Читать книгу Modern Romance July 2016 Books 5-8 - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 24

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

‘ANDREW TYSON FOR you on line one.’

Hannah’s deliberately neutral voice made Luca grimace. They’d managed to get beyond that awkward moment on Saturday night, when she’d asked about Tyson and he hadn’t given her any answers, but only just.

Part of him had wanted to admit to her what Tyson was to him, but he’d held back out of instinct, not willing to part with that painful information yet. Not wanting to be so exposed. Now he wondered if he should have, because once the deal was signed Hannah would know his plans for the resorts. And what would she think then?

It didn’t matter. This had nothing to do with Hannah. What they had together was sacred, and what had happened with Tyson had no part in that.

Realising he was keeping Tyson waiting, Luca picked up the phone.

‘Moretti here.’

‘Luca.’ Tyson’s voice oozed genial warmth, making Luca flinch. Tyson had turned away from him once before, utterly and without any remorse. The fact that he was friendly now, not knowing who Luca really was, made his kindness grate.

‘Hello, Andrew.’ He managed to keep his tone neutral. When he’d decided to go after Tyson’s resorts, he hadn’t considered the impact of dealing with the man himself. He’d told himself he didn’t care, that he felt nothing for the man who’d fathered him, the man he’d seen only once. Even if the scent of lilies still made him retch. Every interaction with the man showed those assertions for the lies they were.

‘I have good news for you, Luca,’ Andrew said. ‘And I’m sure you know what it is.’

‘I believe I do.’ Luca listened as Andrew outlined the deal he’d been waiting for: a takeover of the Tyson resorts.

‘Because,’ Andrew finished, ‘if I can’t have one of my own children running the place, I’d like to have you.’ A sentiment that nearly made Luca choke.

They finished the conversation with plans to finalise the paperwork next week, when Tyson was in London. Luca put down the phone and stared vacantly out of the window at the busy streets far below, the sky cloudless and blue above.

Distantly he registered a tap at the door, and then the sound of it opening. ‘Luca?’ Hannah asked, her expression wary. ‘That was Andrew Tyson, wasn’t it? Did he give you an answer?’

‘Yes.’ Luca forced himself to face Hannah and smile. ‘He’s accepted my bid.’

Hannah’s answering smile morphed into an uncertain frown. ‘But...aren’t you happy?’

Was he happy? He’d been happy this last week with Hannah. As for Tyson... He didn’t feel the satisfaction, the triumph and the sense of retribution that he’d thought he’d feel upon owning his father’s business. When it came to Tyson, he felt...empty.

‘Luca?’ Hannah asked softly. She walked towards him, laying a hand on his arm. ‘I wish you’d tell me what was wrong.’

This was the time to tell her about Tyson. To tell her the truth. Luca gazed up into Hannah’s voice, saw the concern and care shining in her eyes, and his throat closed.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he said gruffly, the words squeezed out of his too-tight throat. The smile on his face felt plastic and he reached for her so she couldn’t see how fake it was. ‘Nothing’s wrong at all.’

He didn’t think he’d fooled her because she just frowned before kissing him gently on the lips, making Luca feel as if something inside him were breaking.

‘I’ve got a good idea,’ he said afterwards, his arms still around her. ‘I have a boring black-tie dinner tonight that I was thinking of skipping. Why don’t we go to it together instead?’

Hannah pulled away from him so she could study his face. ‘You mean...as a couple?’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I’ve become part of your world, but you haven’t yet become part of mine.’

Tremulous hope lit her eyes even as she frowned uncertainly. ‘I don’t have anything to wear.’

‘Hmm, your last evening gown didn’t survive the trip, did it?’ Luca teased. ‘I think it’s time for another visit to Diavola.’ Hannah didn’t light up at this prospect as he’d expected her to. ‘What? You don’t want to buy a new dress?’

‘You’d be buying the dress,’ Hannah replied. ‘And I don’t want to be treated like your mistress.’

Luca suppressed a sigh. ‘So am I never allowed to buy you things? It’s as much, if not more, of a pleasure for me, Hannah.’

She chewed her lip, clearly torn. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘But I don’t want to be treated like one of your women.’

‘You aren’t.’ Luca’s lips twisted in wry self-deprecation. ‘I never even spent the entire night with a woman before you, Hannah. Not that I want to admit that, but you’re different. I’m different when I’m with you.’

She studied him for a moment, a faint frown creasing her forehead, and Luca could practically read the thoughts going through her mind. How different are you, really? Why won’t you tell me about Tyson?

She didn’t say any of it though, just smiled and kissed him. ‘I suppose you can buy me a dress.’

* * *

Eight hours later Hannah stood next to Luca, sheathed in an elegant Grecian-style gown of ivory silk. She’d had her hair and make-up done at the boutique, and felt every inch the regal princess as Luca introduced her to various acquaintances.

‘Ah, so this is your fiancée,’ a paunchy man remarked with a sweeping, appreciative gaze for Hannah. She stiffened, as did Luca. Clearly the rumour of their forthcoming nuptials had got around. Had they really thought it wouldn’t?

‘When is the date, by the way?’ the man asked.

‘Soon,’ Luca answered in a tone that brooked no more questions. The man moved on.

‘You must really be starting to regret the whole fake-fiancée thing,’ Hannah murmured.

Luca shot her a swift, searching look. ‘I don’t regret anything, because it brought us together. But I’ll be glad to put it behind us.’

But would it ever be behind them? This was the danger of taking one day at a time, Hannah acknowledged bleakly. You never knew what was lurking just ahead.

She still felt worried that Luca might tire of her or of the whole ‘happy families’ routine he’d entered into with such surprising enthusiasm. Maybe she—and Jamie—were nothing more than a novelty.

And maybe she needed to choose to believe what Luca said, that he was different, that he did care. Maybe she needed to believe in him. She’d made that choice with Ben after he’d died, when it had been too late. She’d decided to believe the best would have happened, even if they’d never got the chance to see it become a reality.

Now she needed to believe the best could happen, that Luca could be the man he wanted to be. That she could help him be that man. They just needed time.

They didn’t leave the reception until after midnight, and Hannah’s feet ached in the silver stilettos Luca had bought her to go with the dress.

‘You were magnificent,’ he said as he opened the door to the limo waiting at the kerb.

‘I liked being by your side even if it all felt a bit grand for me,’ Hannah admitted.

Once inside the limo Luca reached for her hand. ‘Stay the night?’

Guilt and temptation warred within her. ‘I can’t,’ she said regretfully. ‘I’ve been away too much as it is.’

Luca didn’t answer, just played with her fingers, his head lowered. Hannah resisted the impulse to apologise. Luca knew what he was taking on. Her responsibility for Jamie was part of the package, and she wouldn’t say sorry for that.

‘I don’t want to be apart from you,’ Luca said finally.

Hannah’s heart lifted at this admission. ‘You could stay with me,’ she suggested tentatively.

Luca lifted his head. ‘What about Jamie?’

‘What about him?’ She smiled teasingly. ‘He has his own bedroom, you know.’

‘You don’t mind me being there? When he wakes up, I mean?’

‘I don’t think Jamie’s old enough to realise exactly what it means,’ Hannah returned. ‘But even a five-year-old will get the message that you’re an important part of our lives.’ She hesitated, feeling as if she had one foot poised over a precipice. ‘And you are, Luca.’ He didn’t respond and she couldn’t keep herself from rushing in with caveats. ‘I mean, I know it’s happened so quickly and we’re taking one day at a time...’

‘Hannah.’ Luca took her face in his hands and kissed her lips. ‘You don’t need to say things like that. You’re an important part of my life.’ He paused. ‘The most important part.’

Relief rushed through her even as doubts niggled at her mind. If she was the most important part, why wasn’t he being more open? Why didn’t she feel as if she could totally trust him?

Time, she reminded herself. It would come with time.

‘Let’s go home,’ Luca said, and leaned forward to tell his driver where to go.

Back at her house, Hannah tiptoed upstairs, Luca behind her. Her mother had left with a smile on her face, glad to see Hannah finally finding some happiness.

Her bedroom felt small and shabby compared to Luca’s glorious open-plan penthouse, but he assured her he didn’t mind as he framed her face with his hands.

‘All I want is you. One day you will believe that.’

‘Why don’t you keep trying to convince me?’ Hannah murmured, and Luca did just that.

They’d made love many times since that first unexpected encounter on the beach, and yet Hannah never tired of the feel of Luca’s body against hers, inside her. Now, as he slid inside her and filled her up, he looked in her eyes, his body shuddering with the effort of holding back.

‘I love you,’ he said, his voice ragged with emotion, and Hannah blinked back tears.

‘I love you too,’ she whispered, wrapping her arms around him, and Luca began to move.

Afterwards they lay together, silent and happy, needing no words.

‘You sign the contract for the Tyson resorts next week,’ Hannah said as she ran a hand down his chest, loving the play of his muscles under her palm.

Luca wrapped his hand around her own. ‘Yes.’

‘Maybe we could go there one day, the three of us,’ Hannah said. ‘I’d love to see how you implement all your ideas.’

Luca didn’t answer and Hannah wondered if she’d presumed too much. Talking about anything to do with the resorts felt fraught. Then he rolled over and drew her tightly into his arms, his head buried in her shoulder as a shudder went through his body. Surprised and unsettled, she returned the embrace. Luca didn’t say anything, and Hannah could only wonder what emotion gripped him. She decided not to ask; it was enough he was sharing this with her, and she knew some things went too deep for words.

* * *

A week later Luca shook hands with Tyson for the last time as the contracts were signed and witnessed. Tyson’s resorts were officially his.

‘I look forward to seeing you implement your plans,’ Tyson told him as he closed his briefcase. ‘I was deeply impressed by your ethos.’

Luca smiled tightly and said nothing. He told himself that he wouldn’t feel so flat and empty once he’d put his plans in motion. Once he’d taken from Tyson what the older man had refused him all along, he’d finally sense that satisfaction that had eluded him. The justice that he had deserved for his whole life.

‘Stephen mentioned that you looked familiar,’ Tyson remarked as he shrugged on his coat. ‘But we hadn’t met before Santa Nicola, had we?’

Words bubbled in Luca’s throat, thick with rage and remembrance. He remembered staring into Tyson’s face, those faded brown eyes flat and hard. You will leave here. Now.

A push at the small of the back, the overpowering stench of lilies from the vase in the foyer. Then a door closed in his face.

‘No,’ he said coolly. ‘We haven’t.’

After Tyson had left, Luca looked down at the contract with the signatures boldly scrawled. For a moment he imagined what Hannah had suggested last week: the Tyson resorts as he’d proposed them to be, a holiday with her and Jamie. The family life he’d never had, the happiness he’d never had. He had a diamond ring in his jacket pocket he was intending to give to Hannah that evening. A whole life about to unfold, a life he now realised he wanted desperately.

Then Luca’s jaw hardened and his fist clenched. It couldn’t be that simple, that easy for Tyson. He wouldn’t let it be. He’d been waiting for this, working for this, his whole life. Justice would be had. How could he hold up his head otherwise? How could he let go of the one thing that had driven his ambition, his whole life?

Grimly focused, Luca reached for his phone. It was time to make a few calls.

* * *

Hannah was humming as she stepped onto the Tube. She’d been humming or smiling or practically prancing down the street for over two weeks now, ever since she and Luca had started a real relationship. Ever since it had felt as if her life had finally begun.

Already her mind was jumping ahead to scenarios she wouldn’t have dreamt of a month ago. Images of frothy wedding dresses and newborn babies, a house in the country, a whole life unfolding that she knew she wanted desperately—with Luca.

Her mother had cautioned her to slow down, and Hannah had tried, but it was hard when she was so happy, and Luca seemed so happy as well. He was a changed man just as he’d told her, and she needed to believe in that. Trust in his love for her and not let the small things worry her. If Luca still harboured secrets, he would tell her in his own time. She simply needed to be patient.

Her unfocused gaze skimmed across the train car of commuters on smartphones or reading newspapers. Some distant part of her brain clanged in alarm and she tensed, her gaze moving back to a headline she’d only dimly registered in the newspaper across from her. It was the business section, and in big black letters it blared Tyson Resorts to Close.

She leaned forward, sure it must be misinformation, and made out the first words of the news story.

In a shock move by real-estate tycoon and property developer Luca Moretti, the newly acquired Tyson Resorts, a chain of six family-orientated vacation spots, are set to close—effective immediately. When contacted, Moretti gave no comment.

Hannah sat back, her mind a welter of confusion. It couldn’t be right. The newspaper must have got it wrong, or was attempting to stir up trouble. Luca wasn’t going to close the resorts. He was going to turn them into something wonderful. She’d seen the plans herself.

Despite these reassurances a sense of foreboding dogged Hannah as she made her way into the Moretti Enterprises building and up to the penthouse. She’d known Luca was hiding something, something that tormented him. Had seen how affected he’d been on Santa Nicola, having to leave the table after Tyson’s toast. She’d tried to find out what was going on but she’d been afraid to press too hard. But maybe she should have. Maybe she should have seen this coming.

The reception area was empty as the lift doors opened onto the penthouse floor, but Hannah could see the lights in Luca’s office were on. She dropped her bag and coat on her desk and went straight to his door.

‘Come in,’ he called at her knock.

Hannah opened the door, her heart starting to thud. Luca sat at his desk, his gaze on his computer screen. He glanced up at Hannah as she came in, a smile transforming his features even as the expression in his eyes remained guarded.

‘Good morning.’ His voice was low and honeyed and it made both heat and hope unfurl inside her. Here was the man she knew, the man she loved. He would explain everything to her now. He had to.

‘I read the most ridiculous thing in the newspaper this morning,’ she said, and Luca stilled.

‘Oh?’

‘Yes, in the business section. It said that you were going to close the Tyson resorts, effective immediately.’ She waited for his disbelieving laugh. Willed him to rise from his desk and take her in his arms. She needed to believe this wasn’t true, that Luca was the man she’d thought he was. He didn’t move. ‘Luca?’ she asked, her voice starting to wobble. ‘It’s not true, is it? I mean...it can’t be true.’ Silence stretched and spun out, started to snap. ‘Luca.’

‘It is true,’ he said finally, his voice flat. ‘I’m closing the resorts.’

‘Why?’ she cried. ‘After all your plans...’ She snagged at a fragile thread of hope and pulled. ‘Is something wrong with them? Did you discover something—the buildings need to be condemned, or—?’

‘No.’ Luca snipped off that thread with a single word. ‘Nothing’s wrong with them besides being a bit shabby.’ He took a deep breath and laid his hands flat on his desk, his gaze direct and cold and yet somehow also vulnerable. ‘The truth is, Hannah, it was always my intention to close them.’