Modern Romance October 2019 Books 1-4. Кейт Хьюит

a husband to please…?’ Then he stopped teasing her. ‘You have taken care of our son alone for the last two months, so today is for you. Go to the boutiques at the hotel and then to the salon. I shall let them know to expect you.’

      ‘Nico, I can’t—’

      ‘You never have to say that again, Aurora.’

      But he was not saying it with the tender care she needed this morning. He was not holding her in his arms and telling her the nightmare of her world without him was over.

      Instead, he was basically telling her that the money was taken care of.

      Which was nice, of course. But it wasn’t even the icing on the cake. It was like a sugar ball that rotted your teeth and stuck in your throat.

      She could not bear to spend the day without him—without knowing what went on in his head and what his reaction was to the fears she had shared last night.

      ‘I could come and see you on your lunchbreak?’ she suggested.

      ‘Aurora, I don’t have a lunchbreak.’

      ‘Is that only for peasants?’ she sneered.

      ‘Yep.’

      ‘Well, I might bring Gabe up to your office…’

      ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘You need a day off to take care of yourself. Anyway, I’m too busy today.’ He glanced at the time. ‘I really had better go…’

      Finally he handed her Gabe, and looked right into her eyes. For a second she thought he might kiss her, but it was a fleeting second, for he’d already pulled back.

      ‘You need to shave,’ Aurora said.

      ‘Funny, that, because suddenly I don’t have time.’

      The nanny came in then, with another shirt. He dressed hastily and left.

       Oh, what had she done…?

      She looked at the baby bottle on the kitchen bench, at the dinner plates and wine glasses still on the dinner table from last night, and she thought of her dishevelled appearance and all the chaos she had brought into his supremely ordered life.

      Nico was a man who liked order and calm.

      Well, he would get it, Aurora decided. He would come home tonight to the fabled perfect wife.

      Nico would get the woman he truly wanted.

      ‘Aurora!’

      Luigi greeted her like a long-lost friend. ‘Marianna called and said you were coming in! It is so wonderful to see you again.’

      ‘I look terrible,’ Aurora grumbled as she sat in a chair in the luxurious salon. She looked so sallow in the mirror that she barely recognised herself.

      ‘What happened to your cheek? You poor thing!’

      ‘I got in the way of an angry man and his wife,’ Aurora admitted.

      ‘Well, Luigi is going to wave his magic wand and make you all better.’

      ‘Can you make me elegant, Luigi?’

      ‘Of course. I can do anything.’

      Make him love me, Aurora thought as she handed herself over to Luigi and his minions.

      It was not a little job.

      She received a facial and, of all things, eyelash extensions. And a manicure. And a pedicure. All this before he even got to work on her make-up and hair.

      And they chatted.

      ‘What should I wear?’

      ‘In the boutique next door,’ Luigi told her, ‘there is a grey chiffon dress… Oh, my, Aurora, it is so elegant.’

      ‘Grey?’

      ‘I shall call them now and have them bring it round for you to view it.’

      It was very lovely—but very grey.

      ‘Do you have it in red?’

      ‘Aurora…’ Luigi warned her.

      Oh, that was right—she was to stand in the corner, fade into the background and pour his martini.

      She would wear the grey.

      And pearl drops for earrings, but please not these rather demure mid-height heels.

      ‘They are very…’ Aurora sat in the beauty chair as the boutique owner touted his wares and she slipped the shoes on her feet. ‘Plain.’

      ‘They are perfect, Aurora,’ Luigi assured her as he finally got to work on her hair.

      And Gabe was not left out.

      He was a rich baby now, and he had a pretty powder-blue suit to look the part. And little powder-blue booties and a white silk bib.

      She was getting good at this, Aurora thought as she arrived home at four, with her new eyelashes and nails, and lashings of make-up, and her hair in a gorgeous chignon.

      ‘Oh, bella!’ the nanny said. ‘Look at you!’

      ‘Thank you.’ Aurora took the compliment with a smile. ‘I’m going to get my new dress on soon and…’ She looked around. ‘Where is the housekeeper?’

      ‘I don’t know.’

      ‘But what about dinner?’ Aurora asked, and went down the hall and looked at the gleaming table, still littered with last night’s plates. ‘And the table needs to be dressed. I didn’t even make the bed.’

      She looked urgently to the nanny, who gave her the nicest smile.

      ‘I don’t do housework,’ she said.

      ‘Of course not.’ Aurora said. ‘But—’

      ‘In any way shape or form.’

      ‘Good…good…’ Aurora said.

      It was no problem.

      And, despite having to get through a lot of domestic duties, she would not be ringing the hotel for their dinner. That would be ridiculous when Aurora loved to cook.

      And so she made the bed, and tidied the room, and life felt much as it had when she had been a cleaner in Silibri.

      Except now she wore a gorgeous dress and had pretty eyes and nails. She cleared the plates and set the table, and went down to his cellar and chose some wine—which was easy for a girl who had grown up surrounded by vines.

      But time was creeping on.

      She put on an apron and found luck was on her side—because the passata she had bought Nico a year ago was still in the cupboard. And passata only got better with age!

      One day she might take a course, so she would better be able to create the fancy dishes that Nico must like, but for now she would cook the way she knew how.

      But there was no meat in his massive bare fridge. And by the time she got back from the butcher it was getting really late.

      However, the pasta was made and had been cut into ribbons, and the sauce was bubbling away as she bathed Gabe and then dressed him.

      ‘Look at you…’ Aurora smiled at her chubby baby. His black hair was damp from the bath and he wore a pale blue sleepsuit and a gummy smile. ‘Daddy will be back soon…’

      Her voice trailed off. For Nico had left this morning, just after seven, and it was now dark—and he had not so much as texted, let alone called.

      With her perfect baby lying on the bed, Aurora took off her apron and changed into the plain grey shoes and smoothed the elegant