The Undoing of de Luca (11 page)

Larenz waited by his car; Ellery sensed his impatience, even though he didn’t say anything or even glance at his watch. He was ready to go. To move on. And in another week, he’d be ready again. Well, so would she.

‘Do you need to notify anyone?’ he asked as Ellery slid into the front passenger seat of his car. ‘I suppose things will just tick over for a few days?’

Ellery nodded. ‘I was just planning on doing some maintenance around the house this week.’ She smiled wryly. ‘But I suppose it can wait.’

‘Good,’ Larenz said firmly and started the engine.

‘It feels strange,’ she admitted with a little laugh, as Larenz drove down the Manor’s sweeping lane, ‘to leave, even for just a little while.’ She wanted to be clear that she understood the rules. That they were hers, too.

Larenz slotted her a quick sideways smile. ‘It will do you good.’

Ellery stiffened. That was the second time he’d said that. ‘Don’t see this as some kind of mercy mission,’ she warned him. ‘I’m going with you because I want to. It’s my choice.’ She met his gaze directly. ‘A week is all I want, as well, Larenz.’

Surprise flashed across his features, followed by what could only be satisfaction. His mouth tightened. ‘Good,’ he said again, and just as firmly.

Ellery settled back in the seat, glad she’d made herself clear.
A week is all I want
, she repeated to herself, and she believed it.

They didn’t speak again until they’d left both the Manor and village behind and the road stretched out in front of them, glittering under a bright autumn sun.

Larenz steered the conversation to more innocuous matters, talking lightly about films and books and even the weather; Ellery enjoyed chatting about such simple things.

‘So you teach,’ he commented as they turned onto the motorway. ‘I can see you giving one of your stern looks to a classroom full of unruly boys.’

Ellery chuckled. ‘Actually, it’s an all-girls school. I taught full-time in London, but I gave that up when I came out here. Fortunately, I found a part-time job. One of the teachers was going on maternity leave.’

‘And when she comes back? What will you do then?’

Ellery shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I don’t have a long-term plan, to be honest.’ She made herself smile. ‘I know I can’t hold on to Maddock Manor for ever.’

Larenz glanced sideways at her, speculative and a little compassionate. ‘Then I suppose the question is—why hold on to it at all?’

‘That is indeed a good question. I haven’t yet found a good answer.’ She stared out of the window at the trees lining their side of the motorway, their stark branches stripped of leaves and stretching towards the sky. ‘Have you ever not been able to give something up, even though you know you probably should?’ Larenz didn’t answer, and so Ellery finished, ‘That’s how I feel about the Manor. I’m just not ready to let it go yet. All of my friends think I’m mad, of course.’

‘Well,’ Larenz said quietly, ‘I think you’re brave. Not everyone is able to actually
do
something the way you have. Most people would just let it go and be sad.’

‘Perhaps that’s better.’

Larenz glanced at her again. ‘Do you really believe that? Wouldn’t you rather act and really live life than let it go by?’

Ellery swallowed, surprised by the intensity in his voice. Yes, she wanted to live life. She wanted to act. Wasn’t that why she was here? She was taking control.

They lapsed into silence, and an hour later Larenz pulled the car up to the front of The Berkeley, an impressive-looking hotel in Belgravia.

He tossed his keys to the valet while a porter helped Ellery out of the Lexus. Larenz ushered her into the hotel’s sumptuous lobby; she thought she saw a celebrity she recognized disappear into one of the exquisite dining rooms.

Ellery was breathless, overwhelmed by the luxury she had never experienced and yet should have expected. After all, Larenz de Luca was a wealthy, powerful man. And she was never more conscious of it than when he strode through the hotel lobby, the staff nodding and bowing to him. He was quite obviously a regular customer. The very idea that she was here with him seemed ludicrous, so much so that Ellery had to stifle a laugh of sheer amazement and wonder as she followed him through the sumptuous lobby.

‘You come here often?’ she asked as he gestured for her to enter the lift before him.

‘I reserve a suite for my personal use,’ Larenz replied with a shrug.

‘Reserve?’ Ellery echoed. ‘You mean always?’ The thought of paying thousands of pounds a night for a hotel suite to be on reserve seemed not only incredible but rather wasteful, especially in light of her own desperate financial situation. She could not imagine ever being so wealthy or privileged.

Larenz shrugged again. ‘Not always,’ he allowed. ‘If I know I’m going to be out of the country for some time.’ He gave her a knowing little smile. ‘I’m not a spendthrift, Ellery. I didn’t get to where I am by throwing money away.’

The statement, delivered in such a matter-of-fact manner, intrigued her. ‘Get to?’ she repeated. ‘Where did you come from, then?’

The lift pinged and the doors whooshed open. Larenz gestured for her to enter the suite first. ‘I told you before, near Spoleto,’ he said lightly, but Ellery felt quite certain that he knew she’d really been asking something else.

Yet all thoughts of their conversation evaporated in light of the splendour of the suite Larenz reserved for his occasional use. Rooms stretched out in every direction, and Ellery silently marvelled at the polished marble and mahogany, the sumptuous carpets, the graceful Grecian columns that flanked the doors leading out to a private terrace.

She peeped in what was clearly the master bedroom and swallowed. ‘It’s gorgeous.’ She’d become so used to the tattered state of Maddock Manor that the luxury and opulence left her nearly speechless. ‘I can’t believe I’m here,’ she admitted with a little laugh.

Larenz came up behind her as she stared silently at the king-sized bed piled high with silk throw pillows and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders. Ellery shivered under his touch.

‘I want you to enjoy it,’ he murmured. ‘Enjoy this. Let me spoil you, Ellery. I want to.’

His words caused a fingertip trail of unease to ripple down her spine.
Spoil
had such unpleasant connotations, she thought distantly, like rotting food. To be ruined, perhaps, for anything else.

Yet as she gazed around at the suite with its beauty and its finery, its handmade chocolates and a bottle of Krug champagne chilling in a silver bucket in the sitting room, she told herself that a week of being spoiled could do no harm…or at least not much. Surely she deserved a week out of time, out of reality. A week of this…and she wanted it. Just one week.

Whether it was right or wrong, good or bad, she wanted a week with Larenz. She wanted to be wined, dined, romanced and seduced. She wanted to be immersed in the wonderful whirlwind, to let it pick her up and take her where it would.

Eventually—in a week—she’d land with a thump, and when she did she’d go back to life, to reality, happy and satisfied. She
would.

She turned around so she was facing Larenz and, with a little cat-like smile she’d never felt on her face before, she wound her arms around his neck. ‘All right,’ she agreed in a husky murmur as Larenz pulled her closer, ‘if you insist.’ And, by Larenz’s answering smile, she knew he was pleased by her response.

They ate a late lunch of lobster bisque and caviar on crackers in their room, washed down with several glasses of champagne. By mid-afternoon Ellery was feeling wonderfully relaxed and even a little sleepy.

‘I have to check in with a few things,’ Larenz told her as a maid slipped in to clear their discarded dishes. ‘But why don’t you have a rest and a bath? We have reservations at the restaurant downstairs tonight.’

‘All right,’ Ellery agreed. Mentally, she went through the few clothes she’d packed and doubted whether the cocktail dress she’d worn to her college’s May Ball four years ago would be elegant—or expensive—enough. Still, a rest sounded good; she was exhausted.

She stood in the centre of the suite’s master bedroom with its huge king-sized bed piled high with pillows, its doors to the private terrace outside, and listened to Larenz moving through the living room.

Ellery slipped off her shoes and peeled back the satin duvet. As she slipped into the bed with its slippery sheets, she felt another shaft of amazement that she was here at all slice through her. A few seconds later she heard him speak in a low voice and knew he must be on the telephone. Who was he calling? What business did he need to check? Lying there, Ellery was forced to acknowledge just how little she knew her lover, her only lover.

Her lover for a week.

Her terms, she reminded herself fiercely. Those were her terms. It wasn’t as if she was looking for
love
, and especially not from a man like Larenz de Luca: rich, entitled, uncaring. All he felt for her—could feel—was a brief physical pleasure; she
knew
that. She was not yet so desperate or deluded to think that anything would happen as a result of this week out of time, or that she even wanted anything to happen. She knew what loving someone—a man—did to you. She’d seen her mother wither and shrivel from her father’s lack of love. Ellery didn’t want that kind of life; she didn’t want any man to have that kind of power over her. It was why she’d been a virgin until last night, why she’d avoided serious relationships at university and beyond, why even now she guarded herself from anything—or anyone—that could touch her heart. It was why she would end up alone.

But it was also why Larenz’s offer of a single week suited her perfectly.

Chapter Seven

W
HEN
Ellery awoke the sky was banked with violet clouds and the room thick with shadows. She heard a rustle of satin at the edge of the bed and she knew Larenz was there. She sensed him, smelled him and, when he rested a hand on her leg, she felt the comforting heat of him even through the thickness of the duvet.

‘Hello,
dormigliona.
’

She snuggled deeper into the duvet; Larenz let his hand rove a little higher on her thigh. ‘What does that mean?’

‘
Dormigliona?
I suppose in English it would be sleepyhead. You’ve been asleep for over three hours.’

‘Have I? Goodness.’ Ellery sat up, self-conscious now that she was fully awake. ‘I hardly ever nap. There’s too much to do.’

‘All the more reason for you to nap here,’ Larenz replied easily. ‘All you have to do is enjoy yourself.’

Ellery smiled and stretched under the covers. ‘Sounds simple.’

‘It is.’ In the twilit dimness of the room she couldn’t make out the expression on Larenz’s face, but she was achingly aware of the charged atmosphere growing between them, the need spiralling deep inside herself. She leaned forward, expectant, waiting. Larenz removed his hand from her leg.

‘I ran you a bath,’ he told her as he rose from the bed. ‘You didn’t even stir when I came in here to do it, but I thought you’d like a nice soak before dinner.’

Ellery leaned back against the pillows, disappointment eroding her brief happiness. She’d wanted Larenz to kiss her, and more than that. She wanted to be in his arms again, to have him make her both forget and remember at the same time, in such a sweet, sweet mix of both longing and satisfaction…

‘Come on,’ he said lightly, ‘it’s getting cold.’

And then he left the room.

After a moment Ellery swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed open the door to the en suite bathroom. A huge jacuzzi bath in sumptuous silvery-grey marble had been filled with fragrant foaming bubbles, a fluffy towel laid neatly on the side. Just the sight of that bath made Ellery feel every aching muscle; lukewarm showers and hot-water bottles back at Maddock Manor simply didn’t compare.

‘This hotel must have an amazing boiler,’ she said aloud as she stripped off her clothes and a few seconds later sank gratefully into the silky, steaming water. She lay her head back against the marble and closed her eyes; she didn’t know how long she lay there, relaxed enough to be in a half doze, when she heard the door open and her eyes flew open.

‘Hello.’ Larenz stood there, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up to his elbows.

Ellery sank deeper into the water, grateful for the foaming bubbles that hid her from view. Even though it was rather ridiculous to feel shy now, she still did. She wasn’t used to this. She didn’t even know how lovers were supposed to act. She barely knew how to flirt.

‘I thought I could help you wash your hair,’ Larenz said. He sat on the edge of the tub, and Ellery was conscious of both his nearness and her own nakedness.

‘I don’t—’ she began, but Larenz smiled and shook his head.

‘Trust me, it would be my pleasure.’ He reached out to wipe a stray bubble from her cheek. ‘Ellery, are you shy with me now? After what we’ve done—and been—to each other?’

Ellery shook her head as a matter of instinct. Yet the question Larenz had asked was a loaded one, and she wondered if he’d done it deliberately. Just what
had
they been to each other?

‘All right,’ she finally managed, scooting forward so he could access her hair, which she’d piled rather untidily on top of her head with a plastic clip. Realizing she sounded a bit grudging, she added, ‘Thank you.’

Smiling, Larenz reached out and took the clip from her hair. It cascaded down her back in unruly waves, the ends trailing in the water. Ellery saw that Larenz had an arrested, almost mesmerized look in his eyes as he reached down and cupped his hands. She felt the pull of his gaze like a magnetic force between them, growing stronger in the steamy heat of the room. ‘Lean back a bit.’

She did, conscious of how vulnerable she felt as Larenz cradled her head in the crook of his arm. She closed her eyes as he poured the warm water over her head until her hair was completely wet. He reached for the shampoo by the side of the tub and then began to lather her hair, his strong fingers massaging her skull and temples, eliciting a low moan of relaxed pleasure from her lips. His hands slid down to her shoulders, massaging those muscles as well, his thumbs skimming the top of her breasts.