Boss Meets Baby(69)

Lily remembered what it felt like to be enfolded in his arms and held against that sweater. She pushed the thought aside and lifted her eyes to his handsome face.

‘Good, you’re awake.’ He stood at the foot of the bed, letting his eyes run over her in assessment. ‘You look much better than yesterday.’

‘It’s not surprising.’ She returned his gaze steadily, resisting the urge to fidget under his hard stare. She was glad that she was wearing her old, cosy nightshirt with long sleeves and a high neckline. Vito had always hated it. He’d preferred her in the filmy, revealing garments he had seemed to enjoy buying for her. ‘Yesterday was just about the worst day of my life.’

‘There’s someone you need to meet this morning,’ he said, ignoring her jibe. ‘My grandfather has been ill. A visit from us will cheer him up.’

Lily looked at him in startled silence. She’d lived with Vito for five months, but he had never once taken her to visit his grandfather. She’d known that he lived very nearby, and that Vito called in to see him regularly. But she’d understood that, as his lover, it was not part of her role to meet his family.

‘You intend to tell him, don’t you?’ She found her voice at last, the realisation that everything was so different— making her feel really unsettled.

‘Of course, he’s my grandfather. I didn’t bring you here to marry you in secret,’ Vito replied. ‘I thought I made myself very plain on that point.’

‘You did,’ Lily said. ‘It’s just that it was rather a sudden decision. I thought you might take time to reflect on it before things get too complicated to change.’ She folded her arms across her chest, thinking that, once other people knew about their marriage, there would definitely be no going back.

‘The decision has been made,’ Vito said. ‘All that remains is to tell those who are important to us, and to start the ball rolling with the preparations for our wedding.— As I said yesterday, it will be at the earliest opportunity.’

Lily looked away from him, knocked for six by the thought of actually telling people that she was getting married. Her note to Anna certainly hadn’t gone into details like that. She knew her friend would have found such a sudden announcement bewildering, especially after the way Vito had callously thrown her out.

She didn’t want Anna to worry about her, so she’d kept the message simple and upbeat—just saying she’d run into Vito, they’d patched things up between them, and she was returning to Venice with him.

If she was getting married she ought to tell her mother, but she honestly couldn’t bear the thought of sharing her news with her mother, or anyone else she was close to. Although she knew she had to go through with it because it was the best thing for her child, she still had misgivings about the way Vito had treated her. About the way he was continuing to treat her.

How would she manage to keep up the pretence that it was a perfectly normal, happy marriage in front of people who knew her well and cared about her? She simply couldn’t afford to reveal the truth behind the marriage. Vito had made it plain that they must maintain a normal happily-married front. Her child’s future depended on it.

‘We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready,’ Vito said, walking to the door. ‘My grandfather is at his best in the morning. He tends to sleep in the afternoon.’

Lily pushed back the covers, got out of bed and headed for the en suite. Half an hour later, she was sitting at the dressing table, adding the finishing touches to her make-up while she waited for Vito to return.

She was apprehensive about meeting his grandfather,— and had tried to ease her nerves by taking extra care with her appearance. Her hair was freshly washed and straightened, so that it hung down in a sleek blonde curtain well past her shoulder blades. Her make-up was light and natural looking, but the judicious use of blusher had given her a bit of colour in her cheeks.

She had chosen to wear her ivory linen-suit again. It was a bit creased from travelling, but everything else was still packed haphazardly in her bags and was not likely to look any better. She looked in the mirror and decided that, although she might not look very glamorous,— she was perfectly presentable.

The door opened and Vito came into the room.

‘I’m ready to go,’ she said, standing up quickly and reaching for her handbag.

Vito looked at her, picking up small details that were different from the day before. She didn’t look so washed-out and, with her hair brushed down in that shimmering veil halfway down her back, she was starting to look more like the beautiful young woman he’d shared his life with over the winter. But she was still wearing the ill-fitting suit from the day before.