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‘We have to show the court commitment. We cannot expect Lily to slot into our lives with no sacrifices.’
‘I’m not afraid of sacrifice,’ she called over her shoulder, heading into the bathroom and putting her clothes down over the rail, then wailing in frustration as he came up behind her. ‘Why aren’t I surprised you followed me in? Look, Rico, you do your best and I’ll do mine. But there is no way, no way at all, that a marriage between us could work.’
‘Why?’ He seemed genuinely bemused, genuinely confused at her outright refusal to even consider it. ‘We have a niece who needs a home, we are clearly sexually compatible, and there is a chance you are carrying my child, Catherine. I’d say we have three very good reasons to be married—three very good reasons indeed.’
Suddenly Catherine felt panicky and out of control. Actually, not so suddenly—since Rico had reappeared on the scene her responses could hardly be classed as normal. But yesterday, in the daze of grief, watching Lily with a bleeding heart, it had been so easy to say yes, to put up her hand and say of course she was up to it. But now, in the cold light of day, the ramifications were starting to hit home.
This wasn’t a puppy or a goldfish she was thinking of taking on while the owners went overseas. This was a baby, a living, breathing baby, and the commitment was for ever. She didn’t even have the luxury of nine months to come round to the idea.
Even though Rico never moved she could almost feel the mental snap of his fingers, forcing her into decision. Time was not on their side.
‘Why do all the sacrifices have to come from me?’ Catherine protested again. ‘I happen to like my life, Rico. I like my job, my flat, my social life, and you’re asking me to throw it all away.’
‘You almost sound convincing. Come on, Catherine, let’s not pretend—this is what you’ve always wanted.’
‘You’re so pompous.’ A sob of frustration fuelled her words. ‘So damned sure that this is what I want.’
‘Isn’t it?’ He gave a mocking smile that only fed her fury.
‘You tell me to jump and I’m supposed to ask how high! Why should it be me making all the sacrifices? What are you giving up?’
‘Oh, there will be sacrifices on my part.’ He gave a malicious smile. ‘You have every right to expect fidelity.’
His words hurt more than Catherine expected. The thought of him with another woman was more vile than she could contemplate; jealousy reared its head just at the mere thought.
‘I wouldn’t just expect it, Rico—I would demand it.’
‘So we are agreed, then?’ Triumph glittered in his eyes, but faded as Catherine firmly shook her head.
‘I have agreed to nothing.’ Still she shook her head, but less firmly now, and there was bemusement in her voice as she carried on talking. ‘Why, when you clearly think so little of me, Rico, would you want me for your wife? You said yourself I disgust you, and you think all I want from Lily is wealth, so why on earth would you ask me to marry you?’
He stared at her for the longest time, his eyes holding hers. His voice, when it came, was low and measured. ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,’ he said softly, but without any trace of tenderness. ‘Surely you have heard that saying, Catherine?’
‘When did I become the enemy, Rico?’ Catherine asked, perplexed eyes scanning his. Her voice was softer now. She was genuinely bemused at the stranger who stood before her now, such a stark contrast to the caring, gentle lover who had held her last night. The man who had reached out in the darkness and kept her afloat through the loneliest hours of her life. ‘You know, I almost feel sorry for you, Rico.’ Catherine let out a low, hollow laugh. ‘I’m starting to think you’d actually prefer for me to be some scheming little gold-digger than—heaven forbid—a real woman, with real feelings.’
‘Save it, Catherine,’ he clipped. ‘You’re not impressing anyone. You see, I know what you really think of me. I know how Janey felt about Marco and I can prove it to you.’ His words silenced her, his voice so cold that Catherine swore her heart stilled for a second. ‘When I saw you at the wedding, Catherine, so proud, so apart from everyone else, I lost my head.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Lost my head over a woman I had never even met. All I knew was that I had to talk to you, to get to know you. I’ve dealt with a million Esthers in my time, yet I used her as an excuse to come over. I had to be with you.’
There was a raw note to his voice now, the urgency she had witnessed in her own emotions, and she blinked back at him, listening as his story unfolded. She was scarcely able to believe that this beautiful, beautiful man could have been so moved, so enthralled that he would engineer a meeting with her—scarcely able to believe that, however fleetingly, however transitory, for a slice of time he had adored her.
‘Had to be with you,’ he reiterated, and Catherine felt her heart trip back into action, flickering like a bird against her ribcage as she recalled that night from his perspective. ‘What happened in the hotel didn’t disgust me, Catherine. What happened in that hotel room was as inevitable as night following day. From the second I laid eyes on you I had to have you, Catherine. There could only ever have been one outcome. It was what happened after that disgusted me.’
A gasp escaped her lips as the words shot out of his mouth. Hazy, best forgotten recollections came cruelly into focus as Rico gave a poor imitation of Janey’s voice.
“‘Play your cards right, sis, and all this could be yours!”’
Even if the imitation was lousy, each and every shameful word hit its mark. ‘Fool I was, I came looking for you, Catherine—and, my God, I’m glad I did. Glad that I found out in time your true motives. You ask why I stayed away, you ask why I barely went round to see my niece? Well, there is your reason. I knew Janey was using my brother, knew because I’d heard it from her own mouth, and if I’d spent more than five minutes in the same room as Janey I’d have told Marco—told him that his lovely young wife was nothing more than a cheap, conniving tart.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Appalled, she stammered as she spoke, ‘Sorry that you had to hear all that—sorry that you found out that way.’
‘I’m not,’ Rico responded coolly. ‘In fact, though I admit I was disappointed at the time, I’m glad I heard Janey’s take on things. ‘Those were Janey’s words,’ Catherine pointed out, but Rico remained unmoved.
‘Perhaps, but I didn’t hear you putting up too much of an argument.’
‘Just because she felt like that it doesn’t mean that I do too. And whatever you heard, whatever was said, deep down, I believe that Janey did love him—that somewhere in her heart…’ She shook her head slightly. Janey and Marco faded temporarily into the distance as a deeper realisation hit home. ‘You came looking for me?’
He gave a curt nod—such a contrast to her stumbling confusion.
‘But why?’ Catherine begged. ‘Why did you come looking for me?’ Her mind
