Sofie caught her breath, her pulse racing anxiously with her inner turmoil. ‘That wasn’t the reason. It was hot and I needed…That is…’ Realising she was almost babbling, she closed her eyes and drew in some steadying air. ‘I thought you were gone.’
‘Hoped, you mean,’ Lucas returned silkily, and she licked her lips nervously to moisten them.
‘Yes…no…w-whatever!’ she responded jerkily, then made an effort to get a grip. ‘Why would I want to see you? We have nothing to say to each other,’ she told him more firmly, because denial was all the defence she had. She needed him to walk away from her, for should he find out about her sin, he would never forgive her. In his place, neither would she.
‘On the contrary, I think you and I have one hell of a lot to say to one another, Mrs Antonetti!’ he shot back, and there was no doubting the underlying edge of anger in the coldness of his tone.
Sofie flinched, knowing he had a right to be angry. More than he knew. ‘Lucas…’ she responded helplessly, and something wild flashed in his eyes.
‘Ah, Lucas! Do you know that the sound of my name on your lips once used to send me up in flames?’ he challenged sarcastically and, because she did remember, it drove a knife into her heart.
‘Please…’ she breathed achingly, knowing she had enraged him by leaving the way she had. She should have stayed and confronted him with the proof of his treachery, but it hardly mattered now. That he had betrayed her was irrelevant, and her fears that he would have lied his way out of it and somehow convinced her to stay. She was playing for higher stakes, and the cost of losing didn’t bear thinking about.
Lucas stepped closer, eyes glittering. ‘You used to say that, too, when you begged me to make love to you. Do you remember that, Sofie? Do you remember any of it?’
Dear Lord, she remembered everything. Nothing was forgotten. None of the happiness, none of the heartache. However much she might want to throw his words back in his face, she had to be careful. She had too much to lose now.
‘Th-there’s no point in remembering. I put the past behind me.’ It was a lie. Not a day went by when she didn’t remember and long for what was lost.
A sneer curved the lips she had once craved to kiss. ‘How convenient. The trouble is, the past has a habit of rearing up and biting you when you least expect it. As it did with me, when I walked into the hotel yesterday and saw your picture advertising this event.’
Her nerves jolted as she heard that. ‘Then you weren’t…’ She cut the question off, aware of what it would reveal, but Lucas was far too astute to miss it.
‘Weren’t looking for you? No, I’m here on business, so you can imagine my shock. My errant wife, whom I had sought from one end of the country to the other, was hiding in plain sight,’ Lucas explained with a mocking laugh.
Her chin came up. ‘I wasn’t hiding,’ she denied, and it had been true once. She hadn’t started out hiding from Lucas, she just hadn’t wanted to see him again, knowing that her love for him made her weak. However, circumstances had changed, and she had ended up hiding from him for totally different reasons.
One eyebrow lifted in a gesture she remembered so well it tweaked her heartstrings. ‘Then why the change of name, if not because you didn’t want me to find you?’
Sofie’s stomach lurched anxiously. She had never found it easy to lie but, with things the way they were, she had to find some way to make him go away and leave her alone. ‘Because…Because…’ Invention failed her. Oh, God, what could she say? Her mind flailed around seeking inspiration and locked on to the first it could find. ‘I was th-thinking of, um…opening my own studio,’ she told him, her hands gesturing uneasily. ‘At one time,’ she added, hoping he would accept that, but the scoffing look he sent her spoke of her failure.
‘I might have believed it had your name been Smith or Brown, but my name sounds professional to me. So tell me, amore, why didn’t you call yourself Sofie Antonetti? You were entitled to, as my wife.’
‘Stop calling me that!’ she snapped, nerves so ragged she could scream.
Her response brought a sardonic curl to his lips. ‘Why? It’s who you are,’ he told her mockingly. ‘SofieAntonetti, my wife.’
Her lips parted on a faint gasp, whilst shock slammed her again. Surely he couldn’t mean…‘But…I told you not to try and find me, to forget me. I thought…’
Lucas tipped his head on one side. ‘That I would divorce you. Think again, Mrs Antonetti. There was no way on this earth that I was going to walk away from you without an explanation. So, that begs the question, why didn’t you divorce me? Now, what could be the reason for that? Ah, yes, because if you did I would find out where you were, and you didn’t want that, did you?’ he finished curtly.
Sofie swallowed hard. ‘I deserted you. Right was on your side,’ she pointed out huskily.
A dark look entered his eyes. ‘You’re darn right it was. You said you loved me. Couldn’t wait to marry me. Then, a few months after the wedding, you vanish into thin air. Did you honestly think I would put that all down to experience and forget you? Dream on, Sofie.’
She should have known that a man who felt as strongly as Lucas wouldn’t let anything go. He didn’t know she knew about his liaison. All he knew was that she had left him and she couldn’t put him right. Not now. Not ever. ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake.’
His laugh was hollow. ‘You certainly did. Walking out on me was the wrong thing to do. You owe me, Sofie, and, now that I’ve found you, I fully intend to collect.’
Sofie stared at him, knowing that this was one of the reasons she had hidden herself away. She had always known he was a passionate man and that his anger would be just as tempestuous as the love he’d claimed to feel for her. Maybe he had loved her, but it hadn’t stopped him having an affair. Yet, however much he wanted answers, there were none she could give him, as she dared not let him guess her secret for fear of what he might do.
So she had to hold back her emotions and be as firm in her resolve as she had been when she’d left him. ‘There’s nothing to collect. If I hurt you, I’m sorry, but what I did was for the best. I’ll say it again. Forget you ever met me, Lucas. We were never meant to be together. Have your meeting and go home. Please.’
Lucas laughed at her. ‘Just because you were once able to get me to do anything you asked, don’t imagine you still can. I shall stay here until all my business is settled.’
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear and it set her nerves twitching again. ‘Fine. Stay, but don’t bother me. You’re not wanted, Lucas,’ she told him bluntly, thinking there was nothing else she could do.
Blue eyes narrowed on her. ‘Why? Because you’ve replaced me? Was that him, the man I saw you with? What did you do with him? Send him off on an errand and then abandon him?’
It was close enough to the truth to be uncomfortable, because she hadn’t given him a thought since coming out here. ‘David’s used to me. He won’t mind.’ At least she hoped he wouldn’t.
One eyebrow quirked. ‘Poor man, to be dismissed so casually. Perhaps I ought to tell him he’s dating a married woman.’
Not wanting him to speak to anyone about her, Sofie had to set the record straight. ‘You don’t have to worry about David, he’s my boss,’ she corrected hastily.
‘That had better be true, amore. I wouldn’t want you to end this first meeting on a lie,’ he advised her softly, staring down into her widened eyes.
‘First and last meeting,’ she corrected firmly, standing her ground, though her legs were beginning to wobble badly.
‘This isn’t over. You will be seeing