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‘And is that supposed to reassure me?’ Jen exclaimed. ‘And, by the way, are you talking on your own behalf, or for your father?’
‘I represent the Tebaldi family. I’m protecting the family, as I always have.’
‘From me?’ Jen’s lips felt numb. Luca’s words had smashed every atom of feeling out of her. She had believed him when he said he loved her, and now this. ‘I don’t understand what you’re getting at,’ she admitted. ‘If you could try to explain—’
‘So you really know nothing?’
‘Less than,’ she stated, angry now. ‘I didn’t even know Raoul had a will. The subject never came up. Raoul was young. He didn’t expect to die. And he didn’t have any money, as far as I knew. You insist Raoul was a wealthy man? Then, why did he have to borrow money from me? He was grateful for a twenty, Luca. Does that sound like a man I called my friend for any reason other than he was a great guy?’
‘I don’t know,’ Luca admitted.
‘Well, that’s a sad reflection on your relationship with your brother—and even worse on your true feelings when it comes to you and me.’
Hurt lashed through her when Luca remained silent. Raoul had seemed like a lost soul to Jen. He’d been uprooted, Raoul had told her, and longed for nothing more than acceptance from his family, so he could begin the long road to recovery from his gambling addiction with the help of true friends.’
‘Raoul had substantial expectations,’ Luca said at last.
‘Expectations?’ Jen repeated with a frown on her face. ‘Yes. I remember Raoul’s expectations, but I thought he was kidding himself.’
‘No. My brother was about to become a very wealthy man.’
Jen shook her head with exasperation. ‘You’re making it all about money again.’
‘Yes. I am.’
As this sank in she resented the fact that Luca had made her feel defensive and angry. ‘How cold you make it sound—as if money could have saved your brother. I’ll tell you what could have saved Raoul—love could have saved him. Understanding could have saved him. A few minutes of your precious time might have saved him—
‘Don’t! Take your hands off me!’ she raged when Luca took hold of her shoulders to try and make her face him. ‘Don’t you ever touch me again. You have no right—’
As she flung herself out of his grip she saw Luca’s grimace of pain, but it was too late for that, just as it was too late for either of them to revisit the past. They couldn’t help Raoul any more than she could bring Lyddie back, and she would not have her friendship with Raoul tarnished by this talk of his money.
‘What can I say to make things right?’ Luca asked quietly, standing stiffly like a statue, alone and isolated.
‘Nothing,’ she said coldly. He might be used to solving every problem, but he couldn’t solve this. What had happened to Luca’s brother had to be agony for him, but Luca’s remorse couldn’t save him from the pattern she’d seen emerging. He’d been close to his brother, and had found it all too easy to pull away, and now he was doing the same to her. She had no intention of sticking around to be hurt and blamed to ease his guilt.
‘Jen?’
Slamming a hand across her mouth, she rushed back to the bathroom. It had to be all the raised emotions getting to her, Jen reasoned, hoping she’d make it in time.
It was several minutes before Jen raised her head from the sink, and when she saw her green face in the mirror, she groaned. ‘No. Please. No...’ The emotional turmoil had been enough to churn her stomach, but this sickness had no connection with that, she suspected. It made perfect sense. Her hormones were all over the place. Her emotional outburst was just another symptom. She was pregnant with Luca’s baby.
‘Jen?’ He was calling to her with more urgency now. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Go away!’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Luca assured her. ‘I’m worried about you—’
‘It’s too late for that,’ she assured him.
Never had a truer word been spoken, Jen thought tensely.
‘We need to talk,’ Luca insisted.
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you.’ She held her breath, hoping he would leave, while a really big part of her hoped that he wouldn’t.
‘Jen, I’m sorry—’
‘Your apology might be more convincing, if you explained what you’re trying to get at when you keep talking about your brother’s money.’
‘Come out of there, and we will talk. We can’t discuss anything like this.’
She didn’t dare to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom, not yet. She needed time for her stomach to settle, and time to compose herself so she could ask some sensible questions.
‘Did you know Raoul made you the main beneficiary of his will?’
She slid down the wall to the floor. No. And she couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t care about Raoul’s money. It was the last thing on her mind.
‘Did you hear me, Jen?’
She’d heard him, but she couldn’t speak. She was overwhelmed by grief for a man neither of them had been able to save, and for a sister who would never see Jen’s baby.
‘I need a moment,’ she choked out.
* * *
None of this made sense, Jen reflected. Raoul had left everything to her? Raoul had left what to her? Raoul didn’t have any money. The only thing she could be sure about was that she was as naïve in love as she was in life, and now a baby would suffer because of it. Sucking in a deep, steadying breath, she concentrated on settling her stomach, wondering if it would behave long enough for her to leave the bathroom so she could straighten things out with Luca.
Some minutes passed, and then a few more, until finally she was as confident as she could be that the worst of the sickness was over. Smoothing her hair, she chewed some colour into her lips.
Cleaning her teeth, she swilled her mouth.
‘Sorry,’ she called out. ‘I must have eaten something that disagreed with me. I’ll be right there.’ Bracing herself, she opened the door. ‘You were saying something about Raoul’s will?’
‘I think we’d both better sit down.’
She confronted Luca’s dark stare steadily. ‘I’d rather stand.’
Luca frowned, as if her cool tone surprised him. She guessed he was surprised she could be so detached. He should have realised that, like him, she had learned to distance herself from feelings after the trauma of Lyddie’s death. She’d had to, or she’d have gone mad.
‘Just tell me what you know about Raoul’s will.’
‘Very little,’ she admitted. ‘I shared a lot with your brother, but not that. We never talked money—just that one time when he needed my help.’ She smiled faintly, remembering Jay-Dee telling her that Raoul didn’t even own the clothes he stood up in. He couldn’t afford dry cleaning, and had regularly helped himself from Jay-Dee’s wardrobe.
‘Raoul’s trust fund,’ Luca prompted tensely. ‘He must have told you something about i
t?’
‘Nothing.’ Jen’s mind raced to confirm that this was true. ‘Raoul never mentioned a trust fund. I didn’t know anything about it.’
‘And no reason why you should,’ Luca agreed.
‘So what’s this about, Luca?’ She badly needed to sit down. Standing after being so sick was making her feel faint again. She discreetly steadied herself on the arm of a chair.
She should have known he’d spot the momentary weakness, and Luca was at her side within a moment. There was a long silence, and then he said, ‘Do you think you’re pregnant?’
‘What?’ Jen had her own suspicions, but she wasn’t ready to share them with Luca. ‘First the trust fund and now this? Have you got any more accusations up your sleeve?’
‘I’m not accusing you of being pregnant. I’m just asking the question. I recognise the signs—’
‘That’s a bold claim for a man to make,’ she interrupted. All her hurt spilled out at once. ‘How many women have you got pregnant?’
‘None,’ Luca said, looking genuinely shocked at her barb. ‘And you haven’t answered my question,’ he reminded her quietly. ‘Do you think you could be pregnant?’
‘Do you care?’
‘Of course I care! Dio, Jen! I can’t believe you’re asking me that. Do I look like a man who wouldn’t care for the mother of his child?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jen said honestly, still reeling from the shock of her own suspicion that she might be pregnant. ‘I don’t know if you’re capable of feeling. Your family history certainly doesn’t point to it.’
‘My father might have found it impossible to love anything more than himself, or his hoard of jewels, but that doesn’t mean I’ll repeat his mistakes. I’ve learned from the past. I haven’t been damaged by it.’
‘Are you saying I have?’ Jen’s hands balled into tight, angry fists. Luca was forcing her to confront a truth she had always shied away from.
‘I’m saying you were forced to take on a lot at an early age,’ he said gently. ‘I’m saying there was never anyone for you to turn to.’
