Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

CHAPTER EIGHT

WHEN they reached the house, Renzo was just about able to walk inside.

Teresa appeared immediately, looking relieved when she saw him.

‘All right, stop fussing,’ he said mildly.

‘I’ll stop fussing when you’re safely in bed.’

‘Can you manage the stairs?’ Mandy asked.

Luckily there was no need. A lift had been installed to take him to his bedroom, one floor up. He leaned against the wall, eyes closed, while Mandy regarded him with outrage. Her whole body was singing with the excitement only he could bring her, and now he couldn’t bring matters to a conclusion. She could happily have wrung his neck.

When they reached his room, he fell on the bed with a sigh, and was out like a light.

‘Goodnight,’ she said stormily. ‘Goodnight!’

Teresa was waiting for her, beckoning Mandy into the room opposite Renzo’s.

‘It’s late,’ she said. ‘You stay here tonight. He needs you.’

Mandy smiled. Teresa was making a takeover bid. She even had a snack ready and waiting, with English tea, perfectly made.

‘This is delicious,’ Mandy said.

Suddenly Teresa’s loving exasperation exploded. ‘I warned him, but would he be told? Those pills are very strong and he’s supposed to be careful how many he takes.’

‘Pills?’

‘Before he left tonight he took three times the dose of painkiller that he’s supposed to take.’

‘Three times?’ Mandy echoed, aghast. ‘No wonder he passed out. Should we send for the doctor?’

‘No, he’s done it before and he wakes up eventually, but it’s still dangerous.’

‘But why do it tonight?’

‘He said he had to be at his best.’

‘Yes, in front of all those people-’

‘That’s not the reason and I think you know it.’

She looked at Mandy. Mandy looked away first.

‘I don’t know…what I know,’ she said reluctantly.

‘Now you sound like him,’ Teresa observed. ‘You’re just like each other.’

‘Yes, I think we are,’ Mandy said with a little smile. She ate a cake slowly before saying, ‘You’ve been with him all his life, haven’t you?’

‘Most of it. Gina, his mother, couldn’t cope, so they employed me.’

‘She couldn’t cope with one child? Did she have a job, as well?’

‘No, she was a lazy cow, thought life revolved around her. When things got difficult she left. You said he told you about that?’

‘Just that he came home and found her gone.’

‘I’ll never forget that day. He’d done a picture of her at school and he wanted to show her. He went all over the house searching, but she wasn’t there. She’d left a note for his father, but there was nothing for him. He cried for three days.’

‘How could any woman do that to a little boy?’ Mandy asked, horrified. ‘Didn’t she love him at all?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Teresa said reflectively. ‘It sometimes happens that a woman can’t love one of her children, although she loves the others. She married very young and had him when she was only sixteen. I think she blamed him for the loss of her youth.

‘When she’d gone to live with her new man, she didn’t even like Renzo visiting her. There were always excuses. Once he was supposed to be going on holiday with her and her new family, but on the very morning she rang up to say it wasn’t “convenient”.

‘He was twelve years old by then, and I’ll never forget his face when he heard. I thought he’d cry, but he didn’t. He just turned a ghastly pale colour, then his eyes went dead.

‘I was so angry that I went to see Gina and gave her a piece of my mind, but she just said she’d send him a holiday present.’

‘And I’ll bet she didn’t,’ Mandy said angrily.

‘Oh, yes, she did, but it would have been better if she hadn’t. It was a big parcel that looked exciting. He tore the wrapping off, so eager and happy because she’d actually remembered him.’

‘What was inside?’

‘A photograph. A family photograph. It showed Gina and her new husband with their children. She’d written on it, “Love from Mamma” but all Renzo saw was that she loved those children as she’d never loved him.’

‘But how could she do anything so cruel?’ Mandy exploded.

‘Because she’s selfish and stupid,’ Teresa snapped contemptuously. ‘It wouldn’t cross her mind to think how an abandoned child would feel at the sight of her with the children who’d replaced him.’

Mandy dropped her head into her hands, anguished for the pain of the rejected child, and the man he’d become.

‘After that he seemed to toughen up inside. I suppose he needed to. It was the only way to cope. But I was sorry too, because he changed, began to protect himself.

‘He threw himself into school, succeeded at everything, especially athletics. When he was old enough to go away alone, he joined expeditions in the mountains-skiing, climbing, bobsleigh. He won a host of trophies. Look at this.’

Teresa went to a cupboard by her bed, drew out a large album and laid it before Mandy. Leafing through it, she saw again the Renzo she’d known two years before, beaming with victory, a triumphant young hero, usually with a female companion.

‘That looks familiar,’ she said. ‘The first time I met him-’

She described the night Renzo had burst into her room, escaping an indignant husband, and Teresa roared with laughter.

‘That’s him,’ she said. ‘Things like that were always happening, but it wasn’t his fault. He was so handsome and delightful. All the girls loved him.’

‘Did he love them?’

‘Not really. He believed that women would always betray men. I think he was infatuated once or twice, but then he always ended it quickly. He was nice about it, let them down gently, but it was final. His barriers were well in place.’

‘Barriers,’ Mandy said thoughtfully. ‘When I knew him first I would never have thought of that in connection with him. He seemed so open to life, to people.’

‘But that is the barrier,’ Teresa said. ‘Nobody can get past it to know what he really thinks and feels.’

I did, Mandy thought wistfully. But only when he thought he was dying.

‘The other side of him was always there,’ Teresa continued. ‘Angry, hard, wary of people and feelings, but in the beginning it was only now and then. It’s the side he used in the business.

‘He used his reputation as a winner to get started, then he built it up and made a fortune by being tough. His chief competitor was Enrico Tillani, but he was losing business to Renzo. Finally Renzo bought him out, and after that he was top of the heap.

‘Then he’d go out socializing and you’d see the other man, the one who could charm the birds off the trees.’

‘He used to drive me mad with the way he seemed to assume that life-and women-were all his for the taking,’ Mandy said. ‘But when we were trapped in the hut he was like another man, a man with a real heart. Now all that’s gone. I guess he’s still protecting himself.’

‘If you understand that, then you’re the one he needs.’

Mandy glanced through a few more pages of the book before closing it. Teresa immediately replaced it in the cupboard.

‘Don’t tell him you’ve seen that,’ she said. ‘He told me to destroy it, said he never wanted to see or think about it again.’

‘What about his mother? How did she react to his accident?’

‘She sent him a card,’ Teresa said contemptuously. ‘She said Australia was too far to come. A card! He just grunted and put it aside.’

Mandy said a rude word.

‘That’s how I feel about her,’ Teresa agreed. ‘Here, have a look at this.’

She brought another book from the cupboard. This one was full of family pictures.

‘That’s her,’ Teresa said scornfully, pointing to a photograph of a young woman of about twenty. She had a beautiful but willful face, and a hint of arrogance in the way she held her head.

Spoilt rotten, Mandy thought as she leafed through the rest of the book. Suddenly she stopped.

‘What’s this?’ she asked, pointing to a large picture.

It showed Gina with an older man. The toddler Renzo was there too, but not in his mother’s arms. It was the man who held him and watched him with eyes beaming with love and pride.

‘That’s Bruno, Gina’s father. He adored that little boy and he never forgave Gina for what she did to him.’

Receiving no answer, she peered curiously at Mandy. ‘Why, what is it?’

‘I was just…looking at him, the grandfather…’ Mandy said slowly.

‘He is a lovely man.’ Teresa sighed. ‘Generous and sweet-natured, and he really loved Renzo. He had him to stay over as often as he could, and I reckon he gave him all the love he ever knew, for years.

‘He never took to Gina’s new family. She tried to make him, because he’s rich and she had her eye on an inheritance. But it was always Renzo, with him.

‘He’s dying now, and cannot leave hospital. Renzo goes to see him and talk to him, although I’m not sure how much Bruno understands.’

Mandy looked more closely at the photograph, feeling a swell of joy and relief. For she had seen those happy, laughing features before, on the face of her little son.

Teresa had lent her a nightdress, a vast flannel creation in pink, covered in dancing mushrooms. She slept for a few hours, awaking in the dawn and creeping out into the corridor to listen at Renzo’s door, from behind which came muttered curses. She opened it a crack and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed.

‘Is the Sleeping Beauty awake now?’ she asked.

‘Grr!’

She came inside and sat beside him, affording him a full view of her attire.

‘What-’ he demanded, aghast.

‘It’s Teresa’s. I didn’t have anything of my own.’

He began to undo his shirt buttons, then stopped, looked at her again and covered his eyes.

‘Oh, stop it,’ she said, laughing. ‘Here, let me help you.’

The last time she’d undressed him it had been in the dark, with love and passion, and he’d undressed her in the same way. Would this touch awaken any memory in the darkened places of his mind?

But the mood was wrong. Nobody could be passionate wearing dancing mushrooms.

And all thoughts of seduction were driven away by the sight of him when they had eased his shirt off together and she saw his scars. For a moment she had to look away to hide the tears.

‘It’s not too bad,’ he said. ‘The doctors did a good job and they’ve healed well. I just look a bit different. It’s no big deal.’

He began working on his trousers, and she pulled them off for him. When he was down to his underpants she helped him into bed, pulling the duvet up over him. He was still very sleepy.

‘Overdosing on medicine,’ she chided him. ‘You were supposed to be taking it easy, recovering.’

‘I’ve worked on that these last few days, trying to be in good shape for last night.’

‘Because you’d plotted with Eugenio that he would invite me? That’s where he got all that Dottoressa stuff from.’

‘Think what you will of me, the worst is probably all true. Ferrini is an old friend. When I asked him to help me, he agreed at once.’

‘But you didn’t have to arrange a “chance” meeting. Just call me. Why do it this way?’

Renzo hesitated before saying with difficulty, ‘When you first appeared the other day, I was confused. I asked you back the next day because I thought I could handle it, but I couldn’t. So I told you to go. I wanted to see you again, but from a distance, so that I could watch without being seen. Yes, that’s reprehensible and if you want to call me names, I won’t argue.’

‘No names, I promise. But wouldn’t it have been better for me to come here so that we could talk?’

‘I didn’t want to talk, just look at you and try to work out if you’re the same person who goes through my head in the night.’

‘And am I?’

‘I think so. Tonight I was almost on the edge of finding out, but I made a mess of everything.’

‘It’s not your fault you need painkillers. There’ll be other times. Do I go through your head often?’

‘You come and go, and I’m never sure-’ He floundered for a moment, then gave a helpless shrug. ‘I’m never sure of anything, these days; just that I can often see someone out of the corner of my eye, but when I turn she vanishes around the corner-if she really existed at all.’

‘She does,’ Mandy assured him. ‘She’s real-I’m real.’

‘But which you? You change all the time.’

‘Perhaps I’m waiting for you to say which one of me you prefer.’

‘Perhaps I’m waiting for you to be the same person twice, so that I can tell.’

‘Do I change so much in your mind?’ she asked.

‘All the time. But then you always did. When we were in the mountains, one moment you’d be sticking your claws into me, the next you’d say something that made me feel as if our minds were one. I’ve never had that feeling with anyone else. That ought to make it easier, but it doesn’t.’ He gave a grunt of mirthless laughter. ‘I’m a real headcase.’

‘It’s probably something to do with all those operations you had,’ she mused. ‘Too many anaesthetics, close together, scramble your brains.’

‘And they stay scrambled,’ he said wryly. ‘The odd thing is that the further back I go, the clearer my memory becomes. The night we met, that robe you were wearing-you were so beautiful I actually forgot about the woman I was supposed to be making love to.’

‘You mean, the one with the outraged husband? One of many, I’ll bet.’

He gave a faint smile. ‘Yes, I was a bit that way, in those days.’

He said ‘in those days’ as though describing another universe, and again she had to suppress her emotion. How often in the past had he maddened her? And what wouldn’t she give to have him like that again now?

‘We were three floors up, but you came leaping over those railings as though it was nothing,’ she reminded him.

‘Like Douglas Fairbanks, you said. When I got back to my hotel that night, I went online and checked him out. You were right, I was always a show-off. I never impressed you, though, did I?’

‘Don’t put yourself down. If you were just a show-off, you wouldn’t have got under my skin so much. But there were times when it was good. Do you remember that night we talked about freedom?’

‘Yes, I do. I’d have liked to talk to you for hours because-’

He stopped as though the next words were difficult, and Mandy held her breath.

‘Because I felt I could trust you,’ Renzo finished.

She was disappointed, but only for a moment. Trust was a step forward.

‘I’m surprised you liked talking to me,’ she said lightly, ‘since you say I kept digging my claws in.’

‘You were always interesting. I never knew where the next attack was going to come from. Mind you, the first night you said something unforgivable. Ham actor, indeed!’

‘Yes, I really hit home with that one, didn’t I?’

He managed a laugh, then immediately winced and wished he hadn’t.

‘You’re feeling bad,’ Mandy said. ‘Can I get you something?’

‘Thanks. My pills are over there.’

‘After all you’ve had-’

‘They’ve worn off, believe me.’

She fetched the pills and poured water from a carafe beside the bed. Renzo took them thankfully, sitting up to do so and moving his shoulders cautiously.

‘My spine seems to have a life of its own,’ he said. ‘The doctors put it right and then it thinks of something else.’

‘Perhaps you need Dr Renzo’s All Purpose Linctus? I can really recommend it.’

‘I must admit there wasn’t much in that stuff. I had other motives-disgraceful ones.’

He gave her a cautious glance to see how she was affected by this confession, but she only smiled, saying, ‘So it was just the massage that made me feel so much better?’

‘I guess it was.’

After a moment she said hesitantly, ‘Then perhaps you should let me return the favour-unless you think I might do some damage.’

‘You won’t do me any damage,’ he said quietly. ‘I told you I trusted you, and I do-with my life.’

‘Lie down.’

When he was face down on the bed, she could see the marks more clearly. As he’d said, they were healed now, and the rest of him looked as strong and well developed as before. But the savage scars told their story of pain and suffering that would always be with him.

Mandy closed her eyes for a moment, struggling to keep her anguished feelings to herself. She had lain with him in the secret darkness, shared with him the knowledge of approaching death, and given him her heart in exchange for his. Now he’d come to this.

‘I hope I’m not hurting you,’ she said, beginning to rub her hands gently over his back.

‘No, don’t stop.’

She drew a sharp breath. She’d thought she had command of herself, but these words, an echo of the night they had made love, transfixed her. She had touched him then, so tenderly and passionately that he had cried out for more.

Last night they’d come close to finding each other again, and only bad luck had got in the way. But they had taken a step forward and there would be other times. For the moment all he asked of her was friendship and comfort.

For now she would give them to him, but some day soon the moment would come again. On that she was determined.

Patience, she told herself. But it was hard to be patient when she thought of Danny, the little boy waiting for her at home, who might do so much for his father, and the father who might do so much for him.

She fell into a rhythm, massaging back and forth, while Renzo lay silent, relaxing under her hands until at last his eyes closed.

‘How does that feel?’ she asked.

When there was no reply she looked at him more closely and saw that he was asleep again, frowning slightly. Slowly, she reached out a tentative hand and laid it against his cheek. He didn’t move, but it seemed to her that the frown faded. Holding her breath, she let her fingers drift to his hair, brushing it back from his brow.

She should leave now, but she couldn’t make herself do it. Holding her breath, she leaned down and laid her lips against his cheek. He didn’t move but she was sure she sensed him relax, grow content. Or perhaps she’d only imagined it from the depths of her longing.

If only he would turn over, open his eyes, smile and welcome her into his arms. But he didn’t move. If anything, he seemed more deeply asleep.

Gently, she drew the duvet up over his shoulders, turned out the bedside lamp and backed out of the room.

In some far corner of his consciousness Renzo heard the soft closing of the door, but it didn’t disturb the sensuous dream in which he was drifting. Hands caressed him softly and a voice from long ago whispered, ‘I love you.’

‘Who are you?’ he begged. ‘Let me see your face.’

‘You don’t need to see my face,’ she whispered. ‘You know me.’

But he didn’t know her. He reached out, seeking vainly for something that would clear the clouds that had shrouded his mind for the last two years.

But she was gone again, as she always was.

Mandy slept later than she’d meant to, and when she went downstairs Ferrini was already there with Renzo. He rose to greet her, beaming.

‘Your hotel told me you hadn’t returned last night, so I came here. I know that your arrival will be the best thing for my friend Renzo, as it will be for me.’

‘Signor Ferrini, I must tell you that I know why you invited me last night. Renzo asked you to.’

‘I don’t deny it, but I still need your professional help. All we have to do is discuss money. Renzo says that you can leave the hotel and live here-’

‘So it’s all settled,’ Renzo said, regarding her with a knowing look.

‘It most certainly is not,’ Mandy said indignantly.

‘I’m afraid I took the liberty of informing the hotel that you would be checking out today,’ he said in a regretful tone that didn’t fool her for a second. ‘They were very grateful as they have a waiting list. They ask that you clear out your things before midday.’

‘Deception last night and bullying this morning,’ she seethed. ‘So this is how you get your own way.’

‘It’s the quickest method,’ he said, the picture of innocence.

And just for one moment there was a gleam of the old mischief, a hint of teasing challenge in his look. It vanished quickly, as though he’d suppressed it, but she forgave him everything in return for that glimpse of hope.

Since there was nothing else to do, she gave in and returned to the hotel, where she found he’d gone one further and paid her bill. His car ferried her back to his house, a ludicrous waste considering the short distance, but by now she had the picture. He was keeping her where he could see her, just as he’d done the night before.

Now, she told herself, she was nearing the moment when she could tell him about Danny. Perhaps even today.

But she returned to find him deep in a business call. She concentrated on settling into the delightful room Teresa had prepared for her. It had an enormously wide bed that looked at least two hundred years old, and its own bathroom. The windows were traditional, with wooden shutters on the outside that could be drawn to shut out the most determined sunlight.

Ferrini’s car collected her again and she spent the rest of the day in his library, returning with a stack of books and papers.

Teresa explained that Renzo would be detained all evening by a business meeting. Mandy was becoming used to his changes of mind, warding her off defensively one moment, drawing her close the next, then warding her off again. It was possible to cope, now that she understood.

She called home night and morning, looking forward to her gurgled conversations with Danny, picturing his face, so like that of his great-grandfather that she almost told Sue to bring him out here at once.

But not just yet. There lingered in her mind the memory of Renzo saying that his knowledge of family life had scarred him too much to make him a good father. His recent experiences were unlikely to have changed his view. Yet the time was coming when she must take the chance.

One morning, while she was working in Ferrini’s house, feeling in dire need of coffee, she went across the hall to the kitchen and just noticed a figure in the shadows, who retreated at once.

‘Luigi?’ she called. ‘Why are you hiding? Don’t say you’re afraid of me.’

‘Not you,’ he muttered, emerging. ‘Him.’

‘Him? Who?’

‘Renzo. I don’t want to be a dead man.’

‘Don’t be absurd.’

‘You don’t know what he said he’d do to me if I troubled you.’ Luigi looked around as though fearful that Renzo would be watching them.

‘I seem to remember it was me threatening you, not him,’ Mandy said.

‘No, after that. He called me and said I must stay away from you.’

‘He did what? Look, he was just being a bit overprotective.’

‘I know the difference between a man who’s protective and a man who’s jealous to the point of murder.’ Luigi eyed her cautiously. ‘I guess he’s not such a dead man.’ He retreated back into the shadows. ‘Don’t tell him we talked. I’m not ready to die.’

She smiled at his comical tone, but she was thoughtful for the rest of the day. That evening she refused the car and walked for a while, not looking where she was going, sunk in thought until she found a bench. There she sat down, took out the photograph of Danny that never left her and gazed at it longingly, missing him so much that she ached.

At last she put it safely away, then took her cellphone and called home to England.

‘I don’t suppose Danny’s awake?’ she asked hopefully.

‘I’ve only just got him to sleep,’ Sue told her. ‘Do you want me to wake him? It would be better not to. He’s been a bit upset today. He keeps saying “Mummy” and I tell him he’ll see Mummy soon.’

‘He will,’ Mandy said firmly. ‘I’ve waited long enough. Now it’s time for action. Don’t wake him now, but call me tomorrow morning.’

It was late when she went home. Teresa was in the hall.

‘He’s waiting for you,’ she said quietly.

As she went into the living room Renzo was standing there.

‘Where have you been?’ he demanded. ‘I’ve been worried. You might have got lost.’

‘No, I wasn’t lost. I had things to think about, and decide.’

‘And what have you decided?’ he asked, sounding tense.

‘This,’ she said simply, and reached up to kiss him.

She felt the shock go through his body and the next instant his arms were around her, drawing her fiercely against him, telling her with every movement that she was doing the right thing.

‘Mandy,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Tell me-’

‘No,’ she murmured. ‘No more talk. We’ve talked too much. Kiss me.’

He responded with a vigour that told her he’d wanted this as much as she had. No caution now, no holding back, only a desperate seeking of the dream before it vanished.

But it wasn’t going to vanish, she promised him with every caress. It was here for him for ever. Her lips, her hands, her heart told him. As for herself, she’d waited two years for this moment, and nothing was going to take it from her now.

‘You’re doing something dangerous,’ he murmured huskily.

‘There’s pleasure in going to the edge, remember?’ she reminded him. ‘We’ve been to the edge before, but we went over apart and we paid for it. This time we’re going over together, and we’re going to be rulers of the world, just as you said.’

He looked at her intently. ‘Do you mean that?’ he asked, half hopeful, half not wanting to hope.

‘If we don’t, there’s nothing else.’

Now she saw something in his eyes that thrilled her. Time had rolled back and he was once more a man alight with an inner fire. His grasp on her hands was tight, drawing her out of the room. At the foot of the stairs he kissed her again, then watched her, waiting for something.

Now it was she who took control. ‘Come with me,’ she said.

‘To the top of the mountain?’

‘Where else?’

‘And then-’

She gave a laugh of pure triumph. ‘Then,’ she said, ‘we’re going to hold hands and jump.’