Vito lowered the newspaper and frowned at her. ‘Overheard?’ he questioned.
Below the onslaught of his dark glittering gaze, Holly went pink. ‘Well, eavesdropped… I suppose.’
‘Are you in the habit of listening in on other people’s phone calls?’
‘That’s not really relevant here,’ Holly fudged in desperation, feeling like a child being called to account for misbehaviour. ‘Apollo was so obviously talking about us…about our marriage. He was saying that you hadn’t had a DNA test with Angelo and that there had been no pre-nup—’
‘You’re trying to shock me with facts?’
Holly scrambled out of her seat and squared her small shoulders. ‘Apollo was sneering about his belief that you trust me.’
‘Obviously I won’t be trusting you in the vicinity of confidential phone calls,’ Vito pronounced, deadpan.
Somehow the confrontation was not proceeding in any expected direction and Holly was stung into anger. ‘Apollo thinks our marriage is a sham!’
Vito elevated an ebony brow. ‘I think the only two people who can comment on that probability are the two of us.’
‘Apollo seemed to believe that you had only married me to get me to move to Italy. He thinks you’re planning to go to court and try to claim full custody of our son.’
‘I’m not sure whether to be more offended by my friend’s low take on my morals or by my wife’s,’ Vito imparted very softly, marvelling that she could have placed credence in such an unrealistic plot, which smacked very much of Apollo’s sensational outlook on life. ‘Do you think I would do that to you and Angelo?’
‘That’s not the point,’ Holly protested.
‘It is exactly the point,’ Vito incised with ruthless bite. ‘Why else are you challenging me with this nonsense?’
As Silvestro reappeared with a tray Holly sank back down into her seat. She was angry and mortified at the same time but clung to the comforting fact that Vito had called her concerns ‘nonsense’. While food was being laid on the table, Holly studied her pale pink nails and suspected that one day she might possibly throw a coffee pot at Vito for his sarcastic cool.
‘To clarify matters,’ Vito mused as Silvestro retreated, ‘Apollo was most probably talking to a mutual friend called Jeremy, who h
appens to be a lawyer trained in family law. Although it is ridiculously unnecessary, Apollo tries to protect me from the gold-diggers of this world. If it is any consolation he was no keener on Marzia. He would never marry without a pre-nuptial agreement in place. I deemed it unnecessary because I would not marry a woman I couldn’t trust. You’re being naive and insecure.’
Holly bridled at that blunt speech. ‘I don’t see how.’
With precise movements that set her teeth on edge, Vito poured a cup of black coffee. ‘I would not deprive my son of his mother. I was sent to boarding school abroad at the age of seven, Holly. I was incredibly homesick and unhappy. Do you honestly think I would subject Angelo to anything similar?’
Holly studied her cup of tea with wooden resolve. Her face was so hot she could feel her ears heating up in concert. No, she could not see him planning to do anything that would damage their son. Boarding school abroad at the tender age of seven? That was brutal, she thought helplessly.
‘I love my son. I will try hard never to hurt him and I know how much he needs his mother,’ Vito framed with measured cool. ‘I am also an honourable man. I am not deceitful in personal relationships. I married you in good faith. If eavesdropping on Apollo can rouse your suspicions to this level, what are our prospects for the future? Trust has to work both ways to be effective.’
Holly swallowed hard. Vito was annoyed with her for doubting him and for paying heed to a stupid phone call she shouldn’t have been listening to in the first place. She wasn’t sure she could blame him for that. On the other hand his determination to head to the bank the day after their wedding was hardly likely to boost her confidence in his attitude towards either her or their marriage.
How much did Vito value her? Just how unimportant was she in his desire for a marriage that would not interfere in his inflexible daily schedule? To thrive, all relationships needed compromise, commitment and the luxury of time spent together. Didn’t he appreciate that? And if he didn’t, was she clever enough to teach him that she could offer him something more worthwhile than sex? That was a tall order.
Vito rose from his chair and studied her in brooding silence. ‘By the way, we’re dining out this evening with friends.’
Holly looked up in surprise. ‘What friends?’
‘Apollo and his girlfriend and Jeremy Morris and his wife. They’re currently staying on Apollo’s yacht with him.’
The prospect of spending an evening in Apollo Metraxis’s radius appealed about as much to Holly as a public whipping. She frowned, studying Vito with incredulous eyes. ‘Knowing how I feel about Apollo, why would you arrange something like that?’
Vito compressed his stubborn mouth. ‘He’s a close friend. He made a mistake. You need to get over it.’
Temper threw colour into Holly’s cheeks. ‘Do I, indeed?’
Vito gazed expectantly back at her. ‘I want it all smoothed over and forgotten…’
‘Right, so that’s me got my orders, then.’ Holly lifted her chin.