He flashed a white grin. ‘Oh, I can be very persuasive.’
Didn’t she already know it!
Not that his persuasive powers were all that tested where she was concerned. Because all he had to do was touch her and she was lost. ‘But what will you—?’
Her words were addressed to thin air as he had gone, his long legs quickly distancing him from her until the dark swallowed him up, leaving her wondering what the hell was about to happen. What was he going to tell their unexpected visitor?
With a deep sigh and a last resentful glare into the darkness, Gwen made her way to the nursery, where Ellie, oblivious to everything going on, was still sound asleep. Gwen had no excuse to linger in the nursery although she was tempted because, despite Rio’s very inhospitable stance, she couldn’t imagine that their visitor would not be staying the night at the very least. Of the two possibilities, she would have preferred it to be Rio’s brother who had arrived. He might be less judgemental about Ellie and was less likely to view her with the maternal suspicion she felt sure his mother would.
Gwen made her way back to the sitting room and sat down on the piano stool. She was still sitting there five minutes later when Rio returned, pushing a wheelchair.
Feeling like a guilty schoolgirl caught some place she wasn’t allowed, Gwen shot to her feet, but her apprehension dissolved as she met the smiling and teary eyes of the woman sitting in it.
Despite the chair and the plaster leg extended before her, this wasn’t a frail figure. This slim woman, her dark hair flecked with silver, instead projected an air of vitality despite her confinement and certainly did not look old enough to be a grown man’s mother. The mother oftwogrown men, she silently corrected.
Lady Cavendish extended her hands and without thinking about it Gwen found herself walking towards her, her own hands held out until they were enfolded in the cool grasp of the elegant older woman.
‘My dear girl, firstly I must apologise. I came looking for one son and found the other.’ Her head turned towards Rio. ‘And not just a son but a granddaughter too.’ Her voice thickened with emotion. ‘I can’t tell you how happy I am and I know you will forgive me for intruding like this.’ She threw her son another look, this one satirical. ‘Even though Rio will not ask you, but...could I see her? For just a moment or two? Oh, I promise that I won’t wake her. But just toseeher...’ She swallowed, visibly moved by the prospect. ‘My grandchild.’
Gwen felt herself relaxing and responded to the charm and appeal in those lovely velvety eyes without thinking.
‘Of course you can,’ she said warmly, contrasting this stranger’s reaction to becoming a grandparent to that of her own parents.
‘And then I will be gone. You won’t even know I’ve been here and I’ll only be a moment, I promise.’
She was actually five minutes, and when she and Rio returned there was evidence of more tears on her cheeks along with a few streaks of mascara.
‘She is very beautiful. You must be so proud of her.’
Gwen nodded. ‘She looks like Rio,’ she said, and immediately felt embarrassed, not because it was a lie, but becausehewas beautiful too and a few minutes earlier she had wanted to touch and love every beautiful inch of him. Now she was talking to his mother, whose eyes were enough like Rio’s to make her wonder if she could also read her mind.
‘Yes, he and Roman were beautiful babies too.’
Standing behind the wheelchair, Rio said something that sounded impatient in Spanish.
‘Yes, Rio, I am just going—but am I allowed to ask for a glass of water first?’
‘Because there is no water on board?’
‘Because I need to take my painkillers.’
The quirk of Rio’s lips was immediately replaced by a downward tug of concern. He said something in Spanish and vanished.
‘Are you in pain? Can I do anything?’
‘Oh, heavens, no, it’s only a little discomfort and I’m rather frustrated because I thought I’d be up and around by now...but things are not healing as they ought. I’m booked in for surgery, a new pin and...but enough of that. No, I’m actually not in any significant pain, it was just a little ruse to get rid of Rio for one moment so that I could talk to you in private.’
‘This must have been a shock for you,’ Gwen said, feeling her way cautiously. It would be a lot easier to navigate this conversation if she had a clue what Rio had already told his mother about them.
‘A marvellous surprise! I never thought I’d ever have a grandchild. My sons...can I be frank with you?’ Without waiting for a response, she pushed on, speaking quickly. ‘Well, I don’t know how much you know, but my own marriage was not a good one, and while we were together my boys were my champions. They should not have needed to be and the knowledge shames me greatly. I am afraid that witnessing my marriage has left scars for them both. Not the kind of scars you can see,’ she added, glancing at her own leg. ‘Though in the past I always knew that at least then they had each other to lean on. But now one is...’ Her smile suddenly flashed out, soothing away the lines of worry on her face.
‘But no matter,’ she husked, brushing away an emotional tear from her cheek. ‘Rio has you and Ellie now.’
Gwen realised with dawning horror that Rio’s mother had got the totally wrong idea about them. ‘Rio and I, we are not really—’
‘Oh, I realise that you have been apart for a while. The whys of that are not my business, although if ever you need to talk about anything, I am here. But it’s not the past that matters, it’s thenowthat is most important. Rio has moved on, he has found happiness, which makes me so very happy. He has been so lonely, I think.’
Gwen kept her expression neutral as she thought about the countless covetous female eyes that followed Rio whenever he walked into a room. If his mother thought he led the life of a lonely monk, it was not for Gwen to disillusion her.