Nothing Changes Love. JACQUELINE BAIRD

in front of her, and perhaps in her heart of hearts she had always known that. Only once had she mentioned to Jake that he seemed very close to his PA and he had burst out laughing, though he was flattered that Lexi was jealous. The bastard! She swore under her breath, but not by a flicker of an eyelid did she reveal her true feelings; instead she responded smoothly, ‘I’m afraid I haven’t time, the taxi is waiting downstairs...’

      In three steps Jake was beside her. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t leave just like that! Lexi, I knew nothing about you taking a holiday.’ His strong hands reached out for her but she took a hasty step back into the hall, she grabbed her suitcase and headed for the door. Jake caught her as she opened the door.

      ‘Wait, Lexi, I refuse to let you go off like this; we have things to discuss,’ he declared adamantly. ‘You’ve been ill, for God’s sake!’

      ‘You have no say in the matter any more. You broke your promise, and now I’m breaking mine. Go back and celebrate with Lorraine.’ Her face a cold mask, she stared straight at him. ‘As for me, I never want to see you again.’

      If she had slapped him, she couldn’t have shocked him more. His hand fell from her arm and all the colour drained out of his face. ‘You don’t mean that, Lexi, you’re being childish. I thought you said you understood... Sit down, have a drink and...

      ‘Call my solicitor in York with the divorce papers,’ she cut him off, and spun around.

      ‘My God! You don’t care, not for me, the hotel...Lorraine was right all along, you mercenary little bitch...’

      But Lexi barely heard him. She was free, out of the door, and running down the staircase, her suitcase banging against her leg as she moved and the tears streaming down her face. She vaguely heard Jake’s harsh voice shouting after her but she did not stop running until she had put a couple of streets between herself and her louse of a husband.

      Finally she waved down a cab and collapsed in the back seat. ‘Just drive around, please,’ she murmured.

      ‘You’re the boss,’ the driver said flatly.

      The tears dried on her face, her violet eyes huge and blankly staring inward... ‘Childish,’ Jake had called her for not accepting that he wanted to divorce her with the sophisticated élan he expected from his women.

      Hormonal depression, she thought with dry irony, What a joke! Deep in her subconscious, hadn’t she always wondered what the dynamic London businessman saw in her? Why a man of Jake’s obvious wealth and charm would marry a naïve young woman from Yorkshire? She had always sensed the ruthless streak in him but had convinced herself it would never be turned on her. Jake loved her! And that was the biggest joke of all. He had swept her off her feet, used her body in lust, and even that hadn’t satisfied him for long.

      She groaned, a small whimper of sound. All her suspicions about Jake and Lorraine had been confirmed in one horrendous evening. Jake had probably been making love to Lorraine every time he was in London, while Lexi, as the little wife, was in happy ignorance, working in the hotel miles away. Lexi closed her eyes briefly to shut out the pain; she would not give in to it, she vowed silently.

      Dear heaven! While she was losing her child Jake and Lorraine had most likely been in each other’s arms... She couldn’t bear to think about it, and, opening her eyes, her mouth a tight white line, she made a silent promise. Jake had hurt her for the last time...

      Her mind was made up. She had used her old school chum’s name on the spur of the moment earlier, but actually it was a good idea. The thought of Cathy was comforting. They were both children of diplomats and had spent five years together at the same convent school in Sussex. They had shared a flat in London for a year but had not been in touch since Lexi had dropped out of college. But Lexi was pretty sure Cathy still had the same apartment. She gave the cabbie her friend’s address, and half an hour later Lexi was being warmly welcomed by an amazon of a girl with green hair into an Earl’s Court apartment that looked like a bomb had hit it.

      ‘Hey, you hardly look the happy mum-to-be. What’s happened?’

      Lexi collapsed on the beaten-up sofa, and between her tears told Cathy everything...

      The following day she made a long phone call to her solicitor in York, advising him that soon he would be receiving divorce papers from her husband, and instructing him to act on her behalf, to accept whatever Jake said without query, but on no account to let her husband have the new address she would forward to Mr Travis as soon as she was settled.

      With the old man’s condolences ringing in her ears she replaced the receiver, and, with a grim smile for Cathy, said, ‘Right, to your parents’, and then as far away from England as I can get, and if by any remote chance you bump into Jake Taylor you have never seen me, and have no idea where I am. Promise...’ And Cathy did.

      CHAPTER THREE

      LEXI stepped out of the lift at the ground floor, her glance sweeping professionally around the elegant marble foyer, lingering slightly on the view of the dining-room through large double doors. Yes, all was serene; the few guests who had opted to lunch in the hotel were being attended to with the expert efficiency expected of the staff at the Hotel Le Piccolo Paradiso.

      As manager of the small, exclusive hotel it was Lexi’s job to make sure everything ran smoothly, and even now, when she was off duty and on her way down into Sorrento for the rest of the day, she could not help checking everything was in order.

      Today it was slightly more than that, she admitted to herself with a wry smile. She was meeting Dante for lunch and he would be expecting to hear if she was going ahead with the divorce. It was still a niggling puzzle to Lexi why Jake Taylor, in almost five years, had never instigated divorce proceedings. It just didn’t make sense. The last night in London she had heard Jake and Lorraine discussing how to break the news to his wife of their involvement and they had even got around to discussing the money side of divorce, and wondering if Lexi would accept it. When she had faced Jake he had made no attempt to deny anything, was delighted she had overheard and was going to be sensible and actually suggested she join them in a drink.

      For years she had been expecting to hear from Mr Travis, her solicitor, that Jake had approached him for a divorce but it had never happened. When Dante had asked her out a few months ago, she had decided it was time she got back into the world of male-female relationships, and to do so she had to be free. Finally, a week ago she had rung Mr Travis in England and, after a long conversation with the lawyer, she had confirmed in writing her desire to start divorce proceedings on the five years’ separation statute. This very morning she had received a letter from her solicitor confirming that the proceedings were progressing on her behalf.

      Dismissing the problem from her mind, she strolled over to the reception desk and in her usual fluent Italian asked Franco, her young assistant manager, if everything was in order.

      ‘Si, Lexi.’ His dark brown eyes swept over her appreciatively, taking in the rich tumble of golden-red curls flowing down her back and the seductive silhouette of her voluptuous figure outlined in a brief blue cotton jersey scooped-neck shift dress. Her shapely legs were bare and golden as was the rest of her exposed flesh. Five years in Sorrento and she had matured into a stunningly beautiful woman from the slim, rather solemn girl who had first arrived. Franco sighed dramatically. ‘Meeting Signor Dante? I think he is a very lucky man.’

      Lexi grinned in acceptance of the compliment. ‘Forever the charmer, Franco,’ she quipped. ‘Ciao.’ And her strappy blue sandals tapped out her jaunty step as she crossed the marble floor and stepped outside into the brilliant blaze of midsummer sun.

      She stopped for a moment beside the little Fiat Panda—it was a company car but Lexi considered it hers—she stared out over the roof of the car at the view before her. It never failed to lift her spirits, she thought musingly. The hotel was perched high on a hill overlooking the bay of Naples. The isle of Capri was visible on the left, an exquisite jewel set in a sea of azure. With a contented sigh, Lexi opened the car door and sat in the driving seat.