The Vengeful Husband(24)

'Jealous... envious?'



Darcy turned shaken eyes of reproach on him. 'Oh, no... it's just... it's just everything always seems so easy for Maxie...she's incredibly beautiful! We were practically best friends until Richard fell in love with her. That's why we didn't get married,' she completed tightly.



After that dialogue, breakfast was a silent meal. Darcy was embarrassed by her outburst and insulted by his re­sponse. Jealous? Envious? She thought about that as she drove them back to the Folly. No... Luca had got her com­pletely wrong.



As her chief bridesmaid, Maxie had stayed at the Folly the week running up to that misfired wedding three years earlier. The glamorous model had accepted the bride­groom's attention and admiration as her due, responding with flirtatious smiles and amusing repartee. Richard had been, quite simply, dazzled. And Darcy had been naively pleased that her friend and her fiance appeared to be getting on so well.



But on their wedding day Richard had turned to look at Darcy at the altar, only to confess in despair, 'I can't go through with this...'



The wedding party had adjourned to the vestry.



'I've fallen in love with Maxie,' Richard had admitted baldly, his shame and distress at having to make that ad­mission unconcealed.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Maxie had de­manded furiously. 'I don't even like you!'



Fierce anger had filled Darcy then. She could have borne that devastating change of heart better had Maxie returned Richard's feelings. Then, at least, there might have seemed some point to the whole ghastly mess. But Maxie's careless encouragement of male homage had done the damage. Both Darcy and Richard had been bitterly hurt and humiliated by the experience.



Darcy had long since forgiven Richard, indeed still re­garded him as a dear friend. Yet she had not been half so generous to Maxie, she conceded now. She had awarded her former friend the lion's share of the blame. Only now did it occur to her that Maxie had been a thoughtless teen­ager at the time, she herself only a year older. Perhaps, she reflected grudgingly, she had been unjust...



Face still and strained over her troubling reflections, for Darcy never liked to think that she had been less than fair, she climbed out of the Land Rover outside the Folly.



'Do you realise that you have not spoken a single word since breakfast?' Luca enquired without any expression at all.

Darcy tautened defensively. 'I was thinking about Richard.'



Dark colour slowly rose to accentuate the hard angles of Luca's slashing cheekbones, his lean, strong face tighten­ing. He surveyed her from beneath dense inky black lashes, eyes broodingly dark and icy cold. Colliding unexpectedly with that chilling scrutiny, Darcy felt her stomach clench as if she had hit black ice. 'What's wrong?'



'What could possibly be wrong?'



'I don't know, but...' Darcy continued with a frown of uncertainty.



'Gosh, I owe you some money for our over­night stay—'



'I will present you with a bill for all services rendered,' Luca asserted with sardonic cool.



"Thanks...a cheque might bounce if I wrote it today.' But Darcy's green eyes remained anxious. 'When are you planning to move in?' she asked abruptly.



'The day of our wedding,' Luca revealed.

'So what time will you be here, then?' she pressed.



'I'll be at the church in time for the ceremony.' An al­most dangerous smile curved his wide, sensual mouth. 'You need cherish no fear that I might fail to show. After all, in this materialistic world, you get what you pay for.'



Disturbed at having her secret apprehensions so easily read, Darcy watched him stroll fluidly towards the Porsche. How did he do it? she wondered then in fierce frustration. How did he contrive to make her agonisingly aware of that dynamic masculinity and virile sexuality even as he walked away from her? The angle of his proud dark head, the strong set of his wide shoulders, the sleek twist of his lean hips and the indolent grace of those long, powerful legs as he moved all grabbed and held her attention.



As he opened the car door he glanced back at her.

Caught staring again, Darcy looked as guilty as she felt.



'By the way,' Luca murmured silkily, 'I forgot to men­tion how impressed I was by that pre-nuptial contract I signed. That we each leave the marriage with exactly what we brought into it is very fair.'

'Sexual equality,' Darcy muttered, unable to take her eyes off the way the sunlight glistened over black hair she already knew felt like luxurious silk beneath her fingertips. And she recalled with a little frisson of helpless pleasure how good it had felt in Margo and Nina's radius to have a man by her side she could trust.



'I'm all for it,' Luca informed her lazily, angling the most shatteringly sensual smile of approval at her.