Rival Attractions & Innocent Secretary(41)

Yet even if it was impossible, it was still fun pretending.

'I'm applying to study art, you're organising a studio for me in your  apartment, in that big room at the back that you don't use. It's  supposed to be a surprise, but unbeknown to you I've guessed.'

'Are you good?' Luca asked. 'At art?'

'I've just started night school. My dad didn't like me pursuing … ' Her  voice faded for a moment, realising now why he might have hated that  side of her so, but she refused to dwell on it, it was just too big to  deal with right now. 'Oh, and by the way … ' She gave him a wry smile.  'Just in case it comes up in the conversation, today's my birthday.'

'Really?' Luca frowned. 'You should have said.'

'I just did.'

'I am sorry to pull you away from your celebrations.'

'You didn't,' Emma answered tartly. 'It's really no big deal.'

'And how old is Emma today?'

'She's twenty-five!'It made her blush to say it, with the information  she'd so recently given him. She saw just the slight rise of one  eyebrow, but thankfully he chose not to comment.

'So what about you?' she asked.

'You know about me.'

'I don't know much about your family.'

'My mother is Mia, my father is Rico. He was a policeman, and you know about Daniela … '

'And he's sick … ' Emma probed. 'Your father?'

'Very.'

'And you don't get on?'

He gave a tight shrug and clearly it was Luca now who didn't want to talk about it!

'Anything else I should know?' she pressed.

'Nothing.' Luca shrugged. 'As I said, my father was the village  policeman, I went to boarding school from ten … ' He saw her frown at  that. 'That is usual where I come from, as the school in the village  only goes up that age. It was all pretty normal really.'

'Till their son became a billionaire.' Emma smiled, but then she was serious. 'Why, Luca? Why do you hate them so-?'

'Not Daniela,' he interrupted. 'And not my mother … ' He shook his head.  'Let's just do what we have to, smile, enjoy, familia … ' He sneered the  word. 'Let's just get through it.'

There was a bedroom at the rear of the plane, but for the relatively  short flight to Italy he just tipped back his seat and stretched out and  Emma did the same. Hoping her swollen eyes had settled, she took off  her glasses and lay back.

'I love these chairs,' Emma commented. 'I wish I had one at home.'

She squirmed in comfort as the attendant placed a soft warmed blanket over her.

'If I ever have to bribe you I'll remember that.' Then he added, 'Are you okay?' when it took her a second too long to smile.                       
       
           



       

'I'm fine.'

'Because if you're worried about what you told me yesterday-' he was  direct as always '-well, you don't have to be-I'm not in anything for  the long haul, and … ' he gave a slightly wistful smile ' … if you've waited  this long for it to be right, I do understand.'

'I'm not upset about that,' Emma said, because right now she wasn't-Luca  had wanted a fling and actually so now did she. She probably wasn't  very good fling material, but she'd deal with it. It really was good to  just get away.

'Then what are you so upset about?' They were lying flat, facing each other. 'You look as if you've been crying.'

'Not about you,' she retorted.

'Good,' Luca said, and he intended to keep it that way. 'Here.' He dug  in his pocket and pulled out a black box and handed it to her as if it  were a sweet. 'You'd better put these on-if we were going out, I would  have bought you nice gifts.'

'Goodness!' Emma gasped and held up two earrings, the huge teardrop diamonds sparkling. 'They look so real.'

'They are real,' Luca said dryly.

'I'd better not lose them then.' She tried to sound as casual as him,  but it felt strange to be holding his gift, strange to be lying beside  him and very hard not to imagine that this was …

Real.

So she thought about other things instead. Silly things-like she used to  when she was a child and couldn't sleep, not the grown-up things that  she thought of now.

The steward clipped belts loosely around them and on leaving them dimmed  the lights. Luca closed his eyes, but smiled when she carried on  talking.

'It's like being in an ambulance.'

'Have you ever been in an ambulance?'

'No,' Emma admitted, but that didn't deter her. 'I'm in a coma, but I  can hear, though no one knows it, and everyone I've ever fancied is  going to dash to my bedside and beg me not to die, and say that they  love me really.'

'What are you talking about?' He turned his head to face her again.

'Don't you do that?' Emma blinked. 'Make up stories before you go to sleep?'

'No.'

'What do you do?' she asked curiously.

'I close my eyes … ' he shrugged ' … and I go to sleep.'

'Just like that?'

'So long as there is no one talking.'

He'd wondered what to expect-if she'd be miserable, angry, but instead she was just being Emma.

He was glad that she was there.

He could feel the familiar knot of tension tighten in his stomach as the  plane sliced through the sky-the same knot he felt every time he came  home, the same sick dread he had felt coming home from boarding school  on the holidays.

The same sick dread he had felt every night as he had lain in bed as a child.

Luca breathed out, suddenly needing to swallow, sweat beading on his forehead as he willed sleep to come.

His father was old and weak and dying, there was surely nothing to dread now.

And then he saw it.

Like a dog dashing into the street, his mind swerved to avoid it, but  his father's fist was there, slamming into his mother's face, the image  so violent, so real it was as if his father's fist had made contact with  his own.

He jumped.

That horrible jump where you woke up with heart racing, only Luca knew that he hadn't been asleep.

'Luca?' Emma murmured. She was almost asleep, though, he could tell from  her voice, and knew because in her right mind Emma would never reach  out and hold his hand.

It felt like weakness to take it.

But it helped, it actually helped.





CHAPTER EIGHT


'WELCOME to our home.'

Landing at Palermo, Emma had enjoyed the helicopter ride that had taken  them on the final leg of their journey to his small coastal village-and  everywhere Emma looked the view was stunning. Houses perched on top of  houses all staring out to the twinkling Mediterranean, and Luca's family  home was the jewel in the crown-the basic home had been lavishly  extended, and every room was angled to take in the spectacular sea view.

Luca's mother's welcome was warm and effusive, pulling Emma into an  embrace and kissing her on both cheeks, then guiding her through to a  large terrace that ran the length of the house while chatting non-stop  in her rich accent, alternating between English and Italian.

'Luca!'The squeals of delight from Daniela had Emma smiling, and he was  far more pleased to see his sister than Emma's own brothers ever  were-hugging her warmly, teasing her about the face pack she was wearing  and introducing her to Emma, who Daniela eyed with the same suspicious  navy eyes as her brother, but she smiled and chatted in very good  English, before drifting back to her bedroom to get ready for her big  day.                       
       
           



       

'Dove Pa?' Luca asked.

'Dorme,' Mia said, and then translated for Emma. 'He sleeps …  Oh!' She  gave a warm smile as her husband entered. Tall and thin, his once raven  hair peppered with silver, he would have cut an imposing figure in his  time.

'Luca!'He embraced his son, kissed him on the cheek as was the Italian  way. Luca briefly hugged him back, but Emma could feel the sudden  tension in the room. 'Comesta?'

'This is Emma.' Luca's voice was just a touch short as he introduced her  to his father. Despite Rico's fragility he took her firmly by the  hands, kissing her on the cheeks and welcoming her to the family … making a  kissing gesture with his fingers when he saw the impressive earrings,  which made Mia laugh.

'Come, Rico … ' She plumped the cushions on what must be his seat and  fussed over him as he lowered his tall frame. Emma stood, suddenly  awkward as Luca just watched, his face an impassive mask Emma couldn't  interpret.

'Luca is upset.' As Emma did the right thing and helped his mother  prepare coffee in the kitchen, finally there was an explanation for his  strange lack of reaction. 'It is hard for him to see his father so ill.  It is almost a year since Luca was here, it would be difficult for him  to see the changes.'

'Of course.' Emma set up the tiny coffee cups on saucers and it should  have appeased her, except it didn't. Luca had his own plane-his own  travel team for heaven's sake, and even her selfish brothers managed a  visit to their father once a month-there was surely a lot more behind  this familia that kept Luca away so coolly.

It was a busy house. The drinks and pastries that had been set up were  not just for Luca and Emma's benefit, but for an endless parade of  guests, all wanting to meet Luca's girlfriend and to wish Daniela well  for her big day. And Luca saw the strain showing in Emma's smiling face  as the shadows lengthened, and he was proud of her, proud at how easy  she had made it for him to be here, and he wanted to make it easier for  her too.