Her mouth twisted. Did that unknown woman know what kind of man she was going to marry? She pitied her, whoever she was. No woman deserved Luca Farnese. Not for a husband. Or for anything else...
Not even for a one-night stand in New York. For that, least of all.
‘Signor Farnese—it is good to see you again. How is our business venture progressing?’
The elderly man rising with some difficulty from his armchair in the book-lined library of the resplendent Renaissancepalazzoin Umbria was warm in his greeting.
Luca’s handshake was brief and firm, and he waited politely for the elderly man to resume his seat before taking his own. For the next few minutes he made the required report to his host. His demeanour was respectful, given that Tomaso Castellani, even in his eighties, was a financial force to be reckoned with. But he knew that his own investment in the long-established Castellani import/export empire, broadening it into China and the Far East, was of greater value to his host than to himself.
But then, his interest in Castellani SpA was not confined to business matters.
It hadn’t been from the very first time he’d come to thepalazzo, some six weeks ago, at Tomaso’s invitation, to explore the possibility of a business association between them. Lunch had followed their preliminary discussion—and it had put the matter all but out of his head.
There had been one simple, life-changing reason for that.
The angelically fair young woman who had walked into the ornate dining room as they took their places, her quiet manner as diffident as her smile was shy and sweet, her hesitant, low-pitched voice as melodious as her eyes were celestial blue, dipping downwards demurely as Tomaso performed his introductions.
From the moment he’d set eyes on her he had been lost, Luca knew. Captivated. This...thiswas the woman who had been in his dreams since his teenage years.
And now, today, he was going to make that dream a reality.
He felt his muscles tighten suddenly, as if a shot of adrenaline had surged through him.
And he would leave behind him, completely and permanently, all trace of that disastrous mistake he’d made in New York—and the woman he’d made it with. Who was out of his life—removed from it as precipitously as she’d entered it.
It was in the past, that night, and it was going to stay there. Locked away. Never,neverto crawl back out.
It was one night—one night only out of all the years of my life! One night and one mistake. And it is over, finished—done with. All it has achieved is to make me surer than ever about what I want...the kind of woman I want. The absolute opposite of that one.
He wanted the woman who right now, at this very moment, was within his reach. And as he spoke to Tomaso Castellani, knowing what he said would come as no surprise to him, the approving, welcoming response of the elderly man only confirmed it—for why would henotbe welcomed as so eligible aparti?
Genially, his face wreathed in smiles, Luca’s host got to his feet, reaching for the silver-handled walking stick beside his chair. ‘Come, my friend. First we shall lunch and then...’ his smile deepened ‘...you have both my permission and my blessing, to make your proposal! And I do not doubt for a moment what her answer will be, so dear to me as she is.’
Nor did Luca doubt the answer he would receive. She was the woman of his dreams and he would devote his life to her and to her happiness. For him, no other woman would exist. Nonecouldexist.
For a fraction of a second memory flickered... Another woman—searing his senses...
He crushed it to oblivion. That woman no longer existed. He would not allow her to.
Ariana’s expression was troubled as she stared frowningly at her phone. Mia did not often get in touch with her. It was not that they had grown apart, but it was difficult for Mia to see much of her, if anything at all. Ariana was not welcome at their grandfather’spalazzo, and the more successful she was in her business the more unwelcome she was. It was a thorn in his flesh that she was not financially dependent on him.
Had it made him even more possessive of Mia? she wondered bleakly. Even more controlling of her cousin? Had her own escape from their grandfather’s domination only increased that which he held over Mia? Although Mia had always been willing to be as meek and dutiful as their grandfather insisted, was she still content to be so?
If you can bear it, please, please come and visit, Ariana! So much has happened, and I long to see you again. I feel very alone just now.
Ariana’s troubled expression deepened, and she searched her diary for a possible date for a visit. It would be tricky, for her diary was solid with work. Deliberately so. It helped to keep at bay the tormenting, humiliating memories that assailed her.
No! Don’t got there! Just don’t! You think that night with Luca Farnese was special because it wasn’t something you’d ever done before. To light up like that, to fall into bed with a man you’d only just met just because he looked at you the way he did...touched you the way he did...made love to you the way he did...
Her mouth twisted. She was fantasising again! Luca Farnese hadn’t ‘made love’ to her! He’d had sex with her—hot, torrid, searing, mind-blowing sex! She’d been a body to him—nothing more than that. A woman to sate his passing lust upon. A convenient female happy to roll into the sack with him—a last fling for a man before he hitched himself for life to another woman.
Her expression darkened even more. For him to indulge himself in a sex-fuelled one-night stand knowing...knowing...that he was going to be married, having committed himself to another woman and still thinking it was OK to tumble a stranger into bed... That... Oh, that was beyond despicable...
She dragged her angry thoughts away, focussing back on Mia. Her cousin needed her. Sudden decision filled her. If she dropped everything now, she could be at thepalazzoin an hour or so.
Resolved, she texted back to her cousin. A moment later Mia’s reply came. She sounded eager. More than eager.
Desperate.