One Last Night Read Online Free Page A

collection of damaged cells that nature had decided were best sloughed away. They had been her precious babies, each and every one of them.
    Giorgio hated failure. He was a ruthlessly committed businessman who refused to tolerate defeat in any shape or form. Success drove him, as it had driven his grandfather and his late father to build the heritage that stood unrivalled in the world of luxury hotels. Giorgio had no time for life's annoying little hiccups. He wanted results and went about achieving them mercilessly if he had to. That was how Maya had ended up his wife. His father had just been injured in a terrible head-on collision and was lying in a semi-coma in hospital, not expected to live past a few weeks.
    Giorgio had decided Maya would be an ideal candidate for a wife: educated, poised, young and healthy and in the prime of her reproductive life. How wrong he had been to choose her of all people, she thought bitterly. He could have done so much better, a fact some members of his family had hinted at over the last year or so. They were subtle about it, of course: an occasional comment over dinner about someone's newborn child or how one of Giorgio's school friends was now a father of twins. Each comment had been a stake through Maya's heart, worsening her sense of failure, shattering her self-confidence, destroying her hope of one day being a mother.
    She had failed as a Sabbatini wife. She had let the dynasty down and, until she got out of Giorgio's life, his family would continue to look upon her with pity and disappointment.
    Giorgio put his glass down on the wrought iron table before he faced her. 'My grandfather is dying,' he said in a low, serious tone. 'He told me this morning. He has less than a month or two at most to live. No one else in the family knows.'
    Maya felt her heart drop like a ship's anchor inside her chest. 'Oh, no…'
    His throat rose and fell over a tight swallow. 'That's why he wanted all the family here tonight.
    He wanted tonight to be a happy celebration. He didn't want anyone's pity. He will make the announcement to family and friends in the next week or two.'
    Maya could understand Salvatore's motivation in keeping tonight focused on his birthday instead of his impending demise. Pride was something she had come to recognise as a particular Sabbatini trait. Giorgio had it in buckets and barrels and spades. 'Thank you for telling me,' she said softly, not quite understanding why he had. Why hadn't he told Luca and Nic, his two brothers, for instance?
    His eyes were still meshed with hers. 'I want you to think about postponing your trip to London,'
    he said. 'Call the school and tell them you can't make the interview. Tell them you need to take compassionate leave.'
    She stared at him, open-mouthed. 'I can't take leave before I've even got the job. They will give it to someone else.'
    He lifted a shoulder. 'If they do, then you weren't meant to have it. If they think you are the best one for the position they will wait until you are available.'
    Maya frowned at him furiously. 'Of course they won't keep the job open for me. I'm the least experienced of the candidates. I haven't stood in front of a classroom since I was at university on teaching practice. I won't stand a chance if I don't turn up for the interview.'
    'You don't need the job right at this moment, Maya,' he said. 'I have agreed on an incredibly generous allowance. If you want to work, then I am sure other jobs will come along in time.'
    Maya threw him a castigating look. 'Why do you have to be so damned philosophical about everything?'
    He returned her frown with a challenging arc of one brow. 'Why do you have to be so irrational and emotional?'

    Maya turned away and looked out over the wintry gardens, her hands gripping the balustrade so tightly her knuckles ached. 'Is this really about your grandfather's health or an attempt to make me change my mind about the divorce?'
    He didn't respond for so long she wondered if he had