The Best Of The Year - Modern Romance. Annie West

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      Gio frowned, making it obvious that he had not overheard Calisto’s final salvo. ‘What confidential matters?’

      Billie shrugged as though she meant something trivial, reluctant to think the worst of Gio, averse to trusting anything that witch, Calisto, had claimed at his expense. She would dig out the pre-nup and check it out for herself or arrange to have it looked over by an independent lawyer. It couldn’t be true; it couldn’t possibly be true, she thought in an agony of fear. After all, if that claim of Calisto’s was true, it would mean that their marriage was an empty charade, never intended to do anything but gain Gio legal custody of Theo and she could not, would not believe that of him!

      ‘Your ex is a bit of a pyscho,’ Billie remarked tentatively as they settled into the waiting limousine.

      ‘And probably what I deserved,’ Gio breathed in a raw undertone of stress.

      ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Billie prompted before they entered the fashionable restaurant.

      ‘Nothing’s the matter,’ Gio insisted.

      If you can believe that, you can believe anything, Billie reflected, unimpressed, off-balanced by the odd way he was behaving. He was still holding her hand, still acting as if he were physically welded to her or, ridiculously, as though he were afraid that she might run away somewhere.

      No way, Billie thought combatively. He had signed up for a life sentence as far as she was concerned and he was going to serve it, she thought crazily, studying his lean, bronzed, totally gorgeous profile while he talked to Leandros and Billie listened to Leandros’ girlfriend, Claire, who was a British model, talk about the joys of fake tan and the cosmetics range she was planning. It wasn’t riveting stuff but Billie tried her best to be friendly while reaching the conclusion that Leandros was as shallow as a puddle when it came to the female sex.

      Gio skated a teasing forefinger along Billie’s thigh below the table and she tensed, thinking, not about what he probably hoped she was thinking about, but instead about what Calisto had said. I’m going to have to ask him, she accepted unhappily.

      Was he capable of such a deception through the means of a legal document? Oh, yes, Billie had no doubts when it came to how ruthless Gio could be. After all, in spite of what she had deemed to be a very happy relationship and her warning that she would not be there when he returned, Gio had still gone off and married another woman because that was what he’d felt he had to do. Like a granite rock rolling down a hill on a set path, Gio was not given to second thoughts or doubts or insecurities like frailer personalities and he didn’t think much about the damage he could be inflicting.

      How could she love someone like that? Billie asked herself wretchedly as the limousine carried them back to the airport.

      ‘What did you think of Claire?’ Gio enquired in the silence, desperate to know what Calisto had said to her. Calisto could be so vicious and, when she aimed it at Billie, even Gio was willing to admit that she had some excuse for her resentment.

      ‘Very chatty and glam. She seems pleasant enough,’ Billie commented.

      ‘For a fake-tan expert. She must be great in bed,’ Gio said sardonically.

      ‘Why?’ Billie heard herself say. ‘Is that how you first thought about me? Let’s face it, I didn’t have much in the way of intellectual conversation to offer either.’

      ‘We’re not talking about you.’ Gio gave her hand a little shake as though in rebuke. ‘You were never that vain or frivolous.’

      ‘Claire’s looks are the basis of her whole career so I don’t think it’s fair to call her vain or frivolous.’ And in the back of her mind, Billie was wondering why she was arguing with him about something that didn’t matter in the slightest to her. Dimly it dawned on her that fear was working on her nerves, cutting through the sense of trust and security that she had begun to develop and throwing up friction in her every response to him.

      What on earth was she planning to do if the man she loved turned out to be her worst enemy rather than her husband? How was she going to cope with Gio trying to take Theo away from her? Murder him in his bed? Hire a hit man? Her mind threw up crazier and crazier ideas and her tension rose steadily as she boarded the helicopter to sit stiff and silent by his side until the flight back to Letsos was complete.

      ‘I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong,’ Gio breathed as she pulled away from his supporting arm and picked an uneven passage along the path from the helipad to the villa.

      ‘We’ll talk about it inside where nobody can hear us,’ Billie framed in a flat tone he had never heard from her before.

      Tension screaming from every line of his tall, powerful figure, Gio mounted the stairs a step in her harried wake. It was no comfort for him to flip through his list of sins and omissions with Billie because there were so many of them he didn’t know where to start. He watched her stop dead in the living area of their suite and kick off her high heels, ensuring that she shrank greatly in stature.

      Billie settled blazingly angry green eyes on Gio. ‘Calisto told me that the pre-nup I signed contained something about you keeping Theo here in Greece if we broke up.’

      Furious that something so highly confidential could have been leaked from what should have been the most trustworthy source, Gio turned pale, and for an instant he couldn’t think of anything to say in his own defence.

      Billie read his taut defensive expression and her shoulders slumped. ‘So, it’s true...this marriage has all been some cruel kind of game of deception.’

      ‘The pre-nup no longer exists. I shredded your copy and mine and had my legal rep destroy all evidence of it,’ Gio grated. ‘It’s gone, it’s in the past. I should never have thought of such a thing.’

      ‘How did you shred my copy?’ Billie demanded in sudden wonderment.

      ‘I went into your storage boxes,’ Gio admitted, a tinge of heat accentuating his cheekbones at the look of disbelief growing in her gaze. ‘I realised it was wrong and I wanted to destroy it. I didn’t want you to realise what I’d tried to do at some later stage of our lives.’

      ‘Well, you don’t have that to worry about that now. It’s come back to haunt you much sooner than you expected,’ Billie pointed out, wondering how much she should be mollified by the apparent destruction of the document and his evident change of heart. At least he knew when he’d done something wrong, she thought limply, struggling to find a bright side to her predicament.

      Gio studied her, his full attention locked to her flickering changes of expression. ‘I didn’t want to lose you.’

      ‘You didn’t want to lose Theo,’ Billie corrected. ‘I wish you’d just been honest from the beginning. I’m not unreasonable, Gio, and from the moment you reappeared I was willing to share Theo with you, honestly and fairly.’

      ‘It was a very dirty trick to plant that clause in the pre-nup,’ Gio acknowledged with a humility that astounded her.

      ‘But very typical of you,’ Billie responded. ‘Clever, devious, cold-blooded.’

      ‘I’m never cold-blooded when it comes to you. I had the pre-nup drawn up that way because...’ Gio hesitated, lean, strong face rigid ‘...not because I was trying to take Theo off you, but because...’

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