VITTORIO'S WOMAN (The Vittorio Series) (11 page)

Her movements were mechanical as she finished buttoning her blouse and slipped on her shoes
, but she refused to let herself cry.  Wasn’t she the one who had adamantly insisted Simon’s interest in her ended the minute Gabriella arrived?  So why was she so shocked by what she’d heard? 

Because I didn’t really believe it, because I honestly didn’t think Simon could be that cold-hearted.
 
But he
was
cold-hearted, assuming he had any heart at all, she thought bitterly.  My God, he couldn’t have waited more than a few minutes after she’d gone before having Gaetano take him back to his room so he could have sex with Gabriella!

A wave of vertigo had her stumbling to the bed, groaning as the room seemed to spin all around her.
  She sprawled on top of the down comforter and closed her eyes, waiting for the dizziness to pass and wondering inanely if it really was possible to die of a broken heart.  How was she supposed to go back there in a few days and continue to take care of him without falling to pieces?

Lilly had never given up on a patient before
, but there was only so much a person could take and her sense of self-preservation dictated that she leave as soon as possible.  She was still laying there contemplating what her next move was when Luc tapped lightly on her door.

“Hold on,” she called out, grimacing at how feeble her voice sounded.
 

Luc’s smile faded when she opened the door.
  “Lilly, what is wrong?  Are you ill?”

“No, I…I…”

She launched herself into his arms and burst into tears, cursing herself for being so weak, and cursing Simon for being the cause of that weakness.  Luc held her for a moment before coaxing her to the loveseat in the sitting area of her room.  He pulled her down beside him and gathered her close to his side, murmuring soft assurances in Italian.  Lilly didn’t understand a single word, but the gentleness of his tone eventually calmed her enough so she was able to tell him what happened. 

“There has to be an explanation for this
Lilly.  There is no romantic interest between Gabriella and Simon, I promise you.”

“Somehow I don’t think romance has anything to do with what went on after I left,” she sniffed.

“You do not understand.  They have known each other for years and…”

“Oh
, I understand all right.  I understand Simon couldn’t wait to get rid of me so he could get Gabriella into his bed!”

“You are wrong, Lilly.”

She pulled away from him and sat up, feeling doubly betrayed because he was defending Simon.  “Whose side are you on anyway?  You’re supposed to be my friend.”

“I
am
your friend, but…”

“You either are or you aren’t,” she cut in, “there’s no in between.”

He sighed in resignation and gave up trying to convince her Simon hadn’t slept with Gabriella.  “Perhaps it is best if we do not discuss it any more tonight.  Do you still want to go out for dinner?  I do not have much here, but I would be happy to cook for you.”

Lilly squared her shoulders, setting her chin determinedly.
  “No, I’m not going to sit here feeling sorry for myself.  We’ll go do a little sightseeing just as we planned and then have a nice dinner.  I might even try and talk you into taking me dancing afterwards.”

“It has been quite some time since I have gone dancing
.  You may regret it if I end up stepping on your toes.”

“I’ll take my chances,” she managed a thin smile.

“We shall go then.  I will give you a few minutes to freshen up and meet you downstairs.”

“Is that a polite way of saying I look like hell?”

“You could never be anything less than beautiful,” Luc answered, ignoring her lame attempt at humor.

“You’re quite an ego booster, you know that Mr. Santini?”

“I speak only the truth,
bella donna
.”

After he’d gone and Lilly got the chance to survey the damage in the bathroom mirror, she decided Luc either needed glasses or he was a consummate liar because she looked like something even a cat would be ashamed to drag in.
  She rinsed her face off and reapplied mascara, which was generally all the make-up she wore.  After running a brush through her hair, she hurried downstairs. 

She was going to enjoy her evening with Luc and forget all about Simon Vittorio for awhile.
  There would be plenty of time to fall apart later when she was all alone in her room.

 
                                                               ***

Simon was beside himself with worry.
  After he’d finally been able to shoo Gabriel from his room he tried to reach Lilly again but there was no answer.  Frantic to talk to her in case she’d overheard the snippet of conversation when Gabriella had bounded uninvited into his room, he continued to call every fifteen minutes with the same results. 

Just after midnight, he gave up and crawled into bed
, but the acid churning in his stomach kept him awake for another hour before he dragged himself back up and ventured down to the kitchen for a glass of cold milk.  The night was endless, and most of it was spent drifting in and out of sleep where his dreams were plagued with images of Lilly as she looked the last time he made love to her. 

Every time he woke up
, Simon’s mind tortured him with the same questions he’d been asking himself ever since she left.  Had she kissed Luc, or had it gone further than that?  Was she in bed with him now, lying in his arms after having made love?  After the way Simon had treated her, could he really blame Lilly for seeking out the comfort Luc offered?

Shortly
after dawn, he rose wearily and reached for the phone, his heart sinking when he checked for messages and saw she hadn’t tried to call him back.  Simon couldn’t take it anymore.  He had to know if there was anything going on between her and Luc before he drove himself crazy. 

Storming into Luc’s home was the first idea that rolled through his head but he quickly abandoned it.
  Just the thought of finding them in bed together sent him into a murderous rage and the truth was, Simon wasn’t entirely certain he could keep from killing Luc with his bare hands.  No, the best thing to do was to send someone else to act as his spy and report back to him.  Once he found out if she was involved with Luc, then he could make some rational decisions about whether he and Lilly had a future together.

It was early yet, too early to be calling anyone without thoroughly irritating them
, but Simon considered the urgent nature of his business would warrant a little understanding on is conspirator’s part.  Besides, there was only one person he could trust with this who wouldn’t think he was twenty different kinds of a fool for doing it.  He needed someone who could show up unannounced and not rouse any suspicion, someone who could didn’t need a pretext to invite themselves into Simon’s home and see firsthand just what was going on. 

Simon hit the
speed dial on his phone and waited impatiently for the ringing on the other end to wake his soon-to-be recruit in the spy business.  When the call was finished he wandered onto the balcony and stared out at the ocean, a satisfied smile on his lips.  He hadn’t expected such a willing participant and was quite pleased that he wouldn’t have to wait long to receive news about Lilly. 

Despite the gnawing ache in his belly, Simon still held out hope that nothing had happened and he could win her back.
  Just a few hours, that’s all he had to get through and then he would know for sure.

 
                                                             ***

Lilly woke to a loud, incessant rapping coming from somewhere downstairs
.  She managed to pull herself into an upright position before her stomach lurched, forcing her to make a dash for the bathroom.  What little she’d eaten the night before was promptly thrown up, and a few minutes later she was standing weakly in front of the mirror brushing her teeth vigorously to remove the repugnant taste from her mouth. 

By the time she was finished and wandered into the hall to see who could be pounding on Luc’s door at such an ungodly hour, he’d already made it downstairs and was inviting his guest in.
  Curious, but not wanting anyone to see her in her nightgown, Lilly peeked around the corner, hovering just out of view, and received a bit of shock when she saw who it was.

“This is a surprise,” Luc said, stepping aside to let his early morning visitor in.

“I’ll just bet it is,” Milana replied crisply.

“You sound upset, is something wrong?”

Milana stopped in the middle of the foyer and whirled on him.  “Is something wrong?  Hell yes, something’s wrong!  Just what did you think you were doing running off with Lilly like that?”

Luc took a tentative step towards her, a bewildered look on his face.
  “I did
not
run off with her.  She was taking a few days off because Gabriella was there so I volunteered to take her sightseeing and have dinner.”

Milana planted her hands on her hips.
  “Is that so, Luc Santini?  Then why were you holding hands in the garden and why did you tell Simon you wanted to sleep with her?”

“Simon has a very vivid imagination,
cara mia
, because those words never came out of my mouth.”

“Maybe not outright, but you insinuated it.
  Poor Simon is half out of his mind with worry about what you two have been up to.  And to make matters worse, Lilly didn’t answer her phone all night.”

“You can tell your brother Lilly is fine.
  You can ask her yourself if you like.  She is upstairs in bed…”

Lilly let out a startled gasp when Milana’s hand drew back
 and landed with a resounding crack across Luc’s cheek.

Luc stared at her in total disbelief.  “
Hai perso la tua mente?”

“Yes, maybe I have lost my mind,” Milana choked out, “and it’s all your fault!”

“
My
fault?  What have I done but try to help out a friend?”

“Which friend is that, Luc?
  You weren’t helping Simon when you stole the only woman he’s ever loved, and you weren’t helping Lilly by taking advantage of her when she was upset about Gabriella being there.  You ruined everything,” Milana said, tears pooling in her eyes.  “I’ll never forgive you for this Luc, never.”

Luc threw up his hands.
  “
Madre di Dio
, Milana, there is nothing to forgive!”

“How can you say that?
  You admitted Lilly spent the night with you.  What do you think that’s going to do to Simon?”

“If you would just calm down for a minute and let me explain…”

“Explain what?  Explain how you betrayed my brother and used Lilly for your own selfish pleasures?” 

Luc closed the distance between them, his eyes flashing dangerously.
  “Milana, you are starting to make me angry.” 

“I don’t care,” she shouted.
  “After what you’ve done, I hope I never see you again!”  Luc reached for her but she jerked away from him, her face contorted with pain.  “Don’t you dare touch me!  I can’t even look at you without seeing the two of you together.  Oh, Luc,” she cried, “how could do this to me?”

Luc just stood there for a moment, a strange look stealing over his face.
  From her hiding place at the top of the stairs, Lilly watched the two of them eye each other speculatively.  It was evident by Milana’s rigid posture that she hadn’t meant to let that last part slip out, and Lilly prayed Luc would fully comprehend the enormity of it.  She wasn’t even aware that she’d been holding her breath until Luc’s lips curved into a smile and the air suddenly left her lungs with a soft hiss.

Luc cupped Milana’s face in his hands so that she was forced to look at him.
  “You make it sound as if this is just as much about you and me as it is about Simon and Lilly.”

“I…I didn’t mean…”

“Yes you did,
cara mia
, you did mean it.  Your anger, your pain, your tears, they are not only for Simon but for yourself too.  Milana,” his voice grew thick with emotion, “do you know how long I have waited for you to give even the slightest indication you cared for me?”

“But…but you always avoided me,” she said miserably.
  “You wouldn’t even look at me half the time.  And then when you asked me to decorate the spare bedroom for you, I thought it was just an excuse to be alone with me and that finally you’d seen how much I…I…” 

“What, my darling?”

“How much I love you, Luc,” she whispered hoarsely.  “I love you so much it hurts, but now that you and Lilly…”

Luc cut her off with a kiss that was so passionate it made Lilly blush from her toes to the top of her head.
  She inched away from the wall and started back towards the bedroom, smiling to herself when a rapid fire conversation in Italian broke out between the pair below.  Luc would explain everything, and for them at least there would be a happy ending.  The only regretful part was that they’d wasted so many years silently loving each other when they could have been together. 

Lilly slipped into her room and quickly got dressed, expecting a knock on her door any time now.
  But Luc and Milana apparently decided they’d waited long enough to consummate their love because it wasn’t five minutes later when Lilly heard Milana giggle and then the soft click of Luc’s bedroom door as it closed behind them. 

She was elated for them, of course, but it didn’t stop the ache in her own heart.
  In spite of what Milana said about Simon being in love with her, the snippet of conversation she’d heard on the phone the night before disproved it.  He’d slept with Gabriella, and that was something she could never forgive.

It was with mixed emotions that Lilly repacked her suitcase and hauled it outside then made the short trek to the main house.
  The woman who answered the door listened politely as Lilly explained who she was and made up a story about a family emergency.  She told the woman Luc was having car trouble, then smiled apologetically and asked if someone could give her a ride into the nearest town. 

As it turned out, the woman who introduced herself as Adele was in charge of running the house and
was planning on driving into town for groceries later that day anyway.  She graciously agreed to make the trip early and a few minutes later Lilly was settled in the passenger seat of a sleek black Mercedes.  It was the first time she’d felt like laughing in days.  Only Simon Vittorio would leave a Mercedes at the disposal of his housekeeper.

 
                                                             ***

Frustrated didn’t even begin to cover how Simon felt at the moment.
  Lilly still wasn’t answering her phone and now he couldn’t get Milana to return his calls either.  His sister had promised to call him the instant she discovered where Lilly was, and he was sick with worry that she hadn’t been able to find Luc or Lilly.  He assumed they would be staying at Luc’s place since that’s where his pilot had taken them, but what if they’d gone into town and spent the night there?  What if they decided to go somewhere else altogether? 

He’d been so distraught about losing contact with both women, he’d nearly been caught in the act of pacing back and forth earlier when Gabriella knocked on his door and he’d absently
told her to come in.  He was less than hospitable when she insisted on serving him breakfast just as Lilly had done, and his mood hadn’t improved when he’d been forced to listen to Gabriella rattle on and on about her little circle of friends. 

He was only half listening when she launched into a one-sided conversation about the poor unsuspecting man she’d targeted as her next lover.
  He’d known her most of his life and she was like a sister to him, but right then he just wished she would go away and leave him alone.  He couldn’t tell her that though.  Simon wouldn’t have hurt her for the world, so he bided his time knowing she would get bored soon enough and want to take a swim or go chat on the phone with her friends.

When she finally left him around ten that morning, Simon took a quick shower then stretched out on his bed with his back propped against the headboard and tried to reach first Lilly and then Milana.
  Finally, in desperation he called Luc’s house just before noon and let it ring several times before Luc answered.  It was obvious by the groggy sound of his voice that he'd been sleeping.  Simon’s temper flared instantly.

“Where
is Lilly?” he growled.

“Lilly?
  She’s…”

Simon’s heart sank when he heard a soft, feminine voice ask who it was.
  “Let me talk to her,” he demanded.

“I’ll go get her, but I think there is something…”

“She is right there,” he snapped angrily.  “Do not play me for a fool, Luc.  I heard her speaking to you.  I will deal with you later, now put her on the phone.” 

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of hushed voices as Luc passed the phone over.
  Simon’s chest tightened when she offered a meek hello from beside her new lover. 

“Lilly, I…”

“It’s not Lilly, Simon.”

Simon blinked, his mind racing off in twenty different directions.
  “Milana?”

“I’m so sorry.
  I meant to call earlier but there were…things that needed to be settled first, and then I was so tired from…the early morning flight that I fell asleep.”  Milana drew in a short breath and rushed on before Simon could interrupt.  “Lilly is fine, and you can stop worrying because there was never anything between her and Luc except friendship.”

“And you know this how?”
 he asked gruffly.

“Because Luc is in love with someone else.
  Look Simon, she
did
spend the night here but it was in the spare bedroom.”

“You have talked to her?”

There was a short pause before Milana answered.  “Not exactly.  Luc has pretty much…occupied my time since I got here.  But I’ll talk to her as soon as we hang up, I promise.”

Simon ground his teeth together.
  He didn’t want to sit there for another hour or two with the phone clutched in his hand while he waited for Milana to call him back.  And he didn’t trust that his sister was being completely honest with him; she was being evasive about something and he didn’t like it one bit.  If she was lying to protect Luc and Lilly, hoping he wouldn’t find out that they really had slept together, he would wring her neck.  Maybe they had convinced Milana they’d made a mistake and now she was trying to cover for them so it wouldn’t snowball into something even worse.  Whatever she was hiding, Simon was determined to get to the bottom of it.

“I want to talk to Lilly myself.”

“Simon, are you sure?  I mean, I haven’t even seen her yet so I don’t know what state her emotions are in.”

He held back the string of expletives that popped into his head and muttered a small prayer to God to give him patience before repeating his demand to speak to Lilly.
  Apparently understanding the thin ice she was skating on, Milana told him to hang on while she went and got Lilly.  He could tell she was saying something to Luc and that she was highly agitated, but they were speaking too softly for him to make heads or tails of their conversation.  A few minutes later they suddenly stopped talking, the dead silence lasting so long he thought the call might have been cut off.  Then Milana came back on the line, the distress in her voice making him instantly tense.

“Simon, she…uh…she doesn’t seem to be in her room.
  We looked downstairs too and Luc is calling the main house to ask if they’ve seen her but I…I think it’s too late to catch her.”

Simon’s temper exploded.
  “Catch her?  What do you mean catch her?”

“Wel
l, I…I don’t know exactly when she left, but I’m sure she wouldn’t have tried to walk into town, not when she’s toting a suitcase and…”

“
Per l’amor del Dio
,” he roared, “how could she have gotten by you carrying a suitcase?”

“Now
, Simon, don’t go getting yourself all worked up.  She left a note so there’s…”

“A note!
  You did not say anything about a note.”

“That’s because you keep interrupting me,” she retorted.

Simon forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths.  “Listen carefully, Milana.  I want you to start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened from the moment you got there.  And don’t leave
anything
out,” he added.

“Honestly, Simon
, that would be a complete waste of time.  Lilly’s note said she just needed a few days to herself and that she would call this evening to let us know where she was staying.  She said not to worry and…oh, wait a minute.”

“Milana…damn,” he muttered, getting more frustrated by the minute.
 

“Luc said Adele gave her a lift into town about two hours ago.”

“Did he say where Adele dropped her off at?”

“Adele isn’t home yet.
  Luc said Marco told him that Adele said she was going to do the weekly grocery shopping, and you know how long it takes Adele to shop.  She takes half an hour just pinching and poking the fruits and vegetables, and that poor butcher just cringes every time she…”

“Milana, you are driving me insane!”

“Stop shouting at me,” her voice trembled.

“I will stop shouting when you stop babbling about fruits and vegetables!
  I have had very little sleep and am worried sick about Lilly.  So far, all you have told me is that she is gone.”

“You’re being very unreasonable, Simon.
  I’ve only just found out myself that she wasn’t here.  And before you start in on me again, Luc wants to talk to you.”

Simon couldn’t stop himself.
  The minute Luc took the phone he demanded to know what was going on between them. 

“What did you do to her that made her run off like that?
  I swear to God if you did anything to hurt her…”

“I should hope you know me better than that,” Luc broke in, “or at least know Lilly well enough to trust she would never sleep with a man she did not love.”

“Then why did she spend the night there?  You two looked pretty cozy holding hands in the gardens and now she has run off without telling anyone where she is going.  It does not make sense unless you did something to upset her.”

“I admit I am to blame for some of the misunderstandings,” Luc said remorsefully.
  “Yesterday at lunch Lilly overheard you telling Gabriella that you had no interest in her, that she was merely the hired help and nothing more.”

Simon grimaced.
  “I only meant to keep Gabriella from spreading her idle gossip.”