THE INNOCENT WIFE

CHAPTER TWO

Roseanne listened to the doctor's explanation as best she could. But with Lisa staring broodingly across at her, it was difficult to concentrate on anything. Despite Roseanne's brave declaration before the battery of tests she'd been subjected to, Lisa was standing intractably in the hospital room, looking to all the world as though she belonged at Roseanne's side.

"Bottom line?" Her ex-wife cut across Doctor Klein's thorough explanation.

Rod nodded. "No permanent damage. You will have to take it easy for a few days, Roseanne. No marathons. No mountain climbing. Certainly no other head injuries, if you can manage that. We'll keep you here for another night or so just to be sure."

"I'll be fine," she promised croakily. She felt so banged up, now that the heavy duty painkillers had worn off, that she didn't see much in her future beyond the sofa, and whatever the BBC decided to dish out.

"I intend to make sure of it." Lisa's darkly muttered promise sounded more like a threat to Roseanne's ears. But Roseanne waited until the doctor had excused himself before she took issue with Lisa's statement.

"Lisa, I didn't ask you to come." In the year they'd been married, Roseanne had barely disagreed with Lisa. Taking up a position of staunch opposition to her now filled Roseanne with a deep sense of discomfort and pain, but she continued nonetheless. "And I don't want you here." She swallowed, and lifted a hand to the column of her neck. Her pulse was beating frantically and she put her fingertips on it. "I'd actually be a lot happier if you were anywhere but here."

Lisa shrugged, and kicked one ankle over her own knee, reclining indolently and inspecting Roseanne with arrogant ease. "And yet you are stuck with me."

Roseanne's heart pinched inside of her chest. With great effort, she held onto the cool exterior she'd spent the last three years perfecting. "No, I'm not."

Lisa's black eyes showed a sense of surprise, but nothing else in her demeanour altered. "I'm not offering. Nor am I asking. I'm telling you that I will be overseeing your recovery and safety for the foreseeable future."

Roseanne pulled her lower lip between her teeth and gnawed at it. "And I'm telling you that I'll call the police if you don't leave me alone."

Roseanne knew Lisa so well. She had become a world expert in the ways of Lisa Manoban, so that even the most minuscule gesture spoke volumes to her. The way Lisa's knuckles were white, for example, as she gripped her hands in her lap, showed Roseanne that Lisa was only managing to hold onto her temper with an extreme effort.

Roseanne smiled at Lisa tersely. "You heard the doctor. I need to avoid stress while I'm recovering. And you stress me. Thinking about our failure of a marriage is not something I like to do. So if you care about me at all, you'll leave. And let me be."

Lisa dipped her head forward so that Roseanne wouldn't see the way her words had struck a cord in her. Wasn't that the very reason Lisa'd allowed Roseanne to leave her? To let their divorce go unchallenged? Lisa had been bad for Roseanne. Lisa'd known it at the time, and she'd wanted to avoid hurting Roseanne, so she'd let Roseanne go.

And now?

Now, there was a threat far greater than the firestorm they unleashed on one another. Now. There was someone else out there looking to hurt Roseanne. And Lisa knew, in her heart of hearts, that it was because of her. Because Roseanne'd been married to her, and Lisa'd had the misfortune of being born to one of Italy's most notorious organised crime bosses.

Lisa clenched her jaw and firmed her resolve. "You are in danger, cara mia. My protection is not optional. But you do not need to worry your pretty little head. Once that threat has passed, I will leave you alone again, and get back to my own life."