‘There’s no question of that,’ Charlotte said quickly.
‘You get rid of him, do you understand me?’
I already have. ‘Or else what?’ She folded her arms and stuck her chin up.
‘Or else,’ Riccardo growled, ‘I’ll move into this house, lock stock and barrel, and set up camp! Would you like that? My computer taking over the kitchen table? My shoes at the bottom of the stairs? I know Gina wouldn’t mind. Did you see her eyes light up when I told her that her daddy didn’t have a girlfriend? How do you think she’d react if I asked her whether she wanted me and her mother to live together?’ Okay, he knew it was below the belt, but that stubbornness was driving him crazy and even worse was the suspicion that the touchy-feely boyfriend was to blame. Eight years ago one touch and she’d been his. Now he was the dinosaur, deposed by someone who could cook a mean quiche.
‘That’s not fair!’ Charlotte said hotly.
‘Then lose the boyfriend.’ Riccardo stood up, but there was precious little room in the kitchen. He felt hemmed in and suddenly in need of a drink. He had dutifully stuck to water during the meal. Now he opened her fridge and extracted a half-full bottle of supermarket white wine.
‘Make yourself at home,’ Charlotte said sarcastically.
‘Oh, believe me, I intend to. Where do you keep your glasses?’
‘Sit down. I’ll get them.’ She reached up and her jumper rose, exposing a slither of skin. Riccardo found himself savouring the tantalising glimpse. ‘You think it’s all right for me to disrupt my life, chuck a guy I happen to like a great deal?’
‘Like? That says it all, Charlie.’
‘Stop calling me that!’
‘Why? Because it reminds you too much of when we were young and couldn’t get enough of one another?’
Suddenly it was as if the oxygen had been sucked out of the tiny kitchen. A sense of erotic, forbidden intimacy shoved its way through the tense atmosphere, and her hand was shaking as she put his glass of wine in front of him and took a hearty swig of hers.
‘You’re going to marry a guy because you like him?’ Riccardo gave a snort of derisive laughter that made her hackles rise.
‘Affection happens to be a very important part of a relationship!’
‘So is passion, and I didn’t witness much of that when I saw the two of you together!’
‘Well, we weren’t all over each other like a rash, if that’s what you mean! And, on the subject of other halves, now that you’re laying down laws, what about your other half? The Amazonian bimbo with the tight outfit—is she really out of the picture or was that just a fairy story for Gina’s benefit?’
‘What makes you think that she’s a bimbo?’ Riccardo asked with interest.
‘Oh, sorry. Was I mistaken? Is she a nuclear physicist?’
‘No, not quite,’ he admitted. ‘Actually, I would be surprised if she could even spell it.’
Charlotte looked at him over the rim of her wine glass and grinned reluctantly. ‘Well?’
‘No fairy story. I’ve already got rid of her.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘No, I’m not. And it was a hell of a lot harder than it should have been, considering you laid it on thick about love and marriage and a non-existent future.’
‘Sorry. I couldn’t resist.’ Charlotte knew that this pause in hostilities was a dangerous no-man’s-land. It was too easy to see the man she had fallen head over heels in love with and she didn’t want to go there again. Any arrangements they now had would be strictly along business lines. ‘You shouldn’t have descended on us.’