THEY DIDN’T HAVE their honeymoon immediately, because they couldn’t decide where they wanted to go.
Lily had professed that she didn’t mind where they went—it was the company that was important, not the scenery. But it was important to him. They might not have started off in the traditional way, but it was important to get this right. He wanted Lily to have the perfect honeymoon—the one she’d so obviously missed out on the first time round.
Though he’d come to accept that Lily’s feelings for her ex were dead and buried, Bastian still felt great shock and sadness for what she’d been through. He wanted to make sure that their marriage started out in the best way possible, in order to fully erase the pain of the past from Lily’s consciousness.
In the end he told Lily to leave the destination to him. The idea had suddenly come to him to book them into a luxurious hotel he knew that was discreet and comfortable and where they wouldn’t be disturbed. The hotel was about six miles from the Adriatic Coast, and it was highly regarded by his wealthy compatriots. Its menu and wine list were superb, and it had every facility even the most discerning client could desire.
Satisfied with these arrangements, he was just thinking about collecting Lily from the rental house, where she still preferred to work on her illustrations and stories, when someone rapped on the front door.
His stomach somersaulted. Had Lily decided to turn up unannounced and surprise him? The pleasure the thought gave him couldn’t be measured.
But when he opened the door it wasn’t his beautiful elfin wife who stood there, but an attractive woman of around thirty or so, with fashionably cut chestnut hair and a face that was strangely familiar.
At the same time as her crimson lips formed a hesitant smile he registered with shock that it was Marissa!
‘Bastian! I was hoping I’d find you here. I asked a couple of locals in town who know you, and they told me you had a place up here in the hills. Then I remembered how you’d always said that one day you were going to build a house here. What was that name you were going to call it? Can you remind me?’
Her words had come out in a hurried gush, and he sensed that she was unusually nervous.
Over a suddenly dry throat he managed a reply of sorts. ‘I didn’t expect to see you ever again, Marissa. I’d heard rumours that you’d moved to America. What brings you here?’
‘Yes, I did move to the States. But I came back to revisit my past, and to remind myself of a time when I was much happier.’
There was a telling break in her voice and her dark eyes didn’t disguise her emotion. Even so, Bastian couldn’t help but feel it was all an act. They had a turbulent history together and he hadn’t forgotten how she could be.
‘Can I come in for a few minutes?’ she asked.
‘I don’t think that would be a good idea, do you?’
As soon as the question was out of his mouth he knew he shouldn’t have asked her.
‘Please, Bastian.’
All his instincts urged him to say no. But being with Lily had to some degree softened his nature, and made him more apt to be forgiving than he’d used to be. After all, what was the point in bearing a grudge any more? He and this brunette had both been so young back then—surely they were no longer the same people? In particular, he hoped that the unexpected twists and turns and the vagaries of life would have helped his ex-girlfriend to grow up at last, whichever way her path had taken her.
‘Okay...but it can’t be for very long,’ he answered. ‘I have to see someone important.’
Holding the door wide for her to enter, he watched as she stepped into the hall and—as was her habit of old—deposited her indubitably impractical high-heeled sandals on the mat.
Marissa had never been much of a walker. and if it was a choice between following fashion or being practical, fashion won out every time.
Endeavouring to set his bittersweet memories of the past firmly aside, Bastian squared his shoulders, closed the door and guided her into the living room.
* * *
Lily was just loading the washing machine in her rented home with some of the clothing she wanted to take on honeymoon when there was a definite sensation of the baby moving in her belly. If she’d had to describe it she’d have said it felt as if it were practising acrobatics!
Breathing out a wondering gasp, she laid her palm against her tightened abdomen and felt the infant do a couple more turns. Nothing could have prepared her for the experience. It was just incredible.
There was no doubt in her mind that she should drive up to Buona Stella and tell Bastian about the occurrence immediately.
Deciding not to tell him she was on her way, she thought she would instead surprise him...
Excitement sustained her spirits during the drive there, but her buoyant mood immediately fled when she arrived and saw the vehicle that was parked outside the house. She wondered who the flashy red sports car belonged to.
Chewing worriedly on her lip, she parked her small and decidedly non-flashy little car quite a bit further away from the house, near a bank of tall cypress trees, and turned off the ignition. It disturbed her much more than she liked, seeing the other vehicle there.
Drawing in a steadying breath, she got out of the car and walked back to the house. Nothing moved in the still, sultry air as she crept up to the nearest window and stole a peek inside.
Just when she’d decided to go round the back and see if Bastian was with his guest in the kitchen, she saw her husband enter the living room with an attractive dark-haired woman. The look on both their faces was intense. Even as Lily’s stunned gaze drank in the scene the woman turned towards Bastian and, without the slightest preamble, put her arms round his neck and kissed him passionately.
Everything inside Lily suddenly went terrifyingly still, and her ability to think at all utterly fled. As her heart started to thud heavily every nerve and sinew she possessed felt as if it was crying out in pain. Please God, he can’t be having an affair, can he?
But even as the devastating idea entered her mind she was turning away from the scene. She tore back down the hill to her car and started to drive away too fast, scalding tears streaming down her face at the realisation that the man she loved was cheating on her.
Inside the house, Bastian had straight away disengaged himself from the distasteful woman who’d so unceremoniously grabbed him and kissed him. With his face clenching in annoyance, and without the remotest suggestion of politeness, he set Marissa aside as though she was something contagious.
‘Don’t touch me ever again,’ he warned her, stepping away from her.
‘Why? Is it because you’re scared you might want me again? I’ll bet your new woman doesn’t satisfy you like I can.’
‘My “new woman” is my wife, and she is a hundred times more woman than you can ever be, Marissa—and far more beautiful. I feel sorry for you that you can so easily delude yourself.’
Beyond furious, Marissa let loose a passionate invective, shouting that she couldn’t believe he’d be so stupid as to rebuff her attentions. Just who did he think he was?
Following another heated exchange, she turned on her heel and stomped out through the front door to her ostentatious motor car.
It wasn’t long before the vehicle sped noisily down the hill, and Bastian attested to being well and truly happy to see the back of her. But, truth to tell, the volatile confrontation had disturbed him. Seeing the woman again had painfully brought back the unpleasantness of their association. Like a tide that returned the detritus people had discarded into the sea to the shore. And treasure definitely didn’t follow in her wake...
He was grateful that Lily hadn’t seen their altercation in the house. It would have made her doubt everything that he’d told her—that he wasn’t a man who would cheat on the woman in his life, that he had too much integrity for that. If she knew that Marissa had visited him she might believe that Bastian had invited her, and that would hardly put him in a very good light. She might even start to think he still held a candle for her after all these years, when nothing could be further from the truth.
He’d been mulling things over for far longer than he’d realised, and so it was much, much later when he got to Lily’s place. Dusk had turned to night, but the warm, fragrant air was no less sultry.
When she opened the door to him, her glance was distinctly cagey.
‘Hi,’ she said, sounding as if it barely mattered if he was there or not.
Frowning, Bastian followed her into the living room. ‘I’m sorry I’m so late. I had some business to take care of.’
‘Was it to do with work?’
‘Yes,’ he replied, hoping his excruciating discomfort at telling this lie wouldn’t betray him.
‘That’s tough when you thought you’d be getting some time off today. Can I get you a coffee?’ she added, already making her way to the kitchen, even before he sat down.
‘No, thanks,’ he murmured, noting that her pale hair was still damp from a shower and that she was wearing a scooped-neck green shift dress with pearl buttons that he hadn’t seen before. ‘I’d much prefer it if you just came and sat down.’
‘All right.’
It worried him that she sounded so calm. So much so that he’d almost have preferred it if she’d ranted and raved at him and accused him of being up to no good because he hadn’t come to get her sooner. At least then he’d know what she was thinking and be able to reassure her.
She carefully lowered herself into an armchair. In spite of having invited her to sit down, Bastian remained standing. ‘I can see that something is troubling you,’ he started, ‘and don’t tell me it’s nothing because I won’t believe you.’
After briefly drawing in a deep breath, for once Lily had no hesitation in answering him. Her hurt and disappointment that he’d blatantly withheld the truth about his visit from the woman in the red car couldn’t be contained.
‘Okay... I’ll tell you what’s troubling me. I’m furious that you lied to me. Who was that woman in the red car visiting you and why did you try and hide the fact from me?’
‘You came to the house earlier and saw her?’ His face was stunned.
‘Yes. I parked down the road away from the house when I saw the car, because I knew you must have visitors. I didn’t want to interrupt anything important, so I thought I’d wait until they left before coming in. Anyway, I got worried when you didn’t come out, and I stole a look in at the window to see if I could see you. I saw much more than I bargained for. I saw the brunette who was with you.’ After pausing for a moment, she suddenly burst out, ‘More than that, I saw her passionately kissing you. Is she your lover, Bastian?’
‘No, of course she isn’t... Is that what you think?’ Inside, he felt his heart drumming hard.
‘What else am I supposed to think when I see you in the arms of a strange woman only days after you made vows in front of all your friends and family?’
‘If you saw that, then you must also have seen me push her away.’
‘I didn’t. I wanted to get away from the scene as fast as possible. Who was she, Bastian? And why would she take such a liberty if you weren’t already intimate?’
‘Her name is Marissa,’ he announced, dropping his hands down to his hips and hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. When Lily didn’t comment, he continued, ‘Remember I told you that I was once engaged?’
‘You mean she’s the woman who cheated on you?’
His intense dark eyes scrutinised her features closely, trying to determine if she really believed he was having an affair.
‘That’s right. She’s been living in America. Her second marriage recently broke down and she’s come back to Italy to visit her old home and remind herself of what she left behind.’
He blew out a disparaging breath and a coil of rich dark hair brushed against his forehead.
‘Meaning you?’
‘Not only me...she was visiting her family too.’
‘So what did you say to her?’
‘I told her that I’d just got married.’
‘Then why did she kiss you?’
‘Because one of her more dislikeable traits is that she’s apt to be jealous...spiteful too. She can’t bear the thought that there’s somebody in the world who doesn’t want her.’
‘How do you know she won’t try to get you back again?’
‘Whether she does or she doesn’t, she’ll be wasting her time.’
Lily was aching for him to say that he loved her, that he wasn’t and would never be interested in any other woman again. But he didn’t and so, feeling unsure and vulnerable, she spoke without thinking.
‘This marriage isn’t going to work out as I hoped it would, Bastian. More than anything I have to trust the man I marry, and right now... I don’t trust you. So I’ll pack my things and stay in a hotel for a while, until I can think a bit more clearly about all this.’
‘You’re really saying that you don’t trust me?’ He looked at her, aghast.
Sorrowfully, she nodded. ‘Let’s not make this any worse than it is already. I’ll stay in touch with you, but I don’t want to see you again until I’ve decided what to do.’
‘Now you’re being ridiculous—’
With a lump in her throat, Lily glanced at him disconsolately. ‘No, I’m not. I’m just being sensible for once.’
Getting to her feet, she turned towards the stairs.
‘But you’re saying you’re going to take my child away from me...do you know what that will do to me?’
For a moment his eyes were wild with distress, and that demonstrated to her just what it meant to him to become a father. But right then she had to steel herself against how he felt and put herself first.
‘I’m going upstairs to pack some things and then I’m going to a hotel. Don’t worry, Bastian. I’ll phone and let you know where I am. Look...perhaps we should meet up again tomorrow, when we’re both feeling a bit more clear-headed, and we can calmly discuss what we’re going to do.’
‘Tell me now, Lily. Are you saying you want us to break up?’
‘I’m afraid it might have to be that way.’
‘But you can’t just leave and take my baby away... I won’t let you!’
Shockingly, he grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him, his handsome face etched with desperation.
Distressed by his outburst, with her heart feeling fit to burst, she said, as calmly as she could manage, ‘Let me go, Bastian.’
He hung on to her for a few seconds more, looking as though he hated every moment of what was happening. Then reluctantly he released her.
Without so much as a backward glance at the man she was leaving behind, Lily hurried upstairs...
* * *
‘I can’t believe she’s gone.’
Bastian sat at his father’s kitchen table, drowning his sorrows in a glass of brandy. Just saying the words he’d hoped never to hear himself say made him feel sick to his stomach. But he’d watched Lily take her suitcase out to the car, feeling too frozen to offer to help.
And why should he have provided the means to help her walk away from him? he reasoned. It near killed him that she didn’t trust him any more. She’d said once that he had an innate ability to make her feel that everything was going to be all right, but today he’d learned that that was a lie.
Sitting opposite him, Alberto thoughtfully rubbed his hand around his beard. ‘What happened, son? Why did she leave?’
Bastian took another generous swig of the spirit and felt it burn a fiery trail down into his stomach. His gaze distressed, he murmured, ‘She thought I was cheating on her with Marissa.’
‘Marissa? What in Hades has that woman got to do with anything?’
‘Don’t you know? She’s back to visit her family.’
‘You mean you saw her?’
‘She called at my house and Lily looked through the window and saw her as she tried to kiss me.’
‘What? I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. But one thing I do know: that woman is nothing but trouble...always was and always will be. I hope you told her straight where to go?’
Slamming down his glass on the table, Bastian got dazedly to his feet. ‘I did, but it’s too late, Dad. The damage is done. I’m destroyed without Lily—you know I am. I left it too long to tell her how much she means to me and now she thinks I’m nothing but a lousy cheat.’
‘If that’s true, then you have to put things right.’
‘How? How do I do that when I’ve hurt her so badly?’
‘Sit down again, son, and we’ll talk about it. And before you do anything else put that brandy away. You should be stone-cold sober when you go to her and beg her forgiveness. And I mean beg—because you’ll never find another woman like Lily. Be honest with her—tell her what you told me: that she’s the love of your life and that’s why you married her.’
* * *
Lily had never known just how lonely hotel rooms could be until she was shown into this one, with the covers on the single bed invitingly turned down and the chambermaid carefully shutting the door behind her.
Lily sensed her eyes filling with tears even as the maid wished her a buona notte. Over and over again in her mind she replayed that distressing scene when Bastian had cried out, ‘You can’t take my baby away from me!’ and she’d realised he could bear losing her, but not his child.
The agonising knowledge had made her know right then that she had to leave—that their relationship had been based purely on passion, but not on love. And it was his love that she craved most of all.
Unable to help herself, she turned her thoughts to the events of that afternoon. Had Bastian been telling her the truth about not having an affair with the sultry Marissa? Had she been too hasty in saying she didn’t trust him any more? Probably not...
The truth was she just couldn’t face the facts because once again her hopes of happiness with a man had blown up in her face. When would she ever learn?
Right then, as if the baby sensed her unhappiness, she felt it move with some force in her womb. Feeling slightly sick, Lily dropped down onto the bed behind her and as gently as she could rubbed her abdomen in a comforting circular motion.
‘I’m so sorry, baby,’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘Mummy will be all right. She’s just had a little tiff with your daddy and is feeling sorry for herself.’
But as soon as she’d finished saying the words she covered her face with her hands and once again allowed grief and regret to overwhelm her.
* * *
‘We have to talk.’
Lily heard her husband’s gruff-voiced tone at the other end of her mobile phone next morning with renewed trepidation. If she could have turned back time and made everything as it had been before she’d seen that woman’s car parked outside Buena Stella, she would have done it. Now she both longed to hear Bastian’s voice and feared what he might say to her after their row last night.
Afraid that she might buckle, and give in to demands that weren’t in her best interests, she knew she had to be strong. ‘Right now? On the phone?’
She heard him inhale a deep breath, then he replied, ‘No. I would much prefer us to meet and talk face to face. Are you willing to do that?’
‘If you can be reasonable.’
‘You don’t think I can?’
Lily sighed. ‘There’s a lot at stake here and I have to put my welfare and the baby’s first.’
‘So you think that my feelings about all this are inconsequential?’
He was angry—that much was clear—and she didn’t want to add fuel to the fire by arguing with him any more, she thought. They both had to stay as calm as they could if they were to resolve anything.
‘Where do you want us to meet?’
‘At the rental house—it’s a lot nearer for you to get to.’
‘Then I’ll see you there in about an hour,’
‘Suits me.’ And then, as if he had to have the last word, the Italian murmured, ‘And don’t be late.’
* * *
The weather report had promised another scorching day and Lily was already feeling uncomfortably hot. But she suspected the perspiration that trickled down the back of her neck was less about the heat of the day and more about being anxious over seeing her new husband again after the upsetting scene they’d had yesterday.
Lily had thought she’d be the first to arrive, but Bastian had beaten her to it. She was aware that he still had a key, and it was he who opened the door to the charming house he’d agreed she could use as her home office now they were married.
The realisation that they might be about to break up made her feel unhappy and desolate. It didn’t help that Bastian was looking especially gorgeous today, whilst in contrast she was feeling particularly frumpy and unattractive in a smocked green dress and was devoid of make-up. She could have used some powder and paint to aid her confidence, but the truth was she didn’t feel confident in any way. Instead she felt utterly wretched.
He started the conversation. ‘Can I get you a cold drink?’
‘No, thanks. I’d prefer it if we just got down to making some plans.’
She fiddled with her hair as she sat, trying not to let her gaze linger on the handsome carved face in front of her as he dropped down to sit on the sofa opposite. How was she going to bear not ever sharing a bed with him again?
‘About Marissa...’
Lily’s eyes immediately widened. ‘What about Marissa?’
‘I never told you this before, but she put me through hell when we were together,’ he confessed. ‘She led me a merry dance with all her lies and deception. Dumb of me, I know, but I thought I could help her change for the better. She only got worse. She was a serial flirt and she couldn’t resist getting as much male attention as she could. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I walked in on her in bed with somebody else. It sickened me, and for a long time I blamed myself. Why didn’t I act on my instincts and get her out of my life sooner? I thought.’
Lily sighed. ‘I’m sure that there are women in the world who are just as devious as men can be when it comes to getting what they want. Maybe she’s one of those?’
‘I don’t doubt you’re right. But I still should have been more aware of what she was up to.’
‘So you’re not having an affair with her, nor rekindling what you had before?’ Lily almost held her breath as she waited for his reply.
‘You’ve got to be joking. I’ve never forgotten the harm she caused me, or the distress. Not to mention her upsetting my father. Is it likely that I’d want her in my life again?’
‘No. I don’t suppose you would.’
His frown grew a little less anguished. ‘Now that I’ve explained what happened, do you think there’s a chance you could learn to trust me again, Lily?’
‘I said I didn’t trust you in the heat of the moment, when I really believed you were having an affair. But I’m still not happy that you didn’t tell me she’d called round and that she tried to kiss you. Is it any wonder that I thought something was going on when you didn’t mention her dropping by?’
‘I shouldn’t have tried to hide the fact. I know that now. I was just trying to save you from being upset and jumping to the wrong conclusion.’
‘Which I obviously did. Anyway, I’m glad that you’ve explained. But what hurt me even more, Bastian, was that you thought I’d take the baby away from you. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I got the feeling you weren’t as worried about losing me.’
He was genuinely startled.
Immediately he went to her and drew her up to her feet. ‘You’ve got to be crazy if you believe that for even a second. I adore you, Lily—don’t you know that by now? I sometimes think I can’t breathe without you being near. I don’t want anyone else but you. You and our baby are my life.’
She was shaking her head and smiling and crying at the same time. ‘I can’t believe I told you things wouldn’t work out between us. I just lost it for a while, I suppose. I can’t imagine my life without you, Bastian, and that’s the truth.’
‘As we’re talking about the truth, I don’t want you to think I’ve never made any mistakes in my life, sweetheart. Marissa was a major one. I’m no saint.’
‘And nor am I. But it’s very easy to be fooled by someone—as I know to my cost. You were very young then, Bastian, and no doubt fascinated by a worldly woman like Marissa—and probably flattered, too, that she liked you.’
‘Well, now you know I was once capable of being gullible too.’ He moved his head disparagingly from side to side. ‘And after what that woman did I vowed such a thing would never happen to me again. Thankfully, she taught me a valuable lesson. Anyway, today she exposed her true nature again, when she admitted she’s taking her second husband to court for all he’s worth and is likely to get it too.’ Lowering his voice, he murmured, ‘It turns out I had a lucky escape when she cheated on me.’
As his lips twisted wryly the baby in Lily’s womb rolled over and, knowing she couldn’t have timed it better, she lifted Bastian’s hand and placed it on her abdomen.
‘Oddio!’ His dark eyes crinkling delightedly at the corners, he laughed out loud. ‘I can feel the baby kicking!’
Smiling, Lily tenderly touched his face. ‘It happened for the first time yesterday, when I was loading the washing machine. I jumped into the car and headed straight over to tell you.’
Although he immediately drew her back into his arms, the visible pleasure he’d expressed in feeling the baby move turned into a pained frown. ‘And you arrived just in time to see another woman kissing me.’
Releasing a soft breath, she grimaced. ‘Let’s forget about that now, shall we? I now know that you want us to be together and that’s all that matters... You, me and our baby. That’s why I married you.’
‘If I hadn’t already made plans to whisk you off to somewhere especially beautiful for our honeymoon, I would take you into the bedroom and leave you in no doubt that I want you and only you, my angel.’
This declaration was followed by several delicious little kisses that inevitably set a flame to Lily’s blood and made her want to beg him to do just that. But in the mesmerising haze of his words she found herself returning to what he’d said.
Folding her hands into the front of his shirt, she freed her lips for a moment. ‘You said you’d made plans for our honeymoon? Where are we going?’
‘I’m taking you to an exquisite hotel on the Adriatic coast, where the guests’ privacy is guaranteed to be respected and we won’t be troubled by anyone. It’s perfect for our honeymoon.’
‘It sounds wonderful.’
‘I guarantee it will be, tesoro.’ For a moment his expression was fierce. ‘And we won’t be in any hurry to get back. Nothing and no one will get in the way of our special time together.’
‘Oh...’
‘Now, do up the top two buttons on your dress, lest it distracts me too much, and go and pack a few clothes.’
In response to the comment Lily widened her green eyes to twin emerald moons. ‘What kind of clothes am I going to need?’
His seductive dark gaze sweeping candidly up and down her figure, Bastian replied huskily, ‘If I have my way...not very much...’