protect his investment. She brought herself back down to earth with a sobering bump. An investment he was keen to look after now that he wanted to take full advantage of it before he consigned it to the rubbish bin.
‘I’ve never cared about what other people think. So, how many classrooms are there in this place and what’s upstairs...?’
‘I can’t have great big, bulky men lurking around. They’ll scare off the kids.’
‘I doubt that in this neighbourhood.’
‘Stop being provocative, Dio!’
‘If you think I’m being provocative, then how would you describe yourself?’ He strolled towards her and she found herself nailed to the spot, mesmerised by the casual grace of his movements.
‘I’m just...just trying to tell you that I don’t want to...to...stand out when I come here.’ Perspiration beaded her upper lips as he curled a strand of wayward hair around his finger. ‘What are you doing, Dio?’
‘I’m talking to you. You can’t object if your soon-to-be ex-husband takes a little interest in the safety and wellbeing of his wife, can you?’
‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘No?’ He looked perplexed. ‘Then what did you mean?’
‘You... I...’ Her sluggish brain could not complete the remainder of her thoughts. Her body felt heavy and lethargic. Right now, she yearned for him to touch her in other places; she absolutely yearned for him to take her to all those places he frequently took her to in her dreams.
She had to exert every ounce of willpower to drag herself physically out of his mesmerising radius, stepping back and sucking in a lungful of restorative air.
‘It won’t work having great big guys standing on either side of me. Plus, when I come here, no one knows who I am.’
‘You’re not recognised?’ Dio frowned and she allowed herself a little smile.
‘Why would anyone recognise me? I dress like this, in jeans, tee-shirts and jumpers, and I scrape my hair back and I don’t wear tons of make-up and expensive jewellery.’
He heard the derision in her voice and was struck, once again, at hidden depths swirling just out of sight.
It confused him and that was a sensation he was not accustomed to dealing with. Least of all in a woman whose motivations had left him in no doubt as to the sort of person she was. Not one with hidden depths, for starters.
He raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head impatiently, clearing it of the sudden fog of doubt that had descended.
Did she enjoy the novelty of pretending to do good undercover? Was that it?
‘Now, you were asking about the other rooms downstairs.’ She briskly took him on the tour he had requested. More rooms with more low bookshelves and a scattering of stationery. She could have equipped the entire school with computers had she so desired simply by flogging one of the items of jewellery locked away in the safe in her bedroom. But she had chosen not to and he presumed that that was because she wanted, as she had told him, to keep her identity under wraps. To keep the extent of her wealth under wraps.
And yet how did that make sense?
She had been a Bishop, through and through. Surely the last thing she should have wanted would be...this.
He looked around at the shabby walls which someone had optimistically painted a cheerful yellow, similar to the walls in the hallway. Nothing could conceal the wear and tear of the fabric of the building, however, and the fact that it was practically falling down.
‘Mark should be back shortly.’ She ended the downstairs tour in a room that was very similar to the others he had been shown. ‘If you’re really interested, you can ask him whatever questions you like.’
‘Think I’ll pass on that one.’ He leaned against the wall and looked at his wife whose face had become smudged with pencil at some point during their tour. ‘I wouldn’t want to have to administer smelling salts because he has a fainting fit seeing me still here.’
‘Very funny,’ Lucy muttered, making sure to keep a healthy distance.
‘I have some questions to ask you, though. Is there anywhere around here we can go for lunch?’
‘Lunch?’ she parroted, because lunch, just the two of them, was not something they had done since getting married.
‘Unless you’ve travelled with sandwiches and a flask of hot coffee...? In your anxious attempts not to stand out...?’ He could have told her that she stood out just looking the way she did.
‘There’s a café just round the corner.’
‘Café?’
‘It’s not much but they make nice enough sandwiches and serve very big mugs of tea.’
‘I’ll give that one a miss. Any other suggestions?’
Lucy eyed him coolly and folded her arms. ‘You’re in my territory now, Dio.’
‘Your territory? Don’t make me laugh.’
‘I don’t care what you think but I feel I belong here a lot more than I belong in any of those soulless big houses, where I’ve had to make sure the fridges are stocked with champagne and caviar and the curtains are cleaned on a regular basis just in case...’
Dio’s lips thinned. ‘If you’re trying to annoy me, then congratulations, Lucy—you’re going about it the right way.’
‘I’m not trying to annoy you but I meant what I said. If you want to continue this conversation and ask whatever questions you want to ask, including questions about the divorce I’ve asked you for, then you can jolly well eat in the café Mark and I eat in whenever we’re here! I can’t believe you’re such a snob.’
‘I’m not a snob,’ Dio heard himself reply in an even, well-measured voice. ‘But maybe I’ve seen enough of those greasy spoon cafés to last a lifetime. Maybe I come from enough of a deprived background to know that getting out of it was the best thing I ever did. I certainly have no desire to pretend that it holds any charm for me now.’
Lucy’s mouth fell open.
This was the first time Dio had ever mentioned his background. She had known, of course, that he had made his own way up in the world, thanks to her father’s passing, derogatory remarks. But to hear him say anything, anything at all, was astounding.
Dio flushed darkly and turned away. ‘I’ll talk to you when you return home this evening.’
‘No!’ Seeing him begin walking towards the door galvanised Lucy into action and she placed a detaining hand on his arm.
Just like that, heat from his body seared through her, and she almost yanked her hand back as if it had been physically burnt.
‘We...we should talk now,’ she stammered, stepping back. ‘I know you must have been shocked at what I’ve
