She swallowed. “But you didn’t call me.”
He smiled ruefully. “A man is allowed to at least try not to give in too easily.”
“Easily!” Bella echoed incredulously. “You’ve been an absolute pain today.”
“Not all the time,” he reminded.
No, not all the time. “Please stay safe.” She reached out to gently squeeze his arm. “And please don’t…don’t let anyone hurt Matteo either.”
Bryce leaned forward and kissed her chastely on the forehead. “I’ll do everything within my power to ensure nothing happens to your brother.” He stepped away, giving a nod to Haydn, the two men leaving the house minutes later.
Chapter Eleven
“Bryce is a man who always keeps his word.”
Bella turned to face Rourke Steele. “I’m sorry there wasn’t time for the two of us to be introduced properly.” She held out her hand. “I’m Bella Smith.”
His studied her but made no move to take that proffered hand. “You’re Isabella Zalotti.” He finally answered, his voice hard.
She allowed her hand to fall back to her side. “Yes, I am. But I prefer to be known as Bella Smith.”
Rourke’s brows rose. “I would prefer to be George Clooney, but we can’t all have what we prefer.”
“In the Oceans or O Brother Where Art Thou?”
“The former, obviously.”
She shrugged. “I’m guessing wearing the hairnet would be the deal breaker for you on the other one?” She gave a pointed glance at his expertly styled hair, and his tailored suit and silk shirt and tie.
Rourke chuckled softly. “I think I’m beginning to see why my big brother fell so heavily for you.”
“Really?” Bella frowned. “Because I have absolutely no idea what is happening between the two of us. We’ve met once, briefly, before today.” She was still totally stunned by Bryce’s claim on her.
Rourke continued to chuckle. “And we’re a family of men who, once we find the right woman, make up our mind very quickly and never change it. My twin, Logan, is getting married next week. To Jenna’s ex-flatmate, whom he only met after Jenna was abducted five weeks ago. Admittedly, it took Atticus a little longer to admit his defeat—his feelings for Jenna,” he explained at Bella’s puzzled frown. “But the two of them are getting married soon too. Maybe the four of you could have a joint wedding?” His gaze sharpened. “But I should warn you, if you hurt my brother in any way, you can expect to hear from me.”
So much for sophistication and charm; Bella had no doubt at that moment that if necessary, Rourke could be every bit as lethal as his brothers.
“I have no intention of hurting Bryce,” she assured softly.
Rourke nodded. “Then I’ll be happy to dance at your wedding.”
She rather liked the idea of marrying Bryce sooner rather than later.
Because she also knew exactly to the minute how long ago it was since she and Bryce had first met.
Because there was no way she could ever forget the moment she had fallen in love with him.
She’d heard and read about love at first sight, but never really believed it was real.
Until she saw Bryce for the first time.
She had been emotionally knocked off her feet the moment she looked at him, and thrilled when he stopped to talk to her and eventually asked for her cell phone number. Then heartbroken when he didn’t bother to use it.
Seeing and being with him all day again today only confirmed what Bella had already known. She had fallen in love with Bryce five weeks, one day, six hours, and now forty-two minutes ago…
Bryce seemed to think he felt the same way about her.
Was it possible?
Could such a thing possibly be real?
Real enough for Bryce to state he intended marrying her, apparently.
In the meantime, he had left her here with one of his brothers.
“This is unacceptable!” Bella surged to her feet two hours later, as tired of sitting as she was of waiting. “We need to do something.” She glared her frustration at Rourke as he continued to sit in one of the armchairs, watching an adventure movie she had put on for him an hour and a half ago.
“It’s coming up to the good part,” he muttered, his attention still fully on the television screen.
Bella drew in deep breaths for several long seconds in an effort to calm herself. Her hands were clenched at her sides as she tried not to give in to the impulse to shove “the good part” up Rourke’s arse.
Nope, not working.
“Hey,” Rourke protested when Bella pressed the button to switch the television off.
“You’ve obviously seen it before,” she dismissed without apology.
He sat forward in the chair. “Of course I’ve seen it before. The first four movies in the series are classics in their genre, the fifth one not quite so much.” He grimaced. “And you’re going to need to learn some patience if you intend staying with Bryce.”
“I don’t know what either of us intend doing yet,” she snapped. “But sitting here watching any more of that mindless movie really isn’t an option.”
Rourke looked at her calmly. “What would you suggest we do instead?”
“Go out and look for Bryce and Haydn. Maybe pay my brother another visit. I really don’t know,” she cried out her frustration. “But we can’t just sit here doing nothing!”
Rourke rose lithely to his feet. “It’s what Bryce wanted us to do.”
“But—”
“No buts, Bella,” Rourke drawled. “Has Bryce given you the lecture yet about how disobeying an order can cost lives?”
Her hand instinctively moved to the sore cheeks of her bottom.
“I can see he has.” Rourke chuckled before sobering again. “The thing is, it’s true. And we already have Bryce and Haydn on this, and probably Nikolai Volkov and a dozen of his men too. The two of us getting involved would only cause confusion. And we really don’t want to do that. Besides,” he added dryly as Bella would have spoken, “I distinctly remember Bryce telling you to stay put.”
And her sore her bottom had resulted from the last time she hadn’t listened to that instruction. “Just sitting here waiting to hear from him is unbearable.”
“You—” Rourke tensed as the doorbell rang. “Bryce said he has a key to let them in, so that can’t be him. Are you expecting anyone else tonight?”
There had been so many visitors to the house today already, when usually Bella didn’t have any, that she really didn’t know the answer to that question. “I don’t think so.”
He nodded. “Stay here— I mean it, Bella,” he warned as she crossed the room to follow him out into the hallway. “I’m less tolerant than Bryce, and I don’t have the added disadvantage of being in love with you.”
She snorted. “And I thought you were the charming one!”
He grinned. “Looks can be deceiving.”
Bella only had to take one look at the grave expression on the face of her captain at the police station where she was assigned to know he hadn’t come bearing good news.
* * *
“How is she?” Bryce demanded the moment he entered the sitting room of Bella’s house and found only Rourke there.
His brother grimaced. “The police captain has put her on compulsive leave for a week. He also brought a doctor with him, and he thought it best, once Bella was over the initial shock, if she went upstairs to lie down. He prescribed a mild sedative to help her rest, but she refused to take it.”
Bryce had received a text message from Rourke just over an hour ago, explaining what had happened. Bryce hadn’t hesitated to leave Nikolai and his men to clean up the rest of the Zalotti mess so that he could come back here and be with Bella.
Rourke’s text had informed him that after leaving here earlier tonight, Wilton had gone straight to the police station where he and Bella worked. He’d taken a knife with him, and before anyone realized what he was doing, he had managed to stab and kil
l three other police officers before he was disarmed, subdued, and locked in handcuffs.
“Bella is so damned stubborn,” Bryce admired. “She’s also going to blame herself for this,” he added with a frown.
Rourke scowled. “They found all sorts of incriminating crap at Wilton’s apartment. Dozens of photographs of Bella. Things he’d taken from her house. He even kept a journal listing how many times and when he entered her house without her knowledge. After she refused to go out with him again, he apparently posted the dead rat and panties through her door, and then spray-painted her car, all because, to his warped way of thinking, it would frighten her into calling him to ask for his help. Seeing you here with Bella earlier seems to have tipped him over the edge. Bella isn’t to blame for what happened tonight, and neither are you.” He gave a firm shake of his head. “Wilton is just one sick fucker.”
Bryce’s hands were clenched at his sides. “Where is he now?”
“Police custody. But they’re having a psychiatrist look at him in the morning, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to end up in an asylum for a looong time rather than a prison.”
Bryce nodded tersely. “I’m going up to be with Bella. I’ll leave Haydn to explain what happened, and then the two of you can decide whether you stay or go.” He left the room to take the stairs two at a time as he hurried to Bella’s bedroom.
Bella had never been so pleased to see Bryce as she was when he came quietly into her bedroom. So tall and strong, bossy and protective, but most of all sane!
“Bryce.” She held her arms out to him.
“Hello, sweetheart.” He came to lie beside her on the bed before taking her into his arms. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you got the news earlier.”
“I don’t want to talk about that just now.” She shuddered. “Just keep holding me while you tell me what happened.”
“It’s all over,” Bryce assured gruffly. “You were right about your brother and Ricci. Nikolai and Gregori had been worried for some time that things didn’t seem quite right with Matteo, but our information confirmed it for them. Nikolai and his men stormed the estate two hours ago.”
“You went with them,” she guessed ruefully.
He nodded. “How else could I ensure that your brother is safe and that Ricci and several of his men aren’t?”
Bella shivered at the thought of what that actually meant.
“Nikolai and Matteo will take care of those details,” Bryce dismissed. “But your brother told me to tell you he intends visiting you tomorrow to explain everything in more detail.” Bryce’s arms tightened about her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” she assured.
Bella knew there was so much more to tell about what had happened tonight, for both of them, but for the moment, Bryce was safe and she was held securely in his arms.
The rest could all wait.
Chapter Twelve
“It’s all so incredible.” Bella gave a dazed shake of her head as she stared across at her brother sitting in one of the armchairs in her sitting room. Not just Matteo, but Antonio and Luca were standing behind him, and Luca’s son Stefano, the man from the coffee shop as Bella had suspected, stood guard near the door. Stefano had also been the one driving the SUV that had followed Bryce and Bella home from Matteo’s estate yesterday, doing the best he could to ensure her protection.
Matteo nodded. “It’s as Mr. Steele said. The man at the top is vulnerable unless he can trust absolutely the men guarding him.” He gave Antonio, Luca, and Stefano warm glances before turning back to Bella. “Franco slowly removed all my trusted guards and replaced them with ones loyal to him instead. By the time you left university, I was completely isolated and unable to do more than hope Ricci would keep his promise and that you would come to no harm at his hands.”
“She would have been perfectly fine if not for a whacko police detective,” Bryce put in dryly. He was seated next to Bella on the couch, his arm resting lightly across her shoulders.
Matteo nodded. “A whacko police detective who is now in police custody himself, thank goodness.”
“Probably as well he got himself arrested,” Bryce muttered.
Bella turned to give Bryce a searching glance from beneath lowered lashes.
She had fallen asleep in his arms last night and woken up in them again this morning. Bryce had continued to hold her as he explained more fully what had happened when they and the Russians entered Matteo’s estate the previous evening. How Franco Ricci had been holding Matteo a virtual prisoner and using Bella’s continued safety to guarantee his compliance. The Russians had ensured that situation was no longer allowed to continue, and now Matteo had his own bodyguards safely back in place. Bella could only feel grateful for the fact Antonio and Luca had continued to look out for her, with the help of Luca’s son, even though they had been dismissed from Matteo’s employment.
But not once during any of Bella’s conversations with Bryce had he mentioned the claim he’d made yesterday that it was his intention to marry her one day soon.
“I’m sorry I had to hurt you during your visit last night when I told you I had no sister,” Matteo now spoke gently. “I could also see how it upset you when you realized all the photographs of you had been removed from my study. I did that in the futile hope that as far as Franco was concerned, it would be a case of out of sight, out of mind.” He grimaced. “But he never forgot for a moment.”
Bella swallowed. “Did he have Mama and Papa killed?”
Matteo’s jaw tightened. “Yes. But by the time I realized that, it was too late, and I had become a virtual prisoner on the estate, surrounded by Ricci’s men.”
Bella’s jaw tightened. “Is he dead?”
“Yes,” Matteo confirmed flatly but added nothing further.
“Good,” she said with satisfaction.
“Bloodthirsty little thing, aren’t you,” Bryce approved.
Her eyes flashed. “He killed my parents and threatened both my brother and me.”
Bryce reached out to caress her cheek. “I was only teasing, love.”
Bella released a shaky breath. “Looking back on the last eight years, I can’t believe I just accepted what was happening.”
“My situation is settled, and I now have a new alliance with the Russians.” Matteo nodded his satisfaction with that outcome. “But what will you do, Bella? Will you come back to live on the estate for a while?”
She shook her head. “I love you, Matteo, but this is my home now.”
“How do you feel about returning to work?” he prompted gently.
Bella had been asking herself the same question. She had loved being part of the police force, but she wasn’t sure she could ever go back into the station she was assigned to after the carnage Sean had created there yesterday. Three of her colleagues were now dead because of him. Even walking into the police station again would be hard. She wasn’t even sure reassigning her to somewhere else would make a difference to the aversion she now felt toward the job she had once loved so much. It was impossible to think of returning to work without remembering Sean and the things he had done.
“You could always go into the private sector.” Bryce eyed her curiously. “Steele Security is always looking for trained operatives, which you are.”
Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t object to me working with you?”
“If that’s what you want,” he said softly. “There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t work at Steele Security.”
It was an intriguing idea.
One Bella gave serious thought to several times over the next week.
A week of having Bryce spend the days with her, and most evenings too, unless she was visiting her brother, in which case, Bryce insisted the siblings needed time alone to get to know each other again. The evenings Bryce did spend with Bella, he always left well before midnight after giving her a chaste kiss goodnight. Nor could Bella find any reason to complain; she was no longer in any danger n
ow that Sean was incarcerated, and Bryce’s chaste kisses didn’t encourage any suggestion of intimacy on Bella’s part either.
Confused didn’t even begin to explain Bella’s state of mind. On the one hand, Bryce now spent most of his spare time with her, but on the other hand, it was hardly in a lover-like manner.
Bryce did, however, invite her to accompany him to his brother Logan’s wedding to August at the end of that week.
Rourke was his twin’s best man, of course, but the other Steele brothers were all acting as groomsmen. Bryce took Bella to sit in the pew behind the groom and best man, coming to sit beside her only once he had fulfilled his groomsmen duties. He looked very handsome in the gray morning suit and silver brocade waistcoat, with a white shirt and a cravat that was the same shade of blue as the bridesmaid dresses.
Strangely enough, without being aware of it, Bella had chosen to wear a dress almost that same color blue. She had purchased the dress six months ago because it matched her eyes.
It was a beautiful wedding, the bride breathtaking, the groom handsome, as were all the Steele brothers.
Bella’s confusion only deepened when she was introduced to Bryce’s parents, Simon and Joanne Steele, and received a warm hug from both of them as if she was a cherished guest to their son Logan’s wedding to the lovely August, despite the fact they had never met her before.
“Everything okay?” Bryce prompted uncertainly as the two of them stood in the receiving line to be welcomed to the reception at the hotel by the bride and groom.
“Fine.” Bella nodded without so much as glancing at him.
It had been a frustrating week for Bryce. He wasn’t exactly the most patient person at the best of times, and it had taken every ounce of his restraint to show Bella his concern and caring, of being a boyfriend, but at the same time maintain his distance, when what he really wanted to do was throw her over the nearest flat surface and claim her in every way possible for as long as they could both remain conscious.
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