Quite unaffected by Phoebe's growing antipathy, which she expressed in frigid silence, Lorenzo De Angelis marched her through the airport to a busy shopping area. Walking straight into an exclusive boutique, he headed for a rack of lightweight black skirt suits and dresses.
Without asking the saleswoman for help, Lorenzo took the smallest sizes available and dumped them into Phoebe's startled arms. Then he snatched other clothes and accessories from the display shelf above and added them.
Every single woman in the shop was looking at him with eyes filled with admiration, shock, desire. Totally mortified, Phoebe gave them a slight smile then she came closer to Lorenzo.
“What are you doing?” she whispered in a horrified undertone.
“This is called shopping. You should try it sometimes,” Loren
He scanned Phoebe’s pale face. Seeing the rage in his eyes froze the blood in her veins. She tried to talk, to say something, anything, but no word would come out.“You told me that I could trust you,” Lorenzo said slowly, but angrily. “Well… I’m glad I didn’t. The instant I allowed you out of my sight, you rushed to the phone to pass on the information you overheard. You betrayed me!” Lorenzo was enraged, she could feel that, but he condemned her using a tone she never heard from him since this whole thing started. He was genuinely disappointed in her behavior. She was trembling with apprehension, but, strangely enough, Phoebe felt also saddened by his unexpected reaction.“Mr. De Angelis…” she began, ready to show him that she wasn’t a bad person or a traitor.“I tried to give you a chance, I really did, but you have made your choice. ‘Così sia.
Phoebe punched out the number. As soon as he heard her voice, Stephen asked anxiously if something had happened at the bookshop. Reassuring him, but resentfully conscious of Lorenzo listening to every word, Phoebe explained that she would be off work for a couple of days and apologized for the lack of warning she was giving him. She said a close friend was ill. Ending the call with relief, she returned the phone to Lorenzo. He shot her a grim, measuring look.“You are good. Such a convincing liar.” She just looked at him without saying a word. Her eyes were saying to him more than enough. Lorenzo smiled and turned toward Alessandro to give him a few recommendations. Phoebe looked away, trying hard not to cry in front of this dreadful man.
His father! What could be worse? Of course, he hadn't wanted to have her there over the next couple of days. So why on earth had Lorenzo insisted that she had to accompany him? Ok, Lorenzo De Angelis lived in a gilded world of immense wealth and privilege. He was a member of incredibly high-powered circles. She wished she understood how that information could be as hugely important as he seemed to think it was. He thought she was a spy, so maybe it was a matter of exponential importance for Lorenzo. He was talking about business the night before his father’s funeral. Those extremely confidential business plans he was so fired up about, this pretending to be interested in one company while really being interested in another… all this was so important for him that he had to drag her away across t
Phoebe’s quick temper, already taxed to its limits by Antonio's offensive familiarity, simply erupted. Reacting on instinct alone, her hand flew up and she slapped Lorenzo so hard across one cheekbone her fingers stung like mad.“No man calls me a whore!” she yelled in furious condemnation. “Not even you, Lorenzo De Angelis!” As the livid marks of that slap sprang up across one slashing cheekbone, Lorenzo stared back at her with truly stunned gaze. Even though Phoebe instantly knew that she had gone too far, she was far too angry to acknowledge her mistake. But she won’t apologize.“And your snake of a cousin deserves the same!” she launched in defiant addition. “Who does that little prick think he is? Drooling over me, reaching out to grab me like I'm some piece of meat! And how dare you behave in su
The blonde Mia planted a cool kiss on his cheek and then addressed him in Italian only. She ignored Phoebe. But Phoebe was grateful to be ignored because she was embarrassed by Lorenzo's stubborn determination to keep her by his side. Still talking to Mia, whom Phoebe now assumed to be a close relative, Lorenzo walked them both into a vast reception room. Other people began to arrive. Mia took up position like a seasoned hostess. Lorenzo's grip on Phoebe's fingers had mercifully loosened, and she tried to pull away, hoping to retire to a dark corner. But not only did Lorenzo retain his hold on her. He also swept her forward and introduced her, although nobody got the chance to engage her in any actual conversation. Many curious eyes lingered on her, but Lorenzo kept both of them on the move. He exchanged a wo
She swallowed hard and felt her skin burning under his fiery gaze. Phoebe started trembling, outraged that he stood there, spying on her, and not announcing immediately his presence.“You should've told me you were here... I don’t like to be watched while dancing!”“I didn't want to interrupt you... ‘Mi hai tolto il fiato!’ (Ita for ‘You took my breath away!’)” A shimmer of gold as bright as a flame glimmered in Lorenzo's eyes. From her rosy cheeks moved on her ripe mouth. Her lips parted.“I know that this is your house, but you can’t spy on me...” she protested unevenly, her slight frame tautening in instinctive reaction to the growing tension in the atmosphere. "You should've made your presence known." Lo
A thought almost made it to the surface of Phoebe's blank mind. And then she locked into Lorenzo's blue glittering eyes. Her heart lurched; her pulses raced. Dizzy and mindless euphoria took a hold again. She raised an uncertain hand to cover one hard flushed cheekbone with a shy possessiveness entirely new to her. Her spread fingers rejoiced in the rougher texture of his skin, her dilated pupils searching out every tiny detail of him that close. The lush black spiky lashes, so ridiculously long, the dramatic set of his eyes below those dark defined brows; the sheer masculine beauty of his hard bone structure; the lean, arrogant perfection of his nose. Phoebe caressed his aggressive jawline with wondering tenderness, her whole being intensely abs
Stunned blue eyes looked down with her teary green eyes. Lorenzo stopped and his gaze caressed her face.“It can't be! You can’t be…” he exclaimed.“I was…” Pride and appreciation appeared in his tense gaze. This little woman was really made for him. “You like shocking me, don't you?” Under his scrutiny, Phoebe started blushing like crazy, and then she closed her eyes. She was very conscious of the tiny smooth shifts with which he was easing his hungry passage all the way inside her.“Please… stop talking about it now,” she mumbled. “We’ll talk later…” Phoebe added willing to enjoy this new and fascinating experience.&n
Hearing her sweet voice confessing her feelings in Italian, made him happy beyond belief. Lorenzo caught her up in his arms and crushed her mouth with hungry intensity beneath his. As he buried his face in her red curls, Phoebe quivered, feeling weak and strong at the same time.“I never dreamt that hearing a woman telling me that she loved me could mean so much. And confessing that in my own language is even better,” he confided with roughened sincerity and pure joy.“And to think that if you had told me rather than Mia,” she could not resist adding, “that you loved me, I'd never have left you.”“Piccola, don't you ever leave me again,” Lorenzo warned fiercely.“I wouldn't dream of it...” She gave him a teasing glance, rejoicing in this new intimacy of mutual trust which allowed her to do and say what she liked.“Not if it means you're likely to drow
She was so appalled by that confession she sank on the side of the bed before her legs gave out beneath her. If he needed a shoulder, why did it have to be hers? Then Phoebe understood. He wanted to make a complete confession. Nothing less would satisfy his over-active conscience. So, he was about to drag out personal admissions that would very probably rip her heart out and depress her for the next thirty years. Lorenzo regarded her warily and very slowly set down the case. He cleared his throat.“I…”“Will you keep it short?” Phoebe begged without pride. Lorenzo got even tenser. He looked so absolutely miserable her heart went out to him. She had to face it now. He had really loved Mia. He might now be disgusted, but he had loved her.“My father first told me that Mia
Instead of exploding at that rather unjust stab, Lorenzo froze in his distant corner of the back seat.“I guess you're right about that.” Phoebe sent him a slightly confused glance, registering the raw tension engraved into his bold, dark profile.“I honestly didn't think you might get worried until later… Much later,” she said without irony. “It took you eleven days to call Sunny,” Lorenzo stated tautly.“I had some things to work out.” Like how to live without him. How to exist with a constant craving that got more agonizing with every passing hour. How to push away the flawed memory of good times that kept hurting her even more in those days. Images of them, making love… For her, making love with Lorenzo had been earth-shattering sensa
Sunny’s anxious face lit up with a hugely relieved smile the instant she saw Phoebe walking across the park towards her. She looked at Phoebe and her sad eyes and pale expression broke her heart. Damned Mia did a great number on Phoebe.“Thank goodness you didn't stand me up!” she gasped as she flew off the bench. “Come on, you’re coming to stay with us for as long as you want.” Phoebe dug her hands into the pockets of her jacket and avoid looking her in the eyes. She had cried a lot those past few days and didn’t want Sunny to worry or to tell that to George. “I can’t, Sunny. Don’t worry, I’m staying in a nice place.”“Phee… I want to help you. This is why I invited you here,” Sunny said squeezing her hand.“I’m ok, really. Or I&rs
Once she reached the warm soft sand on the beach, Phoebe kicked off her shoes and walked along through the surf whispering onto the shore. The sun shone blinding silvered reflections on the sea. It was hotter than it had been on her last visit. Well, she didn’t mind the heat. It seemed to drive out the chill inside her. Here they were on the very first day of their honeymoon and Mia had already practically torn them apart. Lorenzo had indeed been outraged by such lurid invasive publicity. And, whether she liked the role or not, Phoebe now knew that she had become Lorenzo's soft spot. He was a very proud man, and she didn't want him to be any less proud. But they had had yet another violent and destructive argument and she had got precisely nowhere. How many more could they afford to have before Lorenzo decide
“This is not the way I wanted the world to discover about our child,” Lorenzo commented trying to keep some restraint.“No...” Phoebe agreed, trembling.“You should’ve told me everything about your past. I might have been able to protect you… us better.” Hearing his tone filled with disappointment, Phoebe flinched. None of what was in that newspaper was her fault. There was some truth in the article, but also a lot of lies and exaggerations. His gaze was judgmental.“For starters, I had no idea that you and your mother were treated like pariahs. Another thing you didn’t mention.”“Lorenzo, my mother was an unmarried woman and all her rich friends started treating her even worse once her father lost their fortune.” Remembering those moments, what her mother
As their car reached the front entrance of the villa, Lorenzo sent a rueful glance down at her.“Until I met you, I really believed I was a skilled diplomat…”“You are… most of the time,” Phoebe told him baldly. “But I’m not a person who follows orders without questioning… Or say always the right things.”“You’re not, but I’m also a difficult person,” he said calmly. “Around you, I stop thinking straight and say things I shouldn’t.” “Letting your guard down from time to time it's not a tragedy, Lorenzo.” She smiled again and realized that what hurt her the most wasn’t being compared to Mia but to find out that she was still so present in Lorenzo's thoughts on their wedding day. But then it didn't
“What is this ‘someone like me’ stuff? What are you trying to say?” Lorenzo asked. “It means that I’m no high-society material. I’ve always been picked upon for being an illegitimate child. It was something everybody knew about me and it made my life a living hell until I grew enough to defend myself. But just so you’d know, I didn’t accept to be your wife for your money or for being saved, Lorenzo. Please believe that,” Phoebe replied putting her hand on his.“No damn wonder you find it so hard to lean on me.”“Lorenzo, most people I've tried to lean on in life fell over like pieces of a domino. The next second they chose to leave me behind or forget about me,” Phoebe said with a bitter laugh, wishing she hadn't mentioned her childhood.‘But I won't fell down or leave you alone,” Lorenzo intoned very seriously. “You have to learn to trust me,
Two months later, Phoebe walked into her local catholic church, to become Lorenzo's wife. She wore an elegant, fitted, off-the-shoulder dress in palest cream, the superb fabric exquisitely beaded and embroidered. It was her dream dress. In one move, she emptied her bank account of all her savings since she started working. Lorenzo insisted over and over again that she need to use one of the credit cards he had given her to buy everything, but all she used was to buy the matching shoes and all the other accessories. There was no one to walk her down the aisle, so she walked alone, and quite unconcerned.'Someone has to give you away,' Lorenzo had told her on the phone from Zurich, where he had been attending an important business meeting. 'I’m used to do things on my own. I’ve been doing i