Modern Romance April 2017 Books 1-4. Annie West
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lost her again filled her with insecurity.
Rio skimmed narrowed dark eyes over the pale, still triangle of her face and his shapely mouth twisted. ‘The property market stalled and I was overstretched. I still believe I could have made it through but Jax pulled out and hung me out to dry...and Franca, who had been screwing him behind my back and who very much liked the luxuries of life, ran off with him.’
Ellie winced and dropped her gaze, imagining the sting of that double blow of financial loss and treachery. ‘I’m really sorry that that happened to you,’ she murmured ruefully. ‘It must’ve been very hard to pick yourself up after that experience.’
‘It taught me a valuable lesson. At university I learned enough to ensure that I would never leave myself that vulnerable in business again,’ he confided. ‘I succeeded but after Franca, I avoided any kind of serious involvement with women. What the twins offered suited me at the time. No strings.’
‘I can understand that,’ she conceded reluctantly. ‘You know...er...that night at Polly’s wedding, after we parted... I’ve always wondered what happened—’
‘You don’t want to know,’ Rio cut in succinctly, his tone cold as ice water.
And in telling her that he had told her everything there was to know, she acknowledged in consternation, just as suddenly furious with him. She had rejected him that night and had raced back to her room at the palace to take refuge in time-honoured tears and self-recriminations. But Rio had taken solace where he could find it and what right had she to object? Finding that out annoyed and disturbed her though. Rio could divide sex from emotion and treat sex like an athletic pursuit and he had done so for years before he met her. Could Rio really change? Could he switch back to the young, optimistic male he must once have been when he fell in love with Franca? And what exactly did it take to make Rio fall in love?
Rio was watching Ellie as the limo drove through the palazzo gates. Her delicate little profile was set, her brain running at a mile a minute on thoughts he didn’t want to share. Maybe he should have lied. But lies would catch up with him sooner or later. Did she realise that she really wanted him to be perfect? Prince Charming straight out of a fairy story? And that he could never be perfect? Frustration and growing anger raged through his lean, powerful frame. He could not pretend to be something he was not in an attempt to impress her. And why would he want to anyway? Ellie would smell a rat sooner than most women because she was always looking below the surface, weighing pros and cons, picking up on inconsistencies, seeking out flaws. And he had still to confess his biggest flaw of all to a woman who had chattered animatedly about how her discovery of Beppe would now enable her to chart the previously unknown paternal half of her medical history.
In the greeting line, Becky and Roz made much of Rio and their previous acquaintance while acting as if they had never laid eyes on Ellie before. They didn’t recognise her, she registered with relief, didn’t remember her at all from that fleeting glimpse of her in the hotel doorway that night. But instead of being relieved at that realisation, Ellie was angry with Rio and angry with herself. She had agonised so much over that night and she had been so hurt but their backfired encounter had not had a similar effect on Rio’s tough hide. She needed to guard herself from being too emotional and vulnerable around him. She had to toughen up, she told herself urgently.
Polly whisked her off after the meal. ‘What on earth’s wrong between you and Rio?’ she demanded.
‘There’s nothing wrong—’
‘Even Rashad’s noticed the atmosphere and to be honest he’s not usually that quick to notice that sort of stuff,’ her sister admitted.
And Ellie spilled the whole story from its start two years earlier to the presence of the twins at the wedding. She was too upset to hold it all in any longer and Polly’s shocked face spoke for her. It was several minutes before she could even move her sister on from repeatedly saying ‘Both of them?’ as if she had never heard or dreamt of such behaviour before. Her attitude did nothing to improve Ellie’s mood.
‘And that night you met...?’ Polly pressed. ‘He told you that?’
‘Yes, Polly,’ Ellie confirmed wearily. ‘I’ve married an unashamed man whore.’
‘If Rashad had ever done anything like that, nothing would persuade him to admit it to me,’ Polly declared wryly. ‘But at least Rio is honest, well, brutally so.’
‘I think he was just thoroughly fed up with me asking awkward questions.’
‘I suspect he’s already heard more than enough about that night and you shot him down in flames, which is not the sort of treatment he’s used to receiving from women,’ Polly pointed out grudgingly in Rio’s defence. ‘Let it go, Ellie. It’s in the past and you weren’t dating him or anything, so you can’t fairly hold it against him. He didn’t cheat on you. As for those blondes, ignore them, forget they’re here!’
Ellie knew that was sensible advice but something stubborn in her refused to back down. Hard reality was steadily taking the bloom off her wedding day.
Rio tugged her stiff, resisting body close as he swept her out onto the floor to open the dancing. He bent his arrogant dark head and whispered, ‘Do you know just how annoyed I’m getting with you?’
‘Do you know how annoyed I am with you?’ Ellie whispered back, unimpressed.
‘Are you always going to be this jealous and possessive of me?’ Rio enquired silkily.
A current of rage travelled through Ellie as hotly as a flame. ‘Are you? I seem to remember you threatening to beat up Bruno for buying me dinner—’
‘That was different,’ Rio asserted without hesitation. ‘We were already involved.’
Angry tears prickled behind Ellie’s lowered eyelids and she finally knew what was really wrong with her. She had got involved with Rio on an emotional level the very first night she met him. But he hadn’t got involved with her until she entered Beppe’s life and became what he initially saw as a threat to someone he cared about. Was he even involved with her now that he had married her? Or had he only married her to please Beppe and because she might be pregnant? And why was she only asking herself that now and worrying about the answer?
Rio caught her hand firmly in his as they left the floor, deftly weaving them through the clusters of guests addressing them, never pausing longer than a few polite seconds. Only when they reached the foot of the main staircase did Ellie question where he was taking her and she tried to wrench her hand free.
‘We’re going to sort this out in private,’ Rio delivered in a driven undertone.
‘There’s nothing to be sorted out,’ Ellie protested, trying once again and failing to free her fingers from his.
Determined not to be sidetracked, Rio headed for the opulent guest suite where Ellie had dressed for the wedding. He thrust the door shut behind him in a movement that sent dismay skimming through Ellie. She had not expected Rio to turn confrontational because she had assumed that the presence of their guests would control and inhibit him. The message she was getting now was that Rio’s temper was rarely repressed.
He dropped her hand and Ellie immediately made for the door. ‘We can’t do this in the middle of our wedding,’ she argued.
Rio cut off her escape by stepping in front of the door, which in turn sent Ellie stalking and rustling angrily in all her finery across the room towards the window. She flipped round, colour accentuating her cheekbones, green eyes very bright and defiant.
‘It’s our wedding and it’s almost over and we can do whatever we like,’ he told her grittily.
‘Do you have an off button?’ Ellie asked helplessly. ‘Because I think it’s time to hit it. Yes, this is our wedding and we have had a slight difference of opinion but I have done and said nothing anyone could criticise—’
‘I’m criticising you!’ Rio bit out harshly.
Ellie stared at