Margaret Bingley
November 4th 2014
Set in the second half of the twentieth century, Lisa Green comes from a world of privilege, but only in the way of wealth, not in love. When a turn of events leaves her single, with an Autistic child to raise, without the means to support herself, Lisa gets stuck in an abusive new relationship that she is desperate to get out of. BETRAYAL catalogs one woman’s search for love without conditions, sexual or otherwise, in a world that seems bent against her.
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Excerpt
When Renato Bellini's red Ferrari drew up outside the Chelsea flat he felt curiously excited. He'd heard so much about this new woman of Neal's that he was eager to see her for himself. He was the last of the six guests to arrive but when he walked into the room all conversation stopped.
His eyes swept the room until they came to rest on the woman he'd been waiting to see. The woman who, according to all reports, had caused Neal Gueras to lose his business grip. His first thought was that she was as far removed from his vision of a femme fatale as it was possible to be. Tall, slim and fragile-looking, he received no immediate message of sexuality from her. Instead he experienced an overwhelming desire to protect her from the complicated web of intrigue and deceit in which she was now involved. A desire as futile as it was alien to his nature. He knew he was already too late.
Only when the other guests began to murmur among themselves did he realise he'd been staring at her for too long. Immediately he walked with long, smooth strides across the room and shook hands with Neal, giving him the briefest smile possible. 'I am late it appears. My apologies,' he said politely.
'Not at all,' responded Neal, who'd noticed the attention given to Lisa and felt flattered that his choice of woman was so appreciated. 'I don't believe you've met Lisa. Lisa, my dear, this is Renato Bellini, one of the Italian banking family.'
Lisa held out her hand, faintly overwhelmed by the size of the man . He was considerably taller than anyone else in the room, and with his large shoulders and leonine head, topped by a mass of wavy, unruly hair, was the most unlikely Italian imaginable.
Bending over her hand he lifted it to his mouth, allowing his lips to brush lightly against her skin. A shiver ran up her arm and she found her eyes caught by his. For a brief moment they might have been the only two people in the room. 'I've heard a lot about you,' she said quietly.
'And I you. You are not at all what I expected.'
'In what way?'
He smiled with all of his charm but his eyes were solemn. 'You are far more beautiful, and far too young for my friend, Neal!'
Lisa laughed lightly, well aware that Neal wasn't in the least amused.
'How kind of you. I must admit that you're not at all what I expected either.'
'In what way is that?'
'I thought all Italians were small and dark.'
'It appears we are both a grave disappointment to each other!' he retorted, but his eyes said otherwise, and Lisa was astonished by the thrill of pleasure simply talking to him was giving her. She felt like a twelve-year old girl in the presence of her favourite pop star. It was both ridiculous and yet in a strange way a relief because now she knew for certain that Toby hadn't made it impossible for her to react strongly to a man.
