‘Try to get some sleep.’ Gregorio’s voice sounded harsher than he’d intended, and he made a concerted effort to control his anger. It was Richardson he was angry with, not Lia. ‘I will leave the door open, and I’ll be in my office or my bedroom if you need anything.’
‘Thank you.’ The heaviness of her lids was already making them close.
Gregorio hesitated at the door. ‘Would you like the light left on or turned off?’
‘On!’ She half sat up again in the bed. ‘Off.’ She grimaced as she sank back against the pillows. ‘I don’t know...’ She groaned.
‘We will compromise.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll leave the door open and the light on in the hallway, okay?’
‘Okay...’ She sighed wearily.
Gregorio adjusted the lighting before quietly leaving the bedroom. As promised, he left the door open.
Only once he had reached the sanctuary of his office did he release the anger that had been building and building inside him by slamming his fist against the door. It hurt him more than it hurt the wooden door, but he needed the release, the physical pain, after remaining calm for Lia’s sake for so long.
He wanted to hurt someone. And that someone was David Richardson. Because Lia was suffering the emotional and physical repercussions of the other man’s abuse.
He had known she was suffering physically, but her emotional trauma had shown itself in her immediate reaction to the thought of being left alone in the darkness of the bedroom. Lia was frightened, but too determined to appear strong to want Gregorio to see that fear. He had seen it anyway.
His expression was grim as he flexed his bruised knuckles before pouring himself a glass of brandy, carrying the glass across the room to sit in the chair behind his desk.
He swung his booted feet up to rest on the edge of the desk and turned his head to stare out of the window at the night-time skyline. Was Richardson still out there in the city somewhere, hiding? Or had he already left the country? Not that it mattered, because Gregorio wouldn’t give up the search—no matter how far Richardson had run.
Gregorio had no idea how long he sat there, sipping brandy and staring sightlessly out of the window, totally aware of Lia just feet away, almost naked in bed. He felt a certain relief when his cell phone vibrated in his jeans pocket and interrupted his reverie. His thoughts had been going round and round in ever decreasing circles, none of them pleasant.
He took out his cell phone and checked the caller ID before taking the call. ‘Sebastien,’ he greeted his brother tersely.
‘Who’s annoyed you now?’ Sebastien didn’t waste any time on pleasantries.
‘It is too long and too complicated a story to tell.’
‘Try...’ his brother drawled.
Gregorio gave him a condensed—and censored—version of the events of the past week.
The three brothers had always been close, having shared a common enemy: their father’s sometimes overbearing machismo. As adults the siblings had also become friends, and Sebastien was the closest thing Gregorio had to a confidant.
‘So Jacob Fairbanks’s daughter—Lia—is there with you now, in your hotel suite?’ Sebastien prompted speculatively.
‘She is asleep in one of the guest rooms, yes,’ Gregorio stated. ‘She has a cast on her broken arm and no particular liking for me,’ he added firmly. ‘Sebastien...?’ he prompted at his brother’s continued silence.
‘Just give me a second while I choose my words carefully, Rio...’ Sebastien spoke slowly. ‘Our proposed deal with Jacob Fairbanks was called off months ago, and you told me she slapped you on the face at his funeral—so what is Lia Fairbanks doing in your life now?’
Trust Sebastien to go straight to the heart of the matter.
The heart...?
Gregorio had physically wanted Lia from the moment he saw her in that restaurant four months ago. This past week he had come to know the Lia behind that physical beauty. To like her. For her strength. Her principles. Her loyalty—even if it occasionally proved to be misplaced!—and her love for her father and her friends. Her work ethic was also exemplary: Michael Harrington had already told Gregorio he believed Lia would become one of their most competent receptionists.
Had Gregorio come to like her or to love her?
Until this mess was sorted out and Lia was safe he had no intention of delving too deeply into what his feelings for her might be.
‘Taking a long time to answer, there, Rio,’ Sebastien mocked.
‘You are my brother—not my conscience!’
Sebastien chuckled. ‘And...?’
‘I feel a sense of obligation to ensure Lia’s safety,’ Gregorio answered him carefully.
‘Why?’
‘Because she is—Sebastien, her father—the only parent she had—is dead. David Richardson, her ex-fiancé, deserted her when she most needed him. He has now admitted to embezzling from her father’s company, and that is the reason Jacob called off his deal with us. Richardson left Lia alone until he knew the two of us were...acquainted...’ He substituted the word he had intended using. One afternoon in bed together did not make him and Lia lovers, and she had made it clear she didn’t intend to repeat the experience. ‘And then he attacked her, threatened her. He broke her arm, dammit!’
‘And you feel responsible for her?’
‘Yes, I feel responsible for her,’ he repeated evenly.
Lia, standing outside in the hallway, overhearing Gregorio’s side of the conversation with his brother, hadn’t realised how much hearing those words spoken out loud would hurt until Gregorio said them. It was one thing to think that was what had motivated Gregorio’s continued interest in her—another entirely to hear him state as much to his brother.
She had slept for a couple of hours, only to wake up suddenly, totally disorientated until she remembered where she was and why. Once awake she had realised how thirsty she was, and had got out of bed, quietly leaving the bedroom so as not to disturb Gregorio on her way to the kitchen for a glass of water.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop on his telephone conversation with his brother, but once she’d heard her name mentioned she hadn’t been able to walk away either.
Gregorio had saved her again this evening. He was always saving her from one disaster or another.
Because he feels responsible for me.
Well, that had to change. Maybe not right now, because it was far too late for her even to think of moving out of the hotel and finding somewhere else to stay tonight, and she was determined not to involve Cathy and Rick in any further acts of violence from David. But tomorrow, when she was feeling stronger and able to make other arrangements, she was going to stop being a burden on Gregorio and take control of her own life—as she had said she was going to.
Tomorrow.
* * *
‘Wake up, Lia! It is not real, bella, only a nightmare. Lia?’ Gregorio prompted more firmly as she continued to scream, the tears streaming from her closed eyes and down her cheeks as she fought off his attempts to take her in his arms.
Gregorio had drunk several more glasses of brandy before going to bed, knowing he was going to need the relaxant if he stood any chance of sleeping at all.
It had taken some time, but he had finally dozed off into a fitful slumber. Only to be woken—minutes...hours later?—by the sound of Lia screaming.
At first he had thought someone—Richardson—had