Second-Time Bride by Lynne Graham Page A

at speed through the drawers of her desk, extracting a small teddy bear, a single shoe, three fat romantic novels, two hairbrushes and several packets of tights. He stuffed the lot into the leather holdall. ‘Have you a coat? One? Two?’
    â€˜I’ll see to that.’ Joyce giggled into the resounding silence and crossed the room to a cupboard, to emerge with two umbrellas, a coat, a jacket and a pair of red stiletto-heeled ankle-boots which had sent Barry into such paroxysms of lust that Daisy had stopped wearing them out of pity.
    â€˜I’ll be back,’ Daisy said defiantly.
    â€˜You’re not the Terminator,’ Alessio dropped in with gentle satire as he curved a hand round her elbow and marched her out into the fresh air, Joyce following in their wake. ‘Didn’t the toy boy ever figure out how to derail you? Take you by surprise and you’re as helpless as a tortoise turned on its back, cara .’
    â€˜Was it love at first sight?’ Joyce prompted with dreamily intent eyes as she passed Daisy’s possessions over to the chauffeur.
    â€˜Is that when you feel like you’ve been run over by a tank?’ Alessio enquired with a deeply reflective air. ‘That magical but gut-wrenching moment when you realise that nothing is ever going to be the same again? It was more like having a very large rock dropped on me from a height. The earth may have moved but I wasn’t fast enough on my feet.’
    Daisy studied him in disbelief.
    â€˜I suppose men feel they have to fight it,’ Joyce sighed philosophically. ‘But you didn’t fight for long, did you?’
    â€˜I don’t think you want the answer to that one,’ Alessio murmured, pressing Daisy into the limousine and tossing her bag in after her.
    â€˜How could you embarrass me like that?’ Daisy demanded as the car drew away from the kerb. ‘How am I supposed to explain all that nonsense you talked?’
    â€˜You won’t have to. When I said you weren’t setting foot in there again I was not joking. I have already acquired a special licence. We can get married on Saturday morning before Tara goes off on her school trip to France,’ Alessio explained with immovable calm.
    Her lashes fluttered over incredulous violet eyes. ‘A special licence? S-Saturday?’ she stammered. ‘Are you crazy? We’re divorced and staying that way!’
    â€˜Are you prepared to lose Tara?’ Astute golden eyes rested on her enquiringly.
    Daisy stiffened. ‘Are you threatening me?’
    â€˜It was a warning. I’m telling you what may well happen if we don’t get married and present a united front,’ Alessio pronounced with deflating cool. ‘You chose to bring Tara up outside the society in which she belongs and her life is now about to change out of all recognition. She is not in any way prepared for that transformation and my family will try to spoil her as much as they spoiled me.’
    Daisy dropped her head in surprise at that admission.
    â€˜Everything Tara wants, she will receive. You couldn’t possibly compete from a distance, any more than you can continue to deny who she is. She’s a Leopardi and one day she will be an extremely wealthy young woman. She will have to make major adjustments.’
    â€˜I could help her—’
    â€˜How could you help if you weren’t there? And how quick would you be to blame me if anything went wrong? Tara will need more backup than I can give her. She will need her mother’s full support. When she realises how much she has missed out on, you won’t find it easy to stay in control when she’s abroad and you’re still here in London,’ Alessio pointed out drily.
    He had spelt out realities about Tara’s future that Daisy did not want to hear. Her daughter would indeed find the Leopardi lifestyle shockingly seductive. Her grandparents would undoubtedly greet her with open