The Italian Billionaire's Pregnant Bride(55)

‘What made sense?’ Kathy was hanging on his every word and wishing they would connect in an understandable way.

‘You were beautiful, clever and sexy, but you were working in a menial position for low pay. Why? You had a criminal record.’ Sergio flattened his strong, sensual mouth. ‘I’m a cynic. I always look on the dark side. It never occurred to me to doubt that you were a thief.’

‘I know,’ she agreed heavily.

‘And for months I didn’t think about it because when I thought about it I got annoyed,’ he breathed almost roughly. ‘When I found you again and Ella was born, I let that knowledge go—I buried it.’

Her green eyes only accentuated her pallor. Her supposed guilt had been buried like a body because that was the only way he could live with it and her.

Sergio shifted an eloquent brown hand to signify his regret and then said something that disconcerted her entirely. ‘But although a jury found you guilty and you went to prison you are not a thief.’

Her smooth brow indented. ‘What did you just say?’

‘I believe you. You’ve convinced me, dolcezza mia.’

Kathy continued to stare at him in wordless disorientation, for that change of heart and opinion knocked her sideways.

‘You’re innocent. You’ve got to be. It doesn’t make sense any other way. I’m sorry I wouldn’t listen.’

‘I don’t understand why you’re willing to listen now,’ she admitted unevenly.

‘I weighed up the crime with everything I know about you and all of a sudden it was clear to me that you had to be telling me the truth.’

‘Have you been talking to Renzo, by any chance?’

‘No. Why?’

Sergio had no idea that his security chief had been looking into her case, acquainting himself with the facts and chasing up every possible lead. When Kathy explained, his lean powerful face shadowed. ‘So, even Renzo believed you when I didn’t.’

‘I imagine Bridget wouldn’t have given him any choice in the matter.’ The relief of knowing that Sergio finally had faith in her brought a tidal wave of tears to the back of her eyes. She studied the water fixedly and blinked like mad. ‘Let me finish my bath. I’ll be out in five minutes.’

Sergio frowned. ‘Are you going to cry?’

Kathy raised a delicate brow, her eyes bright as jewels. ‘What do you think?’

‘I need to know what happened to you four years ago. Your arrest, the whole story.’

‘It’s not likely to make you feel any better.’

‘Do you think I deserve to feel better?’

‘No,’ she said honestly.

Kathy didn’t cry. He had given her good news. At last he believed that she wasn’t a thief. It had only taken him the guts of a year to reach that happy conclusion but, hey, later was better than never. She put on a crisp blue cotton robe and went into the bedroom to join him.

‘I was hired to act as Mrs Taplow’s companion and provide her with basic meals by her nieces, Janet and Sylvia. I hardly ever saw Sylvia because she worked. They lived in the village about a mile away,’ Kathy told him, curling up on the giant bed. ‘Mrs Taplow lived in a big old house. On my first day Janet explained that her aunt was suffering from the early stages of dementia and that I should pay no heed to her stories about her things disappearing.’

Sergio elevated an ebony brow and sat down on the bed beside her. ‘Didn’t that make you suspicious?’

‘No. I was too glad of the job and somewhere to live. The old lady did seem a little confused sometimes but she was very nice,’ Kathy confided ruefully. ‘Janet asked me to clean the silver, which was kept in a cupboard, and she told me that it was very old and valuable. There was a lot of it and, to be honest, I barely looked at the stuff as I cleaned it.’

‘But no doubt you put your fingerprints all over it.’

‘A few weeks later Mrs Taplow got very upset and claimed that two pieces of silver had gone missing. I couldn’t have said either way, but I mentioned it to Janet and she said her aunt was either imagining things or that she had removed them herself and hidden them somewhere. She insisted that Mrs Taplow had done that before. Mrs Taplow wanted to call the police, but I dissuaded her,’ Kathy recalled unhappily.

Sergio closed a reassuring hand over hers. ‘What happened next?’

‘The same thing again—but I noticed the pieces that had gone missing and I searched all over the house for them without any luck. I started feeling uncomfortable, but Janet told me not to be silly and that the items would turn up eventually. I had no reason to doubt her. I had a day off. I was supposed to be meeting Gareth and I was getting dressed when the police arrived,’ Kathy whispered, sick at the memory of the moment when her world had begun to come crashing down around her. ‘They searched my room and the Georgian jug was found in my handbag. I was charged with theft. I thought maybe the old lady had put it in there, but then I was told that she didn’t suffer from dementia.’