curtly.
'Why should I answer you? But, yes, we are lovers,
and we will be married once his divorce comes
through. He is sending a driver for me, and someone
to collect my things.'
She turned and looked at Jodie. 'Be careful that
Lorenzo doesn’t use you as he did me. And, if he
does, make sure that he doesn’t impregnate you.
Because he will force you to abort your child, just as
he forced me to abort mine.'
Jodie could feel the blood leaving her face. She
looked wildly towards Lorenzo, expecting to hear him
deny Caterina’s horrific accusations, but instead he
simply turned on his heel and left.
'that’s not true,' Jodie whispered. 'It can’t possibly
be. Lorenzo would never—'
'What? Have you fallen in love with him already?'
Caterina mocked her. 'You little fool. You mean
nothing to him, and you never will. And it is true.
Lorenzo forced me to abort my child. If you Don’t
believe me, go and ask him. He will not spare you
by lying to you about it. Not Lorenzo. His pride
wouldn’t let him.' She started to laugh, stepping past
Jodie as a car swept into the courtyard.
Jodie had no idea how long she had been out here,
sitting alone in the Castillo garden, trying to cope
with the violence of her turbulent emotions.
It wasn’t true what Caterina had said to her, she
told herself stubbornly. She had not fallen in love
with Lorenzo. But she wanted him. Physical desire
was not love. But it was a manifestation of it. She
could not love a man who not only did not love her,
but who did not even recognise what love was. But
what if she did?
'It’s getting dark, and if you stay out here much
longer You’ll risk ending up with your leg aching.'
She hadn’t heard Lorenzo come into the garden,
and automatically she moved deeper into the shadows,
because she was afraid of what he might read in
her expression. She tensed as he sat down beside her.
'You’re right. I’d better go in,' she told him in a
thin, emotionless voice.
'Why Don’t you want to go back to England?'
'What?' Jodie looked at him blankly. She had almost
forgotten their earlier conversation, thanks to the
inner turmoil Caterina’s comments had caused her.
'There must be some reason,' Lorenzo persisted.
'I’m not sure that It’s something that I want to do
any more,' she admitted reluctantly. 'It seemed a
good idea at the time, and…and it even gave me a
sense of purpose — something to focus on. But now…'
Now her old life seemed a million years away, and
she didn’t care what John and Louise did or thought,
because now… Because now what? A fear that she
didn’t want to give any room to was uncurling inside
her with all the clinging tenacity of a killer vine. Was
this seismic shift in her emotional focus because she
was falling in love with Lorenzo?
Falling in love? That implied that she was in the
middle of an act she could halt, she decided with relief,
clinging to that thought in desperation. And she
would halt it, she decided fiercely.
'I think we should go.'
'Do you?' If she argued with him now, would he
start thinking that it was because she might be falling
in love with him? No way did she want that.
'Yes. It will help you to find closure and be a way
to draw a line under your relationship with both of
them. Then you will be able to move on.'
'Mmm. I suppose You’re right.'
'I know that I’m right,' Lorenzo said. 'I just
wish…'
'What? That you had married Caterina?'
'No,' he denied sharply.
'Did you…? Was it…? Was it true what she said
about — about the baby?' Jodie whispered, unable to
stop herself from asking the question that had been
splintering and festering inside her since Caterina had
made her accusation.
'Yes,' Lorenzo admitted heavily.
Jodie shuddered. 'Your own child!' she protested
with revulsion. 'How—?'
'No! Caterina was not… It was not my child. But
that does not diminish my guilt. I hadn’t thought…
That was the trouble. I didn’t think. I just assumed,
with the arrogance and stupidity of youth, that—' He
broke off and Jodie could see the tension in his jaw.
'Caterina and Gino had been engaged for about six
months when she boasted to me that she had a new
lover. She had never forgiven me for ending our brief
relationship, and I think she thought she could make
me jealous. She told me that she was to have his
child, but she had told Gino the child was his. I was
angry on behalf of my cousin, whom I knew loved
her deeply, with all the self-righteous anger of the
very young. I tried to force her hand. I told her she
must tell Gino the truth or I would do so myself. I
wanted Gino to know what she was — and, yes, it is
true I hoped he would end the engagement. For his
