‘Damn it! It’s everything to do with you!’ he said. ‘I do not know how to deal with you. One minute you are sobbing like a child in my arms, the next you are practically begging me to make love to you. I am at a loss to know which woman I am living with.’
Her eyes glittered as they met his. ‘You’re pretty good at sending out mixed messages yourself,’ she threw back. ‘I thought this was supposed to be a hands-off arrangement and here it is, day three, and you’ve had me up against the—’
‘Do not make me sound like an animal.’ He cut her off coldly, his jaw visibly tightening. ‘You were with me all the way and you damn well know it.’
She gave him a little arch look. ‘Not quite all the way,’ she reminded him. ‘You’ve certainly lost your touch, Patrizio.’
He ground his teeth and snatched up his keys from the hall table. ‘You are nothing but a cheap little slut. I will be glad when this farce is over with. If it wasn’t for the boys I would have been glad never to have seen or spoken to you again.’
‘You and me too, baby,’ she responded tartly.
He led the way to the car, his expression rigid with anger and his coal-black eyes flashing with wrath every time they clashed with hers.
They were well on their way to the boys’ school when he finally broke the stiff silence. ‘I hope I do not have to remind you of the importance of keeping our private feelings to ourselves. Jamie and Bruno are intelligent young men who will not be convinced of our reconciliation if we are shooting blistering looks at each other all evening.’
‘You don’t have to remind me,’ she said. ‘But it might help if you stop looking at me as if I’ve just recently crawled out from beneath a rock.’
His mouth twisted scathingly as he briefly met her gaze. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of you recently crawling out of bed, but of course it’s anyone’s guess whose it might have been.’
She tightened her mouth. ‘You’re a two-faced bastard,’ she said. ‘You get quite a kick out of throwing all those stones from that glass house of yours, don’t you?’
‘I have had several lovers since we broke up,’ he countered. ‘I have not denied it.’
‘And yet you think I’m a tramp for doing the same,’ she said. ‘That’s totally sexist.’
‘Just how many lovers have you had?’ he asked as he parked the car in the staff car park.
Keira frowned as she recalled her previous statement. She had made it sound as if she’d been flitting from lover to lover when nothing could have been further from the truth.
‘Having trouble recalling all their faces and names?’ he asked when she didn’t answer immediately.
‘Patrizio, I…’ she began, but just then she caught sight of her brother heading down the boarding house stairs with the housemaster, Mr Cartwright, and Bruno, Patrizio’s nephew, lagging a few steps behind.
Patrizio sent her a warning look and got out of the car, shaking Mr Cartwright’s hand before greeting both of the boys.
Keira hugged her brother, who patted her on the shoulder rather than fully return her embrace, but she could see the delight in his eyes.
She turned to the surly-looking boy standing near Patrizio and offered her hand. ‘Hi, Bruno,’ she said. ‘How are you?’
‘Fine,’ he mumbled, barely touching her hand before shoving it back in his trouser pocket.
‘Enjoy your evening,’ Kent Cartwright addressed Keira and Patrizio and, turning to the boys, added soberly, ‘Remember what we discussed earlier, gentlemen. If this problem is not sorted out, Mr Tinson will follow through on his threat to expel you both.’
‘But that’s not fair!’ Jamie said, glaring at Bruno. ‘He started it.’
Bruno’s lip curled insolently. ‘You started it by defending the behaviour of a common little sl—’
Patrizio cut him off with a curt command in Italian, before turning to the housemaster. ‘My wife and I will sort this out, Mr Cartwright,’ he said. ‘We will have the boys back by ten p.m.’
Keira felt her skin tighten with shame at the searing glance Bruno sent her when Patrizio wasn’t looking. She felt her face grow hot and her stomach began to churn as they got into the car. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the evening; her emotions already felt scraped raw and they hadn’t even left the school grounds.
‘Anyway, I bet this is all an act,’ Bruno said from the back seat once they were on their way.
‘What do you mean by that, Bruno?’ Patrizio asked, sending him a questioning glance in the rear-view mirror.
‘You’re not really back together,’ he said sulkily.
‘That is not true,’ Patrizio said, reaching for Keira’s hand and placing it on his thigh. ‘We are very much together, aren’t we, cara?’