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married her otherwise,' Marika chuckled, and then her
smile dimmed. 'I think, for a while, he really loved Sofia,
but he wanted more children and she couldn't have them.
That's why he divorced her. It was a very bitter divorce.
Carlo wanted to live with his mother but my father would
not allow Sofia to take Carlo away '
'Why not?'
'Carlo was his son,' sighed Marika. 'Unfortunately, Carlo was very protective of Sofia and he blamed his father for hurting her. That's when the trouble between them began. Lukas was furious... his young son, daring to condemn him. Then Lukas remarried and Sofia died. Carlo hadn't seen his mother in many months and that made him even more bitter. Eventually he was sent off to school. When he was eighteen, he took his mother's name and I have never known my father as angry as he was then. For Lukas, it was the most base insult. He is immensely proud of the Philippides name,’
But father and son had got together again nine years ago and Jessica was insatiably curious about what had occurred to upset the apple cart then. Sufficient to sever all familial ties, to employ Carlo's phraseology.
‘He forgave him, though... didn't he?’ Jessica fished, and then suddenly despised herself for trying to draw his sister into telling her more.
There was no mistaking Marika's tightening features. Her gentle dark eyes hardened. 'Did he? I don't think so,’ she said reflectively. "But this time, yes. My father very much wants to win his son back to his side. He is aware of how little time may be left to him. He will not admit it but he is very proud of the success Carlo has achieved without his help.'
Hail the conquering hero, the return of the prodigal to the celebration feast.
Suddenly Marika laughed and leant closer to Jessica to whisper, 'I tell you a secret. Lukas has a library of Press cuttings on Carlo but Carlo would never believe it unless he saw with his own eyes.'
Her homely face tightened and she patted the younger
woman's arm. ‘I am very happy that Carlo has found
it possible to love again. I feared that he would never
marry. A weaker man might have had his faith in women
destroyed forever by such treachery but '
What treachery? Jessica was on the brink of asking when a manservant emerged from the villa and spoke to Marika.
'Please excuse me. My father wants me.'
'I think I'll go to bed,' Jessica said, but as Marika sped off at an obedient trot she decided instead to stay outdoors a little longer. The slight breeze was deliriously welcome and her brain was engaged on such frantic activity that she knew she had no hope of sleeping.
Some woman Carlo had loved had betrayed him. Jessica ached at the image of Carlo loving a woman that deeply. It hurt, yes, she acknowledged grudgingly, it really hurt.
Why did that knowledge hurt her? Ego? He had not loved Jessica, had laid no heart at her feet, had made no concessions to her self-respect or pride and had em-
ployed no heated persuasions. He had offered her the vacant space in his bed and the time limit of his boredom. A cool, arrogant, take-it-or-leave-it choice. Was that why it had been so easy to run away?
Leaning on the terrace railing, she let her cool hands press against her hot cheeks. She had gone to the Deangate that day in a colossal rage. Calling into her father's office, she had found him sitting with his head in his hands.
'I've sold Amory's,' he had muttered as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. 'I've sold to Carlo. Without finance, the firm was going to sink. I had no choice. Better money in the bank than bankruptcy...and I suppose your mother will be pleased.’
like a madwoman, Jessica had hammered on the door of Carlo's suite. He had opened it himself.
'Take a long, slow deep breath,' Carlo had suggested,
reading her furiously flushed face with ease. ‘I gather
your father's told you '
