Italian Mavericks: New Year Temptation. Robyn Grady
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frowned. ‘Who is it?’
‘Find out for yourself,’ she snapped, and taking Charlotte’s hand she dragged her protestingly into the house. He faintly heard her say, ‘Come on, let’s get packed, we’re leaving.’
One half of him wanted to chase after her, find out what was going on, the other needed to know who was on the other end of the phone. Whoever it was had clearly upset his wife.
‘Can I speak to Luigi, please?’ The woman’s husky voice still echoed in Megan’s ears.
‘May I ask who’s calling?’
‘Tell him it’s Serena,’ came the sultry answer. ‘And hurry please; I haven’t got all day.’
Serena! So she was still on the scene! The thought sent her sick to the pit of her stomach. ‘How dare you speak to me like that?’ retorted Megan. ‘I’m not one of his servants.’
‘I don’t care who you are,’ riposted the woman. ‘I want Luigi.’
‘You want him, do you?’ snapped Megan, unable to keep the anger out of her voice. ‘Then it’s bad luck you’re having because he’s not available.’
‘I think Luigi will be available if you tell him who I am.’
‘You think you’d take preference over his wife?’ It crucified Megan to think that Luigi had jumped into bed with her while still carrying on an affair with his PA. But she wasn’t going to let Serena know that.
‘He and his wife are long since parted,’ sneered the other woman. ‘He’s a fool not to have divorced her. How she could walk out on him, I have no idea. He’s—’
‘Actually she’s walked back into his life,’ rasped Megan. ‘You’re speaking to her right now.’
There was a long silence.
‘But I’ll still get him for you, if that’s what you want,’ she added, her voice sickly sweet. ‘Just one moment.’ And she didn’t stop to listen to what else the girl had to say. She was sick to the bottom of her heart as she walked out of the house and tossed the phone to him.
His eyes said it all. He was torn two ways. And it told her what she needed to know. If he truly cared about her, if he truly wanted them to get back together, he would have ignored Serena’s call and followed her. Instead she heard him speak softly into the phone, turning away so that she wouldn’t hear.
‘IS SERENA still working for you?’ Megan didn’t really want to know and yet she couldn’t stop herself. She wished she could take the question back because it made her sound jealous, and why should she be? As Luigi was no longer a part of her life she couldn’t care less how many women he was involved with.
Liar!
It wouldn’t have mattered before she slept with him, but it did now. He had treated her as though she were the only one. No, that wasn’t strictly true. He had made her feel as though she were the only one. A big difference! It could be that he was an artist at it. How did she know what he was like these days? His main aim at the moment was getting custody of his daughter. And if the mother came as part of the package then he was home and dry. A ready built babysitter while he was free to work his long hours and continue his affair.
Megan was furious by the time she’d worked all this out and had already packed before confronting Luigi. She had seen him out of her bedroom window talking into the phone. She had observed the way he stood, the way he moved his head as he listened, the way he moved his hands—as though he was touching Serena in his mind’s eye. It all suggested that he was speaking to a woman who meant a great deal to him. It even looked as though he blew her a kiss when he finished.
‘As a matter of fact, yes, she is,’ he answered easily. ‘But you don’t need to worry your pretty head about her.’
‘I don’t?’ Megan retorted, her tone so sharp that it was a wonder it didn’t slice into him. ‘She made it sound pretty clear to me that she was number one priority in your life.’
‘In my business life,’ he pointed out. ‘Serena’s my PA. You know that.’
‘Really?’ Megan allowed her finely shaped brows to ride smoothly upwards, her grey eyes totally disbelieving. ‘Is that all she is? It wasn’t the impression I got. And if you believe I’m going to move back into your life when she is clearly a part of it then think again. All I can say is thank goodness Serena rang because now I know exactly where I stand.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Megan,’ barked Luigi. ‘Serena means nothing to me. You and Charlotte mean everything.’
‘I wonder if you’d be saying that if I hadn’t walked out on you?’ she accused. ‘I wonder whether fatherhood would have made you change your lifestyle? Somehow I don’t think so. You feel cheated, yes, and because Charlotte’s lawfully your daughter you want her, but that’s as far as it goes.’
‘Are you suggesting that the last two nights meant nothing to you?’ he demanded, his brow thunderously dark, his whole body taut with suppressed emotions.
‘All they’ve done,’ she riposted smartly, ‘is remind me of what an expert lover you are. But good sex is all it was. It didn’t mean anything.’ She’d been love-starved, that was what, and she had enjoyed it, but it went no further than that.
His dark eyes flashed. ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Believe what you like,’ she tossed back, ‘but I’m out of your life for good. Serena’s welcome to you.’
‘You’d ruin your daughter’s happiness?’ he accused. ‘Her life as well, by depriving her of the father she’s just found? Whom she needs, I might add, as much as she needs her mother.’ His eyes were glacial, as hard as the ice that had formed in the cracks in the paving outside.
Megan hadn’t looked at it from this angle. Would it be bad for Charlotte? Or would it be better to make a clean break now before her daughter really got to know Luigi? She knew the answer even before she began debating it. Charlotte needed her father. It was that simple. She’d been so happy when she discovered she did have a daddy after all. It would be cruel to deprive her of him now. Except that she didn’t want a part-time father for Charlotte. Nor indeed a father who bedded other women!
‘I’ll stay on two conditions,’ she told him stonily, reluctantly.
‘And they are?’ he demanded.
Who would have thought, Megan asked herself, that a few short hours ago they’d been making love? Where had all the pleasure gone? They were facing each other like two sworn enemies out for the kill. She lifted her chin. ‘Number one, that you cut your working hours. And number two, there are no other women in your life.’
‘Done,’ he said easily and far too quickly for her peace of mind.
‘I’m serious,’ she countered.
‘And so am I. You and Charlotte mean everything to me.’
‘And Serena?’
He gave a tiny shake of his head, as if to say, Why do you keep questioning me about Serena? ‘She’s my right hand,’ he told her calmly. ‘I can’t cut her out of my life, she virtually runs it—on a business level, of course,’ he added when he saw the accusing glint in Megan’s eyes.
‘And was business the reason she rang now?’ charged Megan. Because it hadn’t seemed like that to her. The woman had sounded sickly possessive.
‘Of course! Which reminds me—’ he shot back his cuff