One Last Night by Melanie Milburne Page B

haven't deliberately spoilt Gonzo. He misses you, that's all. I didn't realise how much until we had separated.'
    He looked across at her for a pulsing moment, his eyes inscrutable and impossibly dark. 'Well, he will not have to worry about that now.'
    Maya tied her fingers into a knot in her lap. 'We haven't really discussed this properly,' she said.
    'You said our marriage is to continue indefinitely, but that is not just up to you. I have some say in it, surely?'
    He started the car with a rocket-fuel roar, putting it into gear with a savage movement of his hand. 'You, for once, Maya, will do as you are told. I am tired of being painted as the bad guy in all of this. I have done the best I could do under the circumstances. I know I am not the best husband in the world, but neither am I the worst. We've had some bad luck. Lots of people do, even worse things than we've experienced. We should both be mature enough to deal with it and move on.'

    Maya clenched her teeth to stop herself from flinging an invective his way. He always made it seem as if she was the one who was being childish and petty, giving up in a pout when she should have pressed on. The nine-year age gap between them didn't help. It gave him an edge in experience that she couldn't see how she could ever make up.
    'But we have nothing in common,' she said. 'I don't see how we can make our marriage work when it's already failed once.'
    'We have more in common than you realise,' he said. 'We both love dogs, for instance.'
    She rolled her eyes at him. 'Lots of people love dogs. It doesn't mean they would make a great life partner.'
    'It's a start, Maya,' he said. 'And we're sexually compatible. You can't deny that now, can you?'
    Maya turned her gaze away as she felt the stirring of her body. She quickly crossed her legs, hoping to suppress it but, if anything, it made her more aware of her need of him.
    One of his hands reached across and squeezed hers. 'Just in case there are paparazzi around, put on a happy face, Maya,' he said. 'It's really important my grandfather believes this to be a genuine reconciliation.'
    Maya glanced at him as he took his hand away to change gear. 'You don't feel uncomfortable about lying to him?' she asked. 'You've always been close to him. Don't you think he will see through this charade for what it is?'
    He gave a little up and down movement of his shoulders. 'I don't see that I am lying to him at all,'
    he said. 'This is what I want right now. A divorce is out of the question.'
    She frowned as she studied his expression as he focused on the traffic ahead. 'You didn't exactly beg me to return to you when I instigated proceedings, though, did you?'
    He sent her a quick inscrutable glance before turning back to the road in front. 'I knew I was making you unhappy. There seemed no point in continuing to make you miserable just to keep up appearances. Anyway, you should know me well enough by now to know it's not in my nature to beg.'
    There was that damn Sabbatini pride raising its head again, Maya thought. 'So the only way to get me back was to blackmail me emotionally,' she said. 'You knew I wouldn't say no to Salvatore, so you used his illness to your advantage.'
    'You make it sound as if I have engineered his illness for my own gain,' Giorgio said. 'I would give anything to keep my grandfather alive for another ten years but that is not what fate has decided.'

    'All the same, this situation really works to your advantage, doesn't it?' she said. 'You get to stall a very expensive divorce for a few more weeks, if not months.'
    He looked at her as if she was a small, disobedient child he was reprimanding. 'It could be years, Maya. You need to get your head around that. Sabbatinis do not take divorce lightly.'
    She sent him a hot little glare. 'Do you think I care a fig for your black credit card lifestyle?
    Money can buy you a lot of things, but it can't buy the most valuable thing in life.'
    'You seemed to enjoy what came your way,'