Reunited with Her Italian Ex by Lucy Gordon Read Free Book Online Page B

there’s another woman in her place—suspicious, awkward, ready to give as good as she gets. She exists. She’s me. She’s rather hard. You won’t like her. Be wise. Get rid of her.’
    His face was suddenly tense. ‘I think not. I prefer to keep her around and make her face up to what she did.’
    â€˜Is that why you got me back here?’
    â€˜What do you mean by that?’
    â€˜I don’t believe it’s coincidence that we just happened to meet again.’
    He paled. ‘You think I manipulated this situation?’
    â€˜You could have.’
    â€˜And I’m telling you I didn’t. How dare you? Perhaps I should accuse
you
of manipulation. Did you persuade your friend to let you take her place?’
    â€˜No way. I had no idea you’d be here until I saw you on the stairs.’
    â€˜Nor I. Let’s get this clear, Natasha. I didn’t trick you into coming here. I didn’t want to see you again, not after the way you behaved.’
    â€˜The way
I—
?’
    â€˜You left me feeling as though I was hanging off the edge of a cliff.’
    â€˜I know that feeling,’ she said softly, with anger in her voice.
    â€˜All right. For the moment we have to accept things as they are. We’re enemies but we need to be allies as far as this job’s concerned. Our fight is still on, but it’s a fair fight.’
    â€˜Is it? I wonder if your idea of a fair fight is the same as mine.’
    â€˜I guess we’ll find that out.’
    A beep from her mobile phone interrupted him. Answering it, she found a text:
    You didn’t have to run away. We can sort this out.
    There was no name, but there didn’t need to be. This wasn’t the first text that Elroy Jenson had sent her since he’d shut her out of his media empire. Clearly he’d expected her to cave in and come crawling back.
    She had to make him stop doing this.
    Swiftly, she texted back:
    Forget me, as I’ve forgotten you.
    His reply came at once:
    If that were true you wouldn’t have run away. Come home. I can do a lot for you.
    She groaned, wondering how much more of this she could take. She’d thought that by coming to Italy she could put Jenson behind her.
    â€˜What’s the matter?’ Mario asked. ‘Who has upset you?’
    â€˜It’s nothing,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m fine.’
    â€˜I don’t think so. Perhaps you should change your mobile number. Doing that works well because then the guy can’t reach you. But of course you know that. Here—’
    Before she could stop him he’d seized the phone from her hand and was reading the text.
    â€˜Just tell him to— What does he mean, run away?’
    â€˜I’ve been running away from him for months. He’s Elroy Jenson, the man who owns a great media empire. It stretches all over the world—England, America, Europe—’
    â€˜Yes—’ Mario broke in ‘—I’ve heard of him. Some of his papers are in this country. Not a man you’d want to antagonise.’
    â€˜I used to make a good living writing for his newspapers and magazines, but then he decided that he fancied me. I didn’t fancy him but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He kept pestering me until I slapped his face. Unfortunately, some of his employees saw it and the word got out. Since then none of his editors will buy articles from me.’
    â€˜And he keeps sending you these messages? Why don’t you just change your mobile phone number?’
    â€˜I have. Several times. But he always manages to get the new one. He’s a powerful man and his tentacles stretch far.’
    â€˜Bastardo!’
    â€˜If that means what I think it does, then yes. Now I can’t earn a living in England and he’s coming after me.’
    â€˜Thinking you’ll turn to him for the money? And he’d like that—knowing that you’d only