Wife By Arrangement

‘Yes, yes, of course,’ he said hastily. Then a hint of his charming smile crept over his face and he asked ruefully, ‘Just the same, couldn’t you flatter my vanity by being just a little bit sad?’

‘Not even a little bit. Now be off with you.’

He turned to go, but stopped suddenly and said, ‘If things had been different-if we’d been allowed to go at our own pace-I might not have proposed marriage just then, but when we’d parted I’d have missed you unbearably, and-’

‘Stop,’ she said, suddenly unable to bear any more, for this was the thought that tormented her. ‘Don’t talk like that. Go away, Lorenzo, please.’

‘Darling-’

‘Don’t call me that!’

‘I really was falling in love with you,’ he said huskily. ‘If only we’d been granted a little time-’

‘Go!’ she said fiercely.

She kept her face away from him, and didn’t move until the fading footsteps told her that he’d gone. She was more hurt than she wanted to admit to herself. Their love was over. She could never marry Lorenzo now. But the habit of affection lingered and the misery was still sharp.

Lorenzo found both his brothers in Renato’s study, pouring whisky.

‘Come in,’ Renato told him. ‘Here.’ He held out a glass.

‘Thanks, I need it.’ Lorenzo downed the malt in one gulp and held out his glass for more.

‘You only got what you asked for,’ Bernardo observed.

‘Actually, I didn’t. I thought it would be dreadful-tears and reproaches-’

‘Then you don’t know the woman you were supposed to marry,’ Renato said. ‘I could have told you she had more dignity than that-more dignity than you or any of us.’

‘Yes, but-not a single tear, not a word of regret.’

Renato’s eyes narrowed. ‘By God, she knew how to deal with you!’ he said softly.

‘Once, I even thought she was laughing at me.’

Bernardo whistled softly. ‘An exceptional woman.’

‘Yes,’ Renato snapped. He poured himself another full tumbler of whisky.

‘Haven’t you had enough?’ Bernardo asked mildly.

Renato swung on him. ‘Mind your own damned business!’

Bernardo shrugged. ‘It’s nothing to me. But it’s not like you to drink heavily-’

‘Well, tonight I feel like drinking the cellar dry.’

‘You’re the one she’s mad at,’ Lorenzo told him. ‘She blames the whole thing on you, and she’s right. If you’d kept out of our affairs, who knows what might have happened?’

‘Spare me the happy ever after ending,’ Renato sneered. ‘I’m not convinced.’

‘Well, I am,’ Lorenzo said with a flash of anger.

‘You’re out of your mind. It’s much too late for second thoughts.’

‘You wouldn’t like to take a little bet on that, would you? Heather knows we’d have been all right, but for you. And we might be yet. She’s a wonderful woman, and maybe it isn’t too late-’

He got no further. Renato’s hands were around his throat, choking the life out of him. Renato’s eyes, close to his, were glittering, filled with murder.

‘Renato, for God’s sake stop!’ That was Bernardo, hauling him off, having to use all his strength, holding him back while Lorenzo choked.

‘Get out of here,’ Renato raged. ‘Get out of my sight!’

‘Be damned to you!’ Lorenzo said hoarsely. ‘Why didn’t you stay out of my affairs?’

‘Get out, for God’s sake!’ Bernardo told him. ‘You two killing each other is all we need.’

Lorenzo flung Renato a bitter look and departed. Bernardo kept a cautious hold on his brother until the door was closed.

‘Oh, the hell with it! Let me go,’ Renato said. Bernardo did so at once. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Why aren’t you with your lady?’

‘I can wait,’ Bernardo said. ‘She’s worth waiting for.’

‘Don’t tell me this family’s actually going to have a wedding after all?’

‘I think so. But that’s for your ears alone.’ Bernardo gave one of his rare smiles. ‘As the family head, do you approve?’

‘Would you take any notice if I didn’t?’

‘I’d mind. It wouldn’t stop me.’

‘For what it’s worth, you have my blessing. You’re a fortunate man.’

‘I know. I can’t really believe it. I keep waiting for the snag that will ruin everything.’

‘There’s no snag.’ Renato added quietly, ‘One of us, at least, is going to be lucky in love.’

They chinked glasses. Then Bernardo said uneasily, ‘Lorenzo is still our brother.’

‘I know that.’

‘I think you should be careful.’

‘Of him?’

‘No. Of yourself. Goodnight.’

He went without another word, leaving Renato alone, wishing he could get rid of the tension that plagued him. He poured most of his whisky back into the bottle, knowing that wasn’t the answer. Nor was sleep the answer.

He slammed his hand down, realising that there was no answer. There hadn’t been one since that evening when he’d met a young woman who’d told him to jump in the river. He’d admired her, been amused by her, but he was so used to planning his life as he wished that he hadn’t seen the danger, and had actually encouraged her to marry his brother.

The danger had come in a blinding flash when it was far too late: just before the wedding, when no man of honour could make a move. She’d touched his heart with her vulnerability, an experience so strange that he’d been thrown off balance. And in that confused, blinded state he’d offered her his brotherly help. After that his hands had been tied.

In the cathedral it seemed that Lorenzo had solved the problem. Except that there still echoed through his head the tormenting memory of a young woman, a few hours before what should have been her wedding, her voice carrying sweetly on the night air.

‘I just wanted to say how much I love you-love you-love you-’

Women had always fallen in love with Lorenzo, and stayed in love with him, long after hope was gone. It wasn’t just his looks or his easy good nature. It was a mysterious ‘something’ that wouldn’t let them go, like a magic spell. Renato had never begrudged him before.

And some men, he thought, were just the opposite, as though they carried a curse. Suddenly he saw his mother’s agonised face as it had been when he came round after the bike accident. Other faces followed-Heather reading the letter in the cathedral, her love gone, her career destroyed; his mother again, distraught and fainting; even Lorenzo, pale and ashamed at what he’d been driven to do.

All hurt because of himself, because he destroyed whatever he touched.

CHAPTER SEVEN

IT WAS time for Angie to leave. She’d remained a few extra days to support her friend, but now she must leave for England and her work. But surely, Heather thought, she would return to Sicily soon, because she couldn’t bear to be away from Bernardo.

She knew this was no light o’ love. It had a depth and intensity that she’d never seen in Angie before. Once she’d surprised them in each other’s arms, heard the husky murmur of Bernardo’s voice speaking words of eternal passion and devotion, and crept quickly away. But the time had passed with no announcement, and yesterday they had both vanished. Of course, they were making plans, Heather thought, and before Angie left they would announce their engagement.