In the Market for Love - By Nina Blake Page 0,8
greater link between her and the country of her parents’ birth. After a dull day at home, she probably felt the need to rest and replenish herself and became invigorated when the idea of a holiday came to her on a whim.
“I’m not talking about Connor’s heritage,” he said. “I’m talking about what’s best for him and I’ll tell you one last time. You’re not taking him to Italy so you can dump him with your relatives while you travel around on your own. He deserves better than that.”
“How can you say that? I’m his mother. You think I would dump him. You don’t know me very well, do you?”
“I know you all too well and I’ve seen it all before.”
A bolt of anger shot through him as he recalled her previous threats to take their son Connor to live in Italy permanently. She had even bought one-way air tickets just to rile Jake and get what she wanted, though he hadn’t truly believed she wanted to live in Italy, so far from the Austin wealth.
“Oh, of course.” Bianca spat out the words sarcastically. “You’re so very clever. You know it all. I’m the one who looks after him, all day, every day. I’m his mother, for crying out loud. I give that child everything. I don’t have any time for myself…”
Jake stopped listening, refusing to be drawn into the same pointless argument they’d had so many times before. She acted like a martyr, forgetting that Connor was at school during the week and with him most evenings and on weekends. Then there was the nanny, housekeeper and gardener to help Bianca with her endless workload.
He cut her short. “What do you want, Bianca? Another trip?”
She was up to something and he could only guess what it was. Perhaps she really did want a holiday for herself. A business class airfare, new clothes for travelling, rental of a villa somewhere. It didn’t seem an unreasonable price to get her out of his hair. He didn’t care about the money.
“Now there’s an idea,” she said. “It could do me some good. I’ve been feeling very run down lately. A holiday on my own. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Really?” He didn’t try to hide his sarcasm. “It hadn’t occurred to you?”
“I don’t like your attitude, Jake. Don’t forget who I am. If we get divorced there’s no court in the country that’ll give you custody of Connor. I’m a full time caring mother and you’re a business man working long hours with no time for your son.”
“You know it’s not like that.”
“That’s how the courts will see it.”
How had it come to this? When he married her she’d been a decent person and when Connor was first born, she’d been a good mother.
“Why did you bring up custody anyway?” he said. “You’re always dredging the bottom of the barrel.”
Then Bianca flew off the handle. “Well, stuff you! I’ll do what–”
He hung up the telephone. There was no point talking to her if the conversation was going to degenerate to that level. He’d deal with her later. She was infuriating, calling him at work to discuss their son and her holiday plans when she knew he was pressed for time and concentrating on business. She could wait until evening.
But he hadn’t been contemplating business when Bianca called.
He’d been thinking about Rachel. He couldn’t get her off his mind. He went through the motions at work and appeared to be functioning as usual but beneath the surface, he was a seething molten mass of longing. She’d gotten under his skin in a way no woman had before. There was no denying it.
Jake had worked hard over the last few weeks to remedy her initial bad impression of him. It hadn’t been easy. Even after a month of working with her, she was just as independent and spirited as the day they first met. They’d had several meetings and countless phone calls and she’d made sure all their interaction focussed on business.
It was difficult to try to switch their relationship to a more personal level, but the time had come. He’d laid the foundations.
Rachel had such vigour and drive. From the first minute he saw her, she exhilarated him with her verve, with that playful spark.
He recalled it was that spark which had first attracted him to Bianca but she’d replaced that with a venomous bite so that now every interaction with her felt like a fist fight.
Bianca was beautiful when they first met and