‘That’s a filthy lie!’ Vito raked out harshly as Catherine swayed in the curve of Marcus’s arm.
‘But Catherine doesn’t know that,’ Marietta pointed out. ‘She believes we have been lovers since before she lost your second baby. For a woman like Catherine, who cannot have more children, believing that I am pregnant with your child will finish her, believe me,’ she advised. ‘And I am going to enjoy watching her walk away from you with her darling Marcus after I break the news to her.’
‘But why should you want to hurt her like that?’ Vito demanded hoarsely.
‘I couldn’t care less about Catherine’s feelings,’ Marietta stated carelessly. ‘But I do care about hurting you, Vito,’ she told him. ‘Just as you made me hurt when you passed me on to Rocco like a piece of used baggage!’
‘You were lucky to have him!’ Vito rasped out painfully. ‘He was a good man! A caring man!’
‘But not a Giordani.’
‘My God,’ Vito breathed, sounding truly shaken. ‘Catherine was right. You are poison to whatever you come into contact with.’
‘And, being so, I really do think, Marietta, that it is time for you to leave now.’ Another voice arrived through the darkness.
Four people started in surprise, then watched with varying expressions as Luisa moved out from the shadows of yet another pathway. And the moment that she could see her face clearly Catherine felt her heart sink in sorrow. She looked so dreadfully—painfully wounded.
Yet what did Luisa do? She looked towards Catherine and murmured anxiously, ‘Catherine, are you all right, darling? I would have given anything for you not to have witnessed this.’
It was almost worth having her cover exposed just to see the look of stark, staring dismay that was Marietta’s face when she spun round to face her. But if it hadn’t been for Marcus’s arm grimly supporting her, she knew she wouldn’t still be standing on her own feet, right now.
‘Catherine—you heard...’ Vito murmured, and sounded so relieved that it was almost painful.
‘Well, well,’ Marietta drawled. ‘None of us are above lurking in dark corners to eavesdrop, it seems.’
But they were the satirical words of a woman who knew she was staring right into the face of her own ruin...
CHAPTER TEN
CATHERINE stood on the balcony watching the red tail-lights from the final few stragglers snake stealthily down the hillside.
The party was well and truly over at last, though it had gone on for another few nerve-stretching hours after Marietta had left here.
Marcus had taken on the responsibility of her removal, and the way he had guided her away without uttering a single word in anger to her Catherine had, in a strange way, found vaguely comforting. Because she was not the kind of person that liked to watch someone being kicked when they were already down, and Marietta had certainly been right down by the time that she had left.
It had been Luisa’s icy contempt that had finally demolished her. Luisa who could usually be relied upon to find some good somewhere in any situation. But for once she had chosen not to, and watching a relationship that was as old as Marietta herself wither and die, as it had done out there in the garden, had been terrible.
Luisa had wept a little, which had helped to fill in an awkward moment between Catherine and Vito while they attempted to comfort her. And then there had been a house full of guests to sparkle for, plus questions to field about Marietta’s whereabouts and...
She released a small sigh that sounded too weary for words, because she knew that this wretched night was still far from over.
‘Quite an evening, hmm?’ a deep voice murmured lightly behind her.
Too light, Catherine noted. Light enough for the true tension to come seeping through it. Vito knew as well as she did that, no matter what had been cleared up during that ugly scene in his garden, the two of them had not even got started yet.
‘How is your mother?’ she asked, without bothering to turn and look at him.
‘She is still upset, naturally,’ he replied. ‘But you know what she is like,’ he added heavily. ‘She never could cope well with discord.’
‘She loved Marietta.’ Catherine stated it quietly. ‘Discovering that someone you love is not the person you thought they were can be shattering.’
There was a moment of stillness behind her, then, ‘Was that a veiled prod at me?’ Vito asked.
Was it? Catherine asked herself. And shrugged her creamy shoulders because, yes, it had been a prod at him. ‘You lied to me,’ she said. ‘About your previous relationship with Marietta.’
His answering sigh was heavy. ‘Yes,’ he finally admitted. And as that little truth came right out into the open he walked forwards, to come and lean against the rail beside her. ‘But it happened a long time ago, and—arrogant as I am,’ he acknowledged wryly, ‘I did not think you had any right questioning me about my life before you came into it.’
‘It gave Marietta power,’ Catherine explained. ‘With you persistently denying you’d ever been her lover, it left her free to drop nasty hints all over the place. When you insisted you were doing one thing she insisted you were doing another. And she...’ Turning to look at him, she felt her soft mouth give a telling little quiver. ‘She—knew things about you that only a lover would know.’