'-you're a lousy domineering bully, who never ever thinks about my feelings!' she spat, and hared out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time.
Vito strolled out into the hall and angled his dark head back. 'By the way, there won't be any locks on the bathroom doors in our house in London. What are you going to do?' he mocked. 'Do you think you might actually find yourself in the frightful position of having to share those feelings with me?'
A slammed door was his answer. Ashley flung herself on the bed. The fire of her emotions was exhausting her now. She glanced up, ready to unleash another barrage, when a soft knock preceded the opening of the door. When Priya appeared, she scolded herself for imagining that Vito might knock on his own bedroom door.
'I hope I will not offend,' Priya began anxiously, the door still ajar behind her. 'But you might have fallen on the stairs and hurt the baby-'
Ashley groaned. 'You're right… but just for a minute I forgot about the baby-'
'It is not wise for a woman to forget when she is carrying a child,' Priya persisted. 'Calm and care at all times are most advisable. When I saw you, I was so afraid you would fall.'
'I won't do it again.' Ashley was annoyed with herself for having let temper take over again. But even as she thought that, she stiffened and tensed in dismay as Vito filled the doorway. Priya bowed out at speed.
'What do you want?' she demanded, wondering in horror if he could have overheard them discussing her pregnancy, but there was no shade of any sudden comprehension in his dark features although his appraisal was intense. 'To say goodnight?' he queried teasingly. 'Goodnight!'
'Interesting as your mother's gynaecological history no doubt is, Mrs di Cavalieri-' Mr Beckett began. 'Brown!' Ashley reminded him again, feeling foolish when he raised his eyes heavenward in silent suffering. 'I require complete confidentiality. I don't want anyone to know that I'm pregnant,' she added shakily, emerging from the room where she had been dressing. Mr Beckett abandoned names altogether. 'As I was saying, your mother's misfortunes have far too great a hold on your imagination. Frankly, I'm more concerned about your state of mind than your health. Your pregnancy checks out exactly as it should for the first trimester and as I've already told you taking the Pill for a couple of weeks won't have done the slightest harm to your baby. But you're a tiny bit underweight. Hopefully that problem will take care of itself as the sickness recedes. Would you like to sit down?'
Stiff-backed and tense, she took a seat. 'What's wrong?'
He sighed heavily. 'Nothing is wrong. If you'd looked at the scan as I suggested-'
'I don't want to get too attached to the baby.'
'If you intend to be my patient, I absolutely refuse to listen to any more pessimistic remarks,' he delivered. 'As for not wanting anyone to know that you're pregnant – I'm afraid that will be rather difficult in a shorter time than you expect. You see, you are expecting not one baby but two- Nurse!'
Ashley had almost fallen off the chair, faint with shock, and had to endure having her head pushed down between her knees. Twins – she couldn't believe it! Twins! As she started to tabulate all the extra risks involved in carrying twins, she felt even more giddy.
Josh was waiting outside on the street for her. She tottered down the steps, as pale and drawn as an accident victim. 'What are you doing here?'
'Is that any way to greet an old friend?' He pressed her into the taxi he had waiting. 'You were so secretive on the phone when you asked me to recommend someone, I was concerned.'
'I'm pregnant!' she gasped. 'Congratulations, luv!' the cab driver said.
'Twins,' she hissed tragically at Josh. 'And there's none in my family!' 'They run in Vito's.'
'They won't run with me for long.'
'You really are upset,' he finally registered.
He took her to a fashionable restaurant and she poured out her heart, a handkerchief in one hand, a glass of unadulterated spring water in the other. 'Why aren't you sharing these terrors with Vito?'
It was a reasonable question. But how could she be honest with a man who was planning to take her baby away from her? On all sides she felt constrained by secrecy, and the awareness that she would not be able to conceal her condition for much longer tortured her. She would have to leave Vito far sooner than she had planned. 'I can't tell you.'
'Is he treating you badly?' Josh breathed furiously, and clasped her hand.
She gulped bravely behind her handkerchief. Actually he was treating her very well, but not like a wife, more like a maiden aunt. Any sex appeal she had ever had had clearly vanished virtually overnight in Sri Lanka. They had been back in London for ten days and she had her own bedroom all to herself. He had flown to Milan five days ago and he hadn't even suggested that she might go with him. Sex, bloody stupid arguments and hassle,… evidently his intelligence had prevailed over his animal instincts, for the best he could seem to offer her now was amazingly polite conversation and horrifically considerate behaviour. Yes, on her terms, he was treating her very badly.
'No, he's very kind.' Her mouth wobbled again. 'He's killing me with kindness. We haven't had one argument, not even a teeny weeny disagreement. He agrees with everything I say. All the passion has died.'
'Some men find pregnancy a little hard to adjust to-' 'My, my, my, what have we here?'
Josh removed his hand from Ashley's with complete cool and glanced up at the smirking youth standing by their table. 'Hello, Pietro,' he said drily.
'Tell me, Auntie, do I mention this to my uncle or do we keep it our little secret?' Pietro sneered.
'Go away, you little creep,' Ashley snapped in a raw undertone. 'Or I'll knock your teeth down your throat.' Taken by surprise, Pietro's cool front was cracked. With burning cheeks, he threw her a look of hatred and said, 'You haven't heard the last of this.'
'And every word a cliche, too,' she murmured with contempt.
'Was that wise? This situation could be misunderstood,' Josh pointed out uneasily.
Ashley had only met Pietro briefly at the wedding. The only child of Vito's elder sister, who was a widow, he bore all the marks of a self-indulgent, adoring mother and too much money. She had known that her marriage to Vito had shattered him. When he had taunted Tim, he had certainly not envisaged Tim's sister becoming his uncle's wife, and he disliked her thoroughly for that piece of apparent one-upmanship.
'Looking scared would only encourage him.' She glanced anxiously at her watch. 'I should be going.' Vito was striding through the hall when she returned home. She paled like a thief caught with her hand trapped in the till. 'You weren't due back until tomorrow'
'Should I look under the bed? Search the cupboards?' he teased.
Huddled inside her coat with her stomach sucked in, she looked at him blankly. 'For your lover,' he supplied rather drily. 'It was supposed to be a joke.'
Amusement failed her. As he searched her face, his dark features set hard, making him look tired, irritable. '''Welcome home, caro. I've missed you so much,'' he breathed with glancing satire in a high-pitched treble.
She flushed, her shoulders drooping under the weight of her depression. 'I'm sorry.'
'The last thing I need right now is an apology. Dio, what am I? Your gaoler, that you need to cringe when you see me?' he murmured in a fierce undertone.
The burden of her own secrecy constrained her. And what would he have done had she thrown herself into his arms? Such a demonstration would scarcely have been welcome when he no longer found her desirable. The passion had burnt out just as she had known it would, and when he wouldn't even argue with her she knew their relationship was on the rocks. Either that or he was sickening for something, she reflected morosely as she sat down in the palatial drawing-room.
'Mr Angeli, madam.'
Ashley glanced up from her magazine with a frown.
Who? Their staff didn't normally show a visitor in until they had established that the visitor was welcome…with one notable exception. Family members. And there, smirking like a cartoon baddie in a comic strip stood Pietro.
'Vito's upstairs if you want him.' She decided to call his bluff, every muscle in her slight body drawn unnaturally tense.
Pietro strolled over to her. 'You must think I'm stupid. He's in Milan.'
Ashley edged upright uneasily. 'He's upstairs.' He laughed. 'You wish!'
'Are you threatening me?' she enquired in disbelief. He drew out a cigarette and lit it with a flourish.
'What do you think?'
