The Wedding Charade Read online

  He cares for me, Jade thought with a mental curl of her lip. What a pathetic word that was. People cared for their goldfish and pot plants, for God’s sake. It didn’t mean they would give anything to be with them. It didn’t mean they felt achingly empty when they were away from them. It didn’t mean they couldn’t imagine life without them in it. She felt all that and more for Nic. Surely she deserved to be loved, not just cared about.

  ‘Cara?’ He stroked a gentle thumb across her cheek. ‘We’re good together. You know we are. We care about each other. That is a good thing, sí?’

  ‘How do you know what I feel about you?’ Jade asked. ‘I might still hate you for all you know.’

  His thumb moved to stroke across her bottom lip. ‘If you do, you have a delightful way of showing it.’

  Jade pulled away from his tempting touch. ‘Nic, I want some space …to think about things.’

  He frowned darkly. ‘Things? What things?’

  She chewed at her lip where his thumb had set off the nerves into a tingling frenzy. ‘The news thing …the false report about a pregnancy? Well, I’ve kind of changed my mind about babies and …things … ‘

  Nic’s frown intensified until his brows met over his eyes. ‘Are you saying you want to have a baby?’ he asked.

  Jade held her breath for a moment before she answered. ‘I know this is not what you want. And I know it’s not really fair to spring it on you, so that’s why I want some time to think about what happens after this year is over. I need time, Nic. Please, just let me go back to London for a few days. I can’t think straight when I’m with you.’

  ‘Cara, I can’t think straight when I’m with you either but do you really have to go to London?’ he asked. ‘It’ll be wet and cold, for one thing.’

  Jade steeled her resolve. ‘Just a few days, OK? Just until my birthday. I want to see Julianne McCormack. I want her to know I didn’t betray our friendship. I need to do that face to face. I should have done that right at the start. At least now she knows we are married maybe she’ll listen to me.’

  He scraped a hand through his hair. ‘I’ll book you a room in our London hotel. But I want to join you in a couple of days, got that? I am not having you out of my sight any longer than that.’

  ‘Because you don’t trust me?’ Jade asked.

  He gave her a long and serious look before he brushed the back of his knuckles down the curve of her cheek. ‘Because I will miss you, mio piccolo,’ he said.

  London was as cold and wet as Nic had warned but Jade had too much on her mind to notice. She called on Julianne at home, taking a very big chance on whether she would let her in, but surprisingly she did. It was an emotional meeting for both of them. Julianne had found out only a few days before that her husband was conducting an affair with a woman from his office. A compromising text message had come up on Richard’s phone, which resulted in Julianne confronting him about how he had used Jade to shield his perfidious behaviour.

  Jade explained why she hadn’t defended herself, confessing for the first time to anyone about her severe dyslexia. Julianne was wonderfully supportive, which made Jade wonder if she should exhibit the same courage and come clean with Nic. It would be a brave step but she couldn’t see how their relationship had any chance of moving forward unless he knew everything there was to know about her.

  He had phoned her several times a day and each day—along with a dozen red roses—he had sent her a present. A string of pearls with matching earrings arrived first, then there was a dress from one of her favourite designers, and on the third day a bracelet encrusted with shimmering diamonds. There was a card with the bracelet but Jade could only make out his name. She ran her fingertip over and over it, wondering if he was missing her as much as he said he would. She was certainly missing him. The huge bed felt so empty at night without his long, lean limbs reaching for hers.

  When Nic called soon after the bracelet arrived Jade thanked him. ‘It’s beautiful, Nic,’ she said. ‘But you shouldn’t be spending so much money on me.’

  ‘Did you get my card?’ he asked.

  She rolled her lips together and looked across to where she had propped it up against the latest vase of roses. ‘Yes … ‘

  ‘Did you read it?’ he asked after a slight pause.

  Jade wanted to tell him then but she couldn’t bear to do it over the phone. She wanted to see his face, to make sure he wouldn’t mock or ridicule her. ‘I was too distracted by the diamonds,’ she said in an airy tone.

  There was another pause before he said, ‘I will get to the hotel about six this evening. I have a meeting in the afternoon but I shouldn’t be late.’

  ‘OK,’ she said. ‘See you then.’

  Just before Nic was due to arrive at the hotel, Jade’s father called by to drop in an early birthday present. The timing couldn’t have been worse, but then she had come to expect that from her father. Keith Sommerville was two drinks down and reaching for his third when Nic arrived at the penthouse.

  Jade got up from the sofa and went over to greet him. ‘Hi,’ she said, twisting her hands in front of her awkwardly. ‘My father dropped by when he heard I was in London. I hope you don’t mind.’

  Nic brushed his mouth against hers, once, twice and then on the third time held her mouth with his in a lingering kiss that made every cell in her body swell with longing. ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ he said. He looked up and smiled politely at Keith. ‘How are you, Mr Sommerville?’

  ‘You’d better call me Keith now that you’re my son-in-law,’ he said, raising his glass of Scotch. ‘Cheers.’

  Nic put an arm around Jade’s waist and led her back to the sofa, taking the seat beside her. It was hard to tell if the tension in her slim body was from her father’s presence or his. Nic desperately hoped it wasn’t his. He had spent a torturous few days missing her, aching for her each night, dreading the thought of her announcing she wanted to end their marriage. He couldn’t bear the thought of spending the rest of his life without her. He was a fool for not recognising how he felt until she had gone but when had he ever recognised emotion? He had always run from it. He had done it for so long it had become automatic. He had hardly been conscious of how he compartmentalised his life until Jade had come along and unpicked the lock to his heart.

  ‘So,’ Keith said as he leaned forward to refill his glass, ‘when are you two going to give me a grandchild for real? I saw that article in the press. I was looking forward to becoming a grandfather. You’d better get on with it. Jade’s not getting any younger.’

  Nic felt Jade cringe as she bent her head to her glass.

  ‘All in good time, Keith,’ Nic said. ‘We’re still on our honeymoon.’

  ‘I hope the first one’s a boy,’ Keith said. ‘Every man wants a son to carry on the family name and the business.’

  Nic reached for Jade’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘I will be thrilled, no matter what sex any child of ours is,’ he said. ‘And, as to carrying on the business, that is up to our daughter if we have one. It will be her decision, not ours.’

  Jade’s father harrumphed and reached for his fresh Scotch and drained it. ‘Well, thanks for the drink but I must love you and leave you,’ he said and got to his feet.

  ‘It was nice of you to make the time to see Jade,’ Nic said, still holding Jade’s stiff little hand in his.

  ‘Well, I can’t make it for her actual birthday,’ he said. ‘I have a golf day with my firm. But Jade doesn’t mind, do you, Jade? As long as she’s got her present, that’s the main thing, eh?’

  ‘Thanks for the book voucher, Dad,’ Jade said in a tight voice. ‘I am sure it will come in very useful.’

  Nic waited until Jade’s father had left their penthouse before he turned her in his arms. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked.

  She gave him a been-there-done-that-a-million-times look. ‘At least he didn’t embarrass me by getting completely drunk, but I’d say he’s well on his way.’

  Nic frowned and
brought her hand up to his chest. ‘He doesn’t deserve a daughter as gorgeous and talented as you.’

  She looked at his shirt front rather than his eyes. ‘Thank you for saying that.’

  He tipped up her face. ‘I mean it, cara. You are one of the most unique people I have ever met. I discover more and more about you every day.’

  She lowered her gaze and began to fiddle with one of the buttons on his shirt. ‘Nic, there’s something you should know about me. Something I should have told you right from the start.’

  Nic clasped both of her hands. ‘I know about your reading problem,’ he said.

  She looked up at him in wide-eyed blinking surprise. ‘You…you do? ‘

  He nodded. ‘I didn’t cotton on at first. It took me a while to realise why you never responded to my text messages and never sent any of your own, and why you always asked me what I was going to order in restaurants before you made your own choice. You had already told me you never read the papers, but I couldn’t work out why you were so surprised about what was written in that false report. I put it down to the fact you just hadn’t had time to read it for yourself. But it wasn’t until I was on my way here this evening that I finally realised why you hadn’t read it.’

  Jade moistened her suddenly dry mouth. ‘How did you work it out?’

  He smiled at her tenderly. ‘You said you didn’t read the card that came with the bracelet because you were distracted by the diamonds but that’s not true, is it?’

  She felt her cheeks heat up. ‘No … ‘

  He cupped her face in his hands. ‘Do you want to know what I wrote in that card?’ he asked.

  She looked at him with tears shining in her eyes. ‘I’m a bit frightened to ask.’

  His eyes softened even further as he gazed into hers. ‘I told you I loved you, that I have loved you for most of my life. I can’t think of a time when I didn’t love you and want to protect you. Those feelings have always been there but I have covered them up. I’ve done it since I was a child, I guess because I don’t like being at the mercy of other people’s emotions, let alone my own. It made me feel too vulnerable.’

  Jade choked back a sob. ‘I can’t believe you love me when I’m so …so stupid.’

  Nic frowned and tightened his hold on her hands. ‘You are not to say that about yourself. Never, do you hear me?’

  ‘But I caused Jon’s death,’ she said, struggling not to cry. ‘I forgot the details of the flight. I couldn’t read the itinerary my father gave me. I was so good at covering it up. I was too proud, too stubbornly proud to ask for help. I’m so ashamed … ‘

  Nic held her close, his heart aching for all she had suffered. ‘Cara, you are not to blame yourself. It was up to the adults around you to have you properly helped and they didn’t do it. I wish I had known earlier. That’s why I was so surprised when you acted as if nothing had changed this afternoon when I called you. I couldn’t see why you wouldn’t have read the card, diamonds or no diamonds. It was only when your father was here that I finally realised. I saw the look on your face when you thanked him for the book voucher. He still doesn’t have a clue, does he?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’ve always been too frightened to say anything. He puts such a high value on academic achievement. He’s always at me to better myself; that’s why I get book vouchers every year even though I’ve never read a book in my life.’

  Nic held her from him to look down at her lovingly.

  ‘That’s why you’ve never held down a job. It’s why you refuse to show your art work. It’s why you married me even though you didn’t want to because you so desperately needed the money, wasn’t it?’

  Jade had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from crying. ‘I feel ashamed that I only wanted to marry you for the money. I was so determined not to fall in love with you again like I did when I was sixteen. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Everything you said, everything you did, every time you kissed or touched me made me realise how much I loved you.’

  ‘Tesore mio,’ he said with a catch in his voice. ‘I will help you learn to read if you will help me to be a better person. I am ashamed of how shallowly I have lived my life up until now. I have sought my own goals with no thought to anyone else. Now all I can think about is you and our future. You have done that, Jade. You have changed me, just as my grandfather knew you would.’

  She smiled at him as his arms wrapped securely around her. ‘Do you think he suspected this might happen? That we would fall in love eventually?’

  ‘I am sure of it,’ Nic said. ‘We were always bickering at family gatherings, remember? The love-hate thing is a dead giveaway.’

  Jade looked at his shirt button again. ‘The night of my party—I wish it had been you instead of him. I’ve always regretted it. You have no idea how much.’

  He cupped the back of her head and held her close against his chest. ‘Do not talk of it, cara,’ he said. ‘I wish I hadn’t spoken to you so harshly. Perhaps if I had been less heavy-handed in how I handled that it might never have happened. I blame myself. I should have protected you but I was too damned focused on keeping my distance in case I overstepped the mark. You were so young—so young and innocent.’

  She looked up at him again. ‘I feel like that young girl when I am with you,’ she said. ‘You make me feel as if the past hasn’t happened.’

  ‘As far as I am concerned, it hasn’t,’ he said, holding her close. ‘It is the future we have to concentrate on now. And I think it’s going to be a bright one, don’t you?’

  Jade smiled. ‘I think it’s going to be an absolutely brilliant one,’ she said as his mouth came down and covered hers.

  Six months later …

  The exhibition was a stunning success. Every painting had a ‘Sold’ sticker on it and Nic was smiling from ear to ear as yet another camera aimed its lens at his beautiful pregnant wife. Jade was glowing as she had never glowed before. He could still not believe how excited he was about the prospect of becoming a father in three months’ time. Each night he placed his hand on Jade’s growing belly, feeling the outline of little heels and elbows that would one day be in his arms to love and protect.

  Giorgio and Maya came to stand beside him. They were arm in arm, Maya’s own glow another giveaway, although nothing so far had been announced in the press. ‘You must be so proud of her, Nic,’ Giorgio said, smiling.

  ‘I am,’ Nic said, feeling his chest swell as he looked at his gorgeous wife.

  Luca and Bronte were hugging Jade in turn, making Nic feel all the more proud of how she had become such a treasured part of his family. His mother was constantly boasting of how Jade had tamed her wildest son, turning him into a devoted family man just like his older brothers.

  Jade looked at him from across the gallery, her radiant smile making her green eyes dance with happiness. He went over to her and wrapped a gentle and protective arm around her expanding waist. ‘You’re not getting too tired being on your feet all this time, are you?’ he asked.

  ‘Not yet,’ she said, snuggling in close. ‘Did you see what the reviewer wrote in the exhibition pamphlet?’ He smiled indulgently. ‘Why don’t you read it to me,

  cara?’

  Jade flicked it open and, following the words with her finger, read each one out carefully. ‘“Jade Sabbatini is a fresh new talent in the art world. Her stun …stun …stunning collection entitled In Love with Rome has drawn inter…international interest.”’ She grinned up at him. ‘Are you proud of me, darling?’

  Nic pulled her close, resting his head on the top of her silky one, the words catching in his throat as he spoke. ‘Unbelievably proud, mio piccolo. You constantly amaze me. I am the luckiest man in the world to have you as my wife.’

  Jade looped her arms around his neck, the bump of their baby joining them as one. ‘I love you, Nic Sabbatini,’ she said. ‘I really, really love you.’

  ‘You know something, cara?’ Nic smiled as the paparazzi hustled closer to capture t
he moment. ‘I really, really love you too.’

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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  First published in Great Britain 2011

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR ©

  © Melanie Milburne 2011

  ISBN: 978-1-408-92533-1

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  About the Author

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five