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‘No. I’ll get the mirror cleared up and then I have things I need to do.’
‘Okay.’ She bit her bottom lip, looking as if she was about to say something. Instead, she shook her head as if to shake an errant thought away. ‘I’ll see you later, then.’
Only when he was certain she had left the cottage did he slump forward and grip his head in his hands.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GRACE LISTENED OUT for Luca’s return but the door to their wing remained resolutely closed all night. Lily hardly slept either. If she didn’t know better, Grace could swear she was waiting for him to come home too.
Something was troubling him and her heart ached to reach out.
The way he had made love to her...it wasn’t just the tenderness, it was the expression in his eyes, so much emotion.
As ridiculous as she knew it to be, it had felt as if he were saying goodbye.
Once Lily was up, fed and dressed, she decided to take her out for a walk. Maybe the crisp air could clear her head of the melancholy that had set in.
Just as she was about to push the pram into the woodland surrounding the monastery, a black Jeep came up the drive. Her heart jumped into her mouth but when it drove slowly past she saw it was one of the guards of the estate. Nonetheless, she waved politely, scolding herself for her irrational reaction. She shouldn’t get all skittish at the thought she might see her husband. And her heart certainly should not be pounding because of it.
After an hour of traipsing through the woods and skirting round the vineyards, she headed back feeling every bit as jumbled as she had when she’d left.
At least the fresh air had done Lily some good. She’d fallen fast asleep.
Grace lifted her out of the pram and carried her into their wing. Even when she stripped her out of the thick snowsuit, Lily didn’t make a murmur.
After settling her in the cot, Grace wandered back into her own room and saw she’d left her passport on her pillow.
‘I must be cracking up,’ she muttered under her breath, snatching it up, dislodging an envelope resting under it which she couldn’t remember seeing before. She really was going bonkers. She could have sworn she’d put the passport in the top drawer of her dresser when they’d returned from Florence. Except, when she opened the said drawer she found her passport in the exact place she had left it.
She opened the new passport, took one look at the picture and dropped it as if scalded.
It belonged to Lily.
Hands shaking, she retrieved it from the floor and took another look. What the heck was it doing in her room...?
Clutching it to her chest, she wandered out into the corridor.
The master bedroom was empty.
The office door was closed. She nudged it open.
Luca was sitting behind his desk, dressed in the same clothes he’d been wearing when she’d found him in her studio.
He looked a mess, his hair sticking out all over the place, the stubble around his jaw thick.
He raised bloodshot eyes.
She held the passport out. ‘I found this in my room.’
He groaned. ‘I put it there.’
‘You did? But why?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Not really.’
He dragged a hand down his face and exhaled slowly. ‘You are free to take Lily and leave.’
Fearing her legs would give way beneath her, she leaned back against the door. ‘Just like that?’
‘Please, Grace, don’t make this any harder than it is. Pack your things. I’ll arrange for a driver to take you wherever you want to go. When you’re ready, call me and we’ll sort out the finances.’
She could not respond. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.
‘I assume the cheque is adequate to get you started?’
When she continued to stare at him blankly, his forehead creased. ‘I wrote a cheque out for you and left it with Lily’s passport.’
‘I never opened the envelope.’
He scratched his head, breathing deeply. ‘If you find it isn’t enough, just say and I’ll write you another. Or you can give me your bank details and I’ll transfer the money straight into it. Not that I would blame you if you didn’t trust me with those details.’
Unexpected freedom was within her grasp. She could almost reach out and touch it but her brain was having trouble processing it. This was such an about-face it was hard to comprehend. ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘Because you don’t belong here.’
His answer felt like a slap in the face.
He must have read her shock. ‘You have never belonged here,’ he said, utter dejection ringing from his eyes. ‘The restrictions of my life, the security, my business dealings, all it did was stifle you.’
