'Do you want to go inside the church?' Lorenzo
asked.
Jodie shook her head. 'No. They’ll be getting it
ready for the wedding and I Don’t want…'
'You Don’t want what? To confront the friend who
stole your fiance.? I thought that was why we are
here?'
'John’s an adult. No one forced him to break his
engagement to me for Louise.' Her head had begun
to ache slightly. 'Can we go back to the car?'
Lorenzo shrugged. 'If that is what you want.'
What she wanted was for Lorenzo to love her as
she had discovered she loved him. What she wanted
was to be back in Florence with him, living her life
with him, creating a future with him.
'I’m getting a headache,' she told him instead.
'It is probably anxiety. What exactly are you hoping
for tonight, Jodie?'
You. I’m hoping for you to look at me and love me.
'I’m not hoping for anything.'
'No? You’re not hoping secretly that John will see
you and recognise that it is you he wants after all?'
'that’s not going to happen.'
'But you want it to?'
'No.'
They were back at the car, and Jodie was so engrossed
in rejecting Lorenzo’s suggestion that she
didn’t notice the woman looking sharply at her until
a familiar voice announced in surprise, 'Jodie? Good
heavens! I thought you were still away.'
Lucy Hartley — whose husband worked for John’s
father!
Somehow or other Jodie managed to produce the
necessary smile. 'It’s just a flying visit,' she explained.
'I wanted to show my…my husband—'
'Your husband? You’re married?'
To Jodie’s relief, Lorenzo stepped forward and extended
his hand. Quickly Jodie performed the introductions,
watching Lucy’s eyes widen as she did so.
'You’ll be going to John’s parents' open house
party this evening, will you?' she enquired.
'We certainly hope to do so,' Lorenzo answered
smoothly, before Jodie could say anything. 'If we
won’t be encroaching. Jodie has told me so much
about her home and her friends, and I’m looking forward
to meeting them.'
'Oh, no. I’m sure that Sheila and Bill will be only
too delighted.' Lucy was beaming. 'I’ll certainly tell
them I’ve seen you. Where are you staying, just in
case anyone asks?'
Reluctantly Jodie told her, and saw how her eyes
widened a little more in recognition of the exclusivity
of the hotel.
'My! You have gone up in the world, Jodie!'
Jodie could feel her face starting to burn.
'We must go — but hopefully we shall see you this
evening,' Lorenzo offered politely, quickly steering
Jodie away before she could give vent to her feelings.
'That woman is such a snob,' she complained angrily
as Lorenzo unlocked the car and opened the
door for her. 'The moment I mentioned the hotel she
was all over us like a rash. And she doesn’t even
know about your title.'
Lorenzo closed the passenger door and walked
round to get into his own side of the car.
As soon as he had started the engine, Jodie told
him fiercely, 'Lorenzo, I Don’t want to go tonight.
When I first said that I wanted to, I wasn’t thinking
things through properly. I Don’t think we should go.'
'We can hardly not go now,' Lorenzo pointed out
calmly. 'We will be expected.'
She ought to be grateful to Lorenzo, Jodie knew.
He had rearranged his schedule in order to accommodate
this visit for her, and now here she was, telling
him that she didn’t want to be here.
Lorenzo looked at Jodie’s averted profile. He could
see the effect the thought of seeing her ex-fiance. and
his bride-to-be was having on her, and how much it
was upsetting her. So why was he insisting on her
doing so? What was he trying to prove that was worth
proving? Why didn’t he put his foot down on the
accelerator, head for the hotel and take her back to
Italy before she could change her mind? Once there,
he would have nearly a whole year…
A year in which to what? To persuade her to remain
married to him? That was what he wanted, was
it?
What if it was? It didn’t mean anything other than
that he was beginning to feel that it would be easier
to remain married to her than not to do so. Marriage
gave a man a certain sense of purpose and stability.
Just because previously he had not considered the
value of an old-fashioned arranged marriage, that did
not mean he was so inflexible in his thinking that he
could not recognise it now. He and Jodie were married,
after all; there was much to be said from a practical
point of view for them staying married.
He would still be able to maintain his emotional
barriers. Once he had assured himself that she accepted
