The Divorce Party Read online

  “It’s like our wedding all over again,” she breathed, remembering how she’d walked into that beautiful old Catholic cathedral on the Upper East Side to find her family and friends on one side—the neatly dressed, less-than-glamorous Iowa farm contingent alongside her girlfriends and schoolmates—and Riccardo’s much larger, understatedly elegant clan on the other—all ancient bloodlines and aristocratic heritage.

  As if their marriage was to be divided from the beginning.

  Maybe that should have been her first clue.

  She held her head high and kept walking. A tingle went down her spine. Her skin went cold. Riccardo was in the room. Watching her. She could feel it.

  Turning her head, she found him—like a homing pigeon seeking its target. He looked furious. Seething. She swallowed hard, a flock of butterflies racing through her stomach. Riccardo spoke four languages—English, Spanish, German and his native Italian. But he did not have to utter a single word from those sensuous, dangerous lips for her to understand the emotion radiating from his eyes.

  Hell. She touched her face in a nervous gesture that drew his gaze. Only Riccardo had ever been able to pull off that passionate intensity while still calling himself a twentieth-century man.

  “Don’t let him intimidate you,” Alex murmured. “This is your divorce party, remember? Own it.”

  Easier in theory than in practice. Particularly so when Riccardo relieved a waiter of two glasses of champagne and strode toward them, with a look of intent on his face that shook her to her core. She absorbed this new Riccardo. He looked as indecently gorgeous as ever in a black tux that set off his dark good looks. But it was the hard edge to him that was different. The strongly carved lines of his face seemed to have deepened, harshened. He’d shaved off the thick, dark waves that had used to fall over his forehead in favor of a short buzz cut that made him look tougher, even more dangerously attractive if that was possible. And the ruthless expession on his face, the glitter in those dark eyes, had never been used on her quite like that before.

  Her tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth, her pulse picking up into a rapid, insistent rhythm that had her nails digging into her palms. Why, after everything they’d gone through, was he still the only man who could simply look at her and make her shake in her shoes?

  Alex nudged her. “Dangerous controlled substance, remember?”

  Lilly squared her shoulders and pulled in a deep breath as Riccardo stopped in front of them. He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her cheek. “Late and wearing pink. One would think you’re deliberately trying to antagonize me, Lilly.”

  Her pulse sped into overdrive. “Maybe I’m celebrating my new-found freedom.”

  “Ah, but you don’t have it yet,” he countered, moving his lips to the other cheek. “And you aren’t putting me in the kind of mood to grant it to you.”

  Lilly was aware of all the eyes on them as he pulled back and stung her face with a reprimanding look that made her feel like a fifth-grader. “Don’t play games with me, Riccardo,” she said quietly. “I will turn around and walk out of here so fast you won’t know what hit you.”

  His dark eyes glinted. His mouth tipped up at the corners. “You’ve already done that, tesoro, and now you’re back.”

  Something exploded in her head. She was about to tell him exactly what she thought of his ultimatum, but he was bending down and kissing Alex.

  “Buonasera. I trust you’re well?”

  “Never better,” Alex muttered.

  “Do you think I might have a word with my wife alone?”

  Wife. He’d said the word with such supreme confidence—a statement of fact that hung on the air between them like a challenge. A tremor went down Lilly’s spine.

  “Whatever you have to say you can say it in front of my sister.”

  “Not this.” His gaze bored into hers. “Unless you want every gossip columnist in New York reporting on our conversation, I suggest we do it in private.”

  Considering it was only in the last few months Lilly’s name had finally disappeared from those columns, she conceded that might be a good idea. “Fine.”

  Riccardo turned to Alex. “Gabe is getting you a drink at the bar.”

  Alex rolled her eyes. “Determined to force a confrontation between all the members of the De Campo and Anderson families tonight?”

  “You’re only antagonistic toward the people who evoke strong emotions in you,” Riccardo taunted. “Try not to rip him in two, will you?”

  “You think that’s a good idea?” Lilly murmured, more to distract herself from the warm pressure of Riccardo’s big hand splayed against her back as he directed her from the room than out of concern for her sister, who could hold her own.

  “They love baiting each other. It’ll be the highlight of their evening.”

  She struggled to keep up with his long strides as he walked her up the stairs to the third floor, where the bedrooms were, nodding at the security guard stationed there. “Why are we coming up here?” she murmured, flushing at the guard’s interested gaze. “Why don’t we just talk in your study?”

  He kept walking past the guest bedrooms toward the master suite. “I won’t risk being overheard. We’ll talk on the patio off our bedroom.”

  “Your bedroom,” Lilly corrected. “And I don’t think—”

  “Basta, Lilly.” He glared at her. “I’m your husband, not some guy trying to come on to you.”

  Lilly clamped her mouth shut and followed him through the double doors of the master suite. She would not, whatever she did, look at the huge canopy bed they had shared. The scene of more erotically charged encounters than she cared to remember.

  Their marriage bed. The place where she and Riccardo had always been able to communicate.

  He pushed open the French doors to the large patio. The rose bushes he’d had planted for her along the edge had already started to bloom, emitting the gorgeous perfume she’d always loved.

  Ugh. She shoved her sentimentality down with a determined effort and spun to face him.

  “So?” she prompted, hostility edging her words. “What is it you have to say?”

  His gaze darkened. “You’re not too big for me to put you over my knee, tesoro. Push me a little harder and I will.”

  Lilly’s cheeks burned at that very seductive image. To her horror, her mind took her there—took her to a vision of Riccardo holding her over his muscular thighs, her naked behind squirming as he brought his hand down in a stinging reprimand.

  Dear God.

  A satisfied expression crossed his face. “Unnerving, isn’t it, that we only have to speak to each other in a certain way and that happens?”

  “Damn you, Riccardo.” She planted her feet wide and faced him head-on. “For over a year I’ve been trying to get you to give me a divorce and you’ve flatly denied it. Then you call me out of the blue with this crazy idea of making it official with a party, and now you’re playing cat and mouse with me. What the hell are you playing at?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the railing. “Maybe if you’d agreed to see me I wouldn’t have resorted to this.”

  “Nothing good ever comes of us being together. You know that.”

  His eyes glimmered as they swept over her. “That’s a big fat lie and you know it.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “Sex is not a good basis for a marriage.”

  “We had more than sex, Lilly.” His deep voice softened, taking on those velvet undertones that could make her melt in a nanosecond. “We had way, way more than that.”

  “It wasn’t enough! Do you know how happy I’ve been this past year?”

  He paled beneath his deep tan. “We were happy once.”

  She hugged her arms tighter around herself and fought the ache in her chest
that threatened to consume her. “We’re better off apart and you know it.”

  “I will never agree to that.”

  She lifted her chin. “I want a divorce. And if you won’t give it to me I’ll have my lawyer fight you until you do.”

  His mouth flattened. “I will drag it out for years.”

  “Why?” She pushed her hair out of her face and gave him a desperate look. “We’re done. We’ve hurt each other enough for a lifetime. We need to move on with our lives.”

  He jammed his hands into his pockets. The fierce, fighting expression in his eyes was one she knew all too well. But he said nothing. Silence sceamed between them until she thought she’d jump out of her skin.

  “All right.”

  She stared at him. “All right what?”

  “I will give you the divorce. On one condition.”

  She knew she should leave now—get the hell out of here as fast as she could. But she couldn’t force her feet to move.

  “I need you to remain my wife for six more months.”

  Her jaw dropped open. “Wh-what?”

  “My father feels I need to present a more grounded image to the board before they make their decision on a CEO.” He lifted his shoulders and twisted his lips in a cynical smile. “They apparently still haven’t bought my reformed image.”

  Lilly came crashing back to earth with the force of a meteorite bent on destruction. Any illusions she’d harbored—and she realized now she had harbored a few—about Riccardo not wanting to divorce her because he still loved her vanished at the point of impact. Something hot and bright burned the back of her eyes.

  “That’s ridiculous,” she managed huskily. “You left racing three years ago.”

  He shrugged. “It is what it is. I can’t change their perception.”

  Lilly almost choked on the irony of it. Everything Riccardo had ever done when they were together had been to dispel the image of himself as a reckless young racecar driver who hadn’t been committed to the family business.

  She shook her head. “Our marriage fell apart because of your obsession with your job. Your single-minded fixation on becoming CEO.”

  “One of any number of issues our marriage had,” he corrected grimly. “Be that as it may, my father wants us back togther. He thinks the media coverage will go a long way toward stabilizing my image with the board, and he’s made it a condition in my having his support.”

  His father wanted her back in his life? She’d always believed Antonio De Campo had thought her far beneath his son, with her poor upbringing, but he had been too polite to say it.

  “My father thinks you’re a good influence on me.” He gave a wry half-smile that softened those newly hardened features of his. “He’s quite likely right about that.”

  “This is crazy.” Lillly shook her head and paced to the opposite end of the patio. “We aren’t even capable of pretending we’re a happily married couple.”

  “You have a short memory, Lilly.”

  His soft reprimand drew her gaze to his face.

  “Six months. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “I want a divorce,” she repeated, raising her voice as this insane conversation kept plowing forward. “What makes you think I would ever consider helping you?”

  He tilted his head to one side. “What are you afraid of? That we have way more unfinished business than you care to admit?”

  She squared her shoulders. “We are over, Riccardo. And this is not a good idea.”

  “It’s a great idea. Six months buys you your freedom.”

  “What other conditions has your father imposed?” she asked helplessly. “Are you to stop driving fast cars and dating international supermodels?”

  He scowled. “Not one of those rumors are true. There’s been no one since you.”

  She stiffened. “We all know there’s truth to the tabloids.”

  “Not one, Lilly.”

  “Riccardo,” she said desperately. “No.”

  He stalked over, invading her space. “What is it, tesoro? Got plans with Harry Taylor?”

  How did he know about Harry? They’d been so low-key as to be socially non-existent. “Yes,” she snapped. “I’d like to move on, and maybe you should do the same.”

  He lifted his hand and took her chin in his fingers. “You forget we made a vow, amore mio. ‘For richer and poorer, in sickness and in health...’”

  “That was before you broke it.”

  A dangerous glimmer entered his eyes. “I never slept with Chelsea Tate. We’ve had this conversation.”

  “We are never going to agree on that,” she bit out, throwing his words back at him. “Nor could we ever fake any real affection for each other. It would be laughable.”

  “Oh, but I think we could,” he murmured, lowering his head to hers. “Even the thought of me spanking you turns you on.”

  She pulled out of his grip. “Riccardo—”

  He slid a hand into her hair and brought her back. “You went there, Lilly. And so did I.”

  “No, I—”

  He smothered her reply with a kiss Lilly felt down to her toes, deep and sensuous. He didn’t bother with the preliminaries. He simply took—kissing her exactly the way he knew she liked it, using every weapon at his disposal. Lilly curled her fingers into his shirt, intending to push him away, but she didn’t quite seem to be able to do it.

  He pulled her closer, anchored her against him. “Ric—” she murmured as he changed angles and came back to her.

  “Shut up, Lilly,” he commanded, sliding his fingers up her bare arms and closing his mouth over hers.

  This time his kiss was softer, more persuasive than controlling, pleasurable rather than punishing. And something fell apart inside her. It had been too long since he’d kissed her like this, too long since she’d been in his arms, and God help her...of all the things they had not been good at, it hadn’t been this.

  “Dammit.” She grabbed a handful of shirt to steady herself. “This is not fair.”

  He slid a hand down over the curve of her hip and brought her body into full contact with his. The feel of his hard body against her made her shiver, remembering everything.

  “Nothing was ever fair between us. It was like a wild rollercoaster ride we couldn’t get enough of.”

  He shifted her between the hard muscles of his thighs and brought his mouth down on hers again with a look of pure intent. His rigid, pulsing arousal pressed against her, making Lilly ache all over.

  No, an inner voice warned. But all that came out was a groan.

  He dragged her even closer, a satisfied growl escaping his throat. “Open your mouth, Lil.”

  Caught up in the pure, hot sexual power he had over her, she obeyed. She didn’t think about the one hundred and fifty people downstairs, or even what a huge mistake this was. She just wanted this kiss, this magic, the hot intimacy of his tongue tangling with hers.

  Oh. She melted into him as her knees threatened to give way. It was like someone offering an alcoholic a double shot after months of abstinence. Pure hedonism. And she wrapped herself in it.

  A flash of light exploded around them. She stumbled backward, disoriented, blinking into the bright light that kept coming and coming.

  Riccardo cursed and pulled her away from the railing. “Dio. How did they get here?”

  “A photographer?” Lilly asked dazedly.

  He nodded.

  She touched her fingers to her mouth, still burning from his kiss. Riccardo had security everywhere. It didn’t make sense that a photographer would be able to get up here. “You planned that,” she said flatly. “You set that up for your father’s benefit.”

  “I set this party up for my father’s benefit,” he agreed darkly. “For the board’s benefit. Not that
photo.”

  She pressed her palms to her temples. She didn’t want to be back here. She couldn’t go on walking around like a half-alive person, going through the motions but never really feeling anything. She needed this divorce.

  His face tightened. “What? Afraid the good doctor won’t understand a six-month hiatus?”

  She shook her head. “The answer is no. No, no and no.”

  He straighened his shirt and raked a hand through his hair. “We’ll make the announcement at ten.”

  She turned her back on him and started for the door.

  “I’ll give you the house.”

  She stopped in her tracks.

  “You’ve never wanted anything from me, but I know you love this house. I’ll sign it over to you at the end of the six months.”

  Lilly opened her mouth to tell him where he could put his offer, but the words died in her mouth. The house would pay for Lisbeth’s treatment. Fifty times over.

  “Tempting, isn’t it? Your dream house...without me in it?”

  She counted to five before she turned around. As if any amount of money would be enough to convince her that revisitng their ruin of a marriage was worth it.

  But she was desperate. And she didn’t have the luxury of time.

  She lifted her gaze to his. “I will think about it.”

  “Ten o’clock, Lilly.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Think of yourself as Cinderella, only your deadline isn’t midnight—it’s ten. And I’m the devil you know.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  LILLY SPENT THE intervening hours coming up with a million different reasons why she would be crazy to agree to Riccardo’s proposal. He was once again using her in his single-minded pursuit of the De Campo CEO job. He didn’t really want her—he wanted Lilly De Campo the figurehead, his perfect society wife who could smile and say intelligent things to the very intelligent people they met. And, dammit, her life was finally back on track! She had built up her practice, she had started to do the things she loved again, and she had a life.