Chapter 22
22
BEN
‘What happened?’ Ben asked as Elena rushed into the kitchen, shouting for Leonardo while Marco chased Luna to the second floor.
‘I thought you were going to talk to Luna about saving the wedding? I’m guessing it didn’t go well?
’ He paused, taken aback by Rose’s pale face and furious expression.
‘You could say that,’ she said tightly, nodding towards the sitting room he’d entered the villa through seconds earlier.
She marched into it, waiting until Ben followed before slamming the door.
‘I don’t think we need an audience,’ she explained, narrowing her eyes when he opened his arms in a gesture that signalled what the hell ?
‘What’s going on?’
‘I like the Marino family – most of them anyway – but I’m not looking to upset them even more,’ Rose spat back.
‘Okay.’ Ben shook his head, baffled.
‘What’s going on?’ he repeated.
Rose looked furious, but even worse, she looked upset.
What could possibly have happened since they shared that moment in the gardens of the villa?
Everything had been fine then.
‘Is it your parents?’ he guessed.
‘Did they contact you about their weddings again?’
Rose’s mouth pinched.
‘We heard you talking to Marco in the garden,’ she said darkly.
‘Every…single…word…’
‘What?’ Ben stumbled trying to recall the conversation, wondering how Rose and Luna could possibly have overheard any of it.
They’d been sitting by the pool and Marco had offered him a beer, which Ben had refused.
They’d been talking about the wedding and Marco’s hopes and dreams, then the conversation had turned to Rose.
Oh dear God.
The penny dropped and Ben’s insides mirrored the movement, making him swallow a surge of dread.
Dammit. ‘It’s not how it sounded, Rose.
’ He took a step towards her, but she held up a palm.
‘I know some of what we said probably sounded bad.’
He winced.
That was an understatement.
Marco had effectively thanked him for keeping Rose out of his hair, had been celebrating the fact that Ben had slept with her.
He remembered every appalling word, could feel the flush of mortification and guilt creeping up his cheeks.
‘Rose, you have to know that’s not what happened.
Marco did ask me to keep you occupied, but I refused.
’
She gave him a withering look and he let out a long breath.
It had sounded awful, but surely, she must know him better than that by now?
Knew there was no way he’d do any of those things to her.
‘I don’t know why I forgot all the rules I’ve spent a lifetime crafting,’ she said stiffly, and Ben watched her tighten her shaking hands into fists before shoving them by her sides.
‘It seems I was wrong about you, and I was wrong about Marco,’ Rose continued, her eyes flashing with barely contained rage.
‘Luna’s right to have called off the wedding.
She’s a sweet and honest woman while Marco and you—’ She shook her head vehemently.
Ben frowned. ‘We’re what?
’ he asked, feeling the first stirring of temper.
‘You’ve judged me, Rose.
Harshly I might add.
I don’t blame you for it, but you seem to have decided I’m guilty without even trying to see my side.
’ He waited, hoping to see a crack in her anger, a sign that she wanted to hear him out.
Rose blew out a breath.
‘What would be the point. I heard everything and my ears don’t lie, but in my experience people often do.
’ She injected the last words with enough venom that Ben was surprised he didn’t immediately crash to the ground and start convulsing.
‘You overheard a conversation,’ he said sharply as his shoulders went rigid.
‘Not all of it I might add. I expect you missed the part when I told Marco how much I cared for you. You also didn’t hear the talk we had in the restaurant when I told him I wasn’t going to seduce you — or trick you into staying out of Luna’s way.
’ He held his breath, hoping at least some of his words would convince her.
If she knew him at all, she’d know he was telling the truth.
‘And yet you did,’ Rose said quietly, the simmering temper morphing to hurt in front of his eyes, which cut far deeper than her words ever could.
‘Rose – everything that happened between us was genuine,’ Ben said desperately.
‘And Marco truly loves Luna. He just lost his head for a while. He wants to marry her, to make her happy.’
Rose gazed at him, her expression part pity, part disgust. ‘Luna and Marco won’t be marrying.
She heard him too, remember.
He’s tried to bully her into this wedding, and the date is more important than Luna’s feelings, or her own mother being here.
In addition to that, he asked you to keep me – her best friend – out of the way, using any means necessary.
He’s all wrong for her, just like you’re all wrong for me.
’
The words were delivered without emotion, but Ben felt the punch of them anyway.
It was as if she’d reached into his chest and used the mere power of prose to rip out what remained of his heart.
‘Marco loves Luna,’ Ben said softly, wondering if he should admit how deep his feelings were for Rose.
Then again, she obviously didn’t want to hear it, he could see that now.
She’d given up on them, just like Sophia.
Perhaps for different reasons, but her condemnation of him, the fact that she couldn’t see beyond what she’d heard, told him everything he needed to know.
She hadn’t looked deeper than his skin either.
She’d simply stared into the face of her own prejudice.
‘I don’t think Marco, or you, know what love really is,’ Rose muttered, proving it.
Ben tensed. ‘Everything my friend has done since arriving here has been about Luna,’ he said.
‘He loves her, and if you could just look beyond your experiences with your parents, your clients, if you could be a friend and not the Love Doctor for a while – I think you’d be able to see the truth.
’
Rose laughed, but it didn’t sound genuine.
‘I’m only just starting to see things clearly now.
You were always on a mission to distract me.
Right from the start when you arrived on the plane looking like—’ She choked on the last words, screwing up her nose as she studied him.
‘ That! ’
‘So now the way I look is wrong?’ Ben shot back, shaking his head.
It wasn’t the first time he’d heard it, but he expected better of Rose.
‘Was spilling the coffee on me a part of your plan too?’ she asked, barely looking at him as she began to pace.
‘I’m not sure I can blame you for my missing luggage, but what about the flat tyre that made us late?
’ She stopped pacing, considering him.
Ben sighed wearily. ‘You’re determined to see the worst in me.
Even if you hadn’t heard Marco and me talking, I wonder how long it would have taken you to sabotage the wedding, and any chance of a relationship we might have had.
’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Rose said bitterly.
‘I think you do,’ Ben insisted.
‘What happened between us was real, Rose, you’re just too afraid to see it.
’ The knowledge of that was almost too painful to admit.
He watched her blink as she absorbed his words.
‘You were always looking for a way out, or a sign that I was tricking you. I got beneath that hard shell for a while – thought there was a chance for us. But I see now, there isn’t.
You’re always going to try to find a problem because you’re absolutely terrified of love.
So scared you can barely see straight.
’ He narrowed his eyes.
‘I’m not,’ she spluttered, her beautiful face contorting as she glared back at him.
‘You’ve been so screwed up by your parents that you don’t want to take a risk.
You’re not dealing with them either.
’ He sucked in a breath.
‘You’re trying to fix something that’s broken over and over, refusing to see you’re being manipulated because neither of them want a healthy marriage that lasts.
Perhaps they just enjoy the attention they get from constantly messing up?
And maybe it’s just easier for you to watch a relationship burn from the sidelines, to criticise and find things wrong while expounding your unrealistic rules.
’ He sighed. ‘That way you can pick away until there’s nothing left.
That way you never get hurt and you’re never in the wrong.
’
‘Isn’t that like you too?
’ Rose asked, her voice stiff.
‘You’re the man who got his heart broken, so decided to never allow himself to feel again.
’
Ben absorbed the new blow and nodded curtly.
‘Perhaps you’re right.
Which just means we’re even more perfect for each other than I originally thought.
’ He shook his head.
‘You’ve got between a couple who could have been happy.
Instead of helping make sure this wedding went smoothly, you’ve tried to imagine every single thing that could go wrong.
You’re like a wrecking ball, determined to break whatever doesn’t fit your rigid ideal.
It’s learned behaviour, you don’t really believe any relationship will work.
It’s no wonder Luna’s decided to call off the wedding.
’ He shook his head.
‘For a Love Doctor, you really don’t have a clue about love.
’
‘That’s not true,’ Rose said, her voice wavering for the first time.
‘Isn’t it?’ Ben asked softly.
He didn’t know whether to feel sorry for her.
All he could focus on was that he and Rose were over before they’d even begun.
The first woman he’d met in two years that he’d allowed himself to have feelings for had broken his heart.
But he’d had a lucky escape – that was clear.
‘I’ll see you around,’ Ben said curtly as he turned and headed towards the doorway that led to the garden without looking back, ignoring the piercing pain coursing through his chest.