Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire (17 page)

At the door, he paused. “I’ll see you out there.”

Lia nodded, and he was gone. She stared at the closed door then sank back down onto the sofa behind her, her legs no longer capable of supporting her. Her head fell back against the cushions, and her hand almost without thought lightly touched the sensitive swell of her breasts. For a moment, she allowed herself to imagine Luc’s hand where her own lay; she shivered at the sensation that rippled through her. He obviously meant for them to continue this later.

She was finding it hard to believe she’d been kissing him only minutes before. It wasn’t only his looks; he had a presence that had everyone glued to his every word. He glanced across and caught her eyes, held them for a moment.

“Before I move on to my prepared speech,” he spoke into the microphone, “I want to make a very special announcement. I recently asked someone to marry me, and she accepted. So I would like to introduce you all to my fiancée, Olivia Brent.” He paused and held out a hand. All the eyes in the room turned toward her. Lia wanted to sink into the floor, but she forced herself to walk slowly forward and take Luc’s hand. She gripped it tight in her own and saw his flicker of surprise. He urged her up onto the podium, and Lia stood by his side. The room erupted into applause and calls of congratulations. She caught sight of Maggie’s troubled face below and Pete’s stony expression.

Luc had gone into his speech, but he still held her hand, and she was fixed firmly at his side. She didn’t take in much of what he was saying, just listened to his voice, allowed it to caress her ears. Before she knew it he was thanking everybody for their donations to the charity he was supporting, and finally, it was over, and he stepped down to another rousing round of applause.

She moved forward automatically, but they were surrounded by groups of people congratulating them, wanting to shake his hand, kiss her on the cheek. She felt like an absolute fraud, and at the first opportunity she slipped away; it was Luc they all wanted anyway.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all night.”

Lia turned as she heard a familiar voice behind her. She smiled absently at Pete. “I’m sorry, but it’s all been a bit mad. Is everything okay at the stables? Where’s Kelly?”

“Kelly’s fine. I wanted to talk about your boyfriend—or should I say your fiancé. There are things you need to know.”

“Luc?” Lia asked warily. “What about him?”

“I did a search on the Internet. It took a bit of digging, but there’s loads of stuff about his aristocratic Italian relatives. If you dig deep enough though…” He paused.

“Get on with it, Pete. What is it you think I need to know?”

“He’s been in prison, Lia.”

Lia went cold. She glanced over to where Luc still stood among a crowd of people. He caught her glance, and gave her a warm smile.

“That’s not possible,” Lia said.

“It’s true, Lia. He killed a man.”

A wave of nausea washed over her, and she put out a hand to balance herself on the nearby wall.

“Are you okay?” Pete asked. When she didn’t answer, he grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and handed it to her. “Drink this, Lia.”

She took it almost blindly and drank it down. Glancing back at Luc, she found he was watching her, brows drawn together, his eyes glancing from her to Pete with a hint of suspicion lurking in their depths.

“Lia—” Pete’s voice brought her attention back to him. “I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up tonight, but I felt you should know.”

“No, of course you needed to tell me. Look, Pete, I really need to talk to someone, okay? I’ll see you later.”

Pete obviously wanted to say more, but Lia was staring around the room searching for someone. She finally located him standing on the sidelines also watching Luc; she hurried over to him. “Mr. Watson?”

He turned to her and smiled. “Call me Harley. What is it, darling?”

“Harley, was Luc in prison?” There was no time for niceties. She had to get to the bottom of this.

Harley’s gaze shifted to somewhere over her shoulder. She peered around and was unsurprised to see Luc still watching her.

“It was a long time ago,” Harley said. “And this is something you should talk to Luc about.”

“Just tell me.”

Harley’s eyes widened at her vehemence.

“I need to know,” she said.

He looked back at Luc, but finally nodded. “Yes.”

Lia swallowed. “I didn’t want to believe it. I thought there must be some mistake. Oh, I know I had my doubts about what he was, what he did, but I really, really thought I’d been wrong.”

“Lia, darling, it’s not that bad, just ask Luc.”

Lia stared at him. “How can you say that? It is bad. It’s awful. He’s a criminal.”

A cold mask settled over Harley’s face. “If you want to know the truth, I suggest you talk to Luc.”

Lia watched him walk away, his shoulders stiff. She felt as though she were breaking up. The only thing that was solid and real was the cold, hard lump lodged in her stomach. She couldn’t bear it. What had she gotten herself into? All her childhood had been tainted with the shadow of what her father was, the way he’d lived. It had ruined her mother’s life, and Lia had sworn that she would never have anything to do with anybody involved in crime.

She pulled herself up short.
Wait a minute
, she thought.
I don’t have anything to do with Luc
. She stared at the ring on her finger. It was a sham, just like their whole relationship; it wasn’t real. Tonight, she had started to feel something for Luc Severino, started to believe that he was a good man. More sham.

Across the room, Luc seemed to sense that something was wrong and glanced across at her. He raised a hand and Lia quickly looked away, but out of the corner of her eye she saw him moving toward her. She forced herself to stand up straight.

“What is it, Lia?”

He put a hand to her shoulder, and she pulled away.

She stared him in the eye. “I just found out that you’ve been in prison.”

Luc went instantly still. She watched as he mentally withdrew from her, his eyes cooling until they held all the warmth of polar ice.

“So?”

“Aren’t you going to deny it?”

“Why would I deny it, it’s a matter of public record.”

“It’s true then?” She hated the desperation in her voice, but she needed him to tell her it was all a mistake.

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

He started to turn from her, and Lia realized that he was going to leave her, no explanation, nothing. Reaching out, she gripped his arm to stop him. He looked down at it through cold eyes, and shrugged her hand away.

“You can’t walk away,” Lia said.

“Watch me.”

And Lia did. She watched as he turned from her and walked away. For a moment, she stood, unsure what to do.

He scared her when he was in this mood. He was so cold. Or maybe it was finding out that she had spent the last week in the company of an ex-con that had her scared. Luc was capable of taking another man’s life. He had taken another man’s life, and he hadn’t denied it. He was rich, generous with his money, and she had no idea where that money had come from. From what she could gather, he’d been poor as a child. What had changed, where had his wealth come from? The questions nagged at her mind.
Look at the people he knows
.
Obviously, he has some sort of shady past
. Her whole being fought against the knowledge. She couldn’t be so wrong. If only he would talk to her. Trust her.

She followed him back into the small parlor where they had drunk coffee earlier.

“You can’t do this,” she said, slamming the door behind her.

Luc was already pouring himself a drink. “Do what?” He lifted the decanter toward her in question and she shook her head. “Scared you’ll do something you’ll regret?” he asked. “Lose some control? Give in and give us both what we want?”

Lia had a feeling that he was goading her, purposefully trying to steer her off the subject.

“Why won’t you talk about it?”

He swallowed the drink in one go and crashed the glass down on to the tray. Lia gave a little jump, but he just poured another measure, sipping it this time as he peered at her over the glass.

“What’s there to talk about? It’s past history. Nothing to do with you.” She stared at him and finally he shrugged. “What do you want to know?” He sounded disinterested.

“I know you wouldn’t have done anything bad—”

“Of course you don’t know,” he interrupted. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

He put down the glass, gently this time, and came toward her, coming to a halt only inches away. For the first time since she entered the room, Lia forced herself to look into his eyes. Suddenly she became aware that he was furious.

A sharp pang of alarm jabbed her in the gut. Why was he so angry? What had she done?

“Scared, Lia? All alone with a convicted killer.” Raising one hand, he slowly stroked the soft skin of her shoulder. His fingers drifted down until his open palm rested over the place where her heart thumped rapidly against her breast. “Your heart’s racing,
cara
.”

At the feel of his warm palm, a wave of desire washed over her. Taking a step back, she dislodged his hand. He allowed it to fall to his side and stood staring down at her. He was in control, but she could sense the rage still flickering behind his inscrutable gaze.

“Why are you so angry with me?”

She was bewildered by the turn this meeting had taken. She’d come in here ready to confront him, to make him tell her what had happened, willing to let him explain it all away, wanting him to explain it all away. Instead, he was staring at her with dislike as though she had done something wrong, committed some crime. All of a sudden, she felt uncertain. She went over the confrontation in her mind. Was she being unreasonable? Why couldn’t he just tell her it was all a mistake?

“Am I angry with you?” He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. “What makes you think that?”

His voice was a smooth purr that shivered down her spine.

“Please Luc…”

“Please what, Lia?” He took a step toward her, and Lia couldn’t prevent herself from backing away. She came up against the wall. “I’m more than happy to try to please you.” He lifted a hand and stroked it down the side of her face.

“Stop it, Luc.”

“Why? It’s what we both want.”