Her Shameful Secret by Susanna Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

was my friend.”
    “You two got along very well whenever I was around.”
    “Giovanni got along with everyone. But I wasn’t interested in him,” she said. “The only thing we had in common was you. When we talked, it was always about you.”
    “Why does that send a chill down my spine?”
    Her mouth tightened into a straight line as she struggled with her temper. “I didn’t know what your relationship was like. And when I accepted his invitation to stay I thought it would only be a day or two before you came to your senses. I kept trying to contact you but you blocked me in every way.”
    If she hadn’t been living with his brother he would have crawled back and grovelled. But she had shown her true colors too early.
    “Then, about the third day I stayed at Giovanni’s, he told me that you had cut him out of his life because he’d taken sides.”
    “I cut him out of my life because he slept with you .”
    “Like I said,” she bit out through clenched teeth, “I had no idea you thought that. I felt incredibly guilty for causing a rift between two brothers.”
    “Which you decided to fix by staying with him?” he asked, poking holes in her story. “How would that repair anything?”
    “Giovanni told me it would all blow over and I believed him.” She shook her head at her obvious mistake. “And, like a fool, I kept trying to contact you. He convinced me that I wasn’t going to get you back by crying myself to sleep every night. He suggested I go out, act like I was having a good time, and remind you of what you were missing.”
    She’d done that very well. It had been difficult for him, coming back to this apartment every evening and knowing she wouldn’t be there. Knowing she was in another man’s bed. “You went out with Gio every night.”
    She nodded and slumped against the window.
    “There were pictures of you and Gio in the papers. Every day.” She had looked happy, relaxed and very sexy.
    “I wasn’t trying to make you jealous,” she insisted. “Since I couldn’t see or talk to you, it was my way of reminding you that I was still around.”
    “Clinging to his arm?” he added sharply.
    Isabella scowled at him. “I did no such thing.”
    Antonio remembered how she’d used to cling to him . She’d curled up against him whether they were walking along the street, sitting on the sofa, or making love. It had been as though she couldn’t get close enough. And he had welcomed the warmth and affection.
    “In those tiny dresses.”
    Isabella blushed. She looked away and turned until her back pressed against the window. “That was probably a bad idea.”
    “Dresses that Gio bought you.” They had been short, tight and revealing. The kind of dresses a man gave his mistress. “When you wouldn’t accept any gift from me.”
    “I didn’t have anything acceptable to wear to those events,” she mumbled as she flattened her hands against the glass pane.
    “And I didn’t take you anywhere but to bed?”
    She looked up sharply. “That’s not true! We had so much fun exploring the city. I got to see Rome through your eyes.”
    “Obviously that wasn’t enough.” He wasn’t enough, no matter what he had done and what he had given. “But you made up for lost time by attending every nightclub.”
    “I wasn’t interested in those parties. Or those people. I preferred the places we went to alone.”
    He’d like to believe that. When he had learned shewas an art history student he had gone out of his way to take her to see private art collections and participate in specially guided tours. He had ignored all invitations to dinner parties and exclusive events because he hadn’t wanted to share Isabella.
    He’d thought she had felt the same. Isabella had never complained, or asked to go dancing. Isabella had never felt a need to dress up or entertain. The only other person who’d spent any time with them was his brother.
    “If any of this is true, what made you leave Gio?”
    She