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‘They know I’ve left. The fact that I’m being secretive will make them more interested.’
‘I hope you don’t have an over-inflated idea of your own importance. Otherwise, this whole idea is going to fall flat on its face.’
Rio’s response to that was to hold out his phone. ‘Call your grandfather.’
‘What, now?’ Evie had been putting off that moment and her stomach plummeted as she anticipated what her severe, principled grandfather would say about her current situation. ‘What am I supposed to say? Hi, Grandpa, you may be seeing a picture of me naked in today’s papers so I just wanted to tell you that I’m not starting a career as a glamour model—’
‘It won’t be in today’s papers. It’s too late for that. There’s a strong chance it will make tomorrow’s editions, but it may already be up on the Internet. Call.’
‘My grandfather doesn’t
surf the Internet. He’s eighty-six,’ Evie squeaked but her observation merely earned her a lift of an eyebrow.
‘What does his age have to do with anything?’
‘You wouldn’t be asking me that if you’d been to the Cedar Court Retirement Home. They celebrated when they got a decent TV picture. They probably think high speed broadband is another type of dressing for varicose veins.’
He didn’t withdraw the phone. ‘Call.’
‘I can’t.’ Evie’s voice was a whisper and she shrank back against the seat as she tried to delay the inevitable. ‘This is the guy who took me on my first day at school. He taught me to ride a bike. He doesn’t believe in holding hands or kissing in public. I’m all he has in the world and he thinks I’m a really decent, old-fashioned girl… In fact, I am a decent, old fashioned girl, or I was until I met you.’
‘All the more reason to call him before he hears it from someone else.’
Running out of excuses, Evie took the phone reluctantly. Her hand shook as she keyed in the number. As she waited for him to answer, she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and tried not to think about how disappointed her grandfather was going to be.
After all he’d done for her, after all his love and affection, he didn’t deserve this…
‘Grandpa? It’s Evie…how are you doing?’ Her voice sounded false to her and she wondered how long it would take her grandfather to pick up on the fact that something was wrong. ‘Are you staying warm there in all this snow?’ Maybe that was a good link, she thought desperately as she listened to his cheerful response—I was a bit too warm, Grandpa, so I thought I’d take my clothes off…
‘No, nothing’s wrong; I just thought I’d ring you for a chat.’ Aware that Rio was watching her, Evie carried on making small talk about the weather and listening to her grandfather’s observations about his friends. When he mentioned that he’d been boasting about her again to Mrs Fitzwilliam, two huge tears slipped from Evie’s eyes and she covered her mouth with her hand.
With a sigh, Rio removed the phone from her. ‘Mr Anderson? Rio Zaccarelli here—no, we haven’t met, but I know your granddaughter—yes, I’m the same Zaccarelli that owns the hotel and spa chain—’ he leaned back in his seat, not looking remotely discomfited by the prospect of dealing with what could only be described as a hideously awkward situation ‘—yes, it’s still doing well, despite the economic climate—absolutely—’ he smiled ‘—that’s how I met Evie—’
Worried that Rio might actually say something that would make things even worse, Evie gulped down her tears and tried to grab the phone but he held it out of reach, laughing at something her grandfather had just said.
‘I’ve already learned that to my cost—yes, she is—’
Evie frowned. ‘I am what? What are you saying?’
Rio ignored her. ‘I know about that. Yes, she told me. But his loss is my gain.’
Were they talking about her broken engagement? Evie covered her eyes with her hands, all too able to imagine what her grandfather was saying.
‘Yes, a total loser—’ Rio’s voice became several shades cooler ‘—she’s better off without him… No, not too badly—that’s what we rang to tell you. We’re engaged. I know it seems sudden but you can blame me for that—when I see something I want, I have to have it and I’ve never felt like this about a woman before.’
Evie peeped through her fingers and waited for Rio to pass the phone across so that she could receive a giant telling off from her strict grandfather. Instead, she heard laughter as Rio controlled the conversation.
‘We wanted to warn you that there might be some revealing photographs in the press. My fault entirely—they follow me around, I’m afraid—’ Rio’s voice was smooth and he gave a slight smile in response to something her grandfather said. ‘I agree—I’ve always said the same thing—that’s right. No—no, she’s fine—just a bit embarrassed because she’s pretty shy about that sort of stuff… Yes, I know she’s modest—’ he shot her an ironic glance ‘—well, I have my lawyers onto it but if anyone mentions it to you, you can tell them the photographer was trespassing in a private room—yes, I’ll hand you over—good to talk to you—look forward to meeting you in person—’ Having moulded her rock-hard war veteran grandfather into the consistency of porridge, Rio handed her the phone, a smug expression on his face. ‘He’s delighted. He wants to congratulate you in person.’
Evie tentatively lifted the phone to her ear. ‘Grandpa—?’ She was unable to get a word in edgeways as her grandfather told her how delighted he was that she’d finally met a real man and proceeded to spend the next five minutes extolling Rio’s virtues, all of which appeared to centre around his ability to buck the market and grow his business, no matter what the economic challenges. The issue of the naked photograph appeared to have been absorbed along with all the other news.
Finally, her grandfather drew breath. ‘Answer me one question—are you in love with him, Evie? That’s all I want to know.’
Oh, dear God, how was she supposed to answer that? ‘I—’
‘It doesn’t matter that a man is rich—what matters is whether there’s strength and responsibility in his character. Rio Zaccarelli has all those qualities, but none of it matters if you don’t love him.’
Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire. In order to stop her grandfather thinking she’d had a one-night stand, she’d gone along with Rio’s idea but suddenly she was being sucked deeper and deeper into the charade.
