replaced with the love ofand fora man, but Allegra knew she was happy as she was. Happy and free, she reminded herself again firmly.
Still, the hopelessness of some of her cases, the children who had seen far too much suffering, too much sorrow, wore her down. She only had a few moments with them, perhaps an hour a week at most, and doctors expected breakthroughs. Parents expected miracles.
Once in a while, God was good. Once in a while they happened.
But not today.
The reception was being held in the Orchid Room, with its walls of delicate blue and ornate painted scrollery. A string quartet had been arranged near a parquet dance floor, and guests circulated amidst waiters bearing trays of hors doeuvres and sparkling champagne.
Allegra surveyed the glittering crowd and lifted her chin. She wasnt used to this. She didnt go to parties.
The last party shed attendeda party like this, with society in full swinghad been for her own engagement. Shed worn a poufy, pink dress and heels that had pinched her feet, and shed been so happy. So excited.
She shook her head as if to banish the thought, the memory. Why was she thinkingrememberingthose days now? Why was she letting the memories sift through her mind like ghosts from another lifea life that had never happened? A life shed run away from.
It was the wedding tonight, she decided. It was the first one shed attended since shed abandoned her own.
Forget it, Allegra told herself as she plucked a flute of champagne from one of the circulating trays and made her way through the crowd. Her cousins wedding was bound to stir up some unpleasant memories, unpalatable feelings. That was all this mood was, and she could deal with it.
Allegra took a sip of champagne, let the bubbles fizz defiantly through her and surveyed the milling crowd.
AllegraIm so glad you could come.
She turned to see her Aunt Barbara smiling uncertainly at her. Dowdy but cheerful, Barbara Mason wore a lime coloured evening gown that did nothing for her pasty complexion or grey-streaked hair.
Allegra smiled warmly back. Im glad to be here as well, she returned a little less than truthfully. Im so thrilled for Daphne.
Yestheyll be very happy, dont you think? Barbaras anxious gaze flitted to her daughter, who was chatting and smiling, her husbands arm around her shoulders.
Im afraid I dont know much about the groom, Allegra said, taking another sip of champagne. His name is Charles?
Charles Edmunds. They met at work. You know Daphnes been a PA at Hobbs and Ford?
Allegra nodded. Although her uncle disapproved of Allegra keeping in touch with his family, she still spoke to Barbara on the telephone every few months, and several times Daphne had defied her father to meet Allegra for lunch.
Shed learned at one of those outings that Daphne had secured a job as PA at an advertising firm, despite her obvious lack of qualifications. Her fathers, apparently, had been enough.
Im happy for them, she said. She watched Charles Edmunds as he glanced down at his wife, smiling easily. Then he raised his eyes, surveying the ballroom with a gaze that was steely and grey. Looking for business contacts, associates? Allegra wondered cynically. Someone worth knowing, at any rate, she decided as his eyes passed over her and Barbara without a flicker.
So much for true love, she thought with a little grimace. Charles Edmunds was a man like most otherscold, ambitious, on the prowl.
Barbara! Her uncles sharp voice cut across the murmur of the crowd. Both Allegra and her aunt tensed as George Mason strode towards them, his narrow features sharpened by dislike as he glanced at his niece.
Barbara, you should see to your guests, he commanded tersely, and Barbara offered Allegra a quick, defeated smile of apology. Allegra smiled back.
It was good to see you, Allegra, Barbara murmured. We dont see enough of you, she added with a shred of defiance. George motioned her away with a shooing gesture, and Barbara went.
There was a moment of tense silence and Allegra swivelled the slick, moisture-beaded stem of her champagne flute between her fingers, wondering what to say to a man who had ordered her from his house seven years ago. The few times shed seen him since, at increasingly infrequent family gatherings, theyd avoided each other.
Now they were face to face.
He looked the same as ever, she saw as she slid him a glance from beneath her lashes. Thin, grey-haired, well-dressed, precise. Cold eyes and a prim, pursed mouth. Absolutely no humour.
Thank you for inviting me, Uncle George, Allegra finally said. It was good of you, considering.
I had to invite you, Allegra, George replied. Youre family, even though youve hardly acted like it in the last seven years.
Allegra pressed her lips together to keep from uttering a sharp retort. She wasnt the one who had ordered so-called family out of his house, and who had made it increasingly difficult for Allegra to stay in touch.
Running away had been her only crime, and her uncle never failed to remind her of it.
For in running away shed shamed him. Allegra still remembered her uncles fury when shed shown up, terrified and exhausted, on his doorstep.
You can stay the night, hed said grimly, and then you need to be gone.
He does business with Stefano Capozzi, her aunt had explained, desperate for Allegra to understand and not to judge. If hes seen sheltering you, Capozzi could make life very unpleasant for him, Allegra. For all of us.
It had been an unpleasant insight into her former fiancs character. She had wondered then if Stefano would come for her, find her. Make life unpleasant for her.
He hadnt, and as far as she knew hed never made life unpleasant for her uncle. She wondered sometimes whether that had been a convenient excuse for George Mason to wash his hands of her, especially when her own defection had been followed so quickly by her mothers.
Her motheranother person, another life, Allegra chose not to remember.
Now she met her uncles cold gaze. I needed help and you gave it to me, she said levelly. Her fingers tightened on the stem of her glass. Ill always be grateful for that.
And youll show it by keeping out of my way, George finished coolly. And Daphnes. Her nerves are strung high enough as it is.
Allegra felt a flush creeping up her throat, staining her face. She kept her chin high. I certainly dont want to cause any dismay to my cousin. Ill pay my respects and leave as soon as possible.
Good, he replied shortly before moving off.
Allegra straightened proudly. She felt as if every eye in the faceless crowd was focused on her, seeing, knowing, condemning, even though she knew no one cared.
Except her uncle and his family.
A waiter passed and Allegra placed her nearly untouched champagne on his tray.
Murmuring her excuses as she moved through the crowd, she found a secluded corner of the ballroom and took her position there, half hidden behind a potted palm.
She took a deep breath and surveyed the circulating crowd. No one was paying any attention to her, she knew, because she wasnt important. Her flight from Italy seven years ago was little cause of concern or even gossip these days.
Shed kept her head down and well out of societys glare these last years, working two jobs to pay for her schooling. She was far, far from this glamorous crowd, the glittering lifestyle. Yet the people who knew her, who were supposed to love herwhat had happened seven years ago still mattered to them. And it always would.
It didnt bother her on a day-to-day basis. She didnt need these people. She had a new life now, a good one. When shed left that night, shed gained her freedom, but the price for that freedom had been, quite literally, everything.
It had been a price worth paying.
The music died down and Allegra saw everyone heading to the tables. Dinner was about to be served.
Taking another deep breath, she moved through the crowds again and found her place card. She was at a table tucked in the back with a motley handful of guests who looked to be nearly as out of place as she was. Distant, vaguely embarrassing relatives, colleagues and friends who necessitated an invitation yet were not an asset to the sparkling and successful party George Mason intended for his daughter.
An art therapist with a disreputable past certainly fitted into that category, Allegra thought ruefully.
With a murmured hello, she took her place between an overweight aunt and a weedy looking businessman. The meal passed in stilted conversations and awkward silences as eight misfits attempted to get along.
Allegra let the conversation wash over her in a meaningless tide of sound and wondered just how soon she could leave.
She wanted to see Daphne but, with the cold, ambitious Charles Edmunds at her cousins side, Allegra wasnt expecting a cosy cousinly chat.
The plates were cleared and her uncle stood up to speak. Allegra watched him posture importantly, talking about how he knew Charles Edmunds, cracking business jokes. At one point he pontificated on the importance of family and she smothered the stab of resentment that threatened to pierce her composure.
Soon after, the music started up again and Allegra excused herself from the table before anyone could ask her to dance. The junior from Charless office had been eyeing her with a determined expression.
She moved through the crowds, her head held high, her eyes meeting no one elses.
Daphne stood apart with her husband, pale and luminous in a designer wedding gown that hugged her slight figure before flaring out in a row of ruffles.
Hello, Daphne, Allegra said.
Her cousinthe cousin shed shared summers in Italy with, swimming and laughing and plaiting each others hairnow turned to her with a worried expression.
Hh Hello, Allegra, she said after a moment, her apprehensive gaze flicking to her husband. Have you met Charles?
Charles Edmunds smiled coolly. Yes, your cousin came to our engagement party. Dont you remember, darling?
He made it sound as if shed crashed the party. She supposed that was what her attendance felt like. Still, shed wanted to come, had wanted to show that no matter what they did or thought, she was still family.
Daphne, I only wanted to congratulate you, Allegra said quietly. Im afraid Im going to have to leave a bit early
Oh, Allegra Daphne looked both relieved and regretful Im sorry
No, its fine. Allegra smiled and squeezed her cousins hand. Its fine. Im tired anyway. Its been a long day.
Thank you, Daphne whispered, and Allegra wondered just what her cousin was thanking her for. For coming? Or for leaving? Or for simply not making a scene?
As if she ever would. Shed only made one scene in her life, and she didnt plan on doing so again.
Goodbye, she murmured, and quickly kissed her cousins cold cheek.
In the foyer, she found the cloakroom and handed the attendant her ticket. She watched as the woman riffled through the rack of luxury wraps for her own plain and inexpensive coat.
Here you are, miss.
Thank you.
She was just about to pull it on when she heard a voicea voice of cool confidence and warm admiration. A voice that slid across her senses and into her soul, stirring up those emotions and memories shed tried so hard to lock away.
It all came rushing back with that voicethe memories, the fear, the regrets, the betrayal. It hurtled back, making her relive the worst night of her life once more, simply by hearing two little words that she knew, somehow, would change her world for ever.
Hello, Allegra, Stefano said.
CHAPTER TWO
Seven years earlier
TOMORROW WOULD BE her wedding day. A day of lacy dresses and sunlit kisses, of magic, of promise, of joy and wonder.
Allegra pressed one hand to her wildly beating heart. Outside the Tuscan villa, night settled softly, stealing over purple- cloaked hills and winding its way through the dusty olive groves.
Inside the warm glow of a lamp cast the room into pools of light and shadow. Allegra surveyed her childhood bedroom: the pink pillows and teddy bears vying for space on her narrow girls bed, the shelf of well-thumbed Enid Blyton books borrowed from English cousins, her early sketches lovingly framed by her childhood nurse, and lastlywonderfullyher wedding dress, as frothy a confection as any young bride could wish for, swathed in plastic and hanging from her cupboard door.
She let out a little laugh, a giggle of girlish joy. She was getting married!
Shed met Stefano Capozzi thirteen months ago, at her eighteenth birthday party. Shed seen him as shed picked her way down the stairs in her new, awkward heels. Hed been waiting at the bottom like Rhett Butler, amber eyes glinting with promise, one hand stretched out to her.
Shed taken his hand as naturally as if shed known him, as if shed expected him to be there. When hed asked her to dance, shed simply walked into his arms.
It had been so easy. So right.
And, Allegra thought happily, there hadnt been a misstep since. Stefano had asked her out a handful of times, to restaurants and the theatre and a few local parties. Hed written her letters from Paris and Rome, when he was on business, and sent her flowers and trinkets.
And then hed asked her to marry himto be his wife. And he would be her husband.
Another giggle escaped her and she heard an answering echo of a laugh from outside, low, throaty, seductive. Allegra opened the shutter and peeped out; she saw a couple in the shadow of a tree, arms, bodies entwined. The womans head was thrown back and the man was kissing her neck.
Allegra shivered. Stefano had never kissed her neck. The few times hed kissed her, he had been chaste, almost brotherly, yet the brush of his lips against her skin had sent a strange sensation pooling deep inside, flooding through her with an unfamiliar, new warmth.
Now she watched, fascinated, as the unknown couples bodies moved and writhed in a sensuous dance.
She drew in a little breath, her eyes still fastened on the couple, the balmy night air cooling her flushed face. Suddenly she wanted to see Stefano. She wanted to saywhat?
That she loved him? Shed never said those three little words, and neither had he, but it hardly mattered. Surely he saw it shining from her eyes every time she looked at him. And, as for Stefanohow could she doubt? Hed sought her out, hed courted her like a troubadour. Of course he loved her.
Yet now she wanted to see him, talk to him. Touch him.
A blush rose to her face and she turned away from the window and the couple, who had moved further into the shadows, her hands pressed to her hot cheeks.
Shed only seen Stefano with his shirt off once, when theyd all gone swimming in the lake. Shed had a glimpse of bare, brown muscle before shed jerked her gaze away.
And yet tomorrow they would be married. They would be lovers. She knew as much; even she, kept away in convent school, knew the basics of life. Of sex.
Her mind darted away from the implications, the impossibilities. What vague images her fevered brain conjured were blurred, strange, embarrassing.
Yet she still wanted to see him. Now.
Stefano was a night owl; hed told her before. Allegra didnt think hed be in bed yet. Hed be downstairs, in her fathers study or library, reading one of his fusty old books.
She could find him.
Taking a breath, Allegra opened her bedroom door and crept down the passage. The soft September air was cool, although perhaps she was just hot.
Her hand was slick on the wrought iron railing as she went down the stairs. In the hall, she heard voices from the library.
This time tomorrow you will have your little bride, her father, Roberto, said. He sounded as sleekly satisfied as a tomcat.
And you will have what you want, Stefano replied, and Allegra jerked involuntarily at the sound of his voicecool, urbane, indifferent.
Shed never heard him speak in such a tone before.
Yes, indeed I will. This is a good business arrangement for us both, Stefanomy son.
Indeed it is, Stefano agreed in a bland tone that still somehow made Allegra shiver. Im pleased that you approached me.
And not too bad a price, eh? Roberto chuckled, an ugly, indulgent sound. Allegras flesh crawled at the sounda sound she realized shed never heard, a sound shed been protected from. Her fathers own callousness. Towards her.
Allegras mother has raised her well, Roberto continued. Shell give you five or six bambinos and then you can keep her in the country. He chuckled again. Shell know her place. And I know a woman in Milanshes very good.
Is she?
Allegra choked, one fist pressed to her lips. What was her father saying? What was Stefano saying?
Their words beat a remorseless echo in her numb brain. Business arrangement. A deal to be brokered. A bargain to be had.
A woman to be sold.
They were talking about a marriage. Hers.
She shook her head in mute, instinctive denial.
Yes, Roberto said, she is. There are many pleasures for the married man, Stefano.
Stefano gave a light answering laugh. That I believe.
Allegra closed her eyes, her hand still against her mouth. She felt dizzy and strange, her heart thudding hopelessly in her chest.
She took a calming breath and tried to think. To trust. Surely there was some explanation why Stefano was saying the things he was, sounding the way he was. If she just askedit would be all right. Everything would be just as it had been.
Allegra! What are you doing here?
Her eyes flew open. Stefano stood in front of her, an expression of concernor was it annoyance?on his face. Suddenly Allegra couldnt tell. She wondered if shed ever been able to tell.
Even now, her gaze roved hungrily over his featuresthe bronzed planes of his cheekbones, the thick chocolate-coloured hair swept away from his forehead, his amber eyes glinting in the dim light.
I Her mouth was dry and the questions died in her heart. I couldnt sleep. Too excited, fiorina? Stefano smiled, but now everything had been cast into doubt and Allegra wondered if she saw arrogant amusement in that gesture rather than the tendernessshed always supposed. In less than twelve hours we will be man and wife. Can you not wait until then to see me? He cupped her cheek, letting his thumb drift to caress her lips. Her mouth parted involuntarily and his smile deepened. Go to bed, Allegra. Dream of me.
He dropped his hand and turned away, dismissing her. Allegra watched him, watched the clean, broad lines of his back, tapering to narrow hips, watched him move away from her.
Do you love me? As soon as shed asked the question, she wished she could bite back the words. Gobble them up and swallow them whole. They sounded desperate, pleading, pathetic.
And yet it was a reasonable question, wasnt it? They were about to be married. Yet as she saw Stefano turn slowly around, his body tense and alert, she felt as if it wasnt.
She felt as if shed asked something wrong. Something stupid.
Allegra? he queried softly, and she heard a stern note of warning in the sound of her name.
I heard youand Papa she whispered, wanting even now to explain, to understand. Yet the words trailed off as she saw Stefanos expression change, his eyes turning blank and hard, the mobile curve of his mouth flattening into an unforgiving line.
Business, Allegra, business between men. It is nothing you need concern yourself with.
It sounded Her mouth was dry and she licked her lips. It sounded so
So what? Stefano challenged.
Cold, she whispered.
Stefano raised his eyebrows. What are you trying to say to me, Allegra? Are you having second thoughts?
No! She grabbed for his hand and after a second he coolly withdrew it. StefanoI just wonderedthe things you said
Do you doubt that Ill care for you? Protect and provide for you? he demanded.
No, Allegra said quickly, but Stefano, I want more than that. I want
He shook his head with slow, final deliberation. What more is there?
Allegra gazed at him with wide, startled eyes. What more is there? So much more, she wanted to say. There was kindness, respect, honesty. Sharing joy and laughter, as well as sorrow and heartache. Bearing one anothers burdens in love. Yet she saw the hard lines of Stefanos face, the coldness of his eyes, and knew that he was not thinking of these things.
They didnt matter.
They didnt exist.
Allegra licked her lips. But Stefano she whispered, although she didnt know what to say. She barely knew what to feel.
Stefano held one hand up to stop her half-spoken plea. Something twisted his features, flickered in his eyes. Allegra didnt know what it was, but she didnt like it. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, cold and frightening. Are you questioning what kind of man I am?
His voice and face were so harsh, unfamiliar. Allegra shook her head. No! she gasped, and it came out in a half sob for she knew then that she was. And so did he.
Stefano was silent for a long moment, his gaze hard and fastened on hers, until Allegra could bear it no longer and stared at the floor.
She realized he was treating her like a childa child to be charmed or chastened, placated or punished.
With sudden, stark clarity, she realized hed always treated her this way. Shed never felt like a wife, or even a woman.
She wondered if she ever would.
Go to bed, Allegra. He tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear, his thumb skimming her face once more. Go to bed, mylittle bride. Tomorrow is our wedding day. A new beginning, for both of us.
Yes she whispered. Except it didnt feel like a beginning. It felt like the end. Her throat was raw and aching and she couldnt look at him as she nodded. The implications of what he had said to her fatherwhat he had now said to herwere flooding through her, an endless tide of confusion and fear. Yesall right.
Do not be afraid.
She nodded again, jerkily, as she moved backwards up the stairs. Stefano gazed up at her, his eyes burning into her mind, her heart, her soul. Burning and destroying.
She turned around and ran the rest of the way up.
Allegra!
Gasping aloud in frightened surprise, she saw her mother, Isabel, striding down the upstairs corridor. Allegra glanced behind her, but she could no longer see Stefano.
What is the meaning of this? Isabel demanded, belting her dressing gown, her long, still-blonde hair streaming behind her in a smooth ripple.
II couldnt sleep. Allegra stumbled into her bedroom and her mother followed. Everything was unchanged, she sawthe teddy bears, the tattered books, her wedding dress. All signs of her innocence, her ignorance.
What is wrong? Isabel asked. Her face, with its austere beauty, was harsh. You look as if youve seen a ghost!
Nothing is wrong, Allegra lied quickly. I couldnt sleep and I went for a drink of water.
Isabel arched one eyebrow and Allegra shrank back a little. She wasnt frightened of her mother, but she couldnt help but be nervous around her. After a lifetime of nannies and boarding school, she sometimes wondered if she even knew her mother at all.
Isabels cold eyes swept over Allegras dishevelled appearance. Have you seen Stefano? she asked, and there was a sly note in her voice that made Allegras skin crawl even as she shook her head.
No. No, I
Dont lie to me, Allegra. Isabel took her daughters chin in her hand, forcing her to remain still, as pinned as a butterfly uselessly fluttering its fragile wings. You never could lie to me, Isabel said. Youve seen him. But whats happened? There was a cruel note in her voice as she added, Has the fairy tale been tarnished, my dear daughter?
Allegra didnt know what her mother meant, but she didnt like her tone. Even so, she felt trapped, helpless. And alone.
And she wanted to confide in someone, anyone, even her mother.
I saw him, she whispered, blinking back tears.
There was a tiny pause that spoke far more than anything her mother could have said in words. And?
I heard him talking to Papa Allegra closed her eyes, shook her head.
Her mother exhaled impatiently. So?
Its all been a business arrangement! This came out in a wretched whisper that caught on the jagged edge of her throat. Tears stung her eyes. Stefano never loved me.
Her mother watched her with cool impassivity. Of course he didnt.
Allegras mouth dropped open as another illusion was ripped away. You knew? You knew all along? Yet even as she spoke the words, Allegra wondered why she was surprised. Her mother had never confided in her, never seemed to enjoy her company. Why shouldnt Isabel know? Why shouldnt she have been in on the sordid deal, the business of brokering a wife, selling a daughter?
Oh, Allegra, you are such a child. Isabel sounded weary rather than regretful. Of course I knew. Your father approached Stefano before your eighteenth birthday and suggested the match. Our social connections, his money. That was why he was at your party. That was why you had a party.
Just to meet him?
For him to meet you, Isabel corrected coolly. To see if you were suitable. And you were.
Allegra let out a wild laugh. I dont want to be suitable! I want to be loved!
Like Cinderella? It would have been a taunt if her mother didnt sound so tired, so bitter. Like Snow White? Life is not a fairy tale, Allegra. It wasnt for me and it wont be for you.
Allegra spun away, her hands scrubbing her face, bunching in her hair as if she could somehow yank the memory from her mind, forget the words Stefano had spoken to her father and then to her. Both conversations had damned him.
Its not the Dark Ages, either, she said, her voice trembling. You speak of thisthis as if people can just barter brides
For women like us, well-placed, wealthy, it is not so far, Isabel returned grimly. Stefano seems like a good man. Be thankful.
Seems, Allegra thought, but was he? She thought of the way hed spoken to her father, the way hed spoken to her, the coldness in his eyes, how hed scolded and then dismissed her. What more is there?
She realized she didnt know him at all.
She never had.
Honourable, Isabel added, and now true bitterness twisted her words, her face. He has treated you well so far, hasnt he? She paused. You could do worse.
Allegra turned to stare at her mother, the cool beauty transformed for a moment by hatred and despair. She thought of her fathers words, I know a woman in Milan, and inwardly shuddered.
As you did? she asked in a low voice.
Isabel shrugged, but her eyes were hard. Like you, I had no choice.
Papa spokeStefano saidthings
About other women? Isabel guessed with a hard laugh. She shrugged. Youll be glad for it, in the end.
Allegras eyes widened. Never!
Trust me, Isabel returned coldly.
Allegra was compelled to ask, her voice turning ragged, Have you ever been happy?
Isabel shrugged again, closed her eyes for a moment. When the bambinos come
Yet her mother had never seemed to enjoy motherhood; Allegra was an only child and shed been tended by nannies and governesses her whole life, until shed gone to the convent school.
Would childrenthe hope of childrenbe enough to sustain her through a cold, loveless marriage? A marriage she had, only moments ago, believed to be the culmination of all her young hopes. Now she realized she had no idea what those hopes had truly been. They had been the thinnest vapour, as insubstantial as smoke. Gone now. Gone with the wind.
She thought of how shed compared Stefano to Rhett Butler and she choked on a terrible, incredulous laugh.
I cant do it.
A crack reverberated through the air as her mother slapped her face. Allegra reeled in shock. Shed never been hit before.
Allegra, you are getting married tomorrow.
Allegra thought of the church, the guests, the food, the flowers. The expense.
She thought of Stefano.
Mama, please, she whispered, one hand pressed to her face, using an endearment shed only spoken as a child. Dont make me.
You do not know what youre saying, Isabel snapped. What can you do, Allegra? What have you been prepared to do besides marry and have children, plan menus and dress nicely? Hmm? Tell me! Her mothers voice rose with fury. Tell me! What?
Allegra stared at her mother, pale-faced and wild eyed. I dont have to be like you, she whispered.
Hah! Isabel turned away, one shoulder hunched in disdain.
Allegra thought of Stefanos smooth words, the little gifts, and wondered if theyd all been calculated, all condescensions. Not too bad a price. Hed bought her. Like a cow, or a car. An object. An object to be used.
He hadnt cared what she thought, hadnt even cared to tell her the truth of their marriage, of his courtship, of anything.
Something hardened then, crystallised into cold comprehension inside her.
Now she knew what it was like to be a woman.
I cant do it, she said quietly, this time without trembling or fear. I wont.
Her mother was silent for a long moment. Outside, a peal of womanly laughter, husky with promise, echoed through the night.
Allegra waited, held her breath, hoped
Hoped for what? How could her mother, who barely cared for her or even noticed her at all, help her out of this predicament?
Yet still she waited. There was nothing else she could do, knew to do.
Finally Isabel turned around. It would destroy your father if this marriage fell through, she said. There was a strange note of speculative satisfaction in her voice. Allegra chose to ignore it. Absolutely destroy him, she added, and now the relish was obvious.
Allegra let her breath out slowly. I dont care, she said in a low voice. He destroyed me by manipulating meby giving me away!
And what of Stefano? Isabel raised her eyebrows. He would be humiliated.
Allegra bit her lip. Shed loved him. At least, shed thought she did. Or had she simply been caught up in the fairy tale, just as her mother said?
Life wasnt like that. She knew that now.
I dont want to create a spectacle, she whispered. I want to go quietly. She nibbled her lip, tried not to imagine the future ahead of her, looming large and unknowable. I could write him a letter, explaining. If you tell him tomorrowtell Papa
Yes, Isabel agreed after a short, telling pause, her face a blank mask, I could do that. Her eyes narrowed. Allegra, can you give this up? Your home, your friends, the life youve been groomed to lead? You wont be allowed back. I wont risk my own position for you.
Allegra blinked at her mothers obvious and cold-hearted warning. She looked around her room. Suddenly everything seemed so beautiful, so precious. So fleeting. She sat hunched on her bed, hugging her old patched, pink teddy bear to her chest. In her mind she heard Stefanos voice, warm and confident.
Tomorrow isa new beginning, for both of us.
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was overreacting. If she talked to Stefano, asked him
Asked him what? The answer shed been hoping for, desperate for, but hed failed to give. He hadnt told her he loved her; hed reprimanded her for asking the question in the first place.
There could be no future with him.
And yet what future was there for her without Stefano?
I dont know what to do, she whispered, her voice cracking. Mama, I dont know. She looked up at her mother with wide, tear-filled eyes, expecting even now for Isabel to touch her, comfort her. Yet there was no comfort from her mother, just as there never had been. Her face looked as if it were carved from the coldest, whitest marble. Isabel gave a little impatient shrug. Allegra took a deep breath. What would you have done? If youd had a choice back then? Would you still have married Papa?
Her mothers eyes were hard, her mouth a grim line. No.
Allegra jerked in surprise. Then it wasnt worth it, in the end? Even with childrenme
Nothing is worth more than your happiness, Isabel stated, and Allegra shook her head in instinctive denial. Shed never heard her mother speak about happiness before. It had always been about duty. Family. Obedience.
Do you really care about my happiness? she asked, hearing the naked hope in her voice.
Her mother gazed at her steadily, coldly. Of course I do.
And you thinkIll be happier
If you want love Isabel cut her off then yes. Stefano doesnt love you.
Allegra recoiled at her mothers blunt words. Yet it was the truth, she knew, and she needed to hear it. But what will I do? she whispered. Where will I go?
Leave that to me. Her mother strode to her, took her by the shoulders. It will be difficult, she said sternly, her eyes boring into hers, and Allegra, feeling as limp and lifeless as a doll, merely nodded. You would not be welcome in our house any longer. I could send you a little money, that is all.
Allegra bit her lip, tasted blood, and nodded. Determination to act like a womanto choose for herselfdrove her to reckless agreement.
I dont care.
My driver could take you to Milan, Isabel continued, thinking fast. He would do that for me. From there a train to England. My brother George would help you at first, though not for long. After that Isabel spread her hands. Her eyes met Allegras with mocking challenge. Can you do it?
Allegra thought of her life so far, cosseted, protected, decided. Shed never gone anywhere alone, had no prospects, no plans, no abilities.
Slowly she returned the pink teddy bear to her bed, to her girlhood, and lifted her chin. Yes, she said. I can.
She packed a single bag with trembling hands while her mother watched, stony-faced, urging her on.
She faltered once when she glimpsed on her dressing table the earrings Stefano had given her the day before, to wear with her wedding gown.
They were diamond teardrops, antique and elegant, and hed told her he couldnt wait to see her wearing them. Yet now she would never wear them.
Am I doing the right thing? she whispered, and Isabel leaned over and zipped up her bag.
Of course you are, she snapped. Allegra, if I thought you could be happy with Stefano, I would say stay. Marry him. See if you can make a good life for yourself. But youve never wanted a good life, have you? You want something great. Her mothers smile was sardonic as she finished, The fairy tale.
Allegra blinked back tears. Is that so wrong?
Isabel shrugged. Not many people get the fairy tale. Now write something to Stefano, to explain.
I dont know what to say!
Tell him what you told me. You realized he didnt love you, and you werent prepared to enter a loveless marriage. Isabel reached for a pen and some lined notebook paperchildish paperfromAllegras desk. She thrust the items at her daughter.
Dear Stefano, Allegra wrote in her careful, looping cursive. Im sorry but She paused. What could she say? How could she explain? She closed her eyes and two tears seeped out. I dont know what to do.
For heavens sake, Allegra, you need to start acting like an adult! Isabel plucked the pen from her fingers. Here, Ill tell you what to write.
Isabel dictated every soulless word, while Allegras tears splashed on to the paper and smeared the ink.
Make sure he gets it, she said as she handed the letter to her mother, scrubbing the tears from her eyes with one fist. Before the ceremony. So hes notnot
Ill make sure. Isabel tucked the letter in the pocket of her dressing gown. Now you should go. You can buy the ticket at the station. Theres money in your handbag. Youll have to stay at a hotel for a night at least, until George returns.
Allegras eyes widened; shed forgotten her uncle was staying in the villa. Why cant I just go with him? she asked, only to have her mother tut impatiently.
And how would that look? You can manage a hotel. Ill tell him tomorrow whats happened. Theyll be back by the next day, no doubt. Now go, before someone sees you.
Allegra gulped down a sudden howl of panic. She was so afraid. At least marriage to Stefano had seemed familiar, safe. And yet, she asked herself, would it have been? Or would it have become the strangest, most dangerous thing of allbeing married to a man who neither loved nor respected her?
Now she would never find out.
Isabel picked up the small bag that held nothing more than a few clothes, toiletries and keepsakes and thrust it at her daughter.
Allegra, now dressed in a pair of jeans and a jumper, clutched it to her chest.
My driver is waiting outside. Make sure no one sees you. Isabel gave her a little push, the closest shed probably ever come to an embrace. Go!
Allegra stumbled back to the door, then inched her way down the hallway. Her heart thudded so loudly she was sure the whole villa could hear it.
What was she doing? She felt like a naughty child sneaking out of bed, but it was so much more than that. So much worse.
She slipped on the stairs and had to grab on to the banister.
Somewhere a floorboard creaked, and she could hear a distant sound of snoring.
She tiptoed down the rest of the stairs, across the slick terracotta tiles of the hall. Her hand was on the knob of the front door and she turned it, only to find it was locked.
Relief poured through her for a strange, split second; she couldnt get out. She couldnt go.
So she would go quietly back to bed and forget shed ever had this mad, mad plan. Shed half-turned back when the door was unlocked from the outside. Alfonso, her mothers driver, stood there, tall, dark, and expressionless.
This way, signorina, he whispered.
Allegra glanced back longingly at her home, her life. She didnt want to leave it, yet she would have been leaving it all tomorrow anyway, and for a fate surely worse than this.
At least now she was in charge of her own destiny.
Signorina?
Allegra nodded, turning back from the warm light of her home. She followed Alfonso into the velvety darkness, her trainers crunching on the gravel drive.
Wordlessly, Alfonso opened the back door and Allegra slipped inside.
As the car pulled away, she gazed at her home one last time, cloaked in darkness. Her eyes roved over the climbing bougainvillea, the painted shutters, everything so wonderfully dear. In the upstairs window Isabel stood, her pale face visible between the gauzy curtains, and Allegra watched as her mothers mouth curved into a cold, cruel smile of triumph that made her own breath catch in her chest in frightened surprise.
Tears stinging her eyes, her heart bumping against her chest in fear, Allegra pressed back against the seat as the car moved slowly down the drive, away from the only home shed ever known.
CHAPTER THREE
STEFANO WATCHED ALLEGRA stiffen, her fingers stilling on the buttons of her cheap coat. Her head was bent, her face in profile so he could see the smooth, perfect line of her cheek and jaw, a loose tendril of hair curling on to the vulnerable curve where her neck met her shoulder.
When hed come here tonightfinagled an invitation all too easily from the ever striving Masonhed intended to speak to Allegra about business only. All he cared about was obtaining the best care for Lucio.
He didntwouldntcare about the past, wouldnt care about Allegra. She was simply a means to an end.
Yet now he realized their history could not be so smoothly swept away. The past had to be dealt withand quickly. Easily. Or at least appear as if it was.
He moved forward so his breath stirred that stray tendril of hairas darkly golden as he rememberedand said, Youre not leaving so early, are you?
Slowly, carefully, she turned around. He saw her eyes widen, her pupils flare in shock as if, even now, after hed spoken, she was surprisedafraid?to see him there.
Stefano smiled and slipped the coat from her shoulders. Its been a long time, he said. The memories, which pulsed between them with a thousand unnamed emotions, he firmly pushed to one side.
He saw Allegra gaze up at him, her eyes wide and luminous, reminding him so forcefully of the girl hed known too many years ago. He felt a lightning streak of painor was it anger? flash through him at that memory and he forced himself to smile.
All he could think about, care about, was Lucio. Not Allegra. Never Allegra. He let his smile linger as he asked, Wont you come into the party with me?
It was bound to be a shock. Allegra knew that. Yet she still hadnt expected to be so affected, so aware. Of him.
Even now, she found herself taking in his appearance, her eyes roving almost hungrily over his form, the excellently cut Italian suit in navy silk, the lithe, lean strength of him, the utter ease and arrogance with which he stood, holding her coat between two fingers.
Stefano, she finally said, drawing herself up, bringing her scattered senses back into a coherent whole. Yes, it has been a long time. But I was actually just leaving.
Shed envisiaged a scenario such as this many timeshow could she not? Yet in each one shed imagined Stefano furious, indifferent, or perhaps simply unrepentant. Shed never, in all of her imaginings, seen him smiling, looking like an old acquaintance who wanted nothing more than for them to catch up on each others lives.
Yet perhaps that was precisely what they were. Seven years was a long time. Who knew how either of them had grown, changed? And Stefano had never really loved her in the first place; his heart hadnt been broken.
Not like hers had.
He hadnt given her her coat, she realized. He hadnt said a word, just smiled faintly in that aggravatingly arrogant way.
My coat, please, she said, trying not to sound annoyed, even though she was.
Why are you leaving the party so early? he asked. Ive just arrived.
That may be, but Im going, she said firmly. She couldnt help but add, as curiosity compelled her, I didnt realize you knew my uncles family that well.
Your uncle and I do business together. His smile, still faint, now deepened. Did you not realize Id been invited?
No, she said shortly.
From what Ive gathered, your uncle and you are not on favourable terms.
Allegras gaze jerked up to his; he was staring at her with a quiet understanding that quite unnerved her.
How do you know that?
I hear things. So do you, I imagine.
Not about you.
Then let me take this opportunity to fill you in, he said, smiling easily. Too easily. Allegra shook her head in instinctive, mute denial.
She wasnt prepared for this. Shed expected to encounter hostility, hatred, or perhaps at worstor at bestindifference.
Yet here he was, smiling, relaxed, acting like her friend.
And she didnt want to be his friend. She didnt want to be anything to him.
Why? Was she still angry? Did she still hate him? Had she ever hated him? The questions streaked through Allegras mind like shooting stars and fell without answers.
I dont think we really have anything to say to each other, Stefano, Allegra said when she realized the silence had gone on too long, had become pregnant with meaning.
Stefano raised his eyebrows. Dont we?
I know a lot has passed between us, Allegra said firmly, but its all in the past now and I
If its in the past, Stefano interjected smoothly, then it doesnt matter, surely? Cant we share an evenings conversation as friends, Allegra? Id like to talk to you.
She hesitated. Part of her howled inside that no, they couldnt, but a greater part realized that treating Stefano as a friend, an acquaintance, was the best way to prove to him, and to herself, that that was really all he was.
Its been a long time, he continued quietly. I dont know anyone here but George Mason, and Id rather have more congenial company. Wont you talk with me for a while? His smile twisted and the glint in his eyes was both knowing and sorrowful. Please?
Again Allegra hesitated. All those years ago shed left Stefano, left her entire life, because hed broken her heart.
Yet now was her chance to show him, herself, the world, that he hadnt. Or, even if he had, shed come out of the experience wiser, stronger, happier.
All right, she whispered. She cleared her throat and her voice came out stronger. All right, for a few minutes.
His hand rested on the small of her back as he guided her back into the Orchid Room. Even though he was barely touching her, she burned from the mere knowledge of those fingers skimming the silk of her dress.
His touch. Shed once craved it, although in all of their engagement hed never given her more than the barest brush of a brotherly kiss.
And now her body, treacherous as it was, still reacted to him, her senses screaming awake from the mere brush of his fingers.
At least she knew, Allegra told herself, and recognized it. At least she was aware of his power over her body. That, in itself, was power.
And after tonight, she would never see him again.
Let me get you a drink, he said as they entered the ballroom amidst a flurry of speculative looks and murmurs. What do you drink now? Not lemonade any more, is it?
No She found herself cringing at the memory of just what a child shed been. Ill have a glass of white wine, dry, please.
Done.
Allegra watched him disappear towards the bar and resisted the urge to plunge back through the crowd, through the double doors, out of the hotel. Away from herefrom him.
No, she needed this reckoning. Perhaps shed been actually waiting for it, waiting for the day when she saw Stefano face to face and showed him that she was no longer the silly, star- struck girl whod thought herself so lucky, so blessed, to have someone like him fall in love with her.
Just the memory of her own na?vet, of Stefanos deception, was enough to stiffen both her spine and her soul. Seeing him had been a shock; that was to be expected.
But she was different now, and she would show him just how different. How changed. They would have a drink for old times sake, and then
And then what?
Turning her back on the crowd, as well as the unfinished thought, she found another innocuous spot to station herself.
There you are. Stefano stood in front of her, two glasses of wine cradled in one hand, his smile wry. I thought youd given me the slip.
Allegra swallowed. Her throat felt too tight and dry to make any kind of reply. Given him the slipas she had once before?
She reached for the glass of wine. Thank you.
Stefano glanced at her, shrinking in the shadowy corner of the ballroom, and quirked one eyebrow. Why are you hiding, Allegra?
Im not, she defended herself quickly. This isnt exactly my crowd, thats all.
No? Tell me what your crowd is, then. He paused before adding, Tell me about yourself.
She glanced up at him, saw him looking down at her with that faint, cool smile that chilled her far more than it should. She found her own gaze sweeping over his features, roving over them, looking for changes. His hair was shorter and threads of silver glinted at his temples. His face was leaner, the lines of his jaw and chin more angular and pronounced. There was a new hardness in his eyes, deep down, like a mask over his soul. Or perhaps that had always been there and she hadnt known. She hadnt seen it, not until that last night.
Youre being rather friendly, she said at last. I didnt expect it.
Stefano rotated his wineglass between strong brown fingers. Its been a long time, he said finally. Unlike your uncle, I try not to hold grudges.
Nor do I, Allegra flashed, and Stefano smiled.
So neither of us is angry, then.
No. She wasnt angry; she just didnt know what she felt. What she was supposed to feel. Every word she spoke to Stefano was like probing a sore tooth to see how deep the decay had set in. She didnt feel the lightning streak of pain yet, but she was ready for it when it came.
Unless it never did. Unless shed really healed her heart, moved on, just like she intended to show him. Just as shed always told herself she had.
He took a sip of wine. So, what have you been up to these last few years? he asked. Allegra suppressed the impulse to laugh, even though nothing felt remotely funny.
Ive been working here in London, she finally said. She could feel him gazing at her, even though her own eyes were averted.
What kind of work? His voice was neutral, the carefully impersonal questions of an acquaintance, and for some reason that neutralitythat distancestung her.
Im an art therapist. He raised his eyebrows in question and Allegra continued, genuine enthusiasm entering her voice. Its a kind of therapy that uses art to help people, usually children, uncover their emotions. In times of trauma, expressing oneself through an artistic medium often helps unlock feelings and memories that have been suppressed. She risked a glance upwards, expecting to see some kind of sceptical derision. Instead he looked merely thoughtful, his head cocked to one side.
And you enjoy this? This art therapy?
Yes, its very rewarding. And challenging. The opportunity to make a difference in a childs life is incredible, and Im very thankful for it. Her mouth was dry and she took another sip of cool wine. What about you?
I still own my company, Capozzi Electronica. I do less research now it has grown bigger. Sometimes I miss that.
Research, Allegra repeated, and felt a surprising pang of shame to realize shed never known hed done any research at all. Hed never told her all those years ago, and shed never asked. What kind of research?
Mostly mechanical. I develop new technology to improve the efficiency of industrial machinery.
Youve lost me, Allegra said with a little laugh and Stefano smiled.
Most of it wouldnt concern your day-to-day living anyway. My research has been centred on machinery in the mining industry. A selective field.
Capozzi Electronica is a big business though, Allegra said, isnt it? Ive seen your logo on loads of thingsCD players, mobile phones.
Stefano shrugged. Ive bought a few companies.
She opened her mouth to ask another question, but Stefano plucked her wineglass from her fingers and gave her a teasing smile. Enough of that. The music is starting again and Id like to dance. Dance with me?
He held one hand out, just as hed done all those years ago on her eighteenth birthday, when shed walked down the stairs and into what shed thought was her future.
Now she hesitated. Stefano, I dont think
For old times sake.
I dont want to remember old times.
Stefano smiled faintly. No, neither do I, come to think of it. Then how about for new times sake? New friendships.
She stared at his hand, outstretched, waiting. The fingers were long and tapered, the skin smooth and tanned. Allegra?
She knew this was a bad idea. Shed wanted to chat with Stefano like an old friend, but she didnt want to dance with him like one. Didnt know if she should get that close.
And yet something in her rebelled. Wanted to see how they were together, how she reacted to him. Wanted, strangely, to feel that lightning streak of painto see if it was there at all.
Mutely she nodded.
His hand encasedengulfedhers and he led her on to the dance floor. She stood there woodenly, her feet shuffling in a parody of steps, while couples danced around them, some entwined, some holding themselves more awkwardly, all of them sliding her and Stefano speculative glances.
This isnt a waltz, Allegra, Stefano murmured and pulled her gently to him.
Their hips collided in an easy movement that was far too intimatemore intimate than anything that had passed between them during their engagement.
She felt the hard contours of him against her own softness, unyielding and strong. Allegra stiffened and jerked back even as her limbs went weak.
Im sorry, she murmured, I dont dance that often.
Nor do I, Stefano murmured back, his lips closetoo closeto her hair. But I hear its like riding a bike. You never forget.
His arms were around her waist, his fingers splayed on her lower back. Do you remember how we danced? On your eighteenth birthday? A glimmer of a smile lurked in the mobile curve of his mouth, although his eyes were shuttered. You clung to me for balance because youd never worn heels before.
Allegra shook her head, closed her eyes before snapping them open once more. I was a child.
Stefano frowned, his eyes flickering across her face. Perhaps, he said at last. But you arent one now.
No, Allegra agreed, Im not.
They danced in silence, swaying to the rhythm, their bodies chests, hips, thighsall too tantalisingly close. Allegra felt herself relaxing, even though there was a taut wire of tension running through her core, vibrating with awareness.
Shed never expected it to happen like this. And yet, she realized, shed expected to see Stefano again. A part of her, she acknowledged now, had been waiting for their reunion since the night shed fled.
Why? she wondered, and her heart knew the answer. To show him how strong she was, how healed and healthy and happy she waswithout him.
What are you thinking? Stefano murmured, and Allegra gazed at him through half-closed lids, soothed by the music and wine.
How odd this is, she admitted in a husky murmur. To be dancing with youagain.
It is odd, Stefano agreed, his voice pitched low to match hers. But not unpleasant, surely.
I expected you to hate me. Her eyes opened, widened. Waited.
He shrugged. Why should I, Allegra? It was a long time ago. You were young, afraid. You had your reasons. And, in the end, we didnt know each other very well, did we? A handful of dinners, a few kisses. That was all.
Allegra nodded, accepting, though her throat was tight. Hed distilled their relationship down to its rather shallow essence, and yet it had been the most profound experience of her life.
Do you hate me? Stefano asked with surprising, easy candour. Allegra looked up, startled, and saw a shadow flicker through his eyes.
No, she said, and meant it. No. Ive moved past it, Stefano. She smiled, tried to keep her voice light. Breezy. It was a long time ago, as weve both agreed, and Ive realized that you never lied to me. I just believed what I did because I wanted to.
And what did you believe? Stefano asked softly. Allegra forced herself to meet his gaze directly.
That you loved meas much as I loved you.
The words seemed to reverberate between them and for a strange second Allegra felt like the girl shed been seven years ago, standing before Stefano and asking, Do you love me?
Hed never answered then, and he didnt now.
Allegra let out a breath. What had she expected? That hed tell her he had loved her, that it had all been a mistake, a misunderstanding?
No, of course not. It hadnt been a mistake. It had been the right thing to do. For both of them.
.
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Kate Hewitt
Step into a world of sophistication and glamour, where sinfully seductive heroes await you in luxurious international locations.One bride: purchased and paid for!Allegra Avesti never imagined that her fianc, wickedly handsome tycoon Stefano Capozzi, saw her as just another item on his agenda. On discovering the truth, Allegra fled. How could she share her life with a man whod negotiated the terms of their wedlock in the boardroom rather than the bedroom?Years later, Stefano needs Allegra and is determined to claim his runaway bride. Independent Allegra is no longer the innocent young girl Stefano remembers, but this ruthless billionaire always gets what he demands: the defiant but ohsodesirable Allegra will return to Italy with him and if he has to seduce her into agreeing, then that will make it all the more pleasurable for him
She was just about to pull her coat on when she heard a voicea voice of cool confidence and warm admiration.
A voice that slid across her senses and into her soul, stirring up those emotions and memories shed tried so hard to lock away.
It all came rushing back with that voice The memories, the fear, the regrets, the betrayal. She relived the worst night of her life once more, simply by hearing two little words that she knew somehow would change her world for ever.
Hello, Allegra, Stefano said.
Kate Hewitt discovered her first Mills & Boon romance on a trip to England when she was thirteen, and shes continued to read them ever since. She wrote her first story at the age of five, simply because her older brother had written one and she thought she could do it too. That story was one sentence long fortunately theyve become a bit more detailed as shes grown older.
She has written plays, short stories, and magazine serials for many years, but writing romance remains her first love. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, travelling, and learning to knit.
After marrying the man of her dreamsher older brothers childhood friendshe lived in England for six years, and now resides in Connecticut with her husband, her three young children, and the possibility of one day getting a dog.
Kate loves to hear from readersyou can contact her through her website: www.kate-hewitt.com
Recent books by the same author:
RUTHLESS BOSS, HIRED WIFE
THE GREEK TYCOONS CONVENIENT BRIDE
THE ITALIANS CHOSEN WIFE
THE ITALIANS BOUGHT BRIDE
BY
KATE HEWITT
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Abby, for being a wonderful friend and confidante. Youve seen my tears! Love, K.
CHAPTER ONE
STEFANO CAPOZZI SAT in the well-appointed office of one of Milans top psychiatrists, his eyes glittering in a face set like stone.
It has been eight months, he said flatly, even though Renaldo Speri had the case notes on his desk. Eight months of every treatment available, imaginable, and no change.
Speri smiled in sympathetic understanding. You cannot expect a miracle cure, Signor Capozzi. You may not be able to expect a cure at all. He trailed off as he took in Stefanos unrelenting gaze.
Stefano shook his head. I want better.
He would have better. He wouldnt accept brush-offs or excuses. Hed come to Milan to find the best therapist for the child in his charge, and he would have it.
Speri ran a hand through his thinning hair and sighed. Signor Capozzi, you must face the very real possibility that Lucio falls on the spectrum of pervasive development disorder
No. After eight months of Lucios silence and stress, he would not accept it. He was used to obstacles in business, and personal ones would prove no different, no more difficult. Lucio was normal before his father died. He was like any other child
Autism often manifests itself at three years of age, Speri explained gently. Lucio had only a little speech before his fathers death, and lost it completely in the months afterwards.
Stefano raised one eyebrow in scathing scepticism. And you are now trying to tell me that the two arent related?
I am trying to tell you that it is a possibility, Speri said, his voice becoming strained with patience. As difficult as it may be to accept.
Stefano was silent for a moment. There is no cure for autism, he finally said. Hed done his research. Hed read the books, seen the statistics.
There are therapies, diets, that alleviate some of the symptoms, Speri said quietly. And it also depends where he falls on the spectrum
Hes not on the spectrum.
Signor
I want something else. Stefano levelled his gaze at the psychiatrist and waited.
After a moment Speri raised his hands in a defeated gesture. Signor Capozzi, we have tried therapies and grief counselling, and as youve reminded me, there has been no change. If anything, Lucio has descended deeper into his own iron-walled world. If this were a case of normal grief
What, Stefano asked icily, is normal about grief?
The grieving process is normal, Speri said steadily. And accepted. But Lucios behaviour is not normal, and there should have been signs of improvement in communication by now. There have been none.
On his lap, out of sight, Stefanos hand curled into a fist. I know that.
Then accept that he might fall on the spectrum, and turn to the therapies and treatments that can help him best!
Stefano was silent. Carefully, deliberately, he flattened his hand, resting it on the desktop. When Lucios mother, Bianca, had asked him to help, to come to Milan and tell those doctors that her son was not autistic, Stefano had accepted. He had believed Bianca then, but now he felt the first flicker of doubt.
He would do anything for Bianca, anything for Lucio. Their family had saved him all those years ago, had pulled him up from the mire of his upbringing, giving him the steps and tools to be the man he was today.
He would never forget it.
Surely there is something we havent tried, he said at last. Before we accept this diagnosis.
The psychiatrists involved in an autism diagnosis are very thorough, Speri said. And competent. They do not make such a judgement incautiously.
Agreed, Stefano said tersely. But stillis there something else?
Speri was silent for a long moment. There is, he finally said, his voice reluctant, a therapist who had success with a child whod been diagnosed with autism. Misdiagnosed, as the case turned out. Hed suffered a severe trauma the therapists working with him were unaware of, and when it was uncovered he began to regain his speech.
Hopetreacherous, desperateunfurled within him. Then couldnt Lucio be like that boy? Stefano demanded.
I dont want to offer you false hope, Speri said, and the reluctance in his voice became more pronounced. That was one casean anomaly, a fluke
Stefano cut him off; he didnt want to hear about anomalies. He wanted hope, he wanted certainty. Who is this therapist?
Shes an art therapist, Speri said. Often creative therapies help children release suppressed emotions and memories, as was the case with this child. However, Lucios symptoms are more severe
Creative therapies, Stefano repeated. He didnt like the sound of it. It sounded abstract, absurd. What exactly do you mean?
She uses the creative arts to provide an outlet, whether through art, song or performance, for a childs suppressed emotions. Sometimes it is the key that can unlock a child who has been unable to be reached.
Unlock. It was an apt word, Stefano thought, when he considered Lucios blank face and staring eyes. And no words. Not one word spoken in nearly a year.
All right, then, he said shortly. Well try it. I want her.
It was one case Speri began, and Stefano silenced him with a raised hand.
I want her.
She lives in London. I read of the case in a journal and we corresponded briefly, but I dont know
Shes English? Disappointment sliced through him. Of what use to himto Luciowas an English therapist?
No, I wouldnt have mentioned her if that was the case, Speri said with a faint smile. Shes Italian, but I dont believe shes been back to Italy in many years.
Shell come, Stefano said firmly. He would make sure of itoffer whatever enticements or inducements she needed. How long did she work with this other child?
A few months
Then I want her in Abruzzo, with Lucio, as soon as possible. Stefano spoke with a finality that took the psychiatrist aback.
Signor Capozzi, shell have other patients, responsibilities
She can get rid of them.
Its not that simple.
Yes, Stefano said flatly. It is. It will be. Lucio cant be moved; its too upsetting for him. Shell come to Abruzzo. And stay.
Speri shifted uncomfortably. That will be for you to negotiate with her, of course. Such an intensive course is to be recom-mended, although there are no guarantees, but it is also costly
Money, Stefano replied with the barest flicker of a smile, is no object.
Naturally. Speri looked down at his notes; Stefano knew the highlights of his own CV were sketched there. Stefano Capozzi, founder of Capozzi Electronica. Liquidator of a dozen of Italys top electronics firms. Unrivalled.
Ill give you her details, Speri said with a little sigh of capitulation. I have the article about her and the case I mentioned here. I should tell you shes young, quite newly qualified, relatively inexperienced, but of course that case was remarkable
That boy recovered? He spoke again? Stefano demanded. He didnt like the flicker of compassionor was it pity?in the doctors eyes.
Yes, Speri said quietly, he did. But it isnt that simple, Signor Capozzi. And Lucio might be different. He might indeed be
Her details, please. Stefano held out his hand. He didnt expect things to be simple. He just wanted them started.
Just a moment Speri looked through his papers again. Ah, heres the article I mentioned. He smiled and handed Stefano a medical journal, opened to a folded page. Here she isa lovely photograph, dont you think? Allegra Avesti is her name.
Stefano didnt hear the last part of what Speri had said, but then he didnt need to. He knew her name. He knew her.
Or at least, he once had.
Allegra Avesti. The woman who should have been his wife, the woman he no longer knew.
His concern for Lucio fell away for a moment as he gazed at the caption: Allegra Avesti, Art Therapist, with patient. Memories swam to the surface and he forced them back down again, drowning them as his dispassionate gaze moved to the photo. He saw that she was older, thinner. She was smiling in the photo, hazel eyes glinting as she looked at the child by her side, his little fists pounding a lump of clay.
Her head was tilted to one side, her hair, a thousand shades of sunlight, piled in a careless knot, tendrils escaping to trail her cheek, her shoulder.
Her eyes sparkled and her smile was wide, encouraging, full of hope. He could almost hear the tinkling promise of pure joy. She had dimples, he saw. Hed never known. Hed never seen them. Had she not laughed like that in his presence?
Perhaps not.
He stared at the picturethe ghost of a girl hed once known, an image of a woman hed never met.
Allegra.
His Allegraexcept she wasnt, he knew that, had known it when hed waited while shed walked away. For ever.
He closed the journal, handed it back to Speri. Thought of Lucio. Only Lucio. Indeed, a lovely picture, he said without any intonation or expression. The look of joy and hope on Allegras face would be an inspiration to many a fearful and weary parent, seeking answers for their child. I shall contact her.
Speri nodded. And if for some reason she is occupied, we can discussalternatives
Stefano acknowledged this statement with a brusque nod. He knew Allegra would not be busy. He would make sure she was not. If she was the best, if shed helped a child like Lucio, he would have her.
Even if it was Allegra.
Especially if it was Allegra.
The past, he vowed, would not matter when it came to helping Lucio. The past would not matter at all.
Allegra Avesti gazed into the mirror of the ladies powder room at the Dorchester Hotel and grimaced. Her hair was meant to be in a carelessly elegant chignon, but it looked as if shed only succeeded with the first part of that plan.
At least her dress hit the right note, she decided with satisfaction. Smoky-grey silk, cut severely across the collarbone and held up by two skinny straps on each shoulder, it was elegant and sexy without being too revealing.
It had cost a fortune, far more than she could afford on her earnings as a therapist. Yet shed wanted to look good for her cousin Daphnes wedding. Shed wanted to feel good.
As if she fitted in.
Except, she knew, she didnt. Not really. Not since the night shed fled her own wedding and left everyone else to pick up the scattered pieces.
With a little sigh she took a lipstick and blusher out of her handbag. She didnt think of that night, chose never to think of itthe shattered dream, the broken heart. The betrayal, the fear.
Yet her cousins wedding this evening had brought her own almost-wedding to the forefront of her mind, and it had taken all her energy and emotion to push it back into the box where she liked to keep those memories. That life.
The wedding had been lovely, a candlelit ceremony at a small London church. Daphne, with her heart-shaped face, soft voice and cloud of dark hair, had looked tremulously beautiful. Her husband, a high-flyer at an advertising firm in the City, seemed a bit too self-assured for Allegras taste, but she hoped her cousin had found happiness. Love. If such things could truly be found.
Yet, during the ceremony, shed listened to the vows theyd spoken with undisguised cynicism.
Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?
As the words had washed over her, Allegra couldnt help but think of her own wedding day, the day that never happened, the vows shed never spoken.
Stefano hadnt loved her, wouldnt comfort her or honour her. Protect her? Yes, she thought wryly, he would have done that. Faithful? Doubtful
Yet she still felt, sitting in that dimly lit church, an unidentifiable stab of longing, of something almost like regret.
Except she didnt regret anything. She certainly didnt regret walking out on Stefano. Although her uncleand sometimes it seemed the rest of societyblamed her for that fiasco, Allegra knew the real fiasco would have been if shed stayed.
But she was free, she told herself firmly. She was free and happy.
Allegra turned away from the mirror. Shed survived Daphnes wedding, slipping out before anyone could corner her, but she wasnt looking forward to the reception tonight. She was in a melancholy mood, didnt feel like chatting and laughing and dancing. And although she loved Daphne and her Aunt Barbara, her relationship with her Uncle George had always been strained.
She hadnt spoken to her uncle more than a handful of times in the seven years since hed first sheltered her when shed fled Italy, and those conversations had been uncomfortable at best.
Straightening, she left the luxurious powder room. It had been a hell of a dayrunning from appointment to appointment at the hospital, grappling with one serious and seemingly hopeless case after another. There had been no breakthroughs, no breath of hope.
Not today.
She loved her job, loved it with an intensity that some said should be replaced with the love ofand fora man, but Allegra knew she was happy as she was. Happy and free, she reminded herself again firmly.
Still, the hopelessness of some of her cases, the children who had seen far too much suffering, too much sorrow, wore her down. She only had a few moments with them, perhaps an hour a week at most, and doctors expected breakthroughs. Parents expected miracles.
Once in a while, God was good. Once in a while they happened.
But not today.
The reception was being held in the Orchid Room, with its walls of delicate blue and ornate painted scrollery. A string quartet had been arranged near a parquet dance floor, and guests circulated amidst waiters bearing trays of hors doeuvres and sparkling champagne.
Allegra surveyed the glittering crowd and lifted her chin. She wasnt used to this. She didnt go to parties.
The last party shed attendeda party like this, with society in full swinghad been for her own engagement. Shed worn a poufy, pink dress and heels that had pinched her feet, and shed been so happy. So excited.
She shook her head as if to banish the thought, the memory. Why was she thinkingrememberingthose days now? Why was she letting the memories sift through her mind like ghosts from another lifea life that had never happened? A life shed run away from.
It was the wedding tonight, she decided. It was the first one shed attended since shed abandoned her own.
Forget it, Allegra told herself as she plucked a flute of champagne from one of the circulating trays and made her way through the crowd. Her cousins wedding was bound to stir up some unpleasant memories, unpalatable feelings. That was all this mood was, and she could deal with it.
Allegra took a sip of champagne, let the bubbles fizz defiantly through her and surveyed the milling crowd.
AllegraIm so glad you could come.
She turned to see her Aunt Barbara smiling uncertainly at her. Dowdy but cheerful, Barbara Mason wore a lime coloured evening gown that did nothing for her pasty complexion or grey-streaked hair.
Allegra smiled warmly back. Im glad to be here as well, she returned a little less than truthfully. Im so thrilled for Daphne.
Yestheyll be very happy, dont you think? Barbaras anxious gaze flitted to her daughter, who was chatting and smiling, her husbands arm around her shoulders.
Im afraid I dont know much about the groom, Allegra said, taking another sip of champagne. His name is Charles?
Charles Edmunds. They met at work. You know Daphnes been a PA at Hobbs and Ford?
Allegra nodded. Although her uncle disapproved of Allegra keeping in touch with his family, she still spoke to Barbara on the telephone every few months, and several times Daphne had defied her father to meet Allegra for lunch.
Shed learned at one of those outings that Daphne had secured a job as PA at an advertising firm, despite her obvious lack of qualifications. Her fathers, apparently, had been enough.
Im happy for them, she said. She watched Charles Edmunds as he glanced down at his wife, smiling easily. Then he raised his eyes, surveying the ballroom with a gaze that was steely and grey. Looking for business contacts, associates? Allegra wondered cynically. Someone worth knowing, at any rate, she decided as his eyes passed over her and Barbara without a flicker.
So much for true love, she thought with a little grimace. Charles Edmunds was a man like most otherscold, ambitious, on the prowl.
Barbara! Her uncles sharp voice cut across the murmur of the crowd. Both Allegra and her aunt tensed as George Mason strode towards them, his narrow features sharpened by dislike as he glanced at his niece.
Barbara, you should see to your guests, he commanded tersely, and Barbara offered Allegra a quick, defeated smile of apology. Allegra smiled back.
It was good to see you, Allegra, Barbara murmured. We dont see enough of you, she added with a shred of defiance. George motioned her away with a shooing gesture, and Barbara went.
There was a moment of tense silence and Allegra swivelled the slick, moisture-beaded stem of her champagne flute between her fingers, wondering what to say to a man who had ordered her from his house seven years ago. The few times shed seen him since, at increasingly infrequent family gatherings, theyd avoided each other.
Now they were face to face.
He looked the same as ever, she saw as she slid him a glance from beneath her lashes. Thin, grey-haired, well-dressed, precise. Cold eyes and a prim, pursed mouth. Absolutely no humour.
Thank you for inviting me, Uncle George, Allegra finally said. It was good of you, considering.
I had to invite you, Allegra, George replied. Youre family, even though youve hardly acted like it in the last seven years.
Allegra pressed her lips together to keep from uttering a sharp retort. She wasnt the one who had ordered so-called family out of his house, and who had made it increasingly difficult for Allegra to stay in touch.
Running away had been her only crime, and her uncle never failed to remind her of it.
For in running away shed shamed him. Allegra still remembered her uncles fury when shed shown up, terrified and exhausted, on his doorstep.
You can stay the night, hed said grimly, and then you need to be gone.
He does business with Stefano Capozzi, her aunt had explained, desperate for Allegra to understand and not to judge. If hes seen sheltering you, Capozzi could make life very unpleasant for him, Allegra. For all of us.
It had been an unpleasant insight into her former fiancs character. She had wondered then if Stefano would come for her, find her. Make life unpleasant for her.
He hadnt, and as far as she knew hed never made life unpleasant for her uncle. She wondered sometimes whether that had been a convenient excuse for George Mason to wash his hands of her, especially when her own defection had been followed so quickly by her mothers.
Her motheranother person, another life, Allegra chose not to remember.
Now she met her uncles cold gaze. I needed help and you gave it to me, she said levelly. Her fingers tightened on the stem of her glass. Ill always be grateful for that.
And youll show it by keeping out of my way, George finished coolly. And Daphnes. Her nerves are strung high enough as it is.
Allegra felt a flush creeping up her throat, staining her face. She kept her chin high. I certainly dont want to cause any dismay to my cousin. Ill pay my respects and leave as soon as possible.
Good, he replied shortly before moving off.
Allegra straightened proudly. She felt as if every eye in the faceless crowd was focused on her, seeing, knowing, condemning, even though she knew no one cared.
Except her uncle and his family.
A waiter passed and Allegra placed her nearly untouched champagne on his tray.
Murmuring her excuses as she moved through the crowd, she found a secluded corner of the ballroom and took her position there, half hidden behind a potted palm.
She took a deep breath and surveyed the circulating crowd. No one was paying any attention to her, she knew, because she wasnt important. Her flight from Italy seven years ago was little cause of concern or even gossip these days.
Shed kept her head down and well out of societys glare these last years, working two jobs to pay for her schooling. She was far, far from this glamorous crowd, the glittering lifestyle. Yet the people who knew her, who were supposed to love herwhat had happened seven years ago still mattered to them. And it always would.
It didnt bother her on a day-to-day basis. She didnt need these people. She had a new life now, a good one. When shed left that night, shed gained her freedom, but the price for that freedom had been, quite literally, everything.
It had been a price worth paying.
The music died down and Allegra saw everyone heading to the tables. Dinner was about to be served.
Taking another deep breath, she moved through the crowds again and found her place card. She was at a table tucked in the back with a motley handful of guests who looked to be nearly as out of place as she was. Distant, vaguely embarrassing relatives, colleagues and friends who necessitated an invitation yet were not an asset to the sparkling and successful party George Mason intended for his daughter.
An art therapist with a disreputable past certainly fitted into that category, Allegra thought ruefully.
With a murmured hello, she took her place between an overweight aunt and a weedy looking businessman. The meal passed in stilted conversations and awkward silences as eight misfits attempted to get along.
Allegra let the conversation wash over her in a meaningless tide of sound and wondered just how soon she could leave.
She wanted to see Daphne but, with the cold, ambitious Charles Edmunds at her cousins side, Allegra wasnt expecting a cosy cousinly chat.
The plates were cleared and her uncle stood up to speak. Allegra watched him posture importantly, talking about how he knew Charles Edmunds, cracking business jokes. At one point he pontificated on the importance of family and she smothered the stab of resentment that threatened to pierce her composure.
Soon after, the music started up again and Allegra excused herself from the table before anyone could ask her to dance. The junior from Charless office had been eyeing her with a determined expression.
She moved through the crowds, her head held high, her eyes meeting no one elses.
Daphne stood apart with her husband, pale and luminous in a designer wedding gown that hugged her slight figure before flaring out in a row of ruffles.
Hello, Daphne, Allegra said.
Her cousinthe cousin shed shared summers in Italy with, swimming and laughing and plaiting each others hairnow turned to her with a worried expression.
Hh Hello, Allegra, she said after a moment, her apprehensive gaze flicking to her husband. Have you met Charles?
Charles Edmunds smiled coolly. Yes, your cousin came to our engagement party. Dont you remember, darling?
He made it sound as if shed crashed the party. She supposed that was what her attendance felt like. Still, shed wanted to come, had wanted to show that no matter what they did or thought, she was still family.
Daphne, I only wanted to congratulate you, Allegra said quietly. Im afraid Im going to have to leave a bit early
Oh, Allegra Daphne looked both relieved and regretful Im sorry
No, its fine. Allegra smiled and squeezed her cousins hand. Its fine. Im tired anyway. Its been a long day.
Thank you, Daphne whispered, and Allegra wondered just what her cousin was thanking her for. For coming? Or for leaving? Or for simply not making a scene?
As if she ever would. Shed only made one scene in her life, and she didnt plan on doing so again.
Goodbye, she murmured, and quickly kissed her cousins cold cheek.
In the foyer, she found the cloakroom and handed the attendant her ticket. She watched as the woman riffled through the rack of luxury wraps for her own plain and inexpensive coat.
Here you are, miss.
Thank you.
She was just about to pull it on when she heard a voicea voice of cool confidence and warm admiration. A voice that slid across her senses and into her soul, stirring up those emotions and memories shed tried so hard to lock away.
It all came rushing back with that voicethe memories, the fear, the regrets, the betrayal. It hurtled back, making her relive the worst night of her life once more, simply by hearing two little words that she knew, somehow, would change her world for ever.
Hello, Allegra, Stefano said.
CHAPTER TWO
Seven years earlier
TOMORROW WOULD BE her wedding day. A day of lacy dresses and sunlit kisses, of magic, of promise, of joy and wonder.
Allegra pressed one hand to her wildly beating heart. Outside the Tuscan villa, night settled softly, stealing over purple- cloaked hills and winding its way through the dusty olive groves.
Inside the warm glow of a lamp cast the room into pools of light and shadow. Allegra surveyed her childhood bedroom: the pink pillows and teddy bears vying for space on her narrow girls bed, the shelf of well-thumbed Enid Blyton books borrowed from English cousins, her early sketches lovingly framed by her childhood nurse, and lastlywonderfullyher wedding dress, as frothy a confection as any young bride could wish for, swathed in plastic and hanging from her cupboard door.
She let out a little laugh, a giggle of girlish joy. She was getting married!
Shed met Stefano Capozzi thirteen months ago, at her eighteenth birthday party. Shed seen him as shed picked her way down the stairs in her new, awkward heels. Hed been waiting at the bottom like Rhett Butler, amber eyes glinting with promise, one hand stretched out to her.
Shed taken his hand as naturally as if shed known him, as if shed expected him to be there. When hed asked her to dance, shed simply walked into his arms.
It had been so easy. So right.
And, Allegra thought happily, there hadnt been a misstep since. Stefano had asked her out a handful of times, to restaurants and the theatre and a few local parties. Hed written her letters from Paris and Rome, when he was on business, and sent her flowers and trinkets.
And then hed asked her to marry himto be his wife. And he would be her husband.
Another giggle escaped her and she heard an answering echo of a laugh from outside, low, throaty, seductive. Allegra opened the shutter and peeped out; she saw a couple in the shadow of a tree, arms, bodies entwined. The womans head was thrown back and the man was kissing her neck.
Allegra shivered. Stefano had never kissed her neck. The few times hed kissed her, he had been chaste, almost brotherly, yet the brush of his lips against her skin had sent a strange sensation pooling deep inside, flooding through her with an unfamiliar, new warmth.
Now she watched, fascinated, as the unknown couples bodies moved and writhed in a sensuous dance.
She drew in a little breath, her eyes still fastened on the couple, the balmy night air cooling her flushed face. Suddenly she wanted to see Stefano. She wanted to saywhat?
That she loved him? Shed never said those three little words, and neither had he, but it hardly mattered. Surely he saw it shining from her eyes every time she looked at him. And, as for Stefanohow could she doubt? Hed sought her out, hed courted her like a troubadour. Of course he loved her.
Yet now she wanted to see him, talk to him. Touch him.
A blush rose to her face and she turned away from the window and the couple, who had moved further into the shadows, her hands pressed to her hot cheeks.
Shed only seen Stefano with his shirt off once, when theyd all gone swimming in the lake. Shed had a glimpse of bare, brown muscle before shed jerked her gaze away.
And yet tomorrow they would be married. They would be lovers. She knew as much; even she, kept away in convent school, knew the basics of life. Of sex.
Her mind darted away from the implications, the impossibilities. What vague images her fevered brain conjured were blurred, strange, embarrassing.
Yet she still wanted to see him. Now.
Stefano was a night owl; hed told her before. Allegra didnt think hed be in bed yet. Hed be downstairs, in her fathers study or library, reading one of his fusty old books.
She could find him.
Taking a breath, Allegra opened her bedroom door and crept down the passage. The soft September air was cool, although perhaps she was just hot.
Her hand was slick on the wrought iron railing as she went down the stairs. In the hall, she heard voices from the library.
This time tomorrow you will have your little bride, her father, Roberto, said. He sounded as sleekly satisfied as a tomcat.
And you will have what you want, Stefano replied, and Allegra jerked involuntarily at the sound of his voicecool, urbane, indifferent.
Shed never heard him speak in such a tone before.
Yes, indeed I will. This is a good business arrangement for us both, Stefanomy son.
Indeed it is, Stefano agreed in a bland tone that still somehow made Allegra shiver. Im pleased that you approached me.
And not too bad a price, eh? Roberto chuckled, an ugly, indulgent sound. Allegras flesh crawled at the sounda sound she realized shed never heard, a sound shed been protected from. Her fathers own callousness. Towards her.
Allegras mother has raised her well, Roberto continued. Shell give you five or six bambinos and then you can keep her in the country. He chuckled again. Shell know her place. And I know a woman in Milanshes very good.
Is she?
Allegra choked, one fist pressed to her lips. What was her father saying? What was Stefano saying?
Their words beat a remorseless echo in her numb brain. Business arrangement. A deal to be brokered. A bargain to be had.
A woman to be sold.
They were talking about a marriage. Hers.
She shook her head in mute, instinctive denial.
Yes, Roberto said, she is. There are many pleasures for the married man, Stefano.
Stefano gave a light answering laugh. That I believe.
Allegra closed her eyes, her hand still against her mouth. She felt dizzy and strange, her heart thudding hopelessly in her chest.
She took a calming breath and tried to think. To trust. Surely there was some explanation why Stefano was saying the things he was, sounding the way he was. If she just askedit would be all right. Everything would be just as it had been.
Allegra! What are you doing here?
Her eyes flew open. Stefano stood in front of her, an expression of concernor was it annoyance?on his face. Suddenly Allegra couldnt tell. She wondered if shed ever been able to tell.
Even now, her gaze roved hungrily over his featuresthe bronzed planes of his cheekbones, the thick chocolate-coloured hair swept away from his forehead, his amber eyes glinting in the dim light.
I Her mouth was dry and the questions died in her heart. I couldnt sleep. Too excited, fiorina? Stefano smiled, but now everything had been cast into doubt and Allegra wondered if she saw arrogant amusement in that gesture rather than the tendernessshed always supposed. In less than twelve hours we will be man and wife. Can you not wait until then to see me? He cupped her cheek, letting his thumb drift to caress her lips. Her mouth parted involuntarily and his smile deepened. Go to bed, Allegra. Dream of me.
He dropped his hand and turned away, dismissing her. Allegra watched him, watched the clean, broad lines of his back, tapering to narrow hips, watched him move away from her.
Do you love me? As soon as shed asked the question, she wished she could bite back the words. Gobble them up and swallow them whole. They sounded desperate, pleading, pathetic.
And yet it was a reasonable question, wasnt it? They were about to be married. Yet as she saw Stefano turn slowly around, his body tense and alert, she felt as if it wasnt.
She felt as if shed asked something wrong. Something stupid.
Allegra? he queried softly, and she heard a stern note of warning in the sound of her name.
I heard youand Papa she whispered, wanting even now to explain, to understand. Yet the words trailed off as she saw Stefanos expression change, his eyes turning blank and hard, the mobile curve of his mouth flattening into an unforgiving line.
Business, Allegra, business between men. It is nothing you need concern yourself with.
It sounded Her mouth was dry and she licked her lips. It sounded so
So what? Stefano challenged.
Cold, she whispered.
Stefano raised his eyebrows. What are you trying to say to me, Allegra? Are you having second thoughts?
No! She grabbed for his hand and after a second he coolly withdrew it. StefanoI just wonderedthe things you said
Do you doubt that Ill care for you? Protect and provide for you? he demanded.
No, Allegra said quickly, but Stefano, I want more than that. I want
He shook his head with slow, final deliberation. What more is there?
Allegra gazed at him with wide, startled eyes. What more is there? So much more, she wanted to say. There was kindness, respect, honesty. Sharing joy and laughter, as well as sorrow and heartache. Bearing one anothers burdens in love. Yet she saw the hard lines of Stefanos face, the coldness of his eyes, and knew that he was not thinking of these things.
They didnt matter.
They didnt exist.
Allegra licked her lips. But Stefano she whispered, although she didnt know what to say. She barely knew what to feel.
Stefano held one hand up to stop her half-spoken plea. Something twisted his features, flickered in his eyes. Allegra didnt know what it was, but she didnt like it. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, cold and frightening. Are you questioning what kind of man I am?
His voice and face were so harsh, unfamiliar. Allegra shook her head. No! she gasped, and it came out in a half sob for she knew then that she was. And so did he.
Stefano was silent for a long moment, his gaze hard and fastened on hers, until Allegra could bear it no longer and stared at the floor.
She realized he was treating her like a childa child to be charmed or chastened, placated or punished.
With sudden, stark clarity, she realized hed always treated her this way. Shed never felt like a wife, or even a woman.
She wondered if she ever would.
Go to bed, Allegra. He tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear, his thumb skimming her face once more. Go to bed, mylittle bride. Tomorrow is our wedding day. A new beginning, for both of us.
Yes she whispered. Except it didnt feel like a beginning. It felt like the end. Her throat was raw and aching and she couldnt look at him as she nodded. The implications of what he had said to her fatherwhat he had now said to herwere flooding through her, an endless tide of confusion and fear. Yesall right.
Do not be afraid.
She nodded again, jerkily, as she moved backwards up the stairs. Stefano gazed up at her, his eyes burning into her mind, her heart, her soul. Burning and destroying.
She turned around and ran the rest of the way up.
Allegra!
Gasping aloud in frightened surprise, she saw her mother, Isabel, striding down the upstairs corridor. Allegra glanced behind her, but she could no longer see Stefano.
What is the meaning of this? Isabel demanded, belting her dressing gown, her long, still-blonde hair streaming behind her in a smooth ripple.
II couldnt sleep. Allegra stumbled into her bedroom and her mother followed. Everything was unchanged, she sawthe teddy bears, the tattered books, her wedding dress. All signs of her innocence, her ignorance.
What is wrong? Isabel asked. Her face, with its austere beauty, was harsh. You look as if youve seen a ghost!
Nothing is wrong, Allegra lied quickly. I couldnt sleep and I went for a drink of water.
Isabel arched one eyebrow and Allegra shrank back a little. She wasnt frightened of her mother, but she couldnt help but be nervous around her. After a lifetime of nannies and boarding school, she sometimes wondered if she even knew her mother at all.
Isabels cold eyes swept over Allegras dishevelled appearance. Have you seen Stefano? she asked, and there was a sly note in her voice that made Allegras skin crawl even as she shook her head.
No. No, I
Dont lie to me, Allegra. Isabel took her daughters chin in her hand, forcing her to remain still, as pinned as a butterfly uselessly fluttering its fragile wings. You never could lie to me, Isabel said. Youve seen him. But whats happened? There was a cruel note in her voice as she added, Has the fairy tale been tarnished, my dear daughter?
Allegra didnt know what her mother meant, but she didnt like her tone. Even so, she felt trapped, helpless. And alone.
And she wanted to confide in someone, anyone, even her mother.
I saw him, she whispered, blinking back tears.
There was a tiny pause that spoke far more than anything her mother could have said in words. And?
I heard him talking to Papa Allegra closed her eyes, shook her head.
Her mother exhaled impatiently. So?
Its all been a business arrangement! This came out in a wretched whisper that caught on the jagged edge of her throat. Tears stung her eyes. Stefano never loved me.
Her mother watched her with cool impassivity. Of course he didnt.
Allegras mouth dropped open as another illusion was ripped away. You knew? You knew all along? Yet even as she spoke the words, Allegra wondered why she was surprised. Her mother had never confided in her, never seemed to enjoy her company. Why shouldnt Isabel know? Why shouldnt she have been in on the sordid deal, the business of brokering a wife, selling a daughter?
Oh, Allegra, you are such a child. Isabel sounded weary rather than regretful. Of course I knew. Your father approached Stefano before your eighteenth birthday and suggested the match. Our social connections, his money. That was why he was at your party. That was why you had a party.
Just to meet him?
For him to meet you, Isabel corrected coolly. To see if you were suitable. And you were.
Allegra let out a wild laugh. I dont want to be suitable! I want to be loved!
Like Cinderella? It would have been a taunt if her mother didnt sound so tired, so bitter. Like Snow White? Life is not a fairy tale, Allegra. It wasnt for me and it wont be for you.
Allegra spun away, her hands scrubbing her face, bunching in her hair as if she could somehow yank the memory from her mind, forget the words Stefano had spoken to her father and then to her. Both conversations had damned him.
Its not the Dark Ages, either, she said, her voice trembling. You speak of thisthis as if people can just barter brides
For women like us, well-placed, wealthy, it is not so far, Isabel returned grimly. Stefano seems like a good man. Be thankful.
Seems, Allegra thought, but was he? She thought of the way hed spoken to her father, the way hed spoken to her, the coldness in his eyes, how hed scolded and then dismissed her. What more is there?
She realized she didnt know him at all.
She never had.
Honourable, Isabel added, and now true bitterness twisted her words, her face. He has treated you well so far, hasnt he? She paused. You could do worse.
Allegra turned to stare at her mother, the cool beauty transformed for a moment by hatred and despair. She thought of her fathers words, I know a woman in Milan, and inwardly shuddered.
As you did? she asked in a low voice.
Isabel shrugged, but her eyes were hard. Like you, I had no choice.
Papa spokeStefano saidthings
About other women? Isabel guessed with a hard laugh. She shrugged. Youll be glad for it, in the end.
Allegras eyes widened. Never!
Trust me, Isabel returned coldly.
Allegra was compelled to ask, her voice turning ragged, Have you ever been happy?
Isabel shrugged again, closed her eyes for a moment. When the bambinos come
Yet her mother had never seemed to enjoy motherhood; Allegra was an only child and shed been tended by nannies and governesses her whole life, until shed gone to the convent school.
Would childrenthe hope of childrenbe enough to sustain her through a cold, loveless marriage? A marriage she had, only moments ago, believed to be the culmination of all her young hopes. Now she realized she had no idea what those hopes had truly been. They had been the thinnest vapour, as insubstantial as smoke. Gone now. Gone with the wind.
She thought of how shed compared Stefano to Rhett Butler and she choked on a terrible, incredulous laugh.
I cant do it.
A crack reverberated through the air as her mother slapped her face. Allegra reeled in shock. Shed never been hit before.
Allegra, you are getting married tomorrow.
Allegra thought of the church, the guests, the food, the flowers. The expense.
She thought of Stefano.
Mama, please, she whispered, one hand pressed to her face, using an endearment shed only spoken as a child. Dont make me.
You do not know what youre saying, Isabel snapped. What can you do, Allegra? What have you been prepared to do besides marry and have children, plan menus and dress nicely? Hmm? Tell me! Her mothers voice rose with fury. Tell me! What?
Allegra stared at her mother, pale-faced and wild eyed. I dont have to be like you, she whispered.
Hah! Isabel turned away, one shoulder hunched in disdain.
Allegra thought of Stefanos smooth words, the little gifts, and wondered if theyd all been calculated, all condescensions. Not too bad a price. Hed bought her. Like a cow, or a car. An object. An object to be used.
He hadnt cared what she thought, hadnt even cared to tell her the truth of their marriage, of his courtship, of anything.
Something hardened then, crystallised into cold comprehension inside her.
Now she knew what it was like to be a woman.
I cant do it, she said quietly, this time without trembling or fear. I wont.
Her mother was silent for a long moment. Outside, a peal of womanly laughter, husky with promise, echoed through the night.
Allegra waited, held her breath, hoped
Hoped for what? How could her mother, who barely cared for her or even noticed her at all, help her out of this predicament?
Yet still she waited. There was nothing else she could do, knew to do.
Finally Isabel turned around. It would destroy your father if this marriage fell through, she said. There was a strange note of speculative satisfaction in her voice. Allegra chose to ignore it. Absolutely destroy him, she added, and now the relish was obvious.
Allegra let her breath out slowly. I dont care, she said in a low voice. He destroyed me by manipulating meby giving me away!
And what of Stefano? Isabel raised her eyebrows. He would be humiliated.
Allegra bit her lip. Shed loved him. At least, shed thought she did. Or had she simply been caught up in the fairy tale, just as her mother said?
Life wasnt like that. She knew that now.
I dont want to create a spectacle, she whispered. I want to go quietly. She nibbled her lip, tried not to imagine the future ahead of her, looming large and unknowable. I could write him a letter, explaining. If you tell him tomorrowtell Papa
Yes, Isabel agreed after a short, telling pause, her face a blank mask, I could do that. Her eyes narrowed. Allegra, can you give this up? Your home, your friends, the life youve been groomed to lead? You wont be allowed back. I wont risk my own position for you.
Allegra blinked at her mothers obvious and cold-hearted warning. She looked around her room. Suddenly everything seemed so beautiful, so precious. So fleeting. She sat hunched on her bed, hugging her old patched, pink teddy bear to her chest. In her mind she heard Stefanos voice, warm and confident.
Tomorrow isa new beginning, for both of us.
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was overreacting. If she talked to Stefano, asked him
Asked him what? The answer shed been hoping for, desperate for, but hed failed to give. He hadnt told her he loved her; hed reprimanded her for asking the question in the first place.
There could be no future with him.
And yet what future was there for her without Stefano?
I dont know what to do, she whispered, her voice cracking. Mama, I dont know. She looked up at her mother with wide, tear-filled eyes, expecting even now for Isabel to touch her, comfort her. Yet there was no comfort from her mother, just as there never had been. Her face looked as if it were carved from the coldest, whitest marble. Isabel gave a little impatient shrug. Allegra took a deep breath. What would you have done? If youd had a choice back then? Would you still have married Papa?
Her mothers eyes were hard, her mouth a grim line. No.
Allegra jerked in surprise. Then it wasnt worth it, in the end? Even with childrenme
Nothing is worth more than your happiness, Isabel stated, and Allegra shook her head in instinctive denial. Shed never heard her mother speak about happiness before. It had always been about duty. Family. Obedience.
Do you really care about my happiness? she asked, hearing the naked hope in her voice.
Her mother gazed at her steadily, coldly. Of course I do.
And you thinkIll be happier
If you want love Isabel cut her off then yes. Stefano doesnt love you.
Allegra recoiled at her mothers blunt words. Yet it was the truth, she knew, and she needed to hear it. But what will I do? she whispered. Where will I go?
Leave that to me. Her mother strode to her, took her by the shoulders. It will be difficult, she said sternly, her eyes boring into hers, and Allegra, feeling as limp and lifeless as a doll, merely nodded. You would not be welcome in our house any longer. I could send you a little money, that is all.
Allegra bit her lip, tasted blood, and nodded. Determination to act like a womanto choose for herselfdrove her to reckless agreement.
I dont care.
My driver could take you to Milan, Isabel continued, thinking fast. He would do that for me. From there a train to England. My brother George would help you at first, though not for long. After that Isabel spread her hands. Her eyes met Allegras with mocking challenge. Can you do it?
Allegra thought of her life so far, cosseted, protected, decided. Shed never gone anywhere alone, had no prospects, no plans, no abilities.
Slowly she returned the pink teddy bear to her bed, to her girlhood, and lifted her chin. Yes, she said. I can.
She packed a single bag with trembling hands while her mother watched, stony-faced, urging her on.
She faltered once when she glimpsed on her dressing table the earrings Stefano had given her the day before, to wear with her wedding gown.
They were diamond teardrops, antique and elegant, and hed told her he couldnt wait to see her wearing them. Yet now she would never wear them.
Am I doing the right thing? she whispered, and Isabel leaned over and zipped up her bag.
Of course you are, she snapped. Allegra, if I thought you could be happy with Stefano, I would say stay. Marry him. See if you can make a good life for yourself. But youve never wanted a good life, have you? You want something great. Her mothers smile was sardonic as she finished, The fairy tale.
Allegra blinked back tears. Is that so wrong?
Isabel shrugged. Not many people get the fairy tale. Now write something to Stefano, to explain.
I dont know what to say!
Tell him what you told me. You realized he didnt love you, and you werent prepared to enter a loveless marriage. Isabel reached for a pen and some lined notebook paperchildish paperfromAllegras desk. She thrust the items at her daughter.
Dear Stefano, Allegra wrote in her careful, looping cursive. Im sorry but She paused. What could she say? How could she explain? She closed her eyes and two tears seeped out. I dont know what to do.
For heavens sake, Allegra, you need to start acting like an adult! Isabel plucked the pen from her fingers. Here, Ill tell you what to write.
Isabel dictated every soulless word, while Allegras tears splashed on to the paper and smeared the ink.
Make sure he gets it, she said as she handed the letter to her mother, scrubbing the tears from her eyes with one fist. Before the ceremony. So hes notnot
Ill make sure. Isabel tucked the letter in the pocket of her dressing gown. Now you should go. You can buy the ticket at the station. Theres money in your handbag. Youll have to stay at a hotel for a night at least, until George returns.
Allegras eyes widened; shed forgotten her uncle was staying in the villa. Why cant I just go with him? she asked, only to have her mother tut impatiently.
And how would that look? You can manage a hotel. Ill tell him tomorrow whats happened. Theyll be back by the next day, no doubt. Now go, before someone sees you.
Allegra gulped down a sudden howl of panic. She was so afraid. At least marriage to Stefano had seemed familiar, safe. And yet, she asked herself, would it have been? Or would it have become the strangest, most dangerous thing of allbeing married to a man who neither loved nor respected her?
Now she would never find out.
Isabel picked up the small bag that held nothing more than a few clothes, toiletries and keepsakes and thrust it at her daughter.
Allegra, now dressed in a pair of jeans and a jumper, clutched it to her chest.
My driver is waiting outside. Make sure no one sees you. Isabel gave her a little push, the closest shed probably ever come to an embrace. Go!
Allegra stumbled back to the door, then inched her way down the hallway. Her heart thudded so loudly she was sure the whole villa could hear it.
What was she doing? She felt like a naughty child sneaking out of bed, but it was so much more than that. So much worse.
She slipped on the stairs and had to grab on to the banister.
Somewhere a floorboard creaked, and she could hear a distant sound of snoring.
She tiptoed down the rest of the stairs, across the slick terracotta tiles of the hall. Her hand was on the knob of the front door and she turned it, only to find it was locked.
Relief poured through her for a strange, split second; she couldnt get out. She couldnt go.
So she would go quietly back to bed and forget shed ever had this mad, mad plan. Shed half-turned back when the door was unlocked from the outside. Alfonso, her mothers driver, stood there, tall, dark, and expressionless.
This way, signorina, he whispered.
Allegra glanced back longingly at her home, her life. She didnt want to leave it, yet she would have been leaving it all tomorrow anyway, and for a fate surely worse than this.
At least now she was in charge of her own destiny.
Signorina?
Allegra nodded, turning back from the warm light of her home. She followed Alfonso into the velvety darkness, her trainers crunching on the gravel drive.
Wordlessly, Alfonso opened the back door and Allegra slipped inside.
As the car pulled away, she gazed at her home one last time, cloaked in darkness. Her eyes roved over the climbing bougainvillea, the painted shutters, everything so wonderfully dear. In the upstairs window Isabel stood, her pale face visible between the gauzy curtains, and Allegra watched as her mothers mouth curved into a cold, cruel smile of triumph that made her own breath catch in her chest in frightened surprise.
Tears stinging her eyes, her heart bumping against her chest in fear, Allegra pressed back against the seat as the car moved slowly down the drive, away from the only home shed ever known.
CHAPTER THREE
STEFANO WATCHED ALLEGRA stiffen, her fingers stilling on the buttons of her cheap coat. Her head was bent, her face in profile so he could see the smooth, perfect line of her cheek and jaw, a loose tendril of hair curling on to the vulnerable curve where her neck met her shoulder.
When hed come here tonightfinagled an invitation all too easily from the ever striving Masonhed intended to speak to Allegra about business only. All he cared about was obtaining the best care for Lucio.
He didntwouldntcare about the past, wouldnt care about Allegra. She was simply a means to an end.
Yet now he realized their history could not be so smoothly swept away. The past had to be dealt withand quickly. Easily. Or at least appear as if it was.
He moved forward so his breath stirred that stray tendril of hairas darkly golden as he rememberedand said, Youre not leaving so early, are you?
Slowly, carefully, she turned around. He saw her eyes widen, her pupils flare in shock as if, even now, after hed spoken, she was surprisedafraid?to see him there.
Stefano smiled and slipped the coat from her shoulders. Its been a long time, he said. The memories, which pulsed between them with a thousand unnamed emotions, he firmly pushed to one side.
He saw Allegra gaze up at him, her eyes wide and luminous, reminding him so forcefully of the girl hed known too many years ago. He felt a lightning streak of painor was it anger? flash through him at that memory and he forced himself to smile.
All he could think about, care about, was Lucio. Not Allegra. Never Allegra. He let his smile linger as he asked, Wont you come into the party with me?
It was bound to be a shock. Allegra knew that. Yet she still hadnt expected to be so affected, so aware. Of him.
Even now, she found herself taking in his appearance, her eyes roving almost hungrily over his form, the excellently cut Italian suit in navy silk, the lithe, lean strength of him, the utter ease and arrogance with which he stood, holding her coat between two fingers.
Stefano, she finally said, drawing herself up, bringing her scattered senses back into a coherent whole. Yes, it has been a long time. But I was actually just leaving.
Shed envisiaged a scenario such as this many timeshow could she not? Yet in each one shed imagined Stefano furious, indifferent, or perhaps simply unrepentant. Shed never, in all of her imaginings, seen him smiling, looking like an old acquaintance who wanted nothing more than for them to catch up on each others lives.
Yet perhaps that was precisely what they were. Seven years was a long time. Who knew how either of them had grown, changed? And Stefano had never really loved her in the first place; his heart hadnt been broken.
Not like hers had.
He hadnt given her her coat, she realized. He hadnt said a word, just smiled faintly in that aggravatingly arrogant way.
My coat, please, she said, trying not to sound annoyed, even though she was.
Why are you leaving the party so early? he asked. Ive just arrived.
That may be, but Im going, she said firmly. She couldnt help but add, as curiosity compelled her, I didnt realize you knew my uncles family that well.
Your uncle and I do business together. His smile, still faint, now deepened. Did you not realize Id been invited?
No, she said shortly.
From what Ive gathered, your uncle and you are not on favourable terms.
Allegras gaze jerked up to his; he was staring at her with a quiet understanding that quite unnerved her.
How do you know that?
I hear things. So do you, I imagine.
Not about you.
Then let me take this opportunity to fill you in, he said, smiling easily. Too easily. Allegra shook her head in instinctive, mute denial.
She wasnt prepared for this. Shed expected to encounter hostility, hatred, or perhaps at worstor at bestindifference.
Yet here he was, smiling, relaxed, acting like her friend.
And she didnt want to be his friend. She didnt want to be anything to him.
Why? Was she still angry? Did she still hate him? Had she ever hated him? The questions streaked through Allegras mind like shooting stars and fell without answers.
I dont think we really have anything to say to each other, Stefano, Allegra said when she realized the silence had gone on too long, had become pregnant with meaning.
Stefano raised his eyebrows. Dont we?
I know a lot has passed between us, Allegra said firmly, but its all in the past now and I
If its in the past, Stefano interjected smoothly, then it doesnt matter, surely? Cant we share an evenings conversation as friends, Allegra? Id like to talk to you.
She hesitated. Part of her howled inside that no, they couldnt, but a greater part realized that treating Stefano as a friend, an acquaintance, was the best way to prove to him, and to herself, that that was really all he was.
Its been a long time, he continued quietly. I dont know anyone here but George Mason, and Id rather have more congenial company. Wont you talk with me for a while? His smile twisted and the glint in his eyes was both knowing and sorrowful. Please?
Again Allegra hesitated. All those years ago shed left Stefano, left her entire life, because hed broken her heart.
Yet now was her chance to show him, herself, the world, that he hadnt. Or, even if he had, shed come out of the experience wiser, stronger, happier.
All right, she whispered. She cleared her throat and her voice came out stronger. All right, for a few minutes.
His hand rested on the small of her back as he guided her back into the Orchid Room. Even though he was barely touching her, she burned from the mere knowledge of those fingers skimming the silk of her dress.
His touch. Shed once craved it, although in all of their engagement hed never given her more than the barest brush of a brotherly kiss.
And now her body, treacherous as it was, still reacted to him, her senses screaming awake from the mere brush of his fingers.
At least she knew, Allegra told herself, and recognized it. At least she was aware of his power over her body. That, in itself, was power.
And after tonight, she would never see him again.
Let me get you a drink, he said as they entered the ballroom amidst a flurry of speculative looks and murmurs. What do you drink now? Not lemonade any more, is it?
No She found herself cringing at the memory of just what a child shed been. Ill have a glass of white wine, dry, please.
Done.
Allegra watched him disappear towards the bar and resisted the urge to plunge back through the crowd, through the double doors, out of the hotel. Away from herefrom him.
No, she needed this reckoning. Perhaps shed been actually waiting for it, waiting for the day when she saw Stefano face to face and showed him that she was no longer the silly, star- struck girl whod thought herself so lucky, so blessed, to have someone like him fall in love with her.
Just the memory of her own na?vet, of Stefanos deception, was enough to stiffen both her spine and her soul. Seeing him had been a shock; that was to be expected.
But she was different now, and she would show him just how different. How changed. They would have a drink for old times sake, and then
And then what?
Turning her back on the crowd, as well as the unfinished thought, she found another innocuous spot to station herself.
There you are. Stefano stood in front of her, two glasses of wine cradled in one hand, his smile wry. I thought youd given me the slip.
Allegra swallowed. Her throat felt too tight and dry to make any kind of reply. Given him the slipas she had once before?
She reached for the glass of wine. Thank you.
Stefano glanced at her, shrinking in the shadowy corner of the ballroom, and quirked one eyebrow. Why are you hiding, Allegra?
Im not, she defended herself quickly. This isnt exactly my crowd, thats all.
No? Tell me what your crowd is, then. He paused before adding, Tell me about yourself.
She glanced up at him, saw him looking down at her with that faint, cool smile that chilled her far more than it should. She found her own gaze sweeping over his features, roving over them, looking for changes. His hair was shorter and threads of silver glinted at his temples. His face was leaner, the lines of his jaw and chin more angular and pronounced. There was a new hardness in his eyes, deep down, like a mask over his soul. Or perhaps that had always been there and she hadnt known. She hadnt seen it, not until that last night.
Youre being rather friendly, she said at last. I didnt expect it.
Stefano rotated his wineglass between strong brown fingers. Its been a long time, he said finally. Unlike your uncle, I try not to hold grudges.
Nor do I, Allegra flashed, and Stefano smiled.
So neither of us is angry, then.
No. She wasnt angry; she just didnt know what she felt. What she was supposed to feel. Every word she spoke to Stefano was like probing a sore tooth to see how deep the decay had set in. She didnt feel the lightning streak of pain yet, but she was ready for it when it came.
Unless it never did. Unless shed really healed her heart, moved on, just like she intended to show him. Just as shed always told herself she had.
He took a sip of wine. So, what have you been up to these last few years? he asked. Allegra suppressed the impulse to laugh, even though nothing felt remotely funny.
Ive been working here in London, she finally said. She could feel him gazing at her, even though her own eyes were averted.
What kind of work? His voice was neutral, the carefully impersonal questions of an acquaintance, and for some reason that neutralitythat distancestung her.
Im an art therapist. He raised his eyebrows in question and Allegra continued, genuine enthusiasm entering her voice. Its a kind of therapy that uses art to help people, usually children, uncover their emotions. In times of trauma, expressing oneself through an artistic medium often helps unlock feelings and memories that have been suppressed. She risked a glance upwards, expecting to see some kind of sceptical derision. Instead he looked merely thoughtful, his head cocked to one side.
And you enjoy this? This art therapy?
Yes, its very rewarding. And challenging. The opportunity to make a difference in a childs life is incredible, and Im very thankful for it. Her mouth was dry and she took another sip of cool wine. What about you?
I still own my company, Capozzi Electronica. I do less research now it has grown bigger. Sometimes I miss that.
Research, Allegra repeated, and felt a surprising pang of shame to realize shed never known hed done any research at all. Hed never told her all those years ago, and shed never asked. What kind of research?
Mostly mechanical. I develop new technology to improve the efficiency of industrial machinery.
Youve lost me, Allegra said with a little laugh and Stefano smiled.
Most of it wouldnt concern your day-to-day living anyway. My research has been centred on machinery in the mining industry. A selective field.
Capozzi Electronica is a big business though, Allegra said, isnt it? Ive seen your logo on loads of thingsCD players, mobile phones.
Stefano shrugged. Ive bought a few companies.
She opened her mouth to ask another question, but Stefano plucked her wineglass from her fingers and gave her a teasing smile. Enough of that. The music is starting again and Id like to dance. Dance with me?
He held one hand out, just as hed done all those years ago on her eighteenth birthday, when shed walked down the stairs and into what shed thought was her future.
Now she hesitated. Stefano, I dont think
For old times sake.
I dont want to remember old times.
Stefano smiled faintly. No, neither do I, come to think of it. Then how about for new times sake? New friendships.
She stared at his hand, outstretched, waiting. The fingers were long and tapered, the skin smooth and tanned. Allegra?
She knew this was a bad idea. Shed wanted to chat with Stefano like an old friend, but she didnt want to dance with him like one. Didnt know if she should get that close.
And yet something in her rebelled. Wanted to see how they were together, how she reacted to him. Wanted, strangely, to feel that lightning streak of painto see if it was there at all.
Mutely she nodded.
His hand encasedengulfedhers and he led her on to the dance floor. She stood there woodenly, her feet shuffling in a parody of steps, while couples danced around them, some entwined, some holding themselves more awkwardly, all of them sliding her and Stefano speculative glances.
This isnt a waltz, Allegra, Stefano murmured and pulled her gently to him.
Their hips collided in an easy movement that was far too intimatemore intimate than anything that had passed between them during their engagement.
She felt the hard contours of him against her own softness, unyielding and strong. Allegra stiffened and jerked back even as her limbs went weak.
Im sorry, she murmured, I dont dance that often.
Nor do I, Stefano murmured back, his lips closetoo closeto her hair. But I hear its like riding a bike. You never forget.
His arms were around her waist, his fingers splayed on her lower back. Do you remember how we danced? On your eighteenth birthday? A glimmer of a smile lurked in the mobile curve of his mouth, although his eyes were shuttered. You clung to me for balance because youd never worn heels before.
Allegra shook her head, closed her eyes before snapping them open once more. I was a child.
Stefano frowned, his eyes flickering across her face. Perhaps, he said at last. But you arent one now.
No, Allegra agreed, Im not.
They danced in silence, swaying to the rhythm, their bodies chests, hips, thighsall too tantalisingly close. Allegra felt herself relaxing, even though there was a taut wire of tension running through her core, vibrating with awareness.
Shed never expected it to happen like this. And yet, she realized, shed expected to see Stefano again. A part of her, she acknowledged now, had been waiting for their reunion since the night shed fled.
Why? she wondered, and her heart knew the answer. To show him how strong she was, how healed and healthy and happy she waswithout him.
What are you thinking? Stefano murmured, and Allegra gazed at him through half-closed lids, soothed by the music and wine.
How odd this is, she admitted in a husky murmur. To be dancing with youagain.
It is odd, Stefano agreed, his voice pitched low to match hers. But not unpleasant, surely.
I expected you to hate me. Her eyes opened, widened. Waited.
He shrugged. Why should I, Allegra? It was a long time ago. You were young, afraid. You had your reasons. And, in the end, we didnt know each other very well, did we? A handful of dinners, a few kisses. That was all.
Allegra nodded, accepting, though her throat was tight. Hed distilled their relationship down to its rather shallow essence, and yet it had been the most profound experience of her life.
Do you hate me? Stefano asked with surprising, easy candour. Allegra looked up, startled, and saw a shadow flicker through his eyes.
No, she said, and meant it. No. Ive moved past it, Stefano. She smiled, tried to keep her voice light. Breezy. It was a long time ago, as weve both agreed, and Ive realized that you never lied to me. I just believed what I did because I wanted to.
And what did you believe? Stefano asked softly. Allegra forced herself to meet his gaze directly.
That you loved meas much as I loved you.
The words seemed to reverberate between them and for a strange second Allegra felt like the girl shed been seven years ago, standing before Stefano and asking, Do you love me?
Hed never answered then, and he didnt now.
Allegra let out a breath. What had she expected? That hed tell her he had loved her, that it had all been a mistake, a misunderstanding?
No, of course not. It hadnt been a mistake. It had been the right thing to do. For both of them.
.
.
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Кейт Хьюит
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Step into a world of sophistication and glamour, where sinfully seductive heroes await you in luxurious international locations.One bride: purchased and paid for!Allegra Avesti never imagined that her fiancé, wickedly handsome tycoon Stefano Capozzi, saw her as just another item on his agenda. On discovering the truth, Allegra fled. How could she share her life with a man who’d negotiated the terms of their wedlock in the boardroom rather than the bedroom…?Years later, Stefano needs Allegra – and is determined to claim his runaway bride. Independent Allegra is no longer the innocent young girl Stefano remembers, but this ruthless billionaire always gets what he demands: the defiant but ohsodesirable Allegra will return to Italy with him – and if he has to seduce her into agreeing, then that will make it all the more pleasurable for him…