‘You know exactly where we’d be going and that would be nowhere,’ Kathy condemned shakily. ‘From what I can work out, you haven’t been in a relationship that went anywhere in living memory. And you’re certainly not going to break that habit for a convicted thief!’
Sergio cornered her between the window and the wall and studied her with smouldering golden sensuality. ‘Even if I can’t keep my hands off you when you’re annoying the hell out of me, delizia mia?’
But Kathy was too afraid of his magnetism to relax her guard for a moment. ‘Did you tell Christabel Janson that too? Or did she qualify for a less critical approach?’
The classic lines of his hard-boned features were impassive while the teasing light had evaporated from his astute gaze. ‘Don’t go there,’ he advised. ‘I don’t answer to any woman.’
‘Then where do you get the nerve to demand anything from me?’ Kathy was so incensed she was shaking. ‘I absolutely refuse to be some dirty secret in your life!’
His stunning eyes flamed gold. ‘I did not ask you to be.’
‘Yes, you did. You’re ashamed of me but you still want to sleep with me. I won’t accept that ever. You wasted my time and yours bringing me here,’ Kathy flung at him furiously and she stalked back to the door. ‘I want to go back to London.’
‘This is childish, bellezza mia.’
Kathy sent him a shimmering emerald glance, afraid to let go of her anger in case it weakened her. ‘No, I’m being sensible.’
‘We have to agree a way forward.’
Kathy dealt him a fiery appraisal. ‘I can’t talk to you feeling like this—maybe we could talk on the phone and be polite in a few months’ time.’
‘In a few months?’ Sergio splintered in raw disbelief at that liberal time frame. ‘You need me now!’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Maremma maiale…you’re not even looking after yourself properly!’ Sergio condemned without warning. ‘How many hours a day are you working? You can’t keep up two jobs while you’re pregnant and stay healthy.’
Kathy gave him a frozen look. ‘I’ll cope and I’ll manage. I learned a long time ago not to rely on a man.’
‘Who taught you that?’
‘The love of my life—Gareth.’ Her lush pink mouth curled as she deliberately stoked that bitterness to make it into a further barrier between them. ‘We grew up next door to each other. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done for him. But he was no use at all in a tight corner and you’re not going to be any different—’
Outrage flashed in Sergio’s hard-boned features. ‘I’m doing everything possible to support you.’
‘No, you’re throwing money at me and trying to ship me out to a foreign country where I am less likely to cause you embarrassment. If that’s what you call support, you can keep it!’ Kathy reached out to open the front door in an effort to end the confrontation.
‘Madonna diavolo! What about this? Will you do without this, as well?’ Sergio caught her into his arms and crushed her soft full mouth beneath his with a passion that devastated her resistance.
He knotted one hand into her copper hair to hold her fast and clamped her slender body to his like a second skin. His heart pounded against hers. Urgently aware of his masculine arousal, she quivered in that hard embrace and exchanged kiss for kiss with a hunger as fierce, hot and lethal as a fever. But nothing could assuage the sadness within her and the ache at the heart of her. When he let her go she staggered back against the wall.
‘I was supposed to drink the classic wine and go upstairs with you to celebrate, wasn’t I?’ Kathy was still fighting even though her knees didn’t feel up to the challenge of holding her upright. ‘But I’m not so desperate that I need to share a man and I never will be!’
Sergio was already using his phone. He did not deign to reply to that sally. His detachment was as effective as an invisible wall. The silence was suffocating. She felt shut out, pushed away and she found it unbearable. Even when she was so mad with him that she could have screamed she wanted to be back in his arms. He flipped the key to the door. She gave him a tiny split second to speak. He said nothing. He did nothing to prevent her from leaving, either.
‘I hate you—I really, really hate you,’ she whispered fierily as she left and, in that instant, she meant every word of it.
The door snapped shut behind her. There was not even the suspicion of a slam.
Conscious that Sergio’s protection team were watching her every move and had to be wondering why she was leaving alone ten minutes after their arrival, Kathy endeavoured to look composed. Then suddenly, from the house behind her, she heard the unmistakable noise of glass smashing and splintering. The vintage wine bottle hitting the fireplace? Her narrow shoulders straightened, her chin came up. Eyes sparkling with satisfaction and with a new purpose in her step, she headed for the waiting car.