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Each memory lashed him more fiercely.
Watching again his father’s fist slam into his mother’s face, her long black hair, taut in his fingers, as over and over she took the beating, never once crying out—just as Luca hadn’t. Peering into the room that hateful night he had stifled his screams by instinct, something telling him, even at this tender age, that what he was witnessing must never be acknowledged.
He’d tried, though. Ramming his knuckles into his fist, Luca felt the slap of his mother’s hand again on his cheek; felt the confusion, the bewilderment all over again as she’d later denied what he had seen take place, told him off for even thinking such filthy things.
But he had seen it, had seen his mother, despite the indignity, somehow still proud, somehow stronger in her passiveness than the brute that beat her.
He’d seen that expression once in his mother, her face etched with stricken dignity as that bastard had laid into her, and he’d seen it again today—with Meg.
It was a fifteen minute drive to the palace, but Luca did it in eight—his silver car rattling around the tight bends at breakneck speed. Instead of turning off into the guarded private road to the palace, he carried on to the prison, not even taking the keys out of the ignition before he strode in. ‘Where is she?’
The guard jumped to his feet, recognising Luca instantly and fumbling to cover his sordid trail—stubbing out a cigarette and ramming a bottle into a drawer.
‘In the cell.’ He gave a low laugh, which revealed black, rotting teeth. ‘She says she wants a lawyer. I told her all the lawyers in Niroli are retained by you!’
‘What else has she said?’
‘She’s crazy.’ He tapped the side of his head a couple of times. ‘She refuses her meals, refuses to sleep, or to put on the clothes we give her. She went crazy in there before—like an animal, pulling off the mattress, kicking at the walls, throwing her meal when we gave it to her. Now she says she is sister to Prince Alessandro….’
‘What?’ Luca barked. ‘What exactly did she say?’
‘That she came to the island to meet her brother—she gave his other name—the one he had before….’
‘Alex Hunter?’ Luca frowned, his mind racing. Was that what had happened—had the attraction that had flared the second he’d laid eyes on her actually been recognition?
Alessandro was his cousin—they shared the same grandfather, so if somehow he had a sister.?
‘I want to talk to her.’ It wasn’t a request, it was an order, Luca’s urgent words delivered almost in anger, and the guard knew better than to question it—just a slight raise of untidy eyebrows as he shrugged and led Luca to the cells.
She was adopted! As he followed the guard down the dank stairwell he replayed their earlier conversation over, recalling the details, and relief flooded him as he remembered what Meg had said. Even if she were somehow related to Alessandro, then it wasn’t by blood—but it was a royal prince’s sister who was locked up in a cell and about to be charged with theft—a scandal the family could do without just now.
For the old king’s sake—for the honour of the family—the fact Alessandro’s sister had been arrested for the attempted theft of the Niroli jewels, no less, was something that had to be kept quiet.
‘Aspetta—wait!’ Despite Luca’s haste to get to her, there was one unsavoury duty that needed to be performed first—one last court with disaster before the king made his decision. Pulling out his wallet, Luca delivered his orders to the guard, hoping to God as he did so that the half-drunk bottle of whisky he had seen him shove into the drawer would be empty by the morning—that this blurry exchange would be nothing but a distant memory by dawn.
The cells were mainly empty apart from a couple of drunks sleeping it off, but the pubs and clubs hadn’t closed yet. Luca knew that by morning the place would be rank with Niroli’s low life. As he entered the dreary area that housed Meg, Luca knew that it wasn’t duty that was driving him—as he made his way in, his eyes taking a moment to accustom to the dim lights, Luca knew it was her he was truly there for.
She was sitting on the simple metal bed, back rigid, staring fixedly ahead, not even turning as they approached, and Luca knew, quite simply, that she didn’t belong in such a rank place.
Whatever emotions he’d been feeling before were paltry compared to what he felt now. He’d thought her beautiful, but realised it was a shallow description. Here, with her hair dark from sweat, her face a mess of dried blood and grime, and her top torn, sitting on the bare metal frame of the bed with a rudimentary attempt of a meal upturned on the floor beside her, he witnessed something in Meg far deeper and longer lasting than beauty. Despite the chaos of the room there was an elegance to her that seemed to reach somewhere deep inside him and twist his stomach, something about her that tugged at him. He’d always liked women, always enjoyed their company, but this ran deeper. This feeling Meg stirred wasn’t about him, but instead about her and what he could do for her—only she mustn’t know.
This isn’t your doing!
There was an attempt at reason, to remind himself that it was her actions that had put her in this place—but it was futile. Whatever her reasons, whatever had driven her to steal last night, he wanted to know them—wanted so much more from Meg than he wanted from most women.
He wanted to get to know her….
Good or bad—he wanted all of her.
‘Alzarsi!’ Meg’s grasp of the Italian language might be less than basic, but as the guard entered her cell and pulled her to her feet there was little room for misunderstanding and Meg did as she was told: she stood up. But nothing more—refusing to turn her head, refusing to acknowledge Luca Fierezza as he stepped into the tiny cell.
She’d known he was here—had heard his deep, angry voice for the last few moments—but whatever his reason for coming, it was too little, too late. The last couples of hours had been a nightmare: no one spoke more than a few words of English and, combined with Meg’s few words of Italian, the police and guards had seemed to take pleasure in the chaos it had created. Taunting her when she’d asked for a lawyer or for them to contact the embassy, laughing in her face when Meg had written down Alex’s name for them and tried to explain that until recently her brother had worked at the hospital. Then, after a rough body search, she had been thrown in the tiny, damp cell—which for Meg was the worst part of all, the tiny cell, the isolation, so reminiscent of her younger years it was impossible not to compare, not to relive the virtual prison of her childhood, impossible for it not to provoke a reaction. The guard bringing her a meal, ordering her to eat, had, for Meg, been the final straw and now, exhausted from her outburst, amidst the chaos she’d created, she stood before Luca.
‘Meg, are you okay?’ It was such a relief to hear English, her determination not to look at him, not to talk to him, weakened a touch, but she held on—still, even at this eleventh hour, trusting that order would prevail, that a lawyer, an official, someone would come and sort out this chaos.
‘Meg, talk to me,’ Luca insisted. ‘I can help you.’
Her top lip sneered in disgust and somehow Luca knew she wasn’t going to accept his offer of help, that, even if she was the guilty one, somehow it was he, Luca, she mistrusted. ‘Aqua,’ Luca snapped to the guard, thinking on his feet, trying somehow to get her to realise that he was on her side. He barked orders in Italian to the guard, demanding he get food and something to clean up Meg’s face with. Only when they were alone did he approach Meg, but she recoiled as if he were poison and with supreme effort he halted, stifling the instinct to take her in his arms and soothe her. ‘Meg …’ He stared at the paltry room, took in the upturned meal on the floor and struggled to find what to say, how to reach her. ‘You should eat something….’
‘I’d rather starve than eat what they bring me.’ Even if it was laced with venom, at least she was talking, Luca conceded.
‘You could be here for some time—you should change out of these dirty clothes, get some sleep. You need to eat—’
‘Why?’ Angry, defensive eyes turned to him. ‘Why should I wear their clothes or sleep or eat at their command when I have done nothing wrong? Anyway, what is it to you? What exactly are you here for, Luca?’
‘As I said, I am here to help you.’
He thought she might spit at him—her face was so sour with contempt she was barely recognisable.
‘More likely, you’re here to make sure that your handiwork has been carried out properly. Well, as you can see, it has been. Is this what happens when you refuse to sleep with the prince of Niroli?’
‘It has nothing to do with that!’ The guard was back and, taking the bowl of water and cloths he’d brought with him, Luca dismissed him, leading her to the bed where she reluctantly sat, examining the small cut in her eyebrow. ‘I will clean your face. It is dirty in this cell—the wound will get infected.’
‘I’ll clean it,’ Meg snarled, but he didn’t listen, just calmly dipped the fabric into the water and bathed her wounds as the first sting of tears since her arrest reached her eyes. His hand was so supremely gentle, so tender, she couldn’t help but compare it to the treatment the guards had given earlier, and for a second it was just easier somehow to let him help, to close her eyes as gently he removed the dried blood and dirt before pulling out of his pocket a heavy silk handkerchief and telling her to press it to her face.
‘You will need a stitch or two. Do you know if the guard has arranged a doctor?’
‘I’m sure that he has it on his list of people to call for me.’
Her sarcasm wasn’t wasted on Luca, his eyes shuttering closed for a moment and she hoped it was in guilt, guilt for what he had done to her, but in that second he changed, his demeanour shifting from tender to practical.
‘You stole from me, Meg—I saw the evidence myself. I had no choice but to call the police. You are here because you are a thief. Now we have to work out what to do with you.’
‘Do with me?’ Meg gave an incredulous laugh. ‘And what the hell do you mean that I stole from you?’
‘I’ve seen the evidence, Meg.’
‘How?’ She balled her fists to her temples in an attempt to calm down, the whole thing getting more ludicrous by the moment. She’d realised the guards thought her a common thief, that much she understood, but hearing it from Luca, realising he thought that of her, was almost more than she could take. ‘How could you have seen something when it didn’t even happen?’
‘The jewels that were found in your bag are the Niroli family jewels, so, yes, you stole from me. Why you would do such a thing I do not know. Whatever trouble you are in I will try to help, try to understand, but it is imperative—’
‘Luca—I am not a thief,’ Meg broke in. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. All I want is a lawyer, someone to ring the embassy so that this mess can be sorted. I’ve never stolen a single thing in my life.’
It was like rewinding his life—watching the woman he adored furiously denying what he had witnessed—only this time he wouldn’t back down. He was a man now—not a confused child. He was a royal prince and he would not be lied to, would not just choose to believe her because it was easier to.
‘Don’t lie to me!’ His words were a roar, his six-foot-two frame jumping from the bed and towering over her. She was so convincing, so utterly, utterly convincing that if he hadn’t seen the evidence himself, he’d have believed her—wanted to believe her—wanted to be taken in by this vixen’s lies.
‘I will not be lied to,’ Luca repeated, but more calmly this time, speaking to her now as he would any of his staff that had overstepped the mark and needed to be pulled swiftly back into line. ‘I am here to try to help you, but how can I do that when still you lie to me? I saw it with my own eyes, Meg. I saw you taking the jewels from the display—they were found in your backpack, wrapped in the top you were wearing last night.’ On and on he went, each word damning her, each word confusing her further, because he clearly believed them, and all Meg knew was that it was imperative that Luca believe in her.
‘I don’t know what you saw or what you’ve been told, but you’re mistaken.’ She stared right at him as she spoke. ‘If you can’t or won’t believe me, then can you please just call a lawyer or the embassy for me in the morning?’
‘It’s Saturday tomorrow,’ Luca pointed out, ‘and it is a long weekend for the Feast—there can be no officials contacted till Tuesday, perhaps even Wednesday.’
‘Then can you please try and get hold of my brother for me …?’ Meg gulped back tears, her voice wobbling with fear as she realised that this nightmare wasn’t anywhere near over and, though she was loath to ask Luca for any assistance, it was infinitely preferable to staying here. ‘His name’s Alex Hunter. He was working at the hospital—’
‘Alessandro Fierezza is on his honeymoon,’ Luca interrupted, ‘on his way back to Australia. Alessandro is not going to be able to help you now.’
‘Alessandro?’ Meg gave a bewildered shake of her head. ‘I don’t know any Alessandro. I’m asking you to find my brother—’
‘My cousin,’ Luca brutally cut in, taking no pleasure as her proud face literally crumpled before his eyes, but his face remained impassive. He knew she needed him to be strong, that this fiery, independent woman wouldn’t take a grain of his sympathy. ‘Your brother is my cousin—get it? Alessandro is a royal prince—’
‘No!’ It didn’t make sense, nothing today made any sense. Alex was a doctor, her brother, the most honourable man she knew, if he’d had news this big he’d have told her himself, face to face….
He’d wanted to.
The truth, however unpalatable, was starting to sink in. Alex had said the news was huge; could this have been it? Like Meg, Alex had been adopted, only at a much younger age, so his past was vague, but he was of Italian descent and the receptionist at the hospital had used the same name Luca was using now—Alessandro Fierezza.
Burying her face in her hands, Meg struggled for control, tried to glimpse some way out of this hellish mess. Drunken, loud voices were coming from upstairs, the tiny cells starting to fill with undesirables, and she was trapped here till God knew when….
‘I can sort this mess out for you, Meg.’
‘How?’ Peeling down her fingers, Meg stared up at him.
‘I just can….’ Luca’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, unsure how Meg would react to what he had done, but somehow guessing she wouldn’t take it particularly well. ‘I can make this go away.’
‘You mean you’ll bribe someone!’Appalled, Meg shook her head, but Luca was insistent.
‘You are the sister of a prince—therefore you do not belong here. The family cannot afford the scandal at this time.’
‘The only scandal is that I’ve been locked up and accused of a crime I didn’t commit,’ Meg retorted. ‘I don’t need you covering my tracks, Luca. It’s your family that will suffer if I stay here.’
‘It will cause shame for your brother,’ Luca pointed out. But Meg wasn’t about to be subdued.
‘Then you clearly don’t know Alex,’ she flared back. ‘He’d tell me to fight my case. Unlike you, Alex would believe a woman who was speaking the truth.’
‘Then your brother is a fool,’ Luca retorted. ‘We both know you lie, we both know the truth. You can stay here and rot, then. I have offered assistance. I have done the right thing by Alessandro. It is not my fault if you will not accept it!’
This was getting nowhere; Luca had quickly realised that. He could hear the processing of the new prisoners taking place upstairs, knew that at any given moment he might be recognised. If Meg didn’t come with him now, he would have to leave her here to fight her case alone.
Staring down at her, defiant, wary and so very, very scared, Luca knew what he had to do, knew that she was too proud for charity, too proud to back down—so he did what he did best.
Cut her a deal—Luca style.
Let her think she had a choice, let her think she had a chance of winning.
‘Maybe there is another way,’ Luca mused out loud. ‘Last night I said I wanted to spend time with you; last night I explained I wanted the pleasure of your company….’
‘You had that today,’ Meg attempted, but Luca shook his head.
‘Forget today, Meg. Now I know how low you stoop, the offer drops. I will not bribe the guard, but I will pay your bail—I will assure him that I am taking care of you and that you will return for your hearing with suitable representation.’
‘And in return?’ For the first time since he’d arrived Luca actually smiled. ‘You mean you want me as your puttana,’ Meg spat. It was one of the few Italian words she did know—she had heard it several times since she’d been locked up, and it was one of the few words that needed little translation. He was literally offering to buy her company. ‘You’re not doing this out of some false sense of duty to Alex, you’re offering this because of how I look!’
‘Well, you don’t look very good at this moment,’ Luca retorted, ‘but I think you will scrub up very nicely. This is a good offer, Meg,’ he continued. ‘You can stay here and take your chances with the guards and your fellow prisoners, or I will pay your bail and you can come with me and stay in luxurious surrounds until Tuesday, when I will arrange full access to one of the best lawyers on the mainland.’
‘And for the privilege—I’ll have to share your bed!’
‘Of course.’ He stared down at his watch, tapped an impatient foot as he awaited her decision, and her first instinct was to slap him, to spit on his arrogant face and tell him where the hell he could put his offer, but something held her back. Realisation sank in that she was here for the duration. Her passport had already been taken, her belongings locked away. Here she had no rights, no possessions, but as the prince’s mistress she would be afforded decent legal representation—could get out of this mess through the correct channels instead of offering some sleazy bribe.
She still had a choice.
She would choose to eat at his table, choose to share his bed, but she wouldn’t share her heart…. Luca Fierezza had enough money and power to buy her company for a short while, but he would never hold her heart.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THEY DROVE IN SILENCE to the palace, Luca’s car hugging the beach road, the palace easily visible thanks to a vast moon hanging low in the sky, but despite the warm night air as she’d stepped from the prison to the custody of her new jailer, Meg had started violently shivering, so she sat now huddled in the passenger seat wearing Luca’s jacket.
‘Why aren’t we going to the casino?’
‘You will be recognised at the casino—you are on the black list. Until we can arrange for some new clothes, your hair to be done differently, you will have to stay away from there.’
‘But surely.’
‘The staff at the palace are discreet—that is why I am taking you there.’
‘Won’t they at least want to know who I am?’
‘Why would they?’ Luca shrugged and she glanced over at him, taking in his perfect profile, the sheer maleness he radiated, the absolute arrogant beauty of him, and the unpalatable truth was further affirmed. They wouldn’t ask questions because this was clearly a regular occurrence—oh, not the rescue from the jail, but clearly the palace staff were more than used to Luca arriving home at all hours with a woman in tow! ‘I will arrange a doctor to come and tend to your cut.’
‘I don’t need a doctor, and anyway,’ Meg added, ‘surely he would ask questions.’
‘Why would he? I pay for his discretion,’ Luca responded with all the arrogance of the truly rich, but he did at least concede that her arrival might cause some issues, because as the gates to a private road slid open and the car approached he momentarily stopped and, with the engine idling, he turned to face her.
‘This is what we do. I tell my family the truth—you are Alessandro’s sister, you came to the island to look him up not realising he had already left. That is why I am taking care of you.’
‘So am I here as Alex’s sister or your mistress?’ Meg quipped, but Luca, as always, had an answer.
‘Both.’ He turned and gave her a dry smile. ‘Just remember, though, your first duty is to me.’
‘And the cut?’ Meg snapped. ‘Did that come in the line of duty?’
‘Jet-skiing.’ Luca gave a rare smile—clearly happy with his fabrication. ‘You had an accident jet-skiing today when you were exploring. You were hoping your brother would be able to patch you up.’
‘That’s not the truth,’ Meg pointed out.
‘Oh, but from now on it is.’ Black eyes bore into hers. ‘You really don’t expect me to tell them you were attempting to steal the Niroli jewels, do you?’
‘No, because that isn’t the truth, either.’
