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His aunt was less forbearing

‘Impossible man!’ exclaimed his aunt ‘I just hope this bride of yours has a thick skin, Rafaello’

Her nephew’s face shuttered The faain A thick skin? She had needed that from the moment he had looked her over and decided she was the perfect vehicle of his revenge…

The sound of the door opening hts had su uncertainly in the doorway

She looked like athat atrocity of a frock, the sa unevenly around her calves, no waist and a htly brushed back and knotted punishingly on the back of her head The best that could be said about her was that she looked neat and clean-scrubbed

‘Good evening,’ she said in a strangled voice that was scarcely audible

For a moment the tableau held, and then, as he saw the colour—what there was of it—start to drain out of her face, Rafaello stepped forward and went up to her

CHAPTER FIVE

‘COME and meet my aunt and uncle’

He took her elbow and drew her forward She was as tense as a board under his touch, and she alo Even then, as he stood by her side, he could see she was stiff as wood

‘Tia Elizavetta—this is Magda Magda—my aunt, Elizavetta Calvi And this is my uncle, il professore Bernardo Calvi’

Magda felt her breath solidify in her lungs Shock rippled through her Rafaello di Viscenti had called her by her name

Up till now it had been pointedly—painfully—obvious that he never addressed her by na—her eyes widened in realisation—he had called Benji by his name as well! She could hardly believe it

Nor could she believe that he was actually introducing her to his aunt and uncle When she had walked in and seen them present she had steeled herself for another explosion like the one that had greeted her first presentation to Rafaello’s faant woman in her discreetly stylish clothes as his aunt was i the wohtened as she perused her, but she hadn’t gone apoplectic Then, suddenly, the woe smile, nor a very warm one, but a civil, social smile, and a smile for all that She received a smile from the woman’s husband as well, the professor, this tiue

‘Unfortunately,’ Rafaello was saying in a reht I hope you will excuse him’

Magda bit her lip It was perfectly obvious that Rafaello’s father was avoiding her as if she had the plague Well, she thought thinly, frohter-in-law Oh, why on earth hadn’t Rafaello realised that he should have chosen a wo his cousin? Instead he’d just rashly married the first woman he’d seen—she could recall that posh blonde’s words with punishing clarity—and now look at the ht a bitto be to a orked as a cleaner And had a baby with her to boot Didn’t Rafaello care that that only s worse?

Her chin lifted Well, that was between Rafaello and his father For herself, she couldn’t care less if she earned her living cleaning the homes of rich people—or if Benji had no father Benji was her life, Kaz’s ift

Giuseppe was clearing his throat and infor them that dinner was ready to be served Rafaello moved closer to her and took her elbow oncebut show, but she wished he would stand about half a kilometre away froht as well be a block of wood as living flesh She had notlook at her appearance, however swiftly it had been veiled

Soon they were in the dining roo roorateful to sit down at the glealy polished table

Giuseppe and a pair ofthe first course—delicate folds of Parma ham with sliced fresh pears, accoda waited until the others had started eating, and then reached for whatever implements they had selected As she took the firstthe rich saltiness of the ham combined with the fresh nuttiness of the fruit