The Helen Bianchin Collection. Helen Bianchin

wouldn’t you agree?’

      His gaze speared hers, dark, dangerous and as hard as granite. ‘Very.’

      Her eyes held his fearlessly. ‘I think I deserve an explanation.’

      ‘I stayed in that hotel, and, yes, Nina was there. But without any prior knowledge or invitation on my part.’

      How could she believe him when Nina continued to drip poison at every turn?

      ‘That’s it?’ She was so cool it was a wonder the blood didn’t freeze in her veins.

      ‘As far as I’m concerned.’

      ‘I guess Nina just happened to be standing outside your room?’ She swept his features mercilessly. ‘I don’t buy it.’

      ‘It happens to be the truth.’ His voice was inflexible, and Aysha’s eyes were fearless as she met his.

      ‘I’m fully aware our impending marriage has its base in mutual convenience,’ she stated with restrained anger. ‘But I insist on your fidelity.’

      Carlo’s eyes narrowed and became chillingly calm. There was a leashed stillness apparent she knew she’d be wise to heed.

      Except she was past wisdom, beyond any form of rationale. Did he have any conception of what she’d felt like when she’d sighted those photos? It was as if the tip of a sword pierced her heart, poised there, then thrust in to the hilt.

      ‘My fidelity isn’t in question.’

      ‘Isn’t it?’

      ‘Would you care to rephrase that?’

      ‘Why?’ Aysha countered baldly. ‘What part didn’t you understand?’

      ‘I heard the words. It’s the motive I find difficult to comprehend.’

      With admirable detachment she raked his large frame from head to toe, and back again. ‘It’s simple. In this marriage, there’s only room for two of us.’ She was so angry, she felt she might self-destruct. ‘There’s no way I’ll turn a blind eye to you having a mistress on the side.’

      ‘Why would I want a mistress?’ Carlo queried with icy calm.

      Her eyes flashed, a brilliant translucent grey that had the clarity and purity of a rare pearl. ‘To complement my presence in the marital bed?’

      His gaze didn’t waver, and she fought against being trapped by the depth, the intensity. It was almost hypnotic, and she had the most uncanny sensation he was intent on dispensing with the layers that guarded her soul, like a surgeon using a scalpel with delicate precision.

      ‘Nina has done a hatchet job, hasn’t she?’ Carlo offered in a voice that sounded like silk being razed by tempered steel. ‘Sufficiently damaging, that any assurance I give you to the contrary will be viewed with scepticism?’ He reached out a hand and caught hold of her chin between thumb and forefinger. ‘What we share together,’ he prompted. ‘What would you call that?’

      She was breaking up inside, slowly shattering into a thousand pieces. Special, a tiny voice taunted. So special, the mere thought of him sharing his body with someone else caused her physical pain.

      ‘Good sex?’ Carlo persisted dangerously.

      Her stance altered slightly, and her eyes assumed a new depth and intensity. ‘Presumably not good enough.’ she declared bravely.

      It was possible to see the anger build, and she watched with detached fascination as the fingers of each hand clenched into fists, watched the muscles bunch at the edge of his jaw, the slight flaring of nostrils, and the darkening of his eyes.

      He uttered a husky oath, and she said with deliberate facetiousness, ‘Flattery isn’t appropriate.’

      Something moved in the depths of his eyes. An emotion she didn’t care to define.

      ‘Nina,’ Carlo vented emotively, ‘has a lot to answer for.’

      Didn’t she just! ‘On that, at least, we agree.’

      ‘Let’s get this quite clear,’ he said with dangerous quietness. ‘You have my vow of fidelity, just as I have yours. Understood?’

      She wanted to lash out, then pick up something and smash it. The satisfaction would be immensely gratifying.

      ‘Aysha?’ he prompted with deadly quietness, and she forced herself to respond.

      ‘Even given that Nina is a first-class bitch, I find it a bit too much of a coincidence for you both to be in Melbourne at the same time, staying in the same hotel, the same floor.’ Aysha drew in a deep breath. ‘Photographic proof bears considerable weight, don’t you think?’

      He could have shaken her within an inch of her life. For having so little faith in him. So little trust.

      ‘Did it not occur to you to consider it strange that a photographer just happened to be in the hotel lobby at the time Nina and I entered it... coincidentally together? Or that her suite and mine were very conveniently sited opposite each other?’ It hadn’t taken much pressure to discover Nina had bribed the booking receptionist to reshuffle bookings. ‘Perhaps a little too convenient the same photographer was perfectly positioned to take a shot Nina had very carefully orchestrated?’

      ‘You were kissing her!’

      ‘Correction,’ he drawled with deliberate cynicism. ‘She was kissing me.’

      Nina’s words rose to the forefront of Aysha’s mind. Vicious, damaging, and incredibly pervasive. ‘Really? There didn’t seem a marked degree of distinction to me.’

      He extended his hands as if to catch hold of her shoulders, only to let them fall to his sides. ‘A few seconds either way of that perfectly timed shot, and the truth would have been clearly evident.’

      ‘According to Nina,’ Aysha relayed bitterly, ‘you represent the ultimate prize in the most suitable husband quest. Rich, handsome, and, as reputation has it...a lover to die for.’ Her smile was a mere facsimile. ‘Her words, not mine.’

      Something fleeting darkened his eyes. A quality that was infinitely ruthless.

      ‘An empty compliment, considering it’s completely false.’

      The celluloid print of that kiss rose up to haunt her. ‘A willing, voluptuous female well-versed in every sexual trick in the book.’ Her eyes swept his features, then focused on the unwavering depth of those dark eyes. ‘You mean to say you refused what was so blatantly offered?’ It took considerable effort to keep her voice steady. ‘How noble.’

      Carlo reached forward and caught hold of her chin, increasing the pressure as she attempted to twist out of his grasp.

      ‘Why would I participate in a quick sexual coupling with a woman who means nothing to me?’

      He was almost hurting her, and her eyes widened as he slid a hand to her nape and held it fast.

      ‘A moment’s aberration when your libido took precedence?’ she sallied, hating the way his cologne teased her nostrils and began playing havoc with her equilibrium.

      Oh, God, she didn’t know anything any more. There were conflicting emotions warring inside her head, some of which hardly made any sense.

      ‘Aysha?’

      Her eyes searched his, wide, angry, and incredibly hurt. ‘How would you feel if the situation were reversed?’

      A muscle bunched at the side of his jaw, and something hot and terrifyingly ruthless darkened his eyes.

      ‘I’d kill him.’

      His voice was deadly quiet, yet it held the quality of tempered steel, and she felt as if a hand took hold of her throat and squeezed until it choked off her breath.

      Her chest tightened and her heart seemed to beat loud, the sound a heavy, distant