core.
Nothing shocked Luca.
Nothing.
Her insides lurched.
Slowly, he focused on her. His handsome face turned a shade paler and he didn’t seem quite steady on his feet and for a moment he didn’t speak. Just stared at her in disbelief as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
That shaken glance sent a tide of humiliation flowing over her and she realised just how much she’d been hoping he’d simply laugh at the whole thing. How much she’d been hoping they’d laugh together.
This was Luca Corretti. Bad boy personified. He was the one person she’d felt understood her. She’d wanted him to wink and say something in that careless voice of his—something like ‘I hope they got your good side, dolcezza.’
Never, in all the time they’d been together, had she seen Luca Corretti at a loss for words. He always had a smart comeback for everything. He was never bothered by anyone’s opinion.
But he was bothered now.
In fact, he looked as if he needed to lie down.
As if to confirm that, he turned to his PA. ‘Get me a whisky.’ His usual smooth, sexy voice was rough and shaky and when his stunned PA handed him a glass he drank it in one gulp, his hand trembling so badly he could barely hold the glass.
Then he looked at Taylor. ‘I just found out—I had no idea—I learned something—’ He was uncharacteristically inarticulate and Taylor suddenly found she had a lump lodged in her throat.
‘I know you did.’ She snapped the words, horrified to hear her own voice crack. ‘I came to tell you myself. I’m sorry I was too late.’
‘What did you come to tell me?’ He looked distracted and she stared at him in exasperation.
‘Well, obviously that—Oh, never mind—you already know. You found it out yourself.’
‘Yes. Yes, I did and—Cristo, Taylor…’
The sight of him so shaken up unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. He’d seemed to understand her so well. Better than anyone ever had before. Why wasn’t it obvious to him that Rafaele had taken advantage of her? He knew about her controlling mother and the way her father had used her. He knew she’d been vulnerable at the time. He knew all that and instead of defending her or even encouraging her to tell, he was shocked.
But of course he was.
Because he was thinking about himself, not her, the way people always did.
He’d agreed to the engagement as a means of gaining respectability and these revelations had just blown that out of the water. The board had probably just fired him, which would explain why he was reacting so strongly.
Taylor lifted her chin. ‘I’m sorry you feel this way.’
‘You are?’ His voice was raw. ‘You’re sorry?’
‘Of course! It wasn’t what either of us wanted. It wasn’t part of our arrangement.’ I wanted your support. Suddenly she was desperate to leave before she made a fool of herself.
‘It’s over, Luca. Done. Finished. The terms of our agreement have changed so that’s the end of it. There’s nothing more to be said.’ She walked towards the door and then, because she just couldn’t help herself, she made the mistake of looking back. And wished she hadn’t because Luca was staring blindly into the distance, looking like a man who had lost everything.
CHAPTER NINE
TAYLOR LAY IN a sodden heap on her bed in her trailer where she’d spent the night, too drained to get up and face the press. She hadn’t slept at all, just lain there, hoping desperately to hear from Luca. Hoping desperately that once he’d had time to think about it, he’d revert to his usual indifferent self and come and laugh with her.
But she heard nothing from him.
It seemed everyone in the world had called her except him. Everyone wanted her comment on the impending publication of the photographs, everyone wanted to know her side of the story and how she felt about the world seeing her naked. And she didn’t even care. Each time her phone pinged with another message she grabbed it hopefully but it was never him. He didn’t communicate. Not even a single text saying how sorry he was that she was in this mess.
She’d had no idea the pretence of respectability had mattered so much to him and the image of his shocked expression was jammed in her brain.
It wasn’t just the thought of the whole world seeing her naked that upset her, it was the fact that Luca didn’t care about how she felt. All he’d thought about was himself