A Thorn In Paradise

Antonio shook his head and spun round on his heel, slamming the door behind him.

‘Well?’ Benjamin muttered to Corinna. ‘Don’t just stand there pretending that you have nothing to say. And for God’s sake stop fussing around these damned bedclothes! What are you thinking? You might as well tell me instead of wearing that tight-lipped expression.’

Corinna hesitated, then said, ‘You could have handled that a bit better.’

‘A bit better? A bit better! So he’s got to you, has he? That’s the way the ground lies, is it?’

‘Don’t be foolish. Nobody’s got to me. I just think that you could have accepted his apology.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it might have been the start of some kind of truce between you.’

‘It’s a truce I could do without.’

She shrugged and Benjamin’s eyebrows met in a frown. ‘He’s not wanted and don’t try and be saintly. Didn’t it strike you that he doesn’t approve of you? Dispensable, he called you, I believe.’

She lowered her eyes. ‘It doesn’t bother me.’

‘Well, it bothers me. I don’t want to hear what he’s got to say, and if part of the reason that he’s found his way here is because he’s got to know about you and thinks you might have designs on my bank balance, then he’s wasted his time.’

Corinna looked at him, startled. She had known that Benjamin was shrewd, but his astuteness amazed her.

‘So I’m right, am I?’

‘How did you guess?’

‘I suppose that fool Angus has written to him about you,’ he said, continuing when he saw her bewildered expression. ‘He’s been trying to get us together for years. Keeps in touch with Antonio, you see. Throws me titbits about his life every now and again to whet my appetite, no doubt, as if I’m interested.’ He gave a shout of laughter. ‘Well, I’m not about to forgive and forget as easily as that!’

‘You’re a stubborn old man,’ she said with resigned affection. ‘You know what they say about pride.’

‘And you know what I say about you philosophising,’ he retorted. ‘Now could you go and fuss somewhere else?’

‘You’re not coming down?’

‘Not at the moment.’

‘And what about food?’

‘Get that witch Edna to bring it to me. It’s time she worked for her keep.’ He closed his eyes, his way of dismissing her, and she let herself out of the room quietly.

As she looked up she saw Antonio waiting for her, lounging against the wall at the top of the stairs, and she did her best to walk past him, but he wasn’t about to let her. He reached out and held her and for some reason which she could only put down to dislike, her body began doing strange things. Her skin tingled where his fingers were curled round her forearm and she found that she was breathing quickly, as if she had just run a marathon.

‘I’ve been waiting for you,’ he said grimly.

‘Take your hand off me.’

That had the opposite effect of making him grip her tighter.

‘I watched you,’ he said, ‘the way my father responds to you.’

‘How interesting. Now do you mind?’

‘I don’t know how you’ve done it but you’ve managed to become a necessary part of his life. I won’t let you take him for a ride.’

Her eyes flashed angrily as she contemplated that statement. ‘You’re not in a position to put your foot down on anything, Mr Antonio Silver. Not that there’s anything to put your foot down about, anyway! And not that it’s any of my business, but all this sudden rush of concern for your father, how do I know that it’s not because you feel your inheritance being compromised? Is that why you flew over here at a rate of knots the minute you heard about me?’

His mouth thinned. ‘You’re right, it’s none of your business, but I’ll set your little mind at rest anyway. I don’t need my father’s estates. I have enough money of my own to buy my own estates.’

‘Oh.’

‘Satisfied?’ he sneered. ‘Or would you like to see a few of my bank balances?’

‘You can’t blame me for thinking…’ she muttered, and he jerked her towards him.

‘Keep your thoughts to yourself in the future,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘You’re a nurse, have you forgotten? You’re not here to speculate on things that don’t concern you, you’re here for my father’s health, though I’m surprised you haven’t driven him into the grave with that tongue of yours.’

That hurt. ‘That’s unfair,’ she whispered, looking down, and there was silence. ‘Your father and I get along well together.’

‘Too well.’

‘I resent your assumptions. If what you’re aiming at is to force me from this house, then you’re wasting your time. I like it here, I like your father, and that has nothing to do with the size of his bank balance! Your cynicism might help you in that concrete jungle you live in, but it’s out of place here!’

‘Is it?’ He gave that some thought, and she looked at his downturned eyes, the dark sweep of his lashes, a little uneasily.

‘All right. We’ll have it your way. Maybe I misjudged you.’ His voice was soft and smooth. ‘I must admit that when I came over here I didn’t expect to find someone like you.’

The question was too tempting to resist. ‘What did you expect to find?’

‘Someone,’ he drawled lazily, ‘a bit sexier. A bit more—filled out, so to speak. And definitely a brunette. My father has only ever been attracted to dark-haired women, did you know that? That’s a little titbit for your scrap-book, isn’t it?’

There was something dangerously hypnotic about his deep voice and steel-grey eyes.

‘How do you know that?’ she asked calmly, blinking away the desire to be mesmerised.

‘A confidence exchanged a long time ago. A passing remark that’s stuck in my head over the years.’

So, the thought struck her, there must have been warmth there at one point. What had gone wrong? She would never ask either of them and she had a feeling that the information would never be forthcoming.

He was looking at her with intense concentration and she began to feel even more uncomfortable.

‘What are your plans now?’ she asked, trying to get the subject on to more neutral ground.

‘You already know what my plans are. I have work to do here, apart from everything else.’

I hope it keeps you out of the house, she thought, viewing a succession of fraught encounters with something approaching panic.

‘Fine,’ she said, ‘now could you let me go? You seem to enjoy taking the caveman approach with me, but I’d really prefer you to keep your hands to yourself.’