the one to break off our engagement, so that no one
could accuse him of dumping me. Obviously you both
share the same male mindset. Like you, he thought
that he could buy what he wanted, regardless of what
I might be feeling.' Despite her attempt to appear unaffected
by what she was revealing, a mixture of sadness
and cynicism shadowed her eyes. Her mouth
twisted slightly as she added, 'In a way, I suppose he
did me a favour. Knowing that he thought so little of
me that he would buy his way out of our relationship
made me realise that I was better off without him.'
'But, despite that, you still want him.'
The unemotional statement made her heart thud
nauseatingly inside her chest.
'No!' she said quickly. 'I do not ''still want him''.'
'So why have you run away, if it is not because
you are afraid of what you still feel for him?'
'I have not run away! I’m having a holiday, and
when I go back…' The small involuntary movement
that caused her shoulders to droop as she contemplated
returning home was more telling that she realised.
When she went back — what? She had no job to
go back to. Not now. And no home — she had, after
all, sold her cottage, and even if she had not done so
she doubted that she would have wanted to live there,
with all its memories of her false happiness. But she
could go back with her head held high and on the arm
of a man she could truthfully say was going to become
her husband, she reminded herself.
And then what? He had already told her the marriage
was only to last twelve months.
Then she would shrug her shoulders and say, as so
many others did, that it hadn’t worked out. There was
far less shame in that than there was in being labelled
as a dumped reject.
'In twelve months' time you could go back with a
million pounds in your bank account,' she heard
Lorenzo saying, as though he had read her mind.
It was so tempting to give in and agree. And she
resented him for putting her in a position where she
was tempted. What had she promised herself about
never being manipulated by a man again? Gritting her
teeth, Jodie pushed herself back from the edge of giving
in.
'If you really want a wife,' she told him crossly,
'then why Don’t try finding one without using your
money? Someone who wants to marry you because
she loves you, and believes that in you she has found
a man who loves her back, a man she can respect and
trust, and…' She saw the way he was looking at her
and shook her head. 'Oh, what’s the use? Men like
you and John are all the same. He only values the
kind of woman he can show off, the kind of woman
who makes other men envy him, and you only want
the kind of woman you can buy so that you can control
her and your relationship with her. Well, I am not
that kind of woman. And, no, I will not marry you.'
As she turned away from him Lorenzo could feel
the anger surging through him. She was refusing him?
This…this too-thin nobody of a tourist — a woman
who had been rejected publicly by the man who had
promised to marry her? didn’t she realise just what
he was offering her or how fortunate she was?
Marriage to him would transform her instantly from
an unwanted dab of a woman into the wife of someone
wealthy enough to buy her ex-fiance. a hundred
thousand times over. She would instantly be raised to
a social height most women could only dream of, she
would be courted by the famous and the rich, and, if
she was intelligent enough to capitalise on what he
would be giving her when their marriage was over,
she could find herself a new husband. Any amount of
men would be only too willing to marry the woman
who had been selected by a man like him. All she
had to do in order to totally transform her life was
agree to be his wife.
And yet, instead of recognising her good fortune,
she was actually daring to take it upon herself to lecture
him! Well, she was no loss to him. She wouldn’t
have lasted a day, not even twelve hours once
Caterina had got her claws into her, and he was a fool
to have wasted his time on her in the first place. He
could drive down to the coast and find a dozen
women within one hour who would jump at the opportunity
she had turned down.
'Fine,' he snapped, turning his back on Jodie as he
strode back towards the Ferrari.
He was leaving her here? He couldn’t — he
wouldn’t! Jodie’s eyes widened in mute shock as she
watched him walk away from her.
'No, wait!' she called out, as she stumbled anxiously
after him, gasping at the pain in her weak leg,
her anger giving way to a fear that was only slightly
alleviated when he eventually stopped and turned
round. 'I need to get in touch with the car hire firm
and let them know what’s happened.'
'They won’t be very happy about the fact that you
have damaged their vehicle. I hope you have brought
plenty of money with you,' Lorenzo warned her
