‘Let me go! she gasped.
Cristiano expelled his breath in a hiss. ‘Not until you calm down care via. I was out of line. But didn’t I finally give you what you wanted? A sincere and honest reaction?’
‘ Conglratulations’ ‘it’s been a long time since a woman made me lose my temper! ‘
Lydia stopped struggling and lost colour. She dropped her head determined not to betray her conflicting feelings. Yet at last she had the proof that her supposed preference for Mort Stevens had got to Cristiano and drawn real blood. He was human after all. And if he thought she was a slut could she blame him? Hadn’t she ended their former relationship in a very public manner calculated to cause offence and invite the attention of the newspapers? But he had deserved that rough treatment Lydia reasoned fiercely. A guy who pursued a woman purely to score and win a loathsome bet laid with his equally hateful friends had no right to have his finer feelings considered.
What finer feelings? ‘l apologise ‘ Cristiano breathed in the rushing silence.
Lydia jerked up a slender shoulder and continued to study the worn marble beneath her feet. It was not enough. It might be his first apology, but she really would have liked him on his knees and begging’, anything short of that could only be a disappointment.
‘Next time I’ll let you slap me’
Cristiano promised.
A reluctant gurgle of laughter was wrenched from Lydia and she glanced up her anger draining away. ‘l’d have liked that better,’ she admitted. ‘There are times you make me so mad I could scream. You’re the only person who does that to me. ‘ They walked through the hall which was furnished with huge gilded mirrors and marble statues.
Cristiano directed her towards the double doors lying open at the foot. ‘l never realized how fiery you were, ‘Bella mia. ‘ Why should you have’?’ Lydia worked hard at keeping the edge of bitterness out of her voice.
When she had been head over heels in love with him she had been blissfully happy and had had no reason to fight with him. True, she had wished he would understand her reluctance to sleep with him after only a handful of meetings. But all too well aware that many of her acquaintances engaged in sex on the first date she had been reluctant to blame him for his lack of comprehension.
‘Are you in the mood to choose a new wardrobe?’ Cristiano enquired huskily.
In the huge elegant reception room Cristiano settled her down on a sofa and nodded at the hovering manservant. ‘That’s what you’re about to do. I thought you would enjoy being the client for a change.’
A door to the right opened and his meaning was clarified by the entrance of a model wearing a hounds tooth check coat which she slid back to display the silk dress beneath.
‘1 like that… ‘ Cristiano confided.
‘Stuffy’ Lydia told him, wrinkling her nose.
‘Sometimes I entertain stuffy people and go to stuffy places-‘ Lydia sighed. ‘lt’s a shame you were never given a dress-up doll as a child.’
‘What sort of a response is that from a woman who has my name written across her stomach’?’ he quipped.
‘1 should’ve known you’d make a meal of that. ‘ A brilliant smile slashed his lean bronzed features and her heart lurched from the surprise and effect of it. In the interim, he shed his jacket and tie and dropped down into the seat beside her.
Sliding an arm below her spine he eased her close to the long relaxed sprawl of his lean body. She stiffened and then gave way, enjoying that physical closeness, refusing to think about the fact.
Cappuccino coffee was served with tiny sweet biscuits that melted on her tongue, and the fashion show continued throughout-
‘l’ve got to see you in that ‘cara mia’ Cristiano decreed when he saw a striking blue evening dress, and three out of the next four outfits elicited the same response from him.
His determination to buy her an extensive selection of designer garments every one of which cost thousands of pounds filled her with deep mortified unease.
‘I can’t feel comfortable at the idea of you buying me clothes’. she was finally moved to admit. ‘1 put all that stuff out of my life when l quit modelling.’
‘Why?’
‘lt seemed so vain and meaningless. l was just a clothes horse. l donated all my party clothes to charity shops.’
‘very noble and self-denying. I wonder why you felt the need to shed the trappings of your former lifestyle so completely ‘
he mused softly above her head and she coloured knowing that he had to be thinking with scorn of the money he believed she had stolen.
‘so you then donned a pair of Wellington boots and signed up for a gardening course. I’m afraid l don’t see the attraction.’
‘I like the knowledge that I’m creating something. I love working outdoors.’
Curling her even closer beneath one powerful arm Cristiano murmured in a tone of unmistakable finality, But now you’re with me.’
‘probably not for long, though ‘ she dared.
‘What age are you?’
‘Fwenty-two.’
Cristiano was disconcerted for it had never once occurred to him that she could be that much younger than he.
‘1 know… ‘
Lydia was grateful to have something safe to talk about added in a rush