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‘Why? What’s the point of this charade when you’re already involved with someone else?’ Emotion thickened her voice and she hated herself for not being the cool, rational person she wanted to be. She wanted to be sophisticated enough to thank him for a perfect no-strings-attached relationship and walk away. Instead, she wanted to claw his flawless features and thump him. She wanted him to hurt the way she was hurting. ‘Does she know? Does she know about me?’
A muscle flickered in his cheek and he put his pen down, the movement slow and deliberate. ‘You were listening to my phone call.’
‘Not intentionally. And if you’re expecting me to apologise for eavesdropping on a private conversation then forget it. There are some things that shouldn’t be private.’
‘Calma. Calm down.’
‘No, I will not calma or calm down! I don’t speak much Italian, Rio, but I speak enough to understand the gist of what you just said to her! I’m really astonished you’ve never been dumped if that’s the way you treat women. You’re right—you are a complete and utter bastard. This whole week we…you…’ She broke off, trying to control herself. ‘How could you do that? How could you do those things when you’re in love with someone else? I thought you were a free agent—single. You should have told me you were involved with someone.’
‘I’m not involved.’
Her breathing was shallow. ‘When you warned me that you’d break my heart, I didn’t expect it to happen quite this quickly.’
‘Evie—’
‘No! Just don’t make pathetic excuses, OK? I don’t want to hear them. I heard you! I heard you talking to your girlfriend.’
He swore softly in Italian and turned away from her.
For a moment, staring at the rigid tension in those broad shoulders, she thought he wasn’t even going to bother defending himself.
And then he turned, a savage look on his face. ‘You did not hear me talking to my girlfriend. It wasn’t a woman.’ His voice was raw and Evie stood still, frozen to the spot by the look in his eyes.
‘But—’
‘You heard me talking to a child. She’s four years old. A child, not a woman. My daughter.’ He let out a long breath. ‘You heard me talking to my daughter.’
‘All right. Keep me informed.’ Rio terminated the conversation with his lawyer and looked up to see Evie standing there. She’d changed into a pair of jeans and a blue cashmere jumper. Her hair, still damp from the shower, accentuated the extreme pallor of her face.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you have a child?’ Her voice was flat. ‘Why didn’t you mention it?’
Programmed to keep women at a distance, Rio kept his response cool. ‘It isn’t any of your business.’ Seeing the hurt in her eyes, he wished he hadn’t been quite so blunt. ‘I don’t talk about my private life. To anyone.’
‘I’m not some journalist, Rio!’ She swept her hand through her hair, her confusion evident in every movement she made. ‘We slept together, for God’s sake. We shared—’
‘Sex,’ Rio drawled. ‘We shared sex. A physical relationship, however satisfying, doesn’t give you access to the rest of my life. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it does.’
Her head jerked as if he’d slapped her and for a moment he thought she was going to do exactly that to him. Instead, she lost still more colour from her cheeks and nodded stiffly. ‘Of course it doesn’t. My mistake. You have a child. Forgive me for thinking that’s something you might have mentioned.’ She turned away from him and stalked towards the table that had already been laid for breakfast. ‘Are those today’s papers?’ Her hands shook as she lifted one and flicked through it. ‘Have they used the photograph? Or haven’t you bothered to check? I’m worried we didn’t give them much of interest last night.’
She was rigidly polite and Rio watched her in silence, knowing that he was going to have to tell her the truth and wondering why that felt like a difficult conversation. He’d done what needed to be done. In the same circumstances, he’d make all the same decisions. So why did he feel so uncomfortable? ‘They haven’t used it. They have, however, printed the one they took when you kissed me.’ He watched her face as she picked up a tabloid paper and scanned the headline.
Her face was expressionless as she scanned the photograph. Truly a time for miracles—Rio in love. Some of the tension left her. ‘Well, it seems we’re off the hook for another day.’
Rio’s jaw tightened. ‘Evie—’
‘Sorry—it’s just that I’m finding this whole thing quite stressful, in case you hadn’t noticed. Every morning we go through the same thing. And the worst thing is, there is never going to come a point when it goes away—they have that photo for ever, don’t they? They can use it this year or next year—it never ends.’
Wondering exactly when he’d developed a conscience, Rio forced a reluctant confession past his lips. ‘Evie, they won’t use that photo.’
She looked up from the newspaper. ‘It’s all very well to say that while you’re giving them something more interesting to print, but sooner or later they’re going to get bored with our “romance” and then they’ll be on the lookout for something more juicy.’
‘I can guarantee they’re not going to print that photograph.’
‘How? Has your security team managed to track the man down?’ With a soft gasp, she dropped the newspaper on the table. ‘They found him?’
He had to tell her now. ‘Yes. We found him.’
Relief crossed her face, to be followed quickly by consternation. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can stop the photograph. I mean, he’s had loads of time to have sent it all over the place. It’s probably too late.’
