'You need me,' Luca breathed a shade harshly, all relaxation now wiped from his taut features and not a hint of a smile left either.
Darcy flew upright. 'Don't look at me like that!'
'In what way am I looking at you?' Luca enquired forbiddingly.
'Like I'm a bad debtor or something, and you're...you're trying to work out my Achilles' heel!' Suddenly frightened by the awareness that she was heading for an argument with him and that she didn't want that, didn't trust her own overwrought and confused emotions, or her too often dangerously blunt tongue, she said tightly, 'Look, I'm very tired. I'm going up to bed.'
From the foot of the stairs she glanced back into the library. Luca was standing by the window, ferocious tension screaming from his stillness. Her heart sank at the sight. Everything had gone wrong from the moment she questioned his conviction that they should now view their marriage as a real marriage.
And why the heck had she done that? Why, when she herself longed for that stupid agreement they had made to be set aside and totally wiped from both their memories? Why had she refused the offer of her own most heartfelt wish?
And she saw into herself then, was forced to confront her own insecurity. She feared that Luca only wanted their marriage to continue for Zia's benefit. Hadn't she felt threatened and excluded by his unashamed absorption and delight in Zia? How foolish and selfish that had been, on the very night he first learned that he was a father!
Feeling considerably less bolshie, Darcy made up her bed with fresh sheets. She took the dogs down the service stairs to-sleep in the kitchen. Then she donned a strappy oyster-coloured satin nightie and slid between the sheets to wait for Luca.
But an hour later, when she heard footsteps in the corridor and tensed with a fast-beating heart, Luca passed by her room. In the silence of the old house she listened to him enter the room Richard had briefly occupied earlier and close the door.
She fell back against the pillows then, shaken, hurt and scared...utterly out of her depth with this Luca who was not even tempted to make love to her after an absence of three weeks.
'Fabulous apartment,' Karen sighed when she arrived for lunch, scanning the fantastic view of London from the penthouse. 'And Luca...he is the perfect man; I am totally convinced of that. The guy that clears off without a murmur so that you can have lunch with your best friend is special, and when he takes the toddler with him, he zooms up the scale of perfection and hits the bell at the top!'
'He's a very committed father.'
'I wouldn't say he was a slow starter in the husband stakes either. In one month, he has transformed your life. He even brings you flowers and cute little gifts... Richard's not into flowers, but he gave me a sweater covered with embroidered horseshoes for my birthday. It is the most gross garment you have ever seen, but he phones me about five times a day, and he's so scared I'm going to dump him, it's unbelievable,' Karen shared with a rather dreamy smile.
'I'm glad you're happy.'
'Well, you don't look glad enough to satisfy me,' Karen responded drily. 'I hope you're not turning into one of those spoilt little rich madams who can't appreciate what she's got!'
Darcy managed to laugh. 'Can you see the day?'
'No, but I know by your expression that there's something badly wrong, and that was an easy way to open the subject!'
Darcy thought back over the last four weeks. The Folly estate was now employing a full quota of staff, not to mention giving added employment to all the local firms engaged in the repairs and improvements which Luca had insisted the house required without further delay. While that work was going on they had set up temporary home in London at Luca's apartment, and when the summer was over they were shifting to Venice, where they would make their permanent home.
'Has he got another woman?'
'Of course he hasn't!' Darcy said, aghast.
'He's not violent or alcoholic or anything like that, is he?'
'Karen!' Darcy took a deep breath. 'He just doesn't love me.'
'This is the problem that has you moping about like a wet weekend?' Karen breathed incredulously. 'Luca arranges to fly me up here in a helicopter to have lunch with you as a surprise... he hangs on your every word, watches your every move...I mean, the guy's so besotted he's practically turning somersaults to impress!'
Darcy shrugged, unimpressed, gloom creeping over her again. They were sleeping in separate bedrooms. He hadn't made the slightest move to change that. It was as if sex didn't exist any more. And she couldn't forget that he had once admitted that possibly his belief that she was a thief had been the most dangerous part of her attraction. And it was as if her sex appeal had vanished overnight. Yet, aside from that, loads of really positive things were happening in their relationship...