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‘Stop!’ With a mo
numental effort of will, she broke away from his kiss and forced herself to take a step back from him. ‘This isn’t what I want,’ she gasped, walking shakily across to the huge plate-glass window that overlooked the City of London.
‘What do you want?’ he asked abruptly.
‘I want things back the way they were.’ She was suddenly too emotional to guard what she was saying.
‘Then you should have thought twice before cheating on me,’ Vito grated.
‘I never cheated on you!’ Lily cried. ‘But it doesn’t make any difference now.’
‘Of course it does—it changed everything!’ Vito said.
‘But our relationship…Nothing was how it seemed anyway.’ She felt tears prick her eyes revealingly, and she looked down so that he wouldn’t see. ‘You weren’t the man I thought you were, or you would never have believed lies about me. You would never have accused me so horribly of something I didn’t do.’
She turned away and stared out of the window, but instead she saw her reflection staring back—wide eyed and lost, wearing a crumpled linen suit. Her hair was escaping in wild curls from the tightly pulled-back style she’d tried to impose on it that morning, when she hadn’t had time to do it properly—but there was nothing she could do to fix that now. She smoothed her hands automatically over her creased jacket, then took a deep, steadying breath before turning back to face him.
‘I’m leaving now.’ She was proud at how level her voice sounded, despite the turmoil she was feeling inside.
‘No. You’re not leaving.’ Vito’s voice was cold as stone. ‘You haven’t thought this through yet.’
‘There’s nothing to think about,’ Lily said. ‘You’ve made it very clear what your opinion of me is. Why would I marry you?’
‘For your child’s sake,’ he said. ‘Do you want your child to grow up illegitimate? Without a father?’ He walked forward and put his hands on her upper arms, holding her in place to emphasise the importance of his words. ‘Do you want your baby to be somebody’s dirty little secret?’
Lily stood stock-still and stared up at Vito. A horrible feeling of nausea was rising up through her, and his hands felt like cold inhuman restraints.
‘Why would you say such a horrible thing?’ Her voice trembled with emotion as she spoke. Vito’s words were too close to the bone. Too close to her own insecurities about her childhood.
‘Because you know what that would be like for your child,’ he said. ‘All your life, you’ve known what it’s like to be Reggie Morton’s dirty little secret.’
She stared at Vito in horror.
For a moment she forgot to breathe. Her heart forgot to beat.
Then all at once she had to escape—get out of there as fast as she could. She whirled away from Vito automatically, her hands flying up in alarm as she swayed against the window.
Her mind was spinning as her gaze plummeted dizzyingly down into the street far below. They were so high up that nothing looked real—tiny stick-figures, toy cars and model trees were hazy images that were almost out of sight. It was like she was in some kind of awful nightmare.
Then suddenly her vision blurred and she felt herself start to fall into blackness.
‘Lily!’
Vito’s voice cut through the haze, dragging her back to the harsh reality of her situation. Hands like steel gripped her arms to prevent her from falling, then virtually lifted her away to the huge leather chair by the desk.
‘Lily.’ Vito dropped down onto one knee in front of her. For a moment she almost made the mistake of thinking he was concerned about her—then as her eyes came into focus she saw that his expression was just as cold as before. He had simply adopted the best position to get a good look at her. And probably to make sure she was looking at him, paying proper attention to what he had to say.
‘You’re extremely pale,’ he said. ‘Have you eaten today?’
‘Of course I’m pale.’ Lily spoke through gritted teeth. Her stomach was churning horribly, and she really thought there was a danger that she might be sick. ‘I’ve had a lot of nasty shocks this morning.’
‘Have you eaten?’ he insisted. ‘What would make you feel better?’
‘Getting away from you.’ She stood up so quickly that Vito rocked back on his heels, but the rapid movement was a mistake. A wave of nausea rolled through her again, and she clung to the desk for support, feeling her head start to spin.
‘Sit down,’ Vito barked. ‘I’m not letting you leave so that you can faint in the street—if you even get that far.’
One hand was on her shoulder, pressing her back into the chair, and the other snatched up the phone on his desk. Lily only half listened as he reeled off a list of instructions—but she understood that he was ordering food and drink.
