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He paused for the longest time. ‘Now, we really do have to talk, Catherine.’
She didn’t want to talk, didn’
t want to go over and over things, yet she knew they had to—knew things needed to be sorted and that time wasn’t on their side.
‘This time tomorrow my family will be here. We cannot stop this from turning ugly. Antonia isn’t going to take it lying down, but if we can at least put on a united front with the social workers—if we can at least get the legal ball rolling—we can hopefully prevent Antonia from taking Lily from the hospital.’
‘She has no right,’ Catherine responded immediately. ‘She’s not even a blood relative.’
‘But my father is,’ Rico pointed out. ‘And my father will do whatever Antonia tells him, believe me.’
Oh, she did believe him, as much as she might not want to. It had been the same with her own parents, and Catherine swallowed nervously. Only now was the magnitude of what she faced truly registering.
‘Look, Rico.’ She kept her voice deliberately even. ‘I understand your doubts about motives, but that aside, surely you cannot question my suitability? I’m a teacher, I work with children, I’m Lily’s aunty…’ She reeled off her possible attributes but he remained unmoved. ‘Surely after last night, after what we shared…’ Her voice trailed off as his face darkened. The fury in his eyes was more painful than any slap, the anger in his voice so visible she recoiled into the pillows, her eyes widening as he spoke, fury blazing in every word.
‘I wondered how long it would take you.’ He glanced at his heavy gold watch. ‘But you even surpassed my expectations. I thought you’d at least last five minutes, but you couldn’t even hold out that long.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You think last night changes anything? Well, it doesn’t.’ His finger jabbed accusingly at her. ‘You warned me yesterday you’d do whatever it takes to get Lily, and I should have bloody listened. So if you think you can use your feminine wiles to win me round you’re wrong. We had sex last night. That was all.’
‘You really are the limit, Rico.’ So blind was her fury, Catherine didn’t even bother to wrap the sheet around her, just stood up out of the bed and reached for a robe, tying the belt furiously around her. She stood before him, bristling with anger. ‘Do you really think I orchestrated last night? Do you really think I was lying there hoping you’d come to me? Well, you’re wrong. Last night we needed each other. Last night we wanted each other. There was no master plan intended. My God—’ Her voice was rising now, and her hand raked through her hair, utterly appalled at his slant on things. ‘Sleeping with you was the last thing I expected when I lay down on that bed. You know that, Rico. You know that,’ she repeated, grabbing his arm and trying to rattle some sense into him. But he flicked it away. ‘If we’d thought about it undoubtedly it would never have happened. We didn’t even—’ Her hand shot up to her lips, trembling, as an impossible thought came into focus.
‘Go on.’ Rico’s voice was like ice, and when Catherine said nothing it was Rico who continued for her. ‘We didn’t use any precautions, is that what you were about to say?’
She gave a small, worried nod, wincing at the bitterness in Rico’s voice. ‘Why aren’t I surprised that you’re not on the Pill, Catherine? Why aren’t I surprised that, just like your sister before you, you had unprotected sex—?’
‘With a very rich man,’ Catherine finished for him, her voice a pale whisper. ‘You bastard.’
Very slowly he shook his head, his eyes menacing as they held hers. One hand touched her cheek, one finger traced her cheekbone, but utterly without tenderness. ‘There are no bastards in the Mancini family. You know that, Catherine. Just as Janey did. There are no bastards in the Mancini family because, like the traditional Sicilian family we are, we always pay for our mistakes—and, my God, you’d make me pay, wouldn’t you?’
The vileness of his accusation was almost more than she could comprehend. The fact that he could think she would stoop so low ignited the anger that had simmered unattended since the first knock at her door from the police.
‘We didn’t have sex last night, Rico. We made love. You think I engineered it? You think that while my sister lay in the mortuary I was planning to ensure a link with the Mancinis?’
‘You glimpsed wealth.’ Rico shrugged. ‘For a few hours you saw how your life could be…’
‘So I seduced you?’ She shook her head fiercely, scarcely able to comprehend what he was accusing her of. ‘I summoned you to my bed in the vain hope I might conceive?’
‘Just as your sister did with Marco.’
Anger boiled within her, blurred her sense and took away her constraint. ‘Haven’t Sicilians heard of contraception, Rico? You make out I am some sort of tart when the truth is I have had only two relationships in my life and—as fleeting as it was—you were the second.’ She watched his face pale, almost took back what she had just said, lied to save herself. But she was beyond rationality now. Pride intermingled with hurt—a dangerous cocktail. ‘So, no, I’m not on the Pill, and I didn’t have a condom in my handbag just in case some six-foot-four Sicilian chose to make love to me. You’ll have to forgive me for my naivety, Rico, but the question really is, what’s your excuse? How come you didn’t think to take precautions?’
To her utter exasperation he didn’t answer.
‘Because maybe, just maybe you needed me last night?’ Catherine suggested for him. ‘Because maybe you needed to be with another person? Needed—’
‘I needed sex.’ Rico shrugged. ‘It helps me sleep.’
‘What are you scared of, Rico? Why do you have to sully everything with your own warped take on things?’
‘Nothing scares me,’ he said proudly, but the lack of conviction in his voice was audible to Catherine.
‘Oh, yes, it does. You’re scared to believe that last night might actually have been about emotion, that maybe just for a moment in time you needed another human being. But don’t worry, Rico, I’m not about to trap you…’ Her mind was working overtime, tossing up answers to questions she hadn’t even considered. ‘There’s a pill I can take. I can see a doctor today…’
‘There will be no pills.’ His eyes narrowed menacingly. ‘Put that out of your mind this instant. And, contrary to what you just said, I do need you.’
I do need you. His admission stilled her, but his lack of emotion told her this wasn’t going to be the declaration she secretly craved.
