Innocent Wife, Baby Of Shame

‘Please, I—I have to see him,’ Keira said, her mouth drying in despair, making it difficult to get the words out. ‘It’s…it’s urgent.’

The receptionist’s light blue gaze was disbelieving but after a long tense moment she let out a sigh and reached for the intercom handset. ‘Your…er…wife is here to see you,’ she said, obviously uncertain how to refer to Keira in the light of what had been going on.

Keira winced when she heard the stream of invective coming from the other end but the receptionist took it in her stride. ‘Yes, I know,’ she said calmly. ‘But she said it’s urgent.’

Keira swallowed back her anguish as the receptionist put the handset back down in its cradle a few moments later. ‘He will see you when he finishes the call he is currently taking,’ she said as she got to her feet. ‘I have a tram to catch. Mr Trelini will come and get you when he wants you.’

He doesn’t want me. Keira felt the pain of mentally acknowledging the words. She had killed his love for her with one stupid act of reckless defiance.

He was never going to forgive her.

How could he when she couldn’t even forgive herself?

Keira sat on the leather sofa in the reception area and looked at the magazines neatly arranged on the coffee table, her heart contracting in despair when she saw that each and every one of them had her guilt and shame splashed over the covers. She reached for the top one, where there was a photo of her leaving Garth Merrick’s apartment the morning after she had…

‘Hello, Keira.’

The magazine dropped out of her hand as she looked up to see Patrizio standing in front of her. She bent to retrieve it but his foot came over it.

‘Leave it.’

She got to her feet, self-consciously tucking a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear. She felt so awkward, so out of place, so unrefined in his presence. She hadn’t had time to change after working in the studio and she squirmed as she felt his dark-as-night gaze sweep over her. He was probably thinking she had done it deliberately to annoy him. She could almost feel the censure in his gaze as it burned over every inch of her body.

‘I take it the urgent matter you wish to discuss with me has to do with your brother and my nephew,’ he said. ‘I was just speaking with the headmaster of their school, who informed me of what has been going on.’

Keira rolled her lips together in agitation. ‘Yes…I had no idea things had gone that far. I thought they were best friends…in spite of what…what happened…’

His dark brows snapped together. ‘How could you think your behaviour would not affect my nephew or indeed your own brother?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Your salacious affair with Garth Merrick has made me a laughing stock amongst my colleagues and associates, not to mention my family. There is a lot I am prepared to forgive, but not that.’

‘I know…’ she said, fighting back tears. ‘I’m so sorry…’

‘Do not waste your breath pretending you are sorry,’ he said. ‘I am not going to take you back and I am not going to give you the amount of money you are vying for.’

‘But I don’t want—’

‘Forget it, Keira,’ he said, cutting her off. ‘Right now, you and I need to discuss this situation between the boys like two rational adults, although, having said that, I am very much aware of your limitations in that area.’

‘You just can’t help yourself, can you?’ she asked bitterly. ‘You have to have a dig at me every chance you can.’

‘This is not the time to discuss my behaviour, Keira, or indeed even yours,’ he said with implacable force. ‘There is the very real danger of one or both of the boys being expelled during these last critical weeks of school. That is what we need to concentrate on at this point.’

Keira felt ashamed of her outburst; it seemed so petty when he put it like that. ‘All right then,’ she said, lowering her gaze from the laser strength of his. ‘Let’s discuss it.’

‘Come into my office,’ he said. ‘I have some coffee brewing.’

She followed him down the wide hall, the fragrant aroma drawing her like a magnet. She had missed breakfast and lunch and, after she had received the call from her mother informing her of Jamie’s problems at school, she hadn’t had time to grab a snack to tide her over till dinner time. She felt light-headed and faint but somehow she sensed it wasn’t just to do with lack of food. Being in Patrizio’s presence made her feel out of her depth and desperately vulnerable.

‘Do you still have milk and three sugars?’ he asked as he took the pot from the stand.

‘Do you have artificial sweetener?’ she asked.

He turned to look at her, a quizzical expression on his face. ‘You are not dieting, are you?’

‘Not really…’

She was conscious of his dark eyes assessing her figure and had to fight with herself not to fidget under his scrutiny.

‘My secretary has some in the staff room,’ he said into the silence. ‘I won’t be a minute.’

Keira let out her breath in a ragged stream as he left the room. She sat in one of the leather chairs that faced his massive desk, her legs feeling as if the bones had been removed. Her head felt tight with the beginnings of a headache and her stomach was fluttering with a combination of nerves and uncertainty.

Her eyes went to a silver photograph frame on his desk and, leaning forward, she slowly turned it around…

It physically hurt to see the love he’d had for her on their wedding day. His dark eyes had shone with it, his smile tender as he had looked down at her upturned radiant face.

‘I keep that as a reminder of what can happen when you marry in haste,’ he said as he came back into the room.

Keira turned the frame back around, her chest tightening painfully as she met his black diamond gaze. ‘I sort of guessed you wouldn’t have it there for sentimental reasons,’ she said. ‘Will you have a ritual burning of it or will you just toss it out with the garbage once we’re finally divorced?’

He handed her the coffee, his fingers briefly touching hers. ‘I am glad you brought that topic up,’ he said with an enigmatic look.

She put the coffee on the desk, frightened she might spill it. ‘I thought we were here to discuss Jamie and Bruno,’ she said. ‘Not our divorce.’

He sat in his chair behind the desk, his eyes never once leaving hers. ‘I am withdrawing my request for a divorce.’

Her eyes widened. ‘What?’

He gave her a cool little smile. ‘Do not get too excited, Keira. I am not interested in taking you back permanently.’

‘I didn’t think for a moment you were suggesting—’

‘However—’ he cut across her as if she hadn’t spoken ‘—I do think we should temporarily suspend proceedings in an effort to communicate to your brother and my nephew that we are reconciled.’

She gaped at him incredulously. ‘Reconciled?’

‘You are unfamiliar with the word?’ He leaned back in his chair indolently and explained, ‘It means to restore opposing factions to a state of harmony or friendship.’

She threw him a suspicious glance. ‘What’s all this about, Patrizio?’ she asked. ‘Why don’t you get straight to the point instead of playing these stupid little dictionary games with me?’

‘All right,’ he said, putting his coffee cup down on the desk as he leaned forward once more. ‘As you have no doubt heard, my nephew Bruno has been making life pretty miserable for your brother. I am deeply ashamed of his behaviour, which, I suspect, has come out of his loyalty to me, which of course does not excuse it, but rather explains it.’

Keira remained silent as her hands twisted into tight knots in her lap. It had always amazed her how gracious and forgiving he was towards his own flesh and blood, and yet when it came to her behaviour he could not find it in himself to overlook her one fall from grace.

‘I have come to the conclusion that the only way to settle this war between them is for us to get back together,’ he continued.

She jerked upright in her seat. ‘You mean…for real?’

‘No, Keira, I do not mean for real.’ His tone yet again mimicked that of an adult speaking to a particularly obtuse and inattentive child. ‘We will pretend to be back together until the boys have safely completed their schooling.’