Ruthlessly Bedded Forcibly Wedded(32)

Vicenzo forced himself to calm down. Blanking his mind of anything but finding her, he finally did—and the relief that rushed through him was nothing short of huge. A small car was pulled in at a skewed angle at the side of the road and Cara was kneeling on the grass beside the open door, clearly having been sick.



He jumped off the bike and went straight to her, gathering her up into his arms. She was weak and shaking all over, her face so pale that it made a shard of pure fear go through him. He’d taken a bottle of water from the vet in a moment of clarity, and now made her drink some.



She seemed to come to a little with the water, but her shaking intensified.

‘Vicenzo…’



‘Shh. Don’t talk. I’m taking you home now. You’re safe.’



Even as he lifted her into his arms and stood up he felt her hands clutching at his shirt. She said weakly, ‘The car…it’s the nurse’s car. I don’t think I crashed it, did I?’ The fear in her voice made his insides clench.



‘No, sweetheart, the car is fine. And Doppo is fine.’ He silently cursed the dog again. He got onto the bike, still holding her, and settled her into the cradle of his lap in front of him. He told her to hold on and she did, unquestioningly.



Once back at the villa, Cara felt stronger already. And she also felt like a prize fool. She hadn’t even been able to manage a simple car journey. Her concern for Doppo had got her to the vet, but without him in the car she’d fallen apart, the fatal crash coming back in lurid detail.





She managed to get off the bike without help, and said shakily, ‘I thought I’d be fine. It’s so silly, I wasn’t even driving that night, but I couldn’t…’



‘Evidently not.’ Vicenzo was grim as he followed her off the bike. ‘What the hell were you thinking? Why didn’t you call me, or wait till Tommaso and Lucia had come home?’



Cara looked up at Vicenzo and could feel the color drain from her face.

‘You’re angry because I left the villa?’



He took her arm. ‘No, you little fool, I’m angry because you almost risked your life for a dog.’



Confusion and an awful deep yearning made Cara feel dizzy. She was glad Vicenzo was holding onto her. ‘But he’d collapsed, Vicenzo, I wasn’t sure if he was breathing… And after everything that’s happened I wasn’t going to let Doppo die just because I was too scared to drive.’



Vicenzo muttered something unintelligible and led her inside, straight to the living room, where he sat her down and went to the drinks cabinet. He came back with a measure of whisky in a glass and handed it to her.



Cara wrinkled up her nose. ‘No, thanks.’



‘Fine.’ Vicenzo downed it himself.



Cara noticed that he looked slightly pale beneath his tan, and something flared in her chest.



He came and sat down beside her. ‘I think it’s time you told me how you ended up in the car with them that night.’



Cara immediately stood up, in a reflex action to reject what he’d just said.

The terror that had been so recent surged back. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She turned round and said, a little wildly, ‘What’s the point? It won’t being your sister back.’



The awful debilitating guilt was back, never far from the surface.



‘No, it won’t, Cara. But I think you’ve been punishing yourself long enough for something that wasn’t even your fault.’





Cara lashed out in an effort to avoid articulating the horror. ‘It wasn’t so long ago that you were happy to blame me—’



Vicenzo stood, color surging into his cheeks. ‘Yes, I did. But I was wrong. And I did so because I was grief stricken and because I thought you were just like your brother.’



Cara blanched, all the fight draining out of her.



Vicenzo came and took her hands and led her back to the couch. ‘Cara, if you don’t tell someone what happened that night then you’ll never be free of it.’



‘But don’t you see?’ She could feel a sob rising. ‘I won’t ever be free of it… If I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t felt like I had to be watching out for your sister and my brother…’



His hands tightened on hers. ‘Tell me, Cara. I deserve to know what happened to my sister.’



How could she deny him this? Cara looked at him through a veil of tears.

She began to slowly and haltingly explain how Cormac and Allegra had been in the apartment that night. She had cooked dinner for them, and then heard Cormac on the phone, making arrangements to go into town to the club. It had been Cara’s night off, and for once Cormac wasn’t making her drive them in because he had a new car—a new toy that he wanted to impress Allegra with.



Cara had heard his speech, how slurred he was. She’d known since earlier that day that Cormac was planning on taking Allegra to Las Vegas in a few weeks’ time, on a supposed surprise trip, where he would propose that they get married on a romantic whim. It was all part of his plan to do it without the interference of her family and any constraints like a prenuptial agreement. Up until that moment Cara had been truly unaware of Cormac’s intentions where Allegra was concerned.



She looked at Vicenzo now. She could see that he’d been drawing into himself more and more as she’d been talking, and she pulled her hands free of his. She couldn’t touch him and talk and stay sane. ‘I liked Allegra. She was sweet to me—which was something that none of Cormac’s other girlfriends really were. She didn’t deserve to meet my brother… Cormac knew that I liked her, and that she liked me, and that was one of the reasons he made sure to not let me see much of her.’ She smiled sadly for a moment. ‘Contrary to what you believe, my brother was far too paranoid to use me like the pawn you thought I was.’



She bit her lip. ‘I wanted to help her. But I didn’t know what to do.

Should I try and talk to her? Or should I go to her family…? Allegra had mentioned you once or twice, but I’d only found out about Cormac’s plan that day…I thought there was time.’ She trailed off ineffectually, the weight of hindsight and the way fate had intervened heavy in the room. ‘I couldn’t let Cormac drive her into town when he was so out of it…and she wasn’t much better.’ Cara steeled herself against the bleak look that crossed Vicenzo’s face. ‘I somehow persuaded him to let me drive them in. I thought I’d be doing them a favor. Protecting your sister. I felt so bad about what he was planning to do to her, and I wanted to find a way to stop him…’



He took her hand again. ‘Cara, just tell me what happened.’



‘At the last minute Cormac insisted on driving, saying I wouldn’t be able to handle the car… I got in anyway, thinking I could at least try to make sure he drove safely.’ Cara looked at Vicenzo and felt haunted. ‘They both refused to wear their belts—so stupid. And then…the rain started.

One minute it was dry and the next it was a torrential downpour.

Suddenly there were lights heading right for us. Cormac had taken a wrong slip road on the motorway and was driving straight into oncoming traffic… That’s all I remember, until someone was helping me out from the wreckage. I walked away, Vicenzo. I got to the hospital and they let me walk straight out again…’



Vicenzo had to acknowledge now that as Cara hadn’t presented with a head injury or any other apparent injuries why wouldn’t they have let her walk away? Especially as it had been a city hospital, no doubt with emergencies backing up outside the door. But the truth was they should never have let someone in her shocked and distraught state just walk away. And then mere days later he had met her…



To Cara’s surprise Vicenzo stood then, and pulled her up with him. She stumbled slightly, feeling weariness snake through her body. She could read nothing from Vicenzo’s expression about the impact of what she’d just told him.



‘You’re exhausted’ was all he said.





Cara nodded. She didn’t say a word when he took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen. Wordlessly he prepared her a simple omelette and some bread, making her eat it. Then, feeling very bemused, Cara let Vicenzo lead her to her bedroom.



With a chaste kiss on her forehead, he pushed her gently in through the door. ‘Get some rest, Cara. We’ll talk tomorrow.’



The next morning Cara woke feeling disorientated and groggy. She had slept for almost fourteen hours. She scrambled off the bed and took a quick shower, changing into a plain black sundress. As she put it on a part of her revolted at the color, feeling instinctively that the time had come to move on and let go of her grief. And the fact that it was undoubtedly Vicenzo who had precipitated that change made her feel shaky.



She investigated the dining room but didn’t see Vicenzo or Silvio. She figured Silvio might still be in bed—some mornings he slept in. She came to a halt outside Vicenzo’s study door. Just then the door opened and Cara jumped back guiltily, her cheeks flushing.



‘Morning. I was just looking for everyone.’