The Italian’s Rightful Bride

a life that you chose for yourself, that was more important to you than any man.’

‘Now you sound like Freddy. He used to accuse me of loving my “other life”, as he called it, more than him.’

‘Was it true?’

She nodded. ‘I guess it was. Poor Freddy. It was good for a while, but I wasn’t right for him. The only really good thing I did for him was to have Billy.’

‘He’s a son any parent could be proud of,’ Gustavo reflected. ‘A wonderful boy.’

‘Yes, he is, isn’t he?’ she said, her face and voice softening as she thought of her darling.

‘Is he very like his father?’

‘In some ways. He gets his brains and his independence from me, and his outrageous charm from Freddy.’

‘So your husband was very charming?’

‘He is. He may not be my husband any more, but he’ll be charming until the day he dies.’

Her smile as she said this made Gustavo observe, ‘You sound as if you’re still fond of him.’

‘I am. Enormously. I’ve grown more and more fond of him since our divorce. He’s kind, amusing and great fun. In fact, he’s the perfect party guest, and great company as long as you’re not actually married to him.’

‘Why did you break up?’

‘Well, he’s not the most reliable man in the world.’

‘Other women?’

Joanna laughed.

‘He did his best to be faithful, but nature didn’t make him that way. As I said, it’s easier to be friends with him now that I’m not married to him, and his waywardness doesn’t matter. The nicest thing I know about him is that he’s a terrific father. Billy adores him, and with reason.

‘Mind you, I think that’s partly because Freddy’s still a kid at heart. And he’s such an impractical dreamer. He’d invent something, and I’d give him the funds to market it, but it always flopped. Then there’d be something else.’

‘And you always funded him,’ Gustavo said in a voice with a slight edge. ‘I wonder if that had anything to do with- No! No, I didn’t say that. Please ignore it.’

He dropped his head into his hands, appalled at himself. Joanna rocked with laughter.

‘You mean he may have married me for my money,’ she said at last. ‘Surely people don’t do that these days?’

‘Please, Joanna!’ His voice was muffled because his head was still sunk in an agony of embarrassment. ‘Must you throw that up at me?’

‘Throw what? Oh, that?’ She clutched her head as though just remembering something. ‘You mean because you were going to marry me for my money?’

He ground his teeth. ‘If you choose to put it that way.’

‘Oh, don’t be so silly!’ she chided him, smiling. ‘That was completely different.’

‘All right, laugh at me, but it was different. I really liked you a great deal. It would have been impossible otherwise.’

‘I know, I know,’ she said soothingly. ‘I’m sorry, Gustavo, I didn’t mean to make fun of you. Well, perhaps I did, but only to cheer you up. You’ve got to admit it has its funny side.’

‘Me, presuming to accuse your husband of mercenary intentions, you mean?’

‘Not just that. Everything. The whole sorry mess. Oh, Gustavo, it wasn’t meant to end like this. It wasn’t what I…’

She had to stop and brush tears from her eyes. They had come suddenly, chasing away her laughter as she was swept by a sudden sense of futility.

‘Wasn’t what you what?’ he asked. ‘Joanna-’

‘It’s all right,’ she said hastily. ‘I only meant-it wasn’t what I thought was going to happen.’

‘I suppose what we expect never happens. Maybe there’s no point in making plans at all.’

‘You can’t get through life without making plans,’ she said wisely. ‘You just have to be flexible about them.’

He passed a hand over his eyes. ‘Perhaps I should have had a little less whisky. It’s time I went to my own room. Before I go-what are you planning to do after this?’

‘Well-’

‘I ask because I’m invited to a wedding in a couple of days.’

‘What wedding?’ she asked with sudden suspicion.

‘Lady Henrietta Rannley to Lord Askleigh. It’s at Rannley Towers. I expect you’ll be there too.’

‘Well, she is my second cousin, once removed.’ Her lips twitched. ‘I suppose Billy’s been talking again.’

‘Billy was very helpful,’ he said carefully, ‘about more than the name of your hotel.’

She regarded him, telling herself that this was a time for straight, clear thinking. But it was hard to think at all, confronted by the discovery that he had fixed all this to be with her. In fact, it was impossible to do anything but feel happy.

I must have a word with Billy, she thought. And tell him, thank you.

‘So it looks like we’re both going,’ she said. ‘Imagine that! I’d planned to go tomorrow and stay the night at Rannley Towers, before the wedding. I’m beginning to think you’re bound to have made the same arrangements, so why don’t we go together?’

She’d avoided looking at Gustavo while she said this. Now, receiving no reply, she turned back to him and discovered the reason for his silence.

Gustavo lay back on the sofa, his head resting on the cushions, his eyes closed.

‘Hey,’ she said gently.

He didn’t respond and she suddenly realised that he was deeply asleep. It had come on him suddenly, leaving him no choice but to yield. It would be unkind to awaken him.

Moving carefully, so as not to disturb him, she raised his feet until he was fully stretched out, then fetched a blanket from the bedroom and draped it over him.

She paused a moment to study his face, relaxed in sleep, yet still with the shadow of tension on it. With his guard down at last he seemed different, more like the very young man she remembered.

Was she only imagining that he looked like a man relieved of a crushing burden after many years?

She turned off the lamp near his head and dropped a kiss on his forehead.

‘Goodnight,’ she whispered. ‘Sweet dreams.’

She went back to her room calling herself all kinds of a self-deceiver. When she’d thought of meeting Gustavo again she’d been so sure of herself, so convinced of her own strength and wisdom.

If he’d approached her with ardour, she could have coped. She still believed that. Instead he’d reached out to her in friendship and need, and by doing so he’d breached all her defences.

It was too late now. They had spoken not one word of love, and yet the feeling between them that night had been more intense than many lovers ever knew.

She would have laughed, years ago, to think that her love could come to this, but now it had happened and it was the sweetest, most joyous thing that had ever happened to her.

She wanted to shout her happiness aloud to the world. The way ahead was no clearer than it had ever been, but she had become his rock.

And if I have to be content with that, she thought, then I will.

But then-

The hell I will! I won’t be content with second-best. This time I want it all.

In the morning she found the sofa empty. Gustavo appeared just as she was finishing breakfast.

‘I was going to leave you a note to apologise for my boorish manners,’ he said, ‘but I couldn’t think what to say. So I just crept out like a criminal and went to my own room.’

‘Don’t make so much of it.’ She smiled. ‘I’ll be ready to leave in an hour.’

‘I’ll be waiting for you downstairs. And, Joanna-thank you for everything.’

He made no further reference to the evening they had spent together, and the revealing things that had been