‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,’ she admitted.
‘So you’re still not happy about spending Christmas with me?’ he asked, his eyes hard and enquiring on hers.
‘No, I’m not.’
‘Perhaps I should take Charlotte on her own? Leave you here to—’
‘Not on your life!’
He gave a faint smile of satisfaction. Not the sort that reached his eyes and made them crinkle at the corners, not the sort that had once made her reach out to him and kiss him soundly. Nothing like that. It was a getting-his-own-way kind of smile.
‘Good, then let’s go. Are these your things?’
There wasn’t much, two small suitcases. One with their clothes and one with the presents she had bought for her daughter, already wrapped and hidden away from her prying eyes. She saw him look at them doubtfully. ‘We’ll be coming back for the rest of your stuff after Christmas, I take it?’
‘We won’t be staying,’ she answered evenly. ‘Didn’t I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly, but I thought you might have changed your mind.’
‘I never will,’ Megan muttered, keeping her tone low for Charlotte’s sake. She didn’t want her daughter to hear her sniping at her new-found daddy. But Luigi heard the determination in her tone and his mouth compressed grimly.
He picked up the two cases and headed out to the car. They looked ridiculously small in his hands and as he tossed them into the boot Megan wanted to cry out that she had changed her mind. She had the strongest feeling that if she went with Luigi now it would change her life for ever.
MEGAN gasped when she saw Luigi’s house. They’d left the city behind and headed into the Sussex countryside. He had paused at a set of heavy iron security gates to press a remote control and then driven up a winding drive before coming to a halt in front of a mansion that was perched imposingly at the top of a hill. It was a huge grey stone building with massive Ionic columns forming the front portico, and generous wings flanking the main house on either side.
‘This is where you live?’ she asked incredulously. Charlotte was awestruck too, sitting on the edge of her seat and gazing at the building with wide blue eyes.
‘Impressed?’ he asked, a dark eyebrow rising expectantly.
‘It’s not what I imagined,’ Megan admitted, but if he thought she was impressed enough to want to move back in with him he was wide of the mark. ‘And a little bit grand for one man on his own, wouldn’t you say? Unless of course you don’t live here alone?’
Her thoughts immediately turned to his very beautiful PA. Was Serena still with him? Was she a permanent part of his life now? When she had first started working for Luigi he had almost constantly sung her praises. So much so that Megan had begun to get suspicious, especially when his long working hours went on late into the night. He had denied it, of course, but her fears had never gone away and it had been part of the reason she had left him.
‘I’m alone,’ he admitted, much to her relief, because if Serena had been here she would have insisted he take her straight back home. ‘For the moment,’ he added ominously, looking deeply into her troubled eyes.
Megan ignored it and as they approached the house one of the pair of carved oak doors opened and a dark-suited, white-haired man appeared.
‘William, meet my wife, Megan,’ said Luigi with a smile. ‘And Charlotte, my daughter.’
The man inclined his head. ‘Megan, Charlotte,’ he acknowledged gravely. ‘Shall I show them to their rooms, sir?’
‘I’ll do it,’ said Luigi. ‘Tell Cook we’re here and we’d like tea in the drawing room.’
Megan was dumbstruck. This was a rags to riches tale in one giant leap. She’d always known he had excellent entrepreneurial skills, but for him to be able to buy Gerards, as well as a house like this in such a short space of time was beyond her comprehension. How had he done it?
And she couldn’t help wondering what else he had in mind. A top ranking football club? A luxurious yacht? Exotic holiday homes? It seemed as though the world was his oyster these days. Perhaps he even had these things. But she wasn’t disgruntled that she’d missed out because she knew that he would have worked all the hours God gave to get where he was, and that wasn’t the sort of lifestyle she wanted.
She and Charlotte were content in their little house, there was always a sense of satisfaction when she paid her bills and cooked and cleaned and provided a happy, carefree environment for her daughter. She wouldn’t like to live here, not permanently. It wasn’t a home; it was a showpiece.
There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere in the enormous entrance hall, or the shallow, wide staircase they were now ascending. Nothing was out of place. Urns of flowers spilled their heady perfume into the air, while marble statues stood in alcoves and paintings by old masters adorned the walls.
They followed Luigi through long corridors, finally coming to a halt at a suite of rooms, which she presumed to be in one of the wings. He pushed the door open and Megan walked into a blue carpeted room with a four-poster bed draped in matching blue and two armchairs near the window upholstered in cream damask. The curtains at the tall windows were in a cream and blue fabric. It was all very elegant but not her style and Megan felt a faint shudder run through her.
Luigi appeared to be waiting for her to say something, but when she didn’t he opened an adjoining door, revealing a further bedroom filled with every imaginable toy possible. Charlotte’s eyes widened and she ran inside. ‘Are these for me?’ she asked in wonderment.
‘It’s your room,’ he told her, ‘for as long as you want it.’
‘How dare you do this to her,’ hissed Megan accusingly as soon as Charlotte had disappeared inside. ‘It’s nothing short of blackmail. I’ve not changed my mind. When Christmas is over we’re out of here.’
Luigi’s lips curved upwards in a knowing smile. ‘We’ll see about that.’
Meaning over his dead body. Well, that was what she’d do, kill him if necessary. Actually she wouldn’t do anything so drastic, but there had to be a way to make him change his mind.
‘I’m serious, Luigi,’ she told him coldly.
‘And I’m serious about you moving back in with me. There’s nothing to stop you.’
‘Except that I don’t love you any more.’
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Is there someone else?’
‘There could be.’ Why should she tell him that there’d been no one since the day she’d walked out on him? He didn’t deserve to know anything.
‘Tell me, is there?’ he demanded angrily, and he took her by the shoulders and almost shook her. ‘Because if there is,’ he warned, ‘I’m taking Charlotte from you. I won’t allow another man to bring up my child.’
Megan was shocked by the ferocity of his tone. ‘You’re in no position to do anything, so take your hands off me. What I do with my private life is no longer any concern of yours. Charlotte is being well looked after and that’s all that need concern you.’
He let out a whoosh of angry air. ‘Charlotte needs her father, her biological father. If you’re not happy with that then get out. But Charlotte stays.’
Megan couldn’t believe he was saying this. A flash of red