Chapter Three #3
But it wasn’t just her physical perfection that had first caught his eye, it had been something in her manner. Unguarded. Genuine. At odds with the people around them at the exclusive event in Rome.
They’d bumped into each other when he’d been jostled by someone moving through the crowd.
She’d ended up with a glass of champagne down the front of her pristine pale-pink evening gown.
Leo had braced himself for an explosion of feminine outrage but she’d looked up at him and smiled and he’d almost collapsed under the impact of her beauty.
Thick brown hair, caught up and exposing a long neck, high cheekbones and defined jaw.
The greenest eyes he’d ever seen, under black brows.
Long lashes. And her mouth, wide and generous.
She’d smiled and held up the empty glass, saying, ‘Thank you, I was just looking for a reason to give my excuses to leave.’
Leo had shaken his head, trying to get out something coherent, an apology for knocking her drink, but she’d already been moving backwards, away, and instead of apologising he’d croaked out, ‘Who are you?’ Even though he’d realised that there was something familiar about her.
She’d answered, ‘I’m no one. Thanks again.’ And she’d turned and left, slipping through the crowd and disappearing so quickly that he’d wondered if he’d just dreamt up that little exchange with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
The next day Leo had seen her face high on a billboard advertising a very luxe brand of jewellery. I’m no one. She was ‘Angelica’, one of the few models whose first name was enough to identify them. He hadn’t stopped until he’d contacted her and until she’d agreed to meet him for a date.
In the years since then, he’d wondered if that first meeting had been as innocently spontaneous as it had seemed. Had she in fact contrived to bump into him and pique his interest? Only to then run into the arms of his business partner once he’d told her he wouldn’t commit?
It was a theory he’d found himself clinging to because it was easier to believe that, and that she’d been playing him from the very first moment they’d met, than to live with the fact that she’d been as innocent as he’d believed her to be.
And that he’d let a woman get too close, after years of keeping them at a distance for fear of an emotional connection that could lead to loss and pain.
She’d captivated him and that was a weakness he’d never forgive himself for. But he’d learnt his lesson. Now he was in control. She wouldn’t play him again.
A car horn sounded nearby in the traffic jerking Leo back into the present moment.
He felt something in his pocket and he remembered. He took a box out and said, ‘Actually, I’m afraid we’re going to have to add something again.’
She looked at him and then down at the small velvet box. He opened it and her eyes widened fractionally.
Angelica looked at what was obviously meant to be an engagement ring. And it caught her right in the gut. Because she would have chosen it for herself. It was a square emerald stone, flanked by two smaller sapphires, in a platinum setting.
A vast contrast to the ostentatious and totally over-the-top massive pear-drop diamond that Aldo had made her wear.
She’d had to remember to put it on when around him.
After he’d died she’d gone straight out and found the nearest homeless shelter and had handed it over as a donation, telling them they could do what they liked with it.
But this was…lovely. Before she could stop him, Leo was taking it out of the box and reaching for her hand, sliding it onto her finger where the wedding band sat.
She looked at him and said almost accusingly, ‘It fits.’
He drawled, ‘The perks of having a wife who is one of the most well-known models in the world. Your sizes are a matter of public information.’
Angelica pulled her hand away and made a choked sound and looked out of the window.
He’d just articulated another reason why she wanted to leave the industry—the fact that she was a public commodity.
A public clothes horse. Yet, she felt churlish because the business had been very good to her and it had saved her sanity when married to Aldo.
She did appreciate it but she was ready to move on.
She wasn’t even sure where to exactly, but she knew she hungered for something more meaningful.
The car pulled to a smooth stop outside one of Manhattan’s most iconic buildings, wide steps leading up to a massive entrance garlanded with foliage and flaming lanterns.
The steps were covered in a red carpet and thronged with people in a glittering array of colours, and with jewellery sparkling at ears, throats, wrists and fingers.
Leo got out of the car and came around to help Angelica out.
When she would have pulled her hand back, he held it.
She looked up at him. They were at the bottom of the steps and he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm.
It was unexpected and felt shockingly intimate.
An arrow of pure lust shot straight to the core of her body.
He was urging her with him, up the steps before she had time to absorb all the sensations of that one relatively chaste touch.
She wanted to pull her hand away but the bank of paparazzi on one side had already noticed her and were calling out her name, and Leo’s.
Acting on autopilot, she stopped and posed for the photographers, Leo by her side.
Voices rang out, ‘Angelica, over here, please! Who are you wearing? Are you and Falzone really married?’
She ignored the questions and forced a smile.
They moved up the steps and got closer to the door.
By the time they had reached the entrance, Angelica realised she was holding onto Leo’s hand for support as much as to put forward a display of unity.
Paparazzi had never bothered her too much before but now she felt exposed.
Self-conscious. Even more so when they stepped into the magnificent ballroom space and Angelica knew she stood out like a sore thumb in her jeans and T-shirt, even if they were designer label.
She tried not to let the prickle of regret or her conscience bother her.
After all, she was trying to encourage Leo to realise that marrying her had been a mistake.
But, as they entered the room and moved through the crowd, her choice of attire seemed to be making waves but for all the wrong reasons.
When Leo was accosted by someone, the other man’s partner said to Angelica, ‘You’re making the rest of us look overdressed and fussy. ’
Angelica smiled weakly, ‘That really wasn’t my intention.’ She’d just wanted to irritate Leo.
The woman winked at her, ‘Believe me, if I thought I could get away with jeans and a T-shirt I’d be joining you. These dress codes are so outdated.’
The couple moved away and Leo bent his head towards Angelica saying with a definite hint of humour in his voice, ‘It looks like your stunt isn’t going as well as you planned it.’
Angelica smiled sweetly and looked up at Leo, trying not to be distracted by the growth of stubble along his jaw, stubble he hadn’t attempted to shave away to look more…
presentable. ‘Oh, believe me, I could engineer any number of situations to draw adverse attention.’ She snagged a glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray and took a healthy sip, and said, ‘I never was good at holding my drink.’
Leo neatly took the glass out of Angelica’s hand and placed it on another passing waiter’s tray. ‘Don’t even think about it. Let’s have a dance, darling. After all, our wedding was so rushed we didn’t have time for the festivities.’
Angelica scowled at Leo. ‘Hardly my fault.’ But he was already tucking her hand into his and bringing her with him through the crowd to where people had started to dance in front of a band playing smooth tunes.
He pulled her close to his body and Angelica tensed against the inevitable way she wanted to cleave to him.
She suddenly appreciated that at least while married to Aldo, she hadn’t had to battle her own rogue hormones.
She’d been quite happy to let him pursue his extra-marital affairs with women. And men.
Leo noted, ‘You’ve lost weight.’
Angelica tensed. The result of living on her nerves for the last few years. ‘Not really your business.’
‘I’m your husband.’
Angelica snorted softly. ‘And as such you care for my welfare?’
Leo tipped up her chin with his finger. She had no choice but to look at him. ‘As my wife, of course I care about your welfare.’
Her heart twisted. She’d once thought that he really had cared about her welfare.
And he had. In bed. Not out of it. Not long-term.
After all, through her association with him, he’d practically handed Aldo the invitation to use her for his nefarious ends.
The fact that he’d also tried to ruin Leo wasn’t much comfort.
‘If I’m too thin for you—’
He pulled her closer and another couple swept past. ‘I didn’t say that.’
Angelica felt spiky and exposed. Defensive. Leo’s chest rumbled against hers when he spoke. ‘You don’t need me to tell you that you’re easily the most beautiful woman here.’
She wanted to duck her head. She knew that she was lucky to have been blessed with a face and body that photographed well, but she knew that there was so much more to her and at one time, she thought Leo had seen it too.
‘I’ve been working hard the last few years.’
As they spoke, Angelica was aware that Leo was effortlessly moving them around the floor. She didn’t even have to think, he was so easy to follow.
‘Are you saying you didn’t want to spend time with your beloved husband?’
Angelica’s skin prickled. He was very close to the bone there. And she felt tired of keeping up a facade. ‘My marriage with Aldo wasn’t exactly…all that it seemed.’
Leo tugged her closer again to avoid another couple. Angelica’s breasts were crushed to his chest and her nipples drew into hard points, helplessly reacting to his proximity. She was drowning in his scent.
‘Are you saying you made a mistake?’
Angelica felt like laughing out loud but stifled it. ‘I’m just saying that things weren’t perfect.’
Leo’s tone was dry. ‘You’re hardly the picture of a widow in grief so I think that’s the most honest thing you’ve said since we met again.’
And then, ‘Why did you do it? What was Aldo offering you? What did you want?’
Angelica stopped as the song came to an end and pulled back in Leo’s arms. How did she begin to frame an answer to that without putting her family in danger again?
She said, ‘You lost the right to know anything about me when you told me to leave, three years ago.’ She pulled free completely and walked off the dance floor.