Lucy Gordon - The Millionaire Tycoon's English Rose

The sixth book in the Rinucci Brothers series, 2007

SLIGHTLYto your leftbit morebit morereach out nowcan you feel it?

Yes, Celia called in delight.

Her fingers made their way through the water until they touched the rock, eased around it, up, down, exploring in all directions, while the mans voice on the radio spoke in her ear.

Try a little farther along. Feel the shape of it.

Ive got it, she said into her own radio. Now I want to go down farther.

Ken, controlling her lightly from on land, asked into the microphone, Sure you havent had enough for the day?

Ive barely started. I want to do lots more yet.

From the radio in her ear she heard Kens chuckle as he recognised her familiar cry of lots more yet. It was the mantra by which she lived, her shout of defiance in the face of her blindness. Shed learned it from her blind parents whose motto had been, Who needs eyes?

I want to go down much deeper, she said.

He groaned. Your boyfriend will murder me.

Dont call him my boyfriend as though we were a couple of kids.

What, then?

Good question. What should she call Francesco Rinucci? Her fianc? No, for theyd never talked about marriage. Her live-in companion? Yes, but that didnt begin to explain it. Her lover? That was true, she thought, shivering pleasurably with the thought. Yes, definitely her lover. But also so much more.

Dont worry about Francesco, she said. I didnt tell him I was coming here. If he finds out, hell be too busy murdering me to bother with you. Cmon, let me down. You know Ill be all right.

If its OK with Fiona, Ken said, naming her diving partner.

Fine with me, Fiona sang out on the same frequency. Lets go.

She took Celias hand and the two of them sank lower and lower into the water of Mounts Bay, just off the coast of Cornwall in England. They, Ken and his crew had set out from Penzance an hour ago, stopping about a mile from the coast in a place that reputedly concealed a sunken pirate galleon.

Went down in a fierce battle with the British Navy, hed told them as they made their way out to sea. And they never recovered the treasure, so you may be lucky.

You dont need to give me your professional spiel. Celia had laughed. Just having the experience is treasure enough for me.

Shed forced herself to be patient while they strapped the cylinders onto her back and demonstrated how everything worked. She was wearing a full-face mask, which she had at first resisted.

I thought it would just be goggles and a mouthpiece connecting me to the oxygen cylinders, shed protested.

Yes, but I want to keep radio contact with you, so you need a full-face mask, he had said firmly.

Shed yielded under pressure. Then Fiona had taken her hand and the two of them had gone into the water together.

Now Celia could feel her whole body deliciously chilly from the water encasing her outside the rubber suit.

There were more rocks to be felt, plants, sometimes even the exquisite sense of a large fish flapping past, which made her laugh with delight. But the real pleasure lay in the sensation of being free of the world and its tensions.

Free of Francesco Rinucci?

Reluctantly, she admitted that the answer was yes. She adored him, but shed run away from him as far as she could go. Shed planned this dive a week ago, and kept it a secret from him, saddened by the need, but determined not to yield. If you were blind it was hard enough to keep control of your own life without having to deal with a man who loved you so much that he tried to muffle you in cotton wool.

All right? came Fionas voice over the radio.

Yes, its so beautiful, she said eagerly.

Nobody who knew Celia would be surprised at her saying beautiful. She had her own notion of beauty that had nothing to do with eyes. Everything that reached her through the pressure of the water-the coolness and the freedom-all this was beauty.

You can let me go, she said, and felt Fionas hand slip away.

With Ken still holding the other end of the line she wasnt completely free, but she could rely on him to back off as much as possible, and give her the illusion. Francesco could learn so much from him. But Francesco would never face how much he didnt know.

She kicked out with her flippers and powered through the water, relishing the sensation of it streaming past her. Suddenly she was at one with the water, part of it, glorying in it.

Wheeeeeeee! she cried.

Celia? Ken sounded nervous.

Its all right, she said, laughing. Its just me going crazy.

No change there, then.

Nope. Wheeeeeeee!

Do you mind? he complained. That was my eardrum.

She chuckled. How far down am I?

About a hundred feet.

Let me have another forty.

Twenty. Thats the limit of safety.

Twenty-five, she begged.

Twenty, he declared implacably.

The line loosened and she sank farther, reaching out at plants and rocks, anything and everything in this marvellous world.

There had been another time when shed thought the world was marvellous, when shed just met Francesco. Hed walked into her workplace and stood talking to the receptionist. Celia had been alerted by a soft, Wow! from Sally, her young assistant, who was sighted.

Wow? she queried.

Wow!

Thats a lot of wow. Celia chuckled. Tell me about him.

Hes tall and dark with deep blue eyes. Probably late thirties, black hair, waves a bit. I like the way he moves-sort of easy and graceful-and he knows how to wear an expensive suit.

Youve priced his suit? Celiad demanded, amused.

Ive seen it on sale and it costs a fortune. In fact, from the way it fits, Ill bet he had it specially made for him. Hes got that sort of something about him. An air-like the world is his, hell take it when it suits him, and in the meantime it can wait until he is ready.

Youre really studying the subject, arent you? Celiad said, chuckling.

Naturally I want to give you an accurate description. Oh, yes, and hes got a brooding look that you only see in film stars-Oh, gosh, I forgot you havent seen any film stars. Im really sorry.

Dont apologise, Celiad said warmly. I work hard to make people forget that I cant see. You just told me Ive succeeded. But Ive always been blind, so I cant imagine anything. I dont know what colours look like, or shapes and sizes. I have to discover them by touch.

Well, his shape and size would really be worth discovering by touch, Sallyd said frankly, and Celiad burst into a peal of laughter.

Hes looking this way, Sallyd hissed. Now hes coming over.

Next thing Celia heard a quiet, deep voice with the hint of an Italian accent. Good morning. My name is Francesco Rinucci. Im looking for Celia Ryland.

The moment she heard his voice she could see him-not in the kind of detail Sally had explained, but in her own way. Easy and graceful, an air as though the world was his; those she had understood at once.

Now, making her way through the water and remembering, she thought that the world really had been his. And when she was in his arms, the world had been hers.

But that had been five months ago. In five short months shed loved him passionately, fought with him furiously, and learned that she must escape him at all costs.

Five months, and so much had happened in between. So much joy, so much bitterness, so much regret that they had ever met, so much thankfulness that she had known him even for a brief time.

She remembered everything of their meeting. Details reached her differently from other people, but more intensely. As was her way, she had been the first to offer her hand, and had felt him clasp it in return. His hand felt strong and good, with long fingers and a feeling of suppressed power. It had made her wonder about the rest of him.