drawers he had placed her clothes in, arms folded across his chest, his expression unreadable. ‘What exactly did Richardson threaten to do to you?’
Lia wasn’t fooled for a moment by his relaxed posture, or the mildness of his tone. ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t really have—No, I’m not.’ She admitted with a grimace. ‘He was... I had no idea he could be like that. I owe you an apology, Gregorio. Another one. Everything you said about David is true.’
‘He is responsible for embezzling the money from your father’s company?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘He admitted this to you?’
‘Amongst other things.’
She related everything David had said to her earlier that evening.
‘He was with your father the night he died...?’ Gregorio frowned.
Lia closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. ‘He said there was nothing to be done. That my father died almost instantly. But—’ She broke off, unable to say anything more on the subject without breaking down.
‘But,’ Gregorio acknowledged harshly, ‘you think he is responsible for killing your father?’
‘Only indirectly—in as much as he caused my father so much distress it brought on the heart attack.’
His mouth thinned. ‘I will find him, Lia. No matter what rock Richardson hides under, I will find him.’
‘I know you will.’ She nodded. ‘Would you mind very much if I don’t take a bath or a shower tonight? I’m tired and aching and I just want to go to sleep.’
‘Of course. Whatever you are comfortable with,’ Gregorio reassured her as he straightened away from the chest of drawers and crossed the bedroom to her side. ‘But I am going to help you undress.’
Lia knew that tone only too well: it was one that told her Gregorio wasn’t going to be talked out of doing exactly what he said he would. And there was no arguing with the fact that he had already seen her naked.
‘Did Cathy pack something for me to sleep in?’ She stood up—only to have Gregorio reach out and grasp her uninjured arm to steady her as she tilted to one side. It was ridiculous how a little thing like a plaster cast and a sling could affect her balance.
‘Something that looks like an oversized T-shirt...?’
‘That’s it, yes.’
Lia almost laughed at the look of disgust on Gregorio’s face. No doubt he was used to the women in his life wearing silk and satin to bed—if they bothered to wear anything at all. Even when she’d been able to afford those things Lia had always preferred practicality and warmth in bed over appearing sexy.
‘Thank you for calling Cathy and Rick for me earlier. I—They’re the closest thing to family I have.’
‘I am aware of that.’ Gregorio spoke softly. ‘And I have already left instructions that they are to be admitted at any time.’
‘Thank you.’
He gave a rueful smile. ‘You are very polite this evening.’
‘About time, hmm?’
Gregorio shrugged. ‘You felt you had good reason to be...less than polite to me before.’
‘And I was wrong.’ She sighed. ‘About everything.’
‘Do not upset yourself. You know the truth now, and that is the important thing.’
It was. And yet...
She didn’t like it that Gregorio was treating her with the polite distance of a concerned acquaintance, rather than a lover. Not that she didn’t fully deserve it, but Lia missed the intensity of passion radiating from him. That had never been far from the surface when the two of them had been together in the past.
She drew in a shaky breath. ‘Let’s get this over with, shall we?’
‘Of course.’
Gregorio forced himself to remain detached and impersonal as he aided Lia in removing her clothes. He had never acted as nursemaid to anyone before—let alone a woman he had been in bed with all yesterday afternoon. But how difficult could it be?
More difficult that he had imagined once he had removed Lia’s jacket, blouse and bra. Which had proved easy enough once he had removed the sling.
The physical removing of Lia’s clothes wasn’t the problem. It was being this close to her when she was completely naked from the waist up, the fullness of her nipples just a tempting breath away. That was enough to tax the restraint of any man—least of all one who had already enjoyed having those succulent nipples in his mouth.
Gregorio attempted to remove temptation by taking the long red T-shirt from the chest of drawers and quickly putting it on Lia before refastening the sling. The nightshirt covered her to mid-thigh.
He drew in a deep, controlling breath as he unzipped and removed her skirt, but his resolve to remain detached was shaken again as he looked at her wearing sexy panties, suspenders and stockings.
He could do this, damn it. He wasn’t an animal or a callow youth. He was a man of sophistication and experience. He shouldn’t be aroused just by looking at an injured woman dressed in an unbecoming red nightshirt—even if she was also wearing sexy suspenders.
Except he was.
Thank goodness the restrictive material of his jeans prevented that arousal from being too obvious.
‘Gregorio...?’
His distraction obviously wasn’t quite so easy to hide!
He dealt with the rest of Lia’s clothing with the minimum of contact with the heat of her silky skin, breathing a sigh of relief once he had her safely tucked beneath the bedcovers and could straighten and move away from the bed.
Lia looked...fragile. Her hair was a silky auburn cloud on the white pillow behind her, and her face was almost as pale. The outline of her body was slender beneath the duvet.
But it wasn’t just a physical fragility. Lia’s eyes were a smoky and unfocused grey, with dark shadows beneath them. No doubt some of that had been caused by the agony of having her arm broken, along with the medication she had been given to relieve the pain. But Gregorio had a feeling it was also an outward show of the turmoil of emotions she had to be feeling inside.
It must have been a shock when Richardson had attacked and threatened her in that way: the animal had broken her arm, damn it. She had intended marrying Richardson once—would no doubt have done so if her father hadn’t died and Richardson hadn’t revealed his true colours by breaking their engagement.
As far as Gregorio was concerned Lia had escaped being married to a man who one day would have become an abusive husband.
Lia, on the other hand, must feel not only foolish for ever having been taken in by Richardson, but also disillusioned with the whole concept of falling in love.
