dismissively, as caught up in this strangely intimate
exchange as Jodie. "A skilled lover has it in his power
to create a full flowering of even the most tightly
closed bud."
A shock of tingling awareness quivered through her
belly as Jodie absorbed the meaning of his astoundingly
arrogant statement.
"Not that many young women are tightly closed
buds in this day and age," Lorenzo added sardonically,
as he watched the colour come and go in the
pale face that was so shadowed with tiredness.
"Modern women have claimed the right to their
own sexuality," Jodie responded fiercely. "They do
not"
"It does not sound to me as though you have been
very effective in claiming yours," Lorenzo told her
derisively. "In fact, if I were to make an assessment
of it, I would guess that your experience is extremely
limited otherwise you would not have lost your man
to another woman."
His sheer arrogant machismo both astounded and
infuriated her. But she was forced to admit that non
existent would have been a more accurate estimation
of her sexual expertise. Painfully she released the
pent-up breath his words had caused her to hold, in
shaky relief that he had not added to her existing humiliation
by somehow recognising that she was still
a virgin. Not by choice, though. All those months in
hospital, after the car crash in which her parents had
been killed and she had been so badly injured that at
one point it had been feared she would not survive,
had stolen a large chunk out of her life.
"Which, presumably, is why you are confusing
physical lust with love a word, an emotion, your sex
has laid claim to and downvalued to the extent that
is now worthless," Lorenzo continued harshly.
"My sex?" Jodie took up the challenge immediately,
the gold-hued warmth of her eyes heating to an indignant
dark amber.
"Yes, your sex! Do you deny that women have now
become as much serial adulterers as they once
claimed only men could be? That their reasons for
marriage are based on their own selfish and shallow
emotions and needs needs which in their eyes come
before the needs of anyone else, even the children
they bear?"
The bitterness she could hear in his voice momentarily
shocked Jodie into silence. But she rallied
quickly to defend her sex, pointing out, "If that is your
consistent experience of women, then maybe you are
the common factor and the one to blame."
"I? So you believe that if a child is abandoned by
its mother, it is the child who is at fault? A novel
mindset which only underlines what I have just
been saying!"
"No, that is not what I meant" Jodie began.
But it was too late. He was ignoring her words to
demand autocratically, "What is your name?"
"Jodie. Jodie Oliver. What is your name?" she
asked equally firmly, not to be outdone.
For the first time since he had stopped his car she
sensed a momentary hesitation in him before he said
coolly, "Lorenzo."
"The Magnificent?" Jodie quipped, and then went
bright red as he looked at her.
Il Magnifico. That had always been Ginos teasing
way of addressing him, claiming that it was no wonder
he had been so successful when he carried the
same name as one of Florences most famous Medici
rulers.
"You know the history of the Medici?" he shot at
Jodie.
"Some of it," she said neutrally, suddenly not wanting
any more argument with a stranger. She was beginning
to feel very tired and weak. "Look, I need to
get in touch with the car hire firm and tell them about
the car, but my mobile isnt working. Could you possibly?"
He must surely be going back through the
village she had driven through there was nowhere
else to go. If he would take her there she might be
able to find a room for the night and telephone the
car rental people.
"Could I possibly what?" Lorenzo demanded. "Help
you? Certainly." She had just started to sag with relief
when he added softly, "Provided that you agree to
help me."
Instantly warning signals flashed their messages inside
her head, causing her to tense.
"Help you?" she repeated cautiously.
"Yes. I need a wife."
He was mad. Completely and utterly insane. She
was stuck on a deserted road with a madman.
"Youwant me to help you find a wife?" she managed
to ask, as though it were the most natural request
in the world.
Lorenzos mouth compressed, and he gave her a
look of cold derision. "Dont be ridiculous. No, I do
not want you to help me find a wife. I want you to
become my wife," he told her coolly.
CHAPTER THREE
SHE was being ridiculous?
"You want me to be your wife?" Jodie repeated
slowly. "Im sorry, but"
"You Dont want to marry ever. Yes, I know,"
Lorenzo interrupted dismissively. "But this would not
be an ordinary marriage. I need a wife, and I need
one within the next few weeks. I have as little real
desire for a wife as you have for a husband although
for different reasons. Therefore it seems to me that
you and I could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.
I get the wife I need, and you, after we
have been married for twelve months, get a divorce
andshall we say one million pounds?"
Jodie blinked and shook her head, not sure that she
had actually heard him correctly.
"You want me to agree to marry you and stay with
you for twelve months?"
"You will be well reimbursed for your time and
it is only your time and your status as my wife that I
shall require. Your presence in my bed will not be
part of the arrangement."
"Youre crazy," Jodie told him flatly. "I Dont know
anything about you, and I"
"You know that I am prepared to pay you a million
pounds to be my wife. As for the rest" He gave an
arrogant shrug of his powerful shoulders, and told her,
briefly and dismissively, "There will be time later for
me to explain to you everything you need to know."
By rights she ought to be scared to death, Jodie
decided. But, despite the fact that she was obviously
in the presence of a madman, for some reason the
main emotion that filled her was not fear but bemusement.
Bemusement and a certain sense that fate
had listened in to her secret thoughts and decided to
take a hand in her life. Here was the opportunity
the man her pride had ached for
Was she mad? She surely couldnt be thinking of
accepting his ridiculous proposition?
"If you want a wife that badly, surely there must
be someone"
"Many someones," Lorenzo stopped her sardonically.
"Unfortunately they would all want what I do
not want to give it is amazing how easily your sex
claims undying love when money and social position
are involved."
"You mean you would be targeted by fortune-
hunters?" Jodie guessed shrewdly. It was obvious, after
all not just from his car and his clothes, but more
betrayingly from his manner that he was wealthy.
"Is that why you want to marry me, because a fake
marriage will keep them at bay?"
"Not exactly."
"Then why?"
"Its a condition of my late grandmothers will that
I either marry within a certain time of her death or I
forfeitsomething that means a great deal to me."
Jodies forehead crinkled into a small frown.
"But why on earth would she do that? I mean, either
she wanted you to inherit whatever it is or she
didnt."
"The situation is more complex than that, and involves
other issues. Let us just say that my grandmother
was persuaded to do something that she
thought was in my best interests by someone who was
following their own agenda."
Jodie waited for him to continue, but instead he
reached for her hand. "Give me your car keys and"
She gave a small, determined shake of her head.
"No." If she wasnt already totally off men for life,
this man and his unbelievable arrogance would surely
be enough to put her off them, she decided angrily.
But at the same time an insidiously tempting possibility
had begun to form inside her head. What if
she were to agree, on condition that Lorenzo escorted
her to John and Louises wedding? With the whole
village invited, two extra guests wouldnt cause any
problemsand, yes, she admitted it, there was a part
of her that was sore enough and woman enough to
want to be there, showing the world and the newly
married couple that not only did she not care about
their betrayal, but that she had a new partner of her
own. wasnt there a saying, "Living well is the best
revenge"? And how much better could a discarded
and unwanted fiance.e live than by showing off her
new, better-looking and far more eligible man? A
man, moreover, who desperately wanted to marry her!
She was wrenched out of this mental triumphant
return to the scene of her humiliation by Lorenzos
arrogantly disbelieving voice. "No?"
It was ridiculous that she could even contemplate
doing something so shallow, and it showed the effect
that just a few minutes in the company of a man like
Lorenzo was having on her. She was not going to let
herself listen to the urgings of her pride. Leaving it
and her conscience to wage war on one another with
an undignified exchange of inner accusations, she
tried to do the sensible thing, and told Lorenzo firmly,
"Even someone asas arrogant and used to getting
what they want as you seem to be must see that what
Youre suggesting just isnt"
"A million isnt enough? Is that what Youre trying
to say?"
Her face burned. "The money has nothing to do
with it." The cynical look he gave her at that made
her burst out angrily, "I cant be bought. Not by John,
and certainly not by you."
"John?"
He hadnt pounced so much as leapt on her small
betrayal, and now he was looking at her as she imagined
a large sleek cat might look at a mouse it was
enjoying tormenting.
But she was not a mouse, and she wasnt going to
be either bullied or tormented by any man ever again.
She lifted her head and told him coolly, "My exfiance.
He offered me money, too, but he was offering
it out of guilt, because he didnt want to marry me,
not as a bribe because he did. He wanted me to be
the one to break off our engagement, so that no one
could accuse him of dumping me. Obviously you both
share the same male mindset. Like you, he thought
that he could buy what he wanted, regardless of what
I might be feeling." Despite her attempt to appear unaffected
by what she was revealing, a mixture of sadness
and cynicism shadowed her eyes. Her mouth
twisted slightly as she added, "In a way, I suppose he
did me a favour. Knowing that he thought so little of
me that he would buy his way out of our relationship