The Duke's Willful Wife (8 page)
Read The Duke's Willful Wife Online
Authors: Elizabeth Lennox
She smiled politely at the housekeeper, trying to be gentle but firm.
“I don’t really need anything to eat,
”
she said. “If you could just show me to a guest room, I’d like to settle down and make some calls.”
Never one to ignore her employer’s commands, she smiled and shook her head.
“You must eat,” the
kind
housekeeper said and motioned for Sasha to follow. “I make you dinner.”
Sasha was frustrated that no one in this household seemed to take her seriously. Did she look like an incompetent child?
“No, thank you. I’m going
to head on upstairs and retire,”
she said firmly and headed in the opposite direction, glad to be free from eyes that would be wondering what she was doing here.
From memory, she went to the
bedroom
farthest away from the one she and Dante had shared during their brief marriage. The room was dark with the curtains drawn and
it
had a musty smell to it, as if no one had entered in a long time. She turned on several lights, then found the linens which were in a chest at the bottom of the bed. She
quickly made the bed, then went to the bathroom and showered, glad there were some toiletries available. Pulling on an old tee shirt, she sighed happily as she slid between the clean sheets
i
nto the luxurious bed. This was definitely something she’d missed, the amazingly comfortable bed and almost silk like sheets, the large mattress she
didn’t
have to sleep
on
sideways to avoid bumps and sags. As she drifted off to sleep, she promised herself that replacing the old mattress and bed she’d been sleeping on for the past year would be a priority. This really was a nice way to go.
Dante tried hard to focus on the work piling up but by midnight, he accepted that he was making little or no progress on the pressing issues facing him. It was all because of Sasha, sleeping away upstairs. He didn’t want to go up there, but he found himself shutting down his computer and walking up the stairs. As he stared down the hallway, he wondered which room she’d chosen. There had been times when all the bedrooms had been full with guests or family here to visit. The house had been pretty quiet
since his father’s death and he realized at that moment that he genuinely missed all the activities and happenings that occurred while he was around
.
As for his wife’s whereabouts, h
e guessed correctly
on the first try but had to shake his head over her choice. He
assumed
that she was trying to be as far away from him as possible, but the irony was, she was right next to his room. He’d moved out of their suite when she’d left, not wanting to be surrounded by
anything she might have left behind, not to mention
the flowery scent he’d loved so much about her.
The scent only infuriated him now, tossing pictures of her in his brother’s arms
into
his mind, an image that still disturbed him even now, no matter how hard he’d tried to shut down his feelings for her.
After several moments of watching her
sleep
, he cursed and left the room, closing the door quietly.
Chapter
2
Sasha was up bright and early
the following morning
, calling the hospital to find out when visiting hours
started
.
She wanted to be there as early as possible to be with Rennata, to try and give her some support and encouragement to fight whatever was going on with her elderly body.
She heard something in the room next to hers, but thought it was just one of the many servants cleaning. She contemplated skipping breakfast, not wanting to run into Riasa, but in the end, she was just too hungry
since she’d missed both lunch and dinner the previous day
.
She braced herself as she walked into the dining room and sure enough, the woman was sitting at the
long, formal
table, a cup of espresso by her
elegant
elbow as she read the
morning
newspaper. Sasha stood in the doorway for a long moment, contemplating
the woman who had caused her so much torment during her marriage. She looked the same, but Sasha could see the fine lines on her face, especially around her mouth because she frowned or pursed her lips so often. Her dark hair was smoothly coifed into a twist on the back of her head, not a hair out of place to mar the perfection of her patrician profile and she wore the black, designer suit with pearls as if she were heading into the office for an important meeting.
Who wore suits for breakfast anymore, when all they were required to do was to ensure that the household ran smoothly. With only two people living in the house, that chore couldn’t be very difficult. It occurred to Sasha that she couldn’t remember Riasa doing anything during the day besides a series of visits to ‘important people’ each Wednesday
.
How did the woman fill her day? How did she spend her time and fill her life with value and excitement. Sasha wasn’t even sure if she took vacations besides moving from the palazzo in Rome to the family summer home in Tuscany. Sasha had never visited that house, but she suspected that Riasa did the same things in Tuscany that she did here in Rome, which possibly wasn’t a great deal.
Could that be the reason for her animosity towards other living beings? Jealousy that she had nothing better to do with her life other than review dinner menus?
Not her problem, Sasha thought to herself and considered her breakfast options.
She could
walk out and find a small café to grab some breakfast, or she could sneak into the kitchen to find something to eat. She didn’t mind making her own meals if it meant not being belittled by Dante’s mother.
In the end,
she smelled the delicious scents of the buffet style breakfast and her stomach growled, making up her mind for her. S
he was simply too hungry
and too poor of a cook herself to avoid grabbing something to eat. So instead of launching out on her own and finding a meal, she bravely
walked in
to the dining room
.
She forced a sunny disposition, trying to appear good natured as if she’d let bygones be bygones
from the past
.
“Good morning Riasa. It’s been a while. How have you been?” Sasha asked politely as she walked over to the breakfast bar which was laid out with various breakfast foods and an urn of coffee.
The smell of the scrambled eggs and some sort of sausage tempted her and she gazed with longing at the fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese drizzled in olive oil. She’d missed these kinds of breakfasts.
Normally, Italians ate only coffee and some sort of biscuit but Dante preferred a full breakfast each morning and Sasha had always loved coming down to discover what delicious surprises were available.
Riasa glanced at Sasha
’s jeans and tee-shirt disdainfully as she carefully folded the newspaper and placed it beside her before picking up her coffee.
“Ah, the prodigal daughter in law. I can’t say it’s nice to see you. But I guess we all have our cross to bear.”
Sasha was proud that her hand didn’t start shaking as she selected a piece of toast and some juice.
Somehow, her appetite had deserted her with those sarcastic words. Trying hard to rise above the evil woman’s anger, Sasha took a deep breath and sat down at the table.
“I’m very sorry to hear about Rennata,” she replied, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat with the fear for the older woman’s health. “
And
I’m very glad Dante came to get me.”
“Don’t disturb her!” Riasa ordered, standing up with fury shining through her eyes. “I can’t believe my son gave in to my mother’s request but understand that you are not welcome in this house!”
“Mother!” Dante’s voice boomed from the doorway.
Riasa had the grace to look embarrassed but she regrouped quickly. “I’m sorry Dante. But what this….” She looked over at Sasha with contempt, “
woman,” she finally said with
scorn
, “
did to you, to this family, was just
unconscionable
.” With that, she swept out of the room but left one parting remark. “See if you can get her
into
something
more presentable before she leaves the house. She might have left you, but she still represents this family.”
Sasha looked down at her jeans and cotton top, knowing it was the best she had. She hadn’t bothered to pack anything that would wrinkle…and then she stopped thinking that way. She was here for Rennata, and
not to impress the rest of Roman
society. She wouldn’t even be seen by anyone since she was planning to be at the hospital or a hotel, or here if that was the only option.
“I’m not changing,” she said to Dante and took a seat at the table.
“I don’t expect you to,” he replied and went over to get himself a cup of coffee.
He had to admit that she actually looked pretty cute and sexy in her jeans and pink tee shirt. She
reminded him of
a sultry, sophisticated seductress, with curves in all the right places and his hands itched to explore those curves underneath the fabric. He turned away and took a seat at the table, forcing his mind to go over the business details he had on his schedule today.
“We’ll leave for the hospital whenever you’re ready.”
That news startled her. “I can get there on my own. No need to delay your work in order to escort me.” Or more to the point, she didn’t want to be around him, she thought, hiding her hands underneath the dining room table.
He sipped his coffee and skimmed the news articles of the paper his mother had recently discarded.
“I can wait. I didn’t get a chance to visit Nonna yesterday so I’d like to stop by and see her
, talk with the doctor and get an update
.”
She couldn’t argue with that logic. She quickly ate her toast and swallowed her juice, then stood up, not wanting to delay him. “I’m ready,” she said.
He glanced down at her plate
with only a few leftover crumbs
, then at her loose jeans.
“You need to eat more than that.”
She shrugged on her
denim
jacket
, prepared to leave
. “I’m fine. Really, I’d rather see Renatta than eat anything else.”
He watched her carefully. “You’ve lost too much weight and you didn’t eat anything for dinner last night. Why don’t you have some eggs or even some fruit.”
She pulled up her purse, checking to make sure she had everything she might need.
“How do you know I didn’t eat any dinner last night?”
She wanted to appear unconcerned, but her shoulders were tense as she waited for his answer.
“You’d be surprised at what I know about in this house,” he countered.
“I would be. If you had, none….” She started to say, then shook her head. “
Never mind
. Let’s just head to the hospital.”
Dante hesitated, knowing that she needed more food but then dismissed his concern. He couldn’t force her to eat and she was an adult. If she wanted to starve herself, who was he to stop her? It went against everything in him though and he turned away before he ordered her to eat some fruit. An order she would ignore anyway, so why give it?
The drive over was slow since they had hit traffic in the middle of rush hour. The tension inside the car was painful but Sasha refused to talk to him, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good and they’d just end up arguing anyway.
At the hospital, he led her through the clinical hallways to a private wing, of course donated by the Fuitello family, where Rennata was being treated.
When Sasha saw the elderly lady
with tubes attached to her nose and her arm, a clamp around her finger and dim light above her head
, her heart cried out at the injustice of all of this. “Rennata!” she gasped, rushing to her side and taking her wrinkled, weak hand. “What have you
done
to yourself?”
Her eyes searched the beeping monitors, trying to glean some information from the numbers and dots.
The
sweet
lady turned and smiled
weakly
, despite
all
the tubes running from her nose down and arm. “You came,” she
croaked
and looked behind Sasha to smile at Dante. She lifted her other hand and Dante went around the bed to hold it. “I’m so glad the two of you are together again. You need to renew your vows now that the silliness of that misunderstanding has been resolved.”
Sasha’s eyes sliced to Dante’s and she shook her head. “Rennata…” she started to say, but caught Dante’s head shake and stopped.
The woman looked at Sasha. “Dante knows you didn’t have an affair with Cristolo.” She chuckled, which turned into a cough. “He’s just scared. Don’t let him do that,” she said
when the coughing fit was over.