Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(103)

“You’ll never put an end to this, will you?” Lily railed in the privacy of a small upstairs parlor. “It will go on forever. I’ll never have her back!”

Giuseppe crooned softly, trying to pacify her. “No, no, bellissima. It is over soon, very soon. I bring you Nicoletta. But first, you make me welcome to these peoples. You make me friends ’ere. This, this is what I work for all these years, to get the money for making me an important man in London.”

“I see,” Lily said dazedly. “You weren’t good enough for Italian society—Good God, you’re a wanted criminal there—and so now you want a place here?” She stared at him in furious disgust. “I know how your mind works. You assume that you’ll be able to marry some wealthy widow or some foolish young heiress and play lord of the manor for the rest of your life. Is that your plan? You want me to become your sponsor and gain you entrée? And you think these people will accept you on my recommendation?” She exploded with a bitter, mocking laugh, and then fought to control herself. “My God, Giuseppe, I’m barely respectable. I don’t have a thimbleful of influence!”

“You are the countess of Raiford,” he said in a hard voice.

“It’s only out of respect for my husband that these people tolerate my presence!”

“I tell you what I want,” he said inflexibly. “Now you do it for me. Then I give you Nicoletta.”

Lily shook her head wildly. “Giuseppe, this is ridiculous,” she burst out desperately. “Please, just give me my daughter. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do anything for you. You aren’t meant for the haut ton. You use people, and you have contempt for everyone—do you think they can’t see it in your face? Don’t you realize that they’ll find out exactly what you are?”

She started in repulsed shock as Giuseppe came to her, putting his wiry arms around her, the flowery musk of his cologne wafting in her face. He touched her chin with his hot, damp hand, and moved it to her throat. “Always you ask me, when do I bring back your baby, when do I make an end to this,” he said silkily. “Now I tell you, it will end. But after you ’elp to make me part of this world.”

“No,” she said, giving a disgusted sob as she felt his hand slide to her heaving breast.

“Remember what we ’ave together?” he whispered, confident in his powers of seduction, his body becoming aroused against hers. “Remember the way I teach you love? The way we move together in the bed, the pleasure I bring to you as we make our beautiful baby—”

“Please,” she said in a strangled voice, straining away from him. “Let me go. My husband will come soon to find me. He has a jealous temper and he won’t…”

Suddenly a terrible, agonizing coldness came over her. She stopped speaking and began to tremble. With slowly dawning horror she turned her head to find Alex in the doorway. He was staring at her in disbelief, his face stark white.

Giuseppe followed Lily’s unblinking gaze and made a slight exclamation of surprise. “Lord Raiford,” he said smoothly, dropping his hands from Lily. “I t’ink you ’ave per’aps a little misunderstanding. I leave now, and allow your wife to make the explaining, si?” He winked surreptitiously and left with a smug smile, certain Lily would smooth everything over with a few glib, wifely lies. After all, she had a great deal to lose.

Alex’s gaze did not move from his wife. They were both silent, forming a frozen tableau in the midst of the elegant room. The laughter and music of the assembly floated up to them, but it might as well have been a universe away. Lily knew she should speak, move, do something that would take the dreadful expression from his face, but all she could seem to do was stand there and shiver.

Finally he spoke. His voice was low and so raw that it was unrecognizable. “Why were you letting him hold you like that?”

In a whirl of panic Lily tried to think of a lie, something that would convince him he was mistaken, some clever story. Once she might have been able to. But she had changed. All she could do was stand there stupidly. She knew exactly how a fox felt when it had been run to ground—stiff and cowering, waiting helplessly for the end to come.

When she didn’t answer, Alex spoke again, his face contorted. “You’re having an affair with him.”

A trapped, terrified look came over Lily’s features, and she stared at him mutely. Her silence was answer enough. With a hoarse sound of pain, Alex turned away from her. A moment later, she heard his ragged whisper. “You little whore.”

Lily’s eyes brimmed with tears as she watched him stride to the door. She had lost him. Lady Lyon had been right…only death or betrayal could destroy him. Her secrets didn’t matter now. Somehow she managed to croak his name pleadingly. “Alex.”

He stopped with his hand on the closed door, keeping his back to her. His shoulders lifted and fell rapidly, as if he were trying to master emotions too violent to contain.

“Please stay,” she said brokenly. “Please, let me tell you the truth.” Unable to bear the sight of his still form, she half-turned, wrapping her arms around herself. She took a tormented breath. “His name is Giuseppe Gavazzi. I met him in Italy. We were lovers. Not recently…five years ago. He was the one I told you about.” She bit her lip until it ached sharply. “It must disgust you, having seen that contemptible man and knowing that he and I…” She broke off with a harsh sob. “It disgusts me. The experience was so dreadful that he wanted nothing more to do with me, nor I with him. I thought I was rid of him forever. But…that wasn’t quite true. My life changed forever after that night, because I found out…I found out…” She shook her head impatiently at her own stammering cowardice, and she forced herself to continue. “I was pregnant.” There was no sound from Alex. She was too afraid and ashamed to look at him. “I had a child. A daughter.”