‘Why are you looking so happy?’ The brooding shadows were dark beneath his eyes.
Some instinct warned her not to admit that it was because he’d just appeared. ‘I’ve found the most fabulous frock to wear tomorrow night.’
The smallest of smiles lifted his expression and he came into the room. ‘Of course. Shopping maketh a woman smile.’
Oh, no, in truth it was just him. ‘I’m actually starting to look forward to it now.’ And she was. Sure, she was nervous about what her family would think of her designs, but at least she did have a stellar outfit to go in—and an even better escort. ‘Are you wearing a tux? It’s formal dress.’
His eyes narrowed a fraction and he turned away. ‘I’m not going.’
She looked after him, stunned. ‘Not going? You’re not coming to the opening?’
He walked over to the window. ‘No. We’re not a couple, Sophy. I said from the start that this wasn’t ever going to be a public thing.’
What? But he was the one who’d taken her out to dine with some of his oldest colleagues last weekend. She tried to stay cool. ‘Well, you don’t have to be there with your arm around me. You could just be there as a friend.’
‘You don’t need me there.’
‘Yes, I do.’ She didn’t want to go without a friend. Rosanna was away on another buying trip so she wouldn’t be there. But that was beside the point—she wanted Lorenzo with her, even just his presence on the far side of the room would be calming—like a secret injection of confidence. He believed in her, she knew he did. And she drew strength from it.
‘No. You don’t.’
She’d have to face her family’s judgment alone. She swallowed. Okay, she could handle those nerves. But she was hurt by him now. ‘Why don’t you want to be there?’
‘I don’t like those foreign type movies.’ He shrugged.
‘Then why do you have some in your DVD collection?’
‘You went through my collection?’
‘You know I did.’
‘Look, Sophy—’ he turned to face her ‘—leave it. I’m not going.’
‘You really don’t want to be seen with me?’
‘I’m not interested in complicating our arrangement.’
Their arrangement? What the hell did he mean by that? ‘Then why have you been helping me so much if you’re not interested? You want me to do well—why don’t you want to be there to see if it happens?’
He turned, irritable. ‘It’s just sex between us, Sophy—some down and dirty release. It’s what you wanted, remember? You can’t go changing it now.’
‘I’m not.’ Her voice rose. ‘You’ve already changed it. You were the one who took me away for the weekend. You’re the one doing these things for me.’
‘That was just so you could get your work done. You were so busy doing everything for everyone else. I thought it was a good way for you to catch up.’
‘And that’s not showing you care about me—not even just a little?’ She held her breath.
He went utterly still. ‘Nothing special, Sophy, no.’
She flinched but forced herself to take a step closer. ‘And there was nothing in that weekend for you? Nothing special?’
He stared at the floor, answered with inhuman control. ‘No.’ He lifted his head sharply, like a beast sensing blood. ‘Now don’t get upset.’
‘How can I not when you say there’s nothing special?’ He was denying everything—denying her, denying himself and above all denying the truth. She couldn’t stop the hurt brimming in her eyes as she cried, ‘You’re lying to me, Lorenzo. And you’re lying to yourself.’
‘No. I’m being honest.’
She clutched the back of a chair. Was he? Being brutal to be kind? She stared at his rigid body, his masklike face. ‘I don’t believe you are.’
‘It’s just sex, Sophy.’ His mouth moved, but his eyes were like dull stones. ‘Just a tawdry affair that no one need ever know about.’
‘You really think that?’
‘We have nothing in common. We’re good at screwing, that’s all.’
She blanched at his crudeness. They didn’t screw—she didn’t just bang him for the momentary thrill. She’d made love to him—again and again. She had offered everything inside herself to him—wordlessly at least, on more than one occasion.
But she wasn’t going to offer it again now—not in the face of such determined denial and such cold anger. No—she had very little left in her right now, but she did have that last drop of dignity. ‘Then if that’s all it is, Lorenzo, you won’t mind that it’s over.’