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Stefano woke to a bed he knew was empty before he opened his eyes. Through the duration of their marriage he’d become accustomed to waking next to Anna, usually with their arms and legs entwined. He’d learned as a teenager to sleep anywhere he could rest his head but nowhere did he sleep as deeply or as sweetly as when Anna lay beside him. He hated that fact about himself.
He shrugged on his robe and went in search of her. He found her in the kitchen looking through a drawer, dressed in her favourite green and black checked shirt and a pair of slim-fitting dark grey canvas trousers. Her hair was brushed and pulled back in a loose ponytail and on her feet were the fluffy duck slippers he’d bought as one of her birthday presents. He’d chosen them as a joke but of all the things he’d bestowed her with on that day, which included a surprise holiday to the Seychelles, the slippers had been her favourite.
He’d spotted a pair of fluffy lamb ones only a week ago and his first thought had been to buy them for her as an early Christmas present. A split second later he’d remembered that Anna no longer lived with him and the only Christmas present she would receive from him would be his contempt.
‘It’s good to see you up.’ He hooked an arm around her waist, dropped a kiss on the nape of her neck and inhaled her delicious soft floral scent.
Turning his back on her in the early hours of the night had been hard but necessary. He’d sensed her desire simmering beneath her rigid surface and known that with only a little persuasion on his part she would be his for the taking. But it was too soon for her. When he seduced her anew, he wanted his wife to be a tinderbox of desire for him. He wanted her to beg for his possession. He wanted her helpless to do anything but melt in his arms. He wanted her fully fit and knowing exactly what she was doing.
The more heightened her emotions and desire for him, the greater the low that would follow when he exacted his revenge.
She stiffened but didn’t pull away or shrug him off.
He pressed one more kiss to her neck and stepped back.
‘What are you looking for?’
She cleared her throat but kept her back to him. ‘My phone charger. I can’t find it anywhere and yours doesn’t fit into my phone.’
‘You probably left it at the flat.’ There was no probably about it.
‘Can we go and get it?’
‘Sure. What do you need it for?’
She turned her head and cast him with a glance that contained a trace of amusement. ‘To charge my phone, obviously.’
Oh, yes, she was definitely on the mend.
Then her amusement turned to a scowl and she flung the phone to one side. ‘I guess it doesn’t matter if I get the charger when I can’t remember the pin code to get into it. Do you know what it is?’
‘No.’
‘Can I use your phone?’
‘What for?’ he asked cautiously.
‘I want to call Melissa.’ There was the slightest tremor in her voice. ‘You must have her number.’
‘I do,’ he admitted. It was pointless to lie. If Anna was determined to speak to her sister she would find a way. His job at this point was to deter her. ‘Are you sure it’s wise to speak to her yet?’
‘I want to know why she’s gone to visit our mother...unless you can tell me?’
‘Her decision to go was very sudden,’ he said, thinking quickly. ‘I shouldn’t speculate what her reasons were.’
‘I only want to know why she’s gone. You say you’re my husband—this is the sort of thing a husband would know.’
‘I am your husband, Anna, but Melissa’s reasons are hers alone. I don’t think you should contact her until your memories return. If they come back to you before she gets home from Australia then you will know the truth for yourself. If they haven’t come back by then, the two of you can sit down and you can hear her reasons from her own mouth.’
Her eyes flashed with anger. ‘Our mother abandoned us to live with another man when our dad wasn’t even cold in his grave. I don’t want to wait for a month to know why Melissa’s suddenly decided to forgive her.’
Stefano strove to keep his features neutral. Anna must assume he already knew all this but he’d only known the basics about her mother’s emigration to Australia. The way she’d always spoken about it was that staying in England to live with her sister was something they’d all been happy about and that the two sisters’ estrangement from their mother had grown organically over time, a simple result of living on opposite sides of the world.
He didn’t want to know any more. She’d had a year to confide her secrets to him but had chosen to keep them to herself.
Stefano held no truck with traumatic childhoods. His own was there for the world to see. He wasn’t in the least ashamed of his past but could think of nothing worse than sitting down to dissect its effect on him. The only effect had been to act as fuel for his success.
