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Say it first, she urged herself. That way you emerge with your pride and your dignity intact. Force yourself to congratulate him and then he might remember you with at least a modicum of respect.
‘You’re getting back with her,’ she stated dully.
‘What?’
‘She’s going to marry and become Mrs Calverri…’
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then he laughed. ‘Yes. Yes, she is.’
How bloody insensitive could a man be? The smile she had intended feeling more like a grimace, she said stiffly, ‘I hope you’ll both be very happy.’
The laughter stopped. ‘Do you, Kate?’ he asked softly. ‘Do you really?’
She was fast discovering that she wasn’t that good a liar. She shifted right up to the other end of the sofa and glared at him. ‘What do you think?’ she demanded. ‘Do you think I have no feelings?’
‘You keep your feelings very well-hidden,’ he commented.
‘That’s pretty rich—coming from you!’
‘I am a Sicilian,’ he drawled arrogantly. ‘What’s your excuse?’
‘Well, you must be a grandmaster at concealment—if you’ve been playing the perfect host to me, whilst all the while…all the while…you…you…’ Her words petered out; they had to—much more of this and she would be bursting into howling sobs of hurt.
‘Kate—’
She shook her head. ‘Perhaps I deserve it! After all, it’s no worse than what I did to her—’
‘No, what I did to her,’ he corrected fiercely. ‘It was my relationship and my responsibility. You were right, you know, Kate—you knew nothing of her existence. I should not have blamed you for my own weakness.’
There it was again, that hateful word. Weakness. Well, she would show him just how strong she could be! Fighting on every reserve she possessed, she pulled herself together with a steadying breath. ‘I don’t know if I can face having lunch with your parents—won’t they see this as a conflict of interests? And what about Anna? Won’t she be furious?’
‘I doubt it,’ he said slowly.
She stared at him in disbelief. ‘What, her future in-laws fraternising with your secret lover?’
He frowned over the phrase and then his mouth twisted contemptuously. ‘Never describe yourself like that again!’
‘Well, I am, aren’t I?’
This had gone far enough. He wanted to reach out and take her hand, but her arms were crossed so firmly across her chest that he didn’t even try. ‘Kate, Anna is getting married to my brother.’
She froze. Stared at him, wild hope being squashed by all-consuming insecurity. ‘Say that again.’
‘Anna is getting married to my brother.’
‘Your brother?’
He heard the incredulity in her voice and understood perfectly—because his own reaction had been very similar. ‘He’s been working in Roma. Remember, I told you? Anna met him there, and…’ He shrugged, a rueful smile playing about his lips. ‘It now emerges that Guido is the man for her, that she is happier with Guido than she has ever been in her whole life,’ he finished drily.
Wild hope—which had briefly triumphed—now lost out to insecurity. Just because he wasn’t getting back with Anna didn’t mean he wanted her, did it? You had only to look at his behaviour to know that he didn’t.
‘When did you find out?’ she asked quietly.
His gaze was very steady. ‘The night I arrived in London, the night…’ His words tailed off. He had been feeling like a man free of chains that night. Anna’s new-found happiness had given him a heady sense of freedom that he had been longing to convey to Kate. And new and very different chains had locked themselves around his heart.
‘And was your pride wounded?’ she asked flippantly, because a flip remark seemed the only way that she could push the memory of that night away.
He raised his eyebrows at her defiant pout, and the ache intensified. He contemplated punishing her with a hard, sweet kiss, but at that moment there was a loud ringing at the front door.
