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Alice Lombardi's worn features and the pained stiffness of her movements.
'Please excuse me for not standing up to greet you,' she murmured in her
well-bred voice. 'My arthritis is particularly troublesome today.'
'I'm sorry. I should have phoned first-'
'Did Rio send you here?'
Holly reddened.
'I thought so,' Alice said ruefully. 'Rio can be very ruthless.'
'He wanted us to meet and I was glad of the excuse,'
Holly responded awkwardly, backing down into the seat that was indicated.
'I may as well admit that Christabel is staying here this week,' the
older woman replied. 'I shan't apologise for that. I can hardly turn my
back on her simply because my son changed his mind about marrying her.
She often visits me.' "That's really none of my business.' But the news
that Rio's ex-fiancée was on the premises was daunting and made Holly
feel very much as though she had foolishly strayed into the enemy camp.
'If you say so...' Alice's gaze was as keen as her son's. 'How honest
may I be?' 'As honest as you like.' Holly lifted her chin. 'Is your son,
Timothy, my grandchild?' Holly flushed. 'No.' 'And are you expecting a
child now?' 'No, I'm not.' Holly supposed that those were fairly obvious
questions to ask in the circumstances but she felt horribly like a
little kid being questioned by a stern headmistress for unacceptable
behaviour.
'I'm sorry if I've embarrassed you but I had to know.' The older woman
now looked weary and defeated.
In the hiatus, a maid knocked and entered with a tray of tea. At a
leisurely pace, fragile bone-china cups of heirloom quality were filled
and delicate cakes were offered. Holly could not get a morsel past her
tight throat and even to moisten her lips was a challenge.
'I don't know what has got into Rio,' Alice admitted tightly, tears
glimmering in her strained gaze. 'Perhaps I am better not knowing, but
if you have somehow contrived to trap him into marriage and your
motivation was his wealth I will be your enemy and a most bitter one.'
Holly paled at that unhesitating assurance. 'I-' 'You have no career.
You're penniless. How could my
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son even have met you?' Alice made no attempt to conceal her
bewilderment. 'You're not from our world. Of course I'm suspicious of
you. Rio won't tell me anything about you.'
Reminded of how poor she had been before her marriage, Holly was
mortified. The smart outfit which had helped her confidence suddenly
felt like finery she had no entitlement to be wearing. 'I really don't
know why Rio sent me here-'
'Don't you? You're supposed to be ingratiating yourself. He's a typical
man and he's planning to stay well out of the way until I've come to
terms with you,' the older woman informed her drily. 'What age are you,
for goodness' sake?'
'Twenty.'
'So now Rio's cradle-snatching.' Alice Lombardi was openly taken aback
by the news that Holly was that young. 'I can only assume that my son is
madly in love with you. There is no other possible explanation for his
behaviour.'
Holly remained silent, unable to lie.
'Have you nothing to say?' Alice demanded in frustration.
'I love him,' Holly muttered fiercely and, setting down her untouched
tea, she stood up, truly desperate to escape. 'I don't think there's
much point me sitting here because I'm only upsetting you and I don't
have the answers you want.'
'If Rio loves you, I don't need any answers.' The older woman studied
Holly's troubled face with belated discomfiture. 'Nor will I interfere.'
'He doesn't love me,' Holly said bluntly. 'He likes me. He said he
thought he could get fond of me but I'm not holding my breath.'
And with that confession, which appeared to startle her
hostess, Holly slipped back out to the flagstoned hall and heaved a
huge, craven sigh of relief. Only then did she see another woman poised
by the massive stone fireplace.
'So you're Holly,' Christabel drawled with a scornful head-to-toe
appraisal that would have left Holly squirming had Holly not been so
intent on staring herself.
Sheathed in a fake-fur coat, a short dress the colour of cranberry and
knee-length black leather boots, the blonde was so incredibly tall that
Holly actually had to step back to receive the full effect. And the full
effect of Christabel in the flesh was nothing short of spectacular. The
shining fall of pale blonde hair, the startling green eyes, the
voluptuous pink mouth. Then the lithe, shapely figure, the hand on the
hip angled forward, the endless length of gleaming thigh presented by
her taunting, aggressive stance.
'You. look even better than your pictures,' Holly conceded helplessly.
'Are you trying to be funny with me?' Christabel spat, lips drawing back
from her perfect teeth in a venomous flash. 'You've got some neck,
coming here to visit Alice. This is my turf. Don't you kid yourself that
you've stolen my man. You only have him on loan!'
'Extended loan.' Holly threw her bright head back, bronze ringlets
tumbling back from her pale heart-shaped face, clear blue eyes as steady
as she could make them. 'If you were careless enough to lose a bloke
like Rio that's your problem, not mine. But he's my husband now-'
'And how long do you think that's going to last?' Christabel loosed a
shrill derisive laugh.
'As long as he wants it to. I don't want this bad feeling with you,'
Holly admitted tautly. 'I'd nothing to do with you and Rio splitting up-'
'But if you hadn't come along we'd have got back together,'
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Christabel condemned. 'I'll break up your marriage if it's the last
thing I do!'
'Christabel...no!' another voice interrupted, charged with censure.
Both young women spun. Leaning heavily on a stick, Alice Lombardi was
several feet away, her thin features rigid with shocked disapproval as
she stared at her house-guest.
All the way back to London, Holly thought of Christabel. Beautiful,
angry, vindictive Christabel. She tried to tell herself that she wasn't
worried. But a woman so flawless she barely looked human was hard to
downsize in her memory bank. And if the gorgeous Christabel still hoped
to get Rio back, even though he was now married, what did that tell her?
Well, for one thing, it blew a large hole in Holly's dim assumption that
something very serious had broken up their engagement. Now she was no
longer so sure. Christabel's declaration of war suggested that although
Rio and the blonde might have had a major row when they had split up
there had still been
hope of a reconciliation.
And that new angle on the situation scared Holly, really scared her. For
the first time Holly was afraid that Rio might have used her just to
strike back at Christabel. Not deliberately, but reacting to a
subconscious very male urge to level the score, might not Rio have
turned to Holly and their marriage as a weapon? By nature, Rio was
shockingly stubborn. He was also volatile and deep. What was going to
happen if Rio woke up one day and realised that he still cared about
Christabel? Already painfully aware that Rio had married her on the
rebound, Holly could not see that as a far-fetched fear. Rio didn't love
her. Their marriage would not survive if he still had feelings for
another woman, all too willing to take him back. Forcing her thoughts to
a halt at that point, Holly told herself that she was overreacting. Even
so, after the afternoon she had endured it was impossible to feel good
about either herself or her marriage. She needed to find a job, she
decided in desperation, show some independence. Alice Lombardi thought
that she might be a gold-digger who'd trapped Rio into marriage. Rio had
also talked about the need for her to lead her own life. Maybe that was
