The Italian’s Rightful Bride

She placed her hands on his shoulders, frowning a little.

‘Now? You can only ask now?’

‘Of course. I’m independent now. I won’t look like a fortune-hunter to you now.’

Her frown deepened. ‘You never did look like a fortune-hunter to me. Put me down.’

He did so, while still keeping hold of her.

‘If you only knew how hopeless it looked to me-how could I approach you when I needed your money so badly?’

‘Why shouldn’t you? You did it once before. I didn’t blame you then. Why should you think I’d blame you now?’

‘But can’t you see that this is different? When we met the first time-it was a bargain on both sides. We knew the terms before we even met. In its way it was an honest transaction. But now-’

‘But now we’ve made love,’ she said slowly. ‘And that makes a difference. You’ll be saying next that I compromised your honour.’ She gave a mirthless laugh.

‘If anyone compromised it, I did. I tried to tell you that there were things I should have said first-’

‘But I already knew you were short of money. You needed to raise cash to repay Crystal. I think you told me that the first day. What were you doing? Warning me off?’

‘Of course not. You were just an old friend I felt I could trust. It was only later that it mattered so much-after London… Hell!’

He ran his hands through his hair. He wasn’t good at this. He preferred things to be straightforward.

‘After London-’ he tried again ‘-I thought we were closer-’

‘So did I-’

‘If Freddy hadn’t appeared-well, he did, and I had to be patient. I knew our time would come-it had to.’

‘The night of the party, the night Crystal appeared.’

‘Yes, she put all sorts of ugly ideas into my head.’

‘Trust her to do that! You shouldn’t have listened.’

‘She wants the rest of her money at once. Try not listening to that.’

‘I know. Freddy told me. The two of them are rapidly becoming as thick as thieves, but so what? How can they affect us?’

‘She suggested that I marry you to repay her. Did Freddy tell you that?’

‘No, but he thought of it for himself.’

‘I’ll bet he did. I’ll bet he’s slavering at the prospect.’

‘What does he matter?’ she cried. ‘Why must you tie yourself in knots about this?’

‘Because that night I made love to you,’ he said frantically, ‘I did it because I wanted to. I wanted you more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone, but how can you ever believe that?’

‘Because you’ve just told me.’

‘Well, I would, wouldn’t I? If I’m after your money that’s just what I’d do. Perhaps you should think before believing a word I say.’

‘Why are you so determined to put the case for the prosecution?’ she cried.

‘Because nobody else is going to put it.’

‘Gustavo, I heard the case for the prosecution years ago. I’ve lived with it. Now I want to hear the other one.’

‘You should be cautious-I had a motive for behaving badly.’

‘Some people thought you were behaving badly when you married Crystal,’ she flung at him. ‘But you didn’t care. You outfaced them because that was how much you loved her. So why can’t you outface people for me?’

‘Darling-’

‘Don’t call me darling, you hypocrite.’

‘I love you, and I’ll damned well call you what I like. Or doesn’t it mean anything that I love you?’

There! He’d said it!

After all these years he’d said that he loved her, and instead of being the sweet, glorious moment she’d dreamed of, it had come as part of a stupid quarrel.

But it wasn’t stupid. It struck at the heart of her love and what that love meant to her.

‘It would have meant something if you did love me,’ she said slowly. ‘But actually I come some way down your list of priorities.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said distractedly. ‘I know this isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen-’

‘To hell with what’s supposed to happen!’ she cried. ‘You’ve spent so much of your life doing what you were supposed to do that you’ve forgotten how to do anything else. Why can’t you just follow your heart, like you did with her?’

‘I wish you’d leave her out of it.’

‘How can I? You loved her so much that you didn’t care what anyone thought, or even what you thought of yourself. Now it’s different. Your priorities are first, your pride; second, your reputation; third, me.’

‘That’s unfair.’

‘The truth is often unfair, and it is the truth. Well, it’s not good enough. I don’t want a half-love. I want one that matters so much that you’ll trample everything else down for me, like you did before. And I can’t have it, not from you, anyway. I even got better from Freddy.’

‘Freddy was a fortune-hunter.’

She sighed. ‘Gustavo, if I started worrying about the motives of men who had less than me I’d die an old maid. It includes most of them. I have my own standards, and that doesn’t include a man’s bank balance, or lack of it. I don’t care! I only care how much he loves me.’

‘And I’ve told you that I do.’

‘No, you don’t. What you love is your own opinion of yourself as a decent man.’

‘And you? You don’t love me at all, do you?’

‘How the hell do you know?’

‘Because you’re finding excuses to back off, just like last time. Isn’t that true?’

She was about to tell him everything, but her temper had risen and hell would freeze over before she made a declaration of love here and now. Her heart was bitter with disappointment that it had come to this.

‘I think we should go home now,’ she said. ‘This isn’t the time or place.’

‘I think it is.’

‘Don’t try to talk to me, Gustavo. I’m so angry I may never want to talk to you again.’

‘I don’t understand you.’

‘No, you don’t, do you? That’s one thing we can agree on. You’ve never understood anything about me. Not then, not now.’

She stormed off, climbed out of the dig in a rage, ran to the car and drove away.

She got halfway back to the house before common sense returned and she remembered that he had no means of transport. Groaning, she turned back and drove until she saw him.

‘Get in,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘And don’t say a word to me, ever again, do you understand?’

‘No,’ he said in a hollow voice. ‘I don’t understand anything.’

‘Then just keep quiet anyway.’

Over the next few days the full extent of the treasure was revealed, and it was greater than anyone’s hopes.

Joanna’s professional pride warred with her personal frustration and misery.

She could have had it all and she’d thrown it away because of some stupid, niggling bother.

No, she stopped herself there. It hadn’t been stupid. And she couldn’t have had it all. She could have had only the small portion Gustavo had been willing to offer. He could love her if…

And that ‘if’ damned him. If everything else was right. If he could keep his pride as well. With Crystal he’d thrown all other thoughts to the winds. With her there was an ‘if’. And though it broke her heart a second time, she would not accept a conditional love in return for her wholehearted one.

There were plenty of other things to think of. It was time for Billy to go back to England and the boarding-