'Time for bed, Richard,' she announced loudly. 'Get up!'
He lumbered upright in slow and very shaky motion. 'Ish still light...' he muttered in bewilderment.
'So?' Darcy pushed him towards the stairs. 'You're lucky Karen's not here...you know how she feels about alcohol after her experiences with her ex.'
Richard looked terrified. 'Not coming, ish she?'
Reflecting on the awkwardness of having two close friends who occasionally mixed like oil and water, she guided him into the room beside her own, which she had once promised Luca. Richard lurched down onto the mattress like a falling tree.
'Met your hushband...when did you get a hushband?' Richard contrived to slur, with only academic interest.
In the act of throwing a blanket over his prone body Darcy stilled, not crediting what she was hearing. 'My husband?' she queried sharply.
Grabbing her hand, Richard tugged her closer and whispered confidentially, 'Not a friendly chap...tried to hit me...would've punched my lights out if I hadn't fallen over...'
He was rambling, out of his skull, hallucinating. He had to be.
'Now isn't this cosy?' A dark sardonic drawl breathed at that exact same moment from the doorway.
Darcy got such a shock she almost leapt a foot in the air. An incredulous look on her face, she wrenched herself free of Richard and whipped round. 'Where did you come from?' she gasped, totally appalled and showing it. 'I've been home over an hour!'
'Since you were out, I went for a drive,' Luca divulged grimly.
And she looked awful, she reflected in anguish. Before bathing Zia she had sensibly changed into a faded summer dress. Had she known Luca was coming, she would have dressed up—not because she wished to attract him, but because she didn't want him thinking, Gosh, what a mess she is. What did I ever see in her? She had her pride and now it was in the dust.
Luca, clad in yet another of his breathtakingly elegant suits, looked absolutely stupendous. Navy suit, white shirt with fine red stripes, red silk tie. Smart enough to stroll out in front of television cameras. Slowly, very slowly, she allowed her intimidated gaze to rise above his shirt collar. Jawline aggressive. Beautiful mouth grim. Spectacular cheekbones harshly prominent and flushed. Sensational eyes blazing like gold daggers locking into a target.
Her mouth ran dry, her heart skipping a beat.
The very image of masculine outrage, Luca continued to stare at her, the sheer force of his will beating down on her. 'Carlton is not staying the night here!'
Richard opened his eyes. "Thash him,' he said helpfully. 'Speaksh Italian like a native...'
'Oh, do shut up and go to sleep, Richard,' Darcy muttered unevenly.
'He stays... I go,' Luca delivered in a charged undertone.
'Don't be daft...he's not doing you any harm!'
Luca spun on his heel. Darcy unfroze and flew through the door after him. 'Luca...where are you going?'
He shot her a scorching look of incredulous fury. 'I'm leaving. Per amor di Dio... I will not stay beneath the same roof as your lover!'
'Are you out of your mind?' Darcy demanded, wide-eyed. 'Richard is not my lover.'
His shimmering eyes murderous, Luca spread both hands in a slashing motion and shot something at her in wrathful Italian.
Darcy gulped, registering that she was dealing with a seethingly angry male, presently incapable of accepting reasoned argument or explanation and indeed at the very limit of his control.
'OK...OK, I'll get rid of him,' she promised in desperation, because she knew at that moment that if she didn't, it was the end of everything. Luca would depart never to return.
She lifted the phone by the bed and dialled the lodge. 'Karen...I need a very big favour from you...in fact, it's so big I don't quite know how to ask. Richard is drunk, Luca's here and he's got this ridiculous idea that Richard and I are lovers. He's really furious and he wants him out of the house, and I—'#p#分页标题#e#
'Richard, drunk...?' Karen interrupted that frantic flood. 'Helpless, is he?'
'Pretty much. Could you possibly give him a bed for the night?' Darcy felt awful making such a request.
'Oh, yes...' Karen coughed suddenly, evidently clearing her throat, and added very stiffly, 'Yes, I suppose I could.'
"Thanks.' Darcy sagged with relief.
'We're going to go for a little walk, Richard,' she said winsomely as she yanked the blanket off him again.
Running through his pockets, she extracted his car keys and, anchoring a long arm round her shoulder, tried to haul him off the bed. 'Richard, you weigh a ton!' she groaned in frustration.
'Allow me,' Luca breathed savagely from behind her.
In dismay, Darcy released her hold on Richard. In a display of far from reassuring strength, Luca accomplished the feat of getting Richard upright again.