'Where are you taking him?' Luca demanded roughly.
'Not far. Just get him down into his car. Don't...don't hurt him,' she muttered anxiously on the stairs, as Richard staggered and Luca anchored a hand as gentle as a meat hook into the back of his sweater.
Richard loaded up, Darcy swung into the driver's seat of the Porsche and ignited the engine,
'Where we goin'?' Richard mumbled.
'You'll see.' She didn't have the heart to tell him. He had found himself at the withering end of Karen's sharp and clever tongue too often. Handing him over drunk and incapable of self-defence was the equivalent of handing a baby to a cannibal.
Karen had heard the car. She walked out into the lane and had the passenger door open before Darcy had even alighted.
'Karen...?' Richard was moaning in horror. 'Relax, Richard,' Karen purred, sounding all maternal and caring. 'I'm going to look after you.'
Darcy gaped at her friend over the car bonnet. 'Karen...what's going on?'
'Have you any idea how long I've waited for a chance like this?' Karen whispered back, her eyes gleaming as she reached up to smooth a soothing hand over Richard's tousled dark hair. 'Blondes are bad news for you, Richard,' she told him in a mesmeric tone of immense compassion. 'Yesh,' Darcy heard Richard agree slavishly as Karen guided him slowly towards the lodge.
Karen was either planning to lull Richard into a false sense of security before she turned a hose on him in the back garden to sober him up, or she was planning to persuade Richard that his dream woman had finally arrived in the unexpected shape of a small but very attractive brunette. Darcy walked back up to the Folly. Luca was waiting in the hall for her. He didn't even stop to draw breath. 'What was that drunken idiot doing here tonight?' he demanded rawly.
'For goodness' sake, he often stays, and he doesn't normally drink like that. He brings his girlfriends here too,' Darcy proffered tautly.
'I don't know where you get the idea that we're lovers—'
"Three years ago, you almost married Carlton. He jilted you!' Luca reminded her savagely. 'Porca miseria... do you expect me to believe that he's now only a platonic friend?'
'Yes, I do expect you to believe that.' Darcy met his burnished gaze levelly.
'Even though he's the father of your child?' Luca framed with driven ferocity.
Darcy turned pale as milk. 'I assure you that Zia is not Richard's child.'
The tense silence simmered, but she saw some of the tension ease in Luca's angry stance.
Desperate to know what Luca was thinking now that she had made that admission, Darcy murmured tautly, 'Until Richard and I both fell for other people, neither of us realised what was missing in our relationship. We stayed friends. He's a terrific guy, kind, caring...'
Luca's mouth twisted as he listened, hooded eyes hard as stones as he followed her into the drawing room. 'Mr Wonderful... Mr Perfect’
'No...he does tend to tell the same horsy stories and jokes over and over again.'
Darcy was surprised that he had made no further comment on the subject of Zia's paternity. Heavens, did he still think there had been other men in her life, then?
'And he's thicker than a block of wood...don't forget that minor imperfection,' Luca slotted in drily. 'But why didn't you tell him that you're married? Accidenti...so close a friend and he didn't even know I existed!'
'Tonight was the first time I'd seen him since our wedding, but I didn't have time to talk to him because I had to go out. When did you arrive?'
'After six. I did not expect to arrive here and find another man in residence!'
Darcy blinked, and thought about the last enervating half-hour. Luca had behaved like a jealous, possessive husband and instinctively she had reacted like a foolish and insecure new wife, eager to placate him. Luca, jealous? It was a stunning concept.
'Were you jealous when you thought Richard was my lover?' Darcy asked baldly.
Luca stilled and sent her a gleaming glance from below inky black lashes. 'I am naturally jealous of my dignity.'
'Your dignity?' Her hopeful face had fallen by a mile.
'Is it unreasonable for me to expect you to behave like a normal wife?' Luca countered levelly. 'In the light of your previous relationship with him, inviting Carlton to stay here alone with you was most unwise—'
'Unwise,' Darcy parroted, thinking what a bloodless, passionless word that was.
'As my wife, you are now in the public eye, and a potential target for damaging gossip. Surely you can't want anyone to have cause to suspect at this early stage that there is anything seriously wrong with our marriage?'
Darcy slowly nodded. He wasn't jealous. He was just an arrogant, macho male, determined to preserve his own public image. People might laugh if they suspected his wife was being unfaithful, and he wouldn't like that.