Page 24 of Bride of Betrayal
Chapter Six
Angelica woke thenext morning to a low buzzing sound. She kept her eyes closed, relishing the soft cocoon of the bed. She felt disorientated and images came back—signing legal papers,Leo, maintaining a cool and icy distance that had taken more out of her than she had admitted to herself.
Somehow it was much harder to do around Leo than it had been with Aldo.Because you never wanted Aldo.She eventually opened her eyes with a scowl on her face and blinked, looking around.
Sounds from the street far below trickled up through an open window. Curtains fluttering gently in the breeze.Rome.Then that humming noise again coming from a doorway on the other side of the room.
Angelica pushed back the covers and got out of the bed, pulling the robe around her tightly. She approached the door and opened it and her eyes widened on the sight of Leo—bare-chested, with nothing but a small towel slung around his waist.
He was shaving and he stopped and looked at her. She asked, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘You slept in my bed last night. All my things are in this bathroom. It was just easier to come here.’
Angelica looked behind her into the room and saw things she hadn’t noticed last night. A man’s watch on the nightstand. Books. A clock. A suit-bag hanging from a wardrobe door. This robe that she was wearing, which was too big.
Her face got hot. ‘I’m sorry, I just came in and had a shower and went straight to bed. I didn’t think…’
‘It’s fine, I took the guest room.’
‘I’ll move there this morning.’
‘You can stay if you like, I don’t mind.’
That just brought up images of her and Leo in the same bed, waking up…as they’d used to, entwined.
‘I’ll go and get some coffee.’ She needed to wake up.
‘Breakfast should have been delivered by now.’
Angelica fled, without looking at Leo again. When she emerged into the dining area there were some hotel staff who greeted her deferentially and then left.
They’d left a breakfast spread of hot food, and pastries. Fruit and granola. And coffee. Angelica poured a cup and took a sip, hoping that would restore some sense of equilibrium.
For a moment there, finding Leo in the bathroom had felt far too much like déjà vu.
‘Have you any plans for the day?’
Angelica jolted slightly. She must have been lost in a daydream for long minutes. Leo was there, clean-shaven, wearing a three-piece suit. Every inch the successful financier. His business restored. She couldn’t deny that he deserved that.
But she strove to maintain that cool front. ‘I have some personal admin to do.’
Leo sat down and helped himself to coffee and a big portion of hot food. That reminder of his healthy appetite. Not welcome. She wondered if he’d been with anyone since being released from prison. She hadn’t been with anyone since him. And now she was glad he’d come to his senses last night because the thought of him realising that he was still her one and only lover…made her squirm with a sense of exposure.
‘I also have to go to my agent’s office. They have some upcoming jobs they want to discuss.’
Leo said, ‘I can drop you on my way to my office if you like.’
Angelica shook her head. ‘No, it’s fine, I’d like the walk.’
‘Did Aldo like your independence?’
It took a second for Angelica to register Leo’s question. She looked at him and said coolly, ‘He had no choice.’
‘I’m glad he didn’t diminish that.’
Angelica felt a surge of emotion to hear Leo say that. To acknowledge that he remembered how important her independence was to her. Ever since she’d left Sicily she’d been conscious of providing for her mother and brother, and then, taking on the bigger responsibility of getting them out of harm’s way. She was proud of how she’d been able to do all of that off the back of her earnings. A mere trifle compared to Leo’s fortune, but no less significant for that. After losing her father, and with her leaving Sicily, she’d always felt as if she’d abandoned them so to be able to do something for them had been amazing. And that had been her whole focus, until Leo had come along and sent her world into a spin. And now he was sending it into a spin all over again.
Terrified he’d notice the chink in her armour, Angelica stood up and grabbed a pastry, along with her coffee. ‘I have to get ready, I’ll see you later.’
