They both knew that there was no room for casual sex in their arrangement, that they had to get a handle on this. Besides, she wasn’t sure ‘casual’ even began to describe the need she felt when he touched her.
She had agreed to share a home with him when they got back to Europe—but to sleep in a bed alone, knowing he was separated from her by only a thin wall. She shut her eyes against that unwelcome reminder of reality.
‘I’m not ready for today to be over yet,’ she whispered against his chest as she listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the pebbles on the shoreline.
‘Who said it was over?’ Valerio smiled. ‘You may have tackled your fear of open water, but you have far from learned your lesson about pleasure.’
‘I’m pretty sure I have bite marks on my neck that contradict that statement.’ She laughed as they began the tortuous climb back up the cliff steps to the villa.
‘Not all pleasure is sex, Daniela,’ he scolded, his eyes wicked and full of mischief.
He smiled down at her as they reached the top step, then turned to look up at the house—and his entire body suddenly froze.
Dani bumped straight into his muscular back, clinging to the material of his shirt to stop herself from toppling backwards, down the way they’d come. ‘Valerio, what on earth—’
She gasped out the breath she’d sucked in, and then followed his narrowed gaze to see a small gathering of people on the upper deck, peering down at them with interest.
‘Is that your brother up there?’ Dani spotted Rigo Marchesi, smiling down at them, and by his side she was pretty sure were Valerio’s mother and father.
Valerio cursed something in fierce Italian under his breath, gripping her hand tighter and hauling her up by his side. ‘We might have to hold off on the pleasure. It appears that my family have invited themselves to our wedding.’
CHAPTER TEN
IT TRANSPIRED THAT his family, namely his mother, had arrived to perform an intervention of sorts.
Valerio held his annoyance in check by a thin thread, his gaze anxiously seeking out his fiancée throughout dinner as she was practically interrogated over their sudden alliance and why they’d selfishly kept it hidden for so long. He felt the tension building between his brows as he watched his mother and sister-in-law fawn over Dani’s engagement ring at the opposite end of the table. The three women had barely stopped talking—and his mother was asking question after question about what exactly they’d planned for the wedding. He had been a fool to think that Renata Marchesi would pass up the chance to be mother of the groom a second time.
His father had been his usual reserved self throughout dinner so far, but Valerio’s brother, Rigo, had more than made up for it with his subtle ribbing about how relaxed and well-rested Valerio looked.
‘I hope we haven’t interrupted anything here between you and your fiancée?’ Rigo said now, raising one dark brow as he took a sip of red wine.
‘Should your wife be flying all this way at this stage in her pregnancy?’ Valerio changed the subject swiftly.
‘She’s still in her second trimester. We decided to have the older girls minded and treat ourselves to a romantic weekend before the baby arrives.’ Rigo raised his glass to his wife, meeting her eyes across the table for one heated moment.
Valerio cleared his throat pointedly. ‘A pity you couldn’t have taken your romantic weekend somewhere else, rather than ruining my private elopement,’ Valerio said, feeling a strange mixture of discomfort and awe at the fact his family had taken the time to fly all this way.
Nicole Marchesi stood up and moved to take the seat beside her husband. ‘Dani’s friend Hermione has already told us the truth about your trip here.’
Dani froze at the end of the table. ‘Hermione has spoken to you?’
‘She styled our wedding years ago, and we’ve kept in touch. She’s horrified about the whole thing. Really, Valerio, I can’t believe you.’
Valerio felt heat creep up the back of his neck. ‘You don’t understand the whole situation, and I didn’t want to worry you.’
‘I understand very well.’ His mother stood up, censure in her tone. ‘Romantic elopement? You didn’t even book a proper venue to say your vows, for goodness’ sake. It’s a disgrace!’
‘Papà thinks you’ve got your fiancée pregnant.’ Rigo’s eyes twinkled.
Valerio exhaled slowly and saw Dani’s shoulders drop with relief. Her friend clearly hadn’t told his family the whole story—just enough to ensure this intervention of sorts.
‘I know my son.’ Renata turned to Dani, shaking her head. ‘He’s an impulsive fool, which might seem romantic right now, but he doesn’t think things through. Per l’amore di Dio, I don’t care if she’s pregnant or not. You’re on one of the most romantic islands in the world and you were going to get married in a courthouse?’
Valerio had tensed at the word ‘impulsive’, hating it that his family fully expected him to be running off for a shotgun wedding. Clearly they still painted him as a wild fool. But they knew nothing of his life—only what he allowed them to see.
‘Daniela is not pregnant. We were just trying to keep things small and intimate.’
He groaned inwardly, knowing that calculating look in his mother’s eyes all too well. She wasn’t deliberately trying to be unkind. She was big on creating memories, ensuring beautiful moments were made at important events. To Renata Marchesi, very little would seem more important than ensuring her second son got married in a way that befitted their family name.
‘Small and intimate?’ She nodded. ‘I can do that. Just give me twenty-four hours.’
As his brother let out a bark of laughter, Valerio pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He should have expected this. His parents’ wedding was still talked about and they had been married for thirty-five years. They had stood together to watch their oldest son say his vows in a spectacular ceremony at a French chateau, and were now feeling the joy of welcoming grandchildren into their growing family.
How could he tell them that he didn’t want an audience for what was only going to be a short-lived venture—another perceived failure to add to his ever-growing list? He couldn’t tell them about the nature of his marriage to Dani without revealing the danger she was in. Maybe some day he would tell them the truth, but right now he had no choice but to go along with the charade.
The evening wound down in companionable conversation, with Rigo taking a moment apart from the others to quietly update him on the plans he’d put in place to tie up Daniela’s inheritance and ask what progress had been made on the investigation.
After a while they joined the women on the terrace, and Valerio was once again drawn back into the charade of normal family life. He rested his arm across Dani’s shoulders, feeling her settle her weight against him.
Across the table, Nicole announced that the baby had started kicking that week. Dani’s eyes lit up with wonder as she asked if it hurt, at which Renata laughed and said that some day soon she might find out for herself.
He felt her tense against him, moving away ever so subtly. Dani’s withdrawal got under his skin for some reason. As did the way his brother interacted so easily with his family, making jokes and talking about plans to build a tree house during the summer.
He had never before been jealous of the pressure Rigo had been put under as heir to the Marchesi fortune. But right now, seeing his brother rest his hand possessively across his wife’s stomach, he felt an uncomfortable tightening in his chest. Needing to excuse himself, he stood and moved inside the house.
In the master bathroom, he splashed cold water on his face and glowered into the mirror. Get it together, Marchesi.
Dani appeared in the doorway behind him, her eyes filled with concern. God, she was so beautiful. It almost hurt to look at her without touching her. He wanted to take her, to consume her u
ntil the emptiness inside him was full of her laughter and her brilliance.
It was hard not to feel as if he was using her like a drug when the effect of just being in her company was so addictive. And it wasn’t just the sex, either. He enjoyed being with her...found himself looking for ways to make her smile. What was happening to him? They had agreed on a time limit for whatever this thing was between them. And neither of them was interested in risking their business partnership over a fling. And it was just a fling.
A fling that was about to escalate into a marriage.
Valerio turned around and leaned back against the vanity unit. She didn’t move closer and he told himself he was relieved. If his face showed anything of the chaos of emotions warring inside him, she would probably turn around and call off the whole wedding.
She should call it off. She deserved so much better than this. She deserved more than a brief few days of hot sex with a man who didn’t come close to deserving her. She deserved the wedding of her dreams with a good man who was reliable and logical and safe—everything he could never be for her. And this fictional perfect husband would make her happy—he would be with her as she carried their perfect children and lived her life in blissful happiness.
Valerio was shocked at the swift kick of jealousy in his gut.
‘You left the table so suddenly I was worried.’ She stepped forward, reaching out to touch his arm in a soft caress. ‘What’s wrong?’
Her gentle touch was more than he could process. The pressure in his forehead was close to the breaking point and he couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts.
‘You shouldn’t have followed me.’
Even as he said the words, he knew he didn’t mean them. He knew he wanted nothing more than for her to keep looking at him that way, caring about him.
A look of uncertainty flashed in her beautiful eyes and she quickly removed her hand. ‘I’ll get back to the others, then.’
‘I’m fine.’
He turned away from her, splashing water over his face again and avoiding her burning gaze.
‘Before I go, I want to talk to you about this whole ceremony thing.’ Dani cleared her throat to try to stop the sudden shake in her voice. ‘The flowers...the violin players...’
‘My mother enjoys making an occasion of things, and I can’t deny her after the year she’s had. I hope that’s okay?’
He was watching her reflection in the mirror, clearly waiting until she nodded.
‘They’re all expecting to see a happy couple saying their vows, so that is what we will give them. We have no other choice.’
Dani felt his words hit her somewhere in the chest with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer on porcelain. She had followed him expecting him to have been set a little off balance by this sudden seismic shift in their plans. But this... It was as if shutters had come down over his eyes, blocking her out.
Confusion mixed with hurt, and anger rose briefly, before she shut them down tight and stretched her lips into a smile.
‘If anything, it will add to the authenticity of the whole thing,’ she said, and a breathless ghost of a laugh escaped her lips, seeming to bounce off the bathroom walls, mocking her. ‘I’m a little jealous that I didn’t think of it, to be honest.’
He turned around and stared at her, a muscle in his jaw beginning to tic rather menacingly. She waited for him to speak, in her own foolish mind still clinging on to a thread of hope that he might have something good to say. Something that wasn’t about the coldness in his eyes, the detachment.
‘We have no other choice,’ he’d said. As if he’d already been forcing himself to do this and now it was becoming an unbearable spectacle.
The fact that she had felt so connected to him for a moment just now only served to cheapen things further, making her feel weak and used even though he’d made it quite clear where he stood when it came to any feelings between them.
She felt the shameful threat of tears building in her eyes and turned quickly towards the door.
‘Dani, wait.’
She turned back, swallowing hard past the lump in her throat and pasting on another bright smile. ‘Yes?’
‘I...I just wanted to say that I don’t regret this weekend,’ he said stiffly, his expression hard and intense. ‘I don’t regret whatever this was between us.’
‘Neither do I.’ She smiled—as though her heart wasn’t breaking into a thousand tiny pieces at his use of the past tense. ‘It was...exactly what I needed. Thank you.’
She turned away again before she completely lost her composure and moved to close the door softly behind her. She wasn’t prepared for him to barge through it, bearing down on her in the hallway.
‘“Thank you”?’ he growled quietly, eyes glinting like sapphires in the evening light.
‘What do you want me to say?’ She felt her head shaking, her insides trembling dangerously. She needed to get away from him—get some breathing room before she totally embarrassed herself.
‘I didn’t do this as some sort of service, if that’s what you’re telling yourself.’ His voice was low and gravelly, his eyes refusing to leave hers. ‘The marriage is one thing, but let there be no misunderstanding that this...whatever this energy is between you and I...was just for us.’
‘Valerio...’ She bit her lip as he moved towards her and flattened his hands against the wall on either side of her head.
‘Tell me you don’t want me,’ he whispered. ‘Even just one more time.’
‘Why don’t you tell me what it is that you want, Valerio?’
She heard the longing in her voice. Felt the choking fear of this coming to an end and the foolish desire for him to offer her everything she dreamed of. She didn’t just want one more time. She couldn’t bear the idea of accepting whatever little offering he wanted to give to get her out of his system and move on to someone else. She wanted it all and it terrified her.
‘Right now? I just want you to kiss me,’ he murmured huskily.
She reached up, her lips seeking his. Her hands dug into his hair and pulled him close. The growl he let out in his throat sent heat flooding straight to her groin. God, would he ever stop setting her off like this?
But he had never given any indication that he thought of this as anything more. He remained rooted firmly in the present, refusing to think ahead, to see the risks. She couldn’t ignore the red flags any longer—she couldn’t place all her faith in blind hope. She was no longer just falling into dangerous territory with this powerful, fierce warrior of a man. She had plummeted right into the unknown.
She was in love with him.
She broke the kiss, closing her eyes tight against the realisation, her throat convulsing wildly as his breath fanned her cheek. His delicious scent was everywhere, his warm body so close, and she could feel his eyes on her. But she had a feeling that even if he wasn’t right there she would still feel him. He had climbed his way into her chest, folding himself around her heart.
What had she got herself into?
‘Are you crying?’ He held her chin, tilting up her face with a deep frown.
She swiped the tears from her face, forcing herself to meet his eyes even as she felt her heart break. ‘Valerio...let’s not make this harder than it needs to be. I don’t think either of us are ready for the fallout. I think...this needs to end now. While we can still go back to being friends and partners in this arrangement.’
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and without warning, Valerio’s mother advanced on them, a phone hooked in between her ear and her shoulder. Dani scrambled to rub the moisture from her eyes and regain some composure.
‘Daniela, I just wanted to check if you prefer white roses or...’ Renata paused, taking in the sight of the two of them standing stiffly side by side.
Dani groaned inwardly, knowing her nose was likely bright pink and her feelings complete
ly obvious. She prayed that the smile she forced would be convincing and mumbled something about adoring white roses before quickly excusing herself and going back into the bathroom.
She slid the lock closed before moving to the mirror and grabbing a wet flannel to scrub at the slightly smeared mascara under her eyes. Mortification crept up her chest and heated her cheeks.
Closing her eyes, she scrambled for her phone and hit the button to call Hermione, but was greeted by her friend’s voicemail. She compensated by sending a single text, all in capital letters, asking what on earth she’d been thinking to tell Nicole about their elopement. No reply came.
Eventually she was going to have to leave this bathroom and face her fiancé. It was no big deal, she told herself, and straightened her shoulders and took a few deep breaths. She was in the business of presenting an image of what people wanted to see. She could do this—she could pretend to be his adoring fiancée for the rest of this trip. She could stand by Valerio’s side and vow to love and cherish him as his wife without falling to pieces, couldn’t she?
She sucked in a sharp breath. No big deal... No big deal at all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THERE WAS NO opportunity for Valerio to continue their conversation, as they weren’t given any more time alone together. At the insistence of Renata, the men were hurried away to stay in one of the new yachts on the marina for the night, while the women stayed at the villa.
Valerio had explained the heightened security presence as his own need for protection, which his family had accepted with a slight look of worry. In the short time since Dani had come crashing back into his life, he had almost forgotten that the world still presumed him mad with paranoia.
Now Valerio stood alone on the bow of Velamar’s brand-new luxury mega-yacht and tried to ignore the sense of restlessness that had hounded him since leaving Dani at the villa. His father and his brother had gone ahead to create an impromptu bachelor party, promising that it wouldn’t involve anything inappropriate but that he would need his wits about him.
The Vows He Must Keep (Mills & Boon Modern) (The Avelar Family Scandals, Book 1) Page 14