The Sicilian's Bought Bride

To make it in the cut-throat world of property development would take stamina, intelligence and, dare she even say it, responsibility. Which, Catherine realised, were the very things Janey needed in a man to keep her on the straight and narrow.

‘So Marco’s into property development? He’s part of the Mancini chain?’ Catherine asked, trying not to sound too keen. She had learnt long ago that her approval was the kiss of death for any of Janey’s relationships. But the hope that Janey’s latest boyfriend might actually posses a scrap of responsibility was doused as quickly as it flared.

‘Marco’s sold his share of the business to his brother Rico,’ Janey corrected, with a note of irritation that Catherine refused to acknowledge. She was determined to find out more about the man Janey was involved with, and was liking him less with each revelation. ‘When Marco turned eighteen he was all set to go on board, but by then Rico had decided that he wanted to “grow” the business, to work sixty-hour weeks—’

‘That’s what people do, Janey,’ Catherine interrupted, but Janey tossed her blonde hair and took another slug of her wine.

‘Why?’ she asked, with a glint of challenge in her eyes. ‘Why would you bother when you’ve already made it? Marco’s rich in his own right; he doesn’t need to work and so he doesn’t—it’s as simple as that.’

‘So he lives off his inheritance?’ Catherine shook her head, bewildered. ‘He’s never even had a job?’

‘You sound just like his brother,’ Janey sneered. ‘And I’ll tell you the same thing Marco tells Rico. He doesn’t sponge off his family; the money is his to spend.’

‘But what sort of a man—?’

‘Oh, what would you know about men?’ Janey spat back spitefully, ‘Who are you to give me advice?’

‘I’m your sister.’ Cheeks flaming, she had tried to keep her voice even, determined not to rise to the venom that appeared every time she tried to reel Janey in. ‘I care about you, Janey, and whether you like it or not I’m concerned about you. Since Mum and Dad…’ Her voice trailed off for a second. She didn’t want to rake up the past, didn’t want to go over those painful memories, but knew that now it was called for. ‘I’ve done my best for us, Janey. I’ve tried as hard as I can to be there for you, and I’m asking you to listen to me now. I just think it’s all too soon. You’ve only known this Marco for a couple of months. Why are you rushing into things? Why not wait a while and see how things—?’

‘I’m pregnant.’

The words were enough to still Catherine, enough to shed a whole new different light on the rumblings of their argument. But even though the news had floored her Catherine deliberately didn’t look shocked; she even managed to bite her tongue as Janey took a long sip of wine, knowing now wasn’t the time for a lecture.

‘Then I’m here for you,’ she said again. ‘We can sort this out, Janey. Just because you’re pregnant it doesn’t mean you have to marry him. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.’

‘You really are stupid, aren’t you?’ The sneer on Janey’s pretty face was like a slap to Catherine’s cheek. ‘For a schoolteacher you really are thick—do you know that? As if I’d get knocked up by accident.’

‘Knocked up?’

‘Pregnant.’ Janey gave a malicious laugh. ‘Don’t think for one moment, Catherine, that I don’t know what I’m doing. Don’t for one second think that this baby is an accident.’

‘Janey, I’m sorry.’ Catherine stood up. ‘I wasn’t suggesting you don’t want your baby. I just never thought you…’ She struggled helplessly for a second. ‘You’ve never shown any interest in babies.’

‘And I don’t intend to start.’ Janey’s eyes narrowed spitefully. ‘Do I really have to spell this out, Catherine? I’ve never had it so good. I can go into a shop, any shop—and not look at the price tags. I can walk into the best restaurants without checking the prices. And if you think I’m going to let it end then you don’t know me at all.

Maybe Marco does love me, maybe this would have carried on indefinitely, but I’m not prepared to take the risk. So I’ve created my own little insurance policy.’ She patted her stomach, but without a trace of tenderness, laughing mirthlessly at Catherine’s shocked expression. ‘And if you’re worried about my lack of maternal instincts, then don’t waste your time; Marco can afford the best nannies. I won’t have to do a thing. So you can save the big sister lectures, save the boring speeches—because I don’t need you, Catherine.’

Even a year later the words hurt.

The shiny cool gold of Janey’s wedding band held its own batch of memories—only this time they weren’t exclusive to Janey.

Rico, smart in his dark suit, pausing a fraction too long before handing the rings over, his hand hovering over the Bible before dropping them down in an almost truculent gesture. For Catherine had come the welcome realisation that she wasn’t alone in her doubts about this union…

‘How are you doing?’

The nurse was back, providing a welcome break from her painful memories, and Catherine gave a tired smile, standing on legs that felt like jelly and smoothing down her skirt as she picked up her jacket.

‘I’m fine, but I think I’d like to go to the children’s ward and sit with Lily.’

Lily.

A wave of bile threatened to choke her as she thought of her niece, orphaned and alone in the children’s ward, and for a moment she wrestled with a surge of hatred—hatred for her sister that was surely out of place now she was dead.

‘They said they’d call down when they were ready. It shouldn’t be too much longer. I know you must be exhausted, dealing with all this on your own, but at least we’ve finally managed to locate Marco’s parents. Apparently they’re holidaying in the States; that’s why it’s taken so long.’

‘His father and stepmother,’ Catherine corrected. ‘His mother died a long time ago.’

‘Well, they’ve been contacted.’

Catherine gave a weary nod. She hadn’t expected the Mancinis to drop everything, and even though she knew a lot needed to be organised and a lot of choices needed to be made, secretly she was relieved nothing would be done tonight.

Tonight was hard enough.

‘Someone called Rico’s coming, though; he rang on his mobile and said for you to wait here…Are you all right, Miss Masters?’ Catherine could see the nurse’s mouth moving, the concern in her face as Catherine swayed slightly.

‘I’m fine. It’s just…’ Her pulse seemed to be pounding in her temples and her tongue was dry as she ran it over her lips. Legs that had just found their bearings seemed to be collapsing beneath her again as the nurse pulled the chair nearer and guided Catherine into it.

‘Take some slow, deep breaths, Miss Masters, and keep your head down. That’s the way. You’re just a bit dizzy, that’s all, which isn’t surprising after all you’ve been through. I’ll get you some water. Just wait there. It’s all been such a shock for you it isn’t any wonder you’re feeling faint.’

Catherine gave a weak nod, burying her head in her hands and feeling a vague stab of guilt at the nurse’s kindness.

Today hadn’t really been a shock.

It was agony. It hurt more than she could even begin to bear. But the nurse was wrong again. The sad end to these lives hadn’t been a shock. The way Marco and Janey had lived their lives, flaunting society’s rules, sure that money would protect them, that rules didn’t somehow apply to them…today had been inevitable.

It wasn’t the accident and its aftermath that had caused her near-faint—although, Catherine admitted, it would certainly have contributed to it—it wasn’t even the long interviews with social workers, trying to map out a tentative path for Lily, and it had very little to do with the fact she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It was all down to the fact that Rico was coming. After all these months she was finally going to see him.

‘Rico,’ she whispered his name out loud, dragging in the stuffy hospital air and closing her eyes, allowing her mind to drift away for a slice of time, drift away from this awful room and the awful day to the beauty she had once witnessed. The horrors of the days receded as his face came into focus—a face she had pushed out of her mind for a year now, refused to dwell on, forcibly removed from her consciousness, but a face that had always been there, slipping into her dreams at night, supposedly unwelcome but shamefully, gratefully received.

He had made her laugh.

The wedding she had dreaded had turned out to be the most exhilarating, heady night of her life, and it had all been down to Rico.

It had been Rico who had come up to her as she’d sat, seemingly aloof but actually tense and awkward at the head table, watching confused and bewildered as Janey and Marco made a mockery of everything sacred and twirled around the dance floor.

Rico who had turned her world around.

‘I need you to talk to me!’ The urgency in his voice had caught Catherine completely off guard.

‘Me?’ Turning, she had opened her mouth, questions bobbing on her tongue as to why the most eligible of eligible bachelors should suddenly be paying attention to her. ‘Why?’ Catherine asked rudely.

‘I’ll tell you in a moment, but I really need for you to talk to me,’ he insisted. ‘I know this is probably the last thing you need right now, but I want you to look as if you’re engrossed.’

She already was! It wasn’t hard to give Rico Mancini her full attention, wasn’t exactly a feat to stare into those dark, dark eyes and appear mesmerised. He had turned his chair so he was facing her. His knees casually apart he dragged her chair forward an inch or two, effectively caging her in, an earnest look on his face as he moved in closer and begged in low, urgent tones for her to stay put.

‘What on earth’s going on?’ Catherine giggled, embarrassed and pleased and suddenly excited all at the same time.

‘Would you believe me if I told you the minister’s wife was coming on to me?’