“Makes you blind,” he finished for her. Why that phrase bothered him so much, he didn’t know. Of course she’d loved the man; he was her husband.
“He flew us to Chicago once because I said I liked deep dish pizza. Who wouldn’t fall for a gesture like that?” she asked. “I thought I’d met Prince Charming.
“My friends didn’t think so. They said he made them feel uncomfortable. Steven said it was because they were jealous.”
“Perhaps they were.”
“My mother, too?” she asked. “She didn’t like him at all. Called him a slicker version of my father and said she didn’t trust him.”
That was why they were estranged. Nico could guess what happened. Her mother didn’t approve, and Steven took advantage of the disagreement to push them further apart.
“We had this awful fight,” she told him. “I accused her of not wanting me to be happy, that because she was alone and miserable, she wanted me to be alone and miserable, too. When I told Steven, he said, ‘that’s all right. I’m all the family you need now.’” The fresh tears in her eyes had Nico moving to take her in his arms again. She shook him off, getting to her feet instead. “I didn’t talk to her for almost five years. She could have died and I wouldn’t have known.”
“That’s not true.” She was letting her guilty conscience color her thinking.
“Isn’t it?” she replied, turning around. “Who would tell me? I cut myself off from everyone I used to know. Because they didn’t fit with my new life.”
And Nico could guess who had put that thought in her head. A chill ran through him as he slowly began to understand what she meant by Steven taking everything from her.
She’d turned away from him again, her face turned to the foliage. Nico could see her fingering the edge of one of the leaves. Her hands were shaking.
“You tell yourself you’re too smart to fall for someone’s lies,” she said. “You read stories of women trapped in bad relationships and you can’t understand how they can be so foolish. That is, until it happens to you.”
“Louisa, don’t...”
“Don’t what? Blame myself? Tell the embarrassing truth?”
Don’t tell me at all. Rising to his feet, Nico walked behind her and curled his hands atop her shoulders to steady her. There was no need for her to go on; he’d heard enough.
Unfortunately for both of them, Louisa had unsealed a bottle that insisted on being emptied because she immediately shook her head. “I think maybe I need to tell someone,” she whispered. “Maybe if I say the words aloud...”
Nico could hear her breath rattle with nerves as she took a deep lungful of air before she began to speak. “When it first started, I barely noticed. When you’re in love you’re supposed to want to spend every minute with each other, right?”
“Yes,” Nico replied. His hands were still on her shoulders, and it was all he could do not to pull her tight against him.
“And then, after we were married, when Steven suggested I stop working to avoid gossip, well that made sense, too. It was expected I would be with him at corporate dinner parties and charitable functions. Could hardly do that if I was working full-time.”
Lots of women managed both, thought Nico. Louisa could have, as well. But that would have meant having a life of her own, and it sounded as though having an independent wife was the last thing Steven Clark wanted.
He honestly could strangle the man. Here was one of the things that made Louisa such a treasure. Challenging her was exciting. If Nico had a woman like her in his life, he’d do everything in his power to aid in her success, not pin her down like some butterfly under glass. Steven Clark was an idiot as well as a thief.
“When did you realize...?”
“That I was trapped?”
“Yes.” Actually, he hadn’t known what he’d meant to ask, but her question was close enough.
“I skipped a charity planning committee to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. One of the other members told Steven, and he lost it. Demanded to know where I’d been all day and with whom.” She pulled the leaf she’d been playing with from its branch, sending a rustling noise rippling down the row. “To this day I’m not sure what frightened me more. His demand or the fact there were people reporting my actions to him.”
Neither aspect sounded very comfortable. “You stayed, however.” Because she loved him.
“Where was I supposed to go? None of the assets were in my name. I’d alienated everyone I used to know, and Steven didn’t have friends so much as business associates. I couldn’t trust those people to help me, not when Steven was handling their money. I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t talk to anyone. I was stuck.”
The proverbial bird in a gilded cage, Nico thought sadly.
“Surely your mother or your friends...”
“And have to listen to them tell me how right they’d all been? I couldn’t.” Nico wanted to smile despite the sad situation. That was his American. Stubborn to the end, even when it hurt her.
* * *
“Discovering I’d inherited the palazzo was torture. Here I had this safe haven waiting for me, and I couldn’t get to it. Even if by some miracle I did find a way to evade Steven’s radar, with his money and connections, he would have eventually tracked me down.”
The leaf she’d been holding fluttered to the ground as she sighed. “In the end it was easier to go along to get along.”
“You mean accept the abuse,” Nico said.
“I told you, it wasn’t abuse.”
They both knew she was lying. Steven might not have hit her or yelled insults, but he’d abused her in his own despicable way. He’d stolen her innocence and her freedom and so much more. Nico could feel the anger spreading through him. If it was possible to kill a man by thoughts alone, Steven Clark would be dead a thousand times over.
Arms hugging her body, Louisa turned to look at him with cavernous eyes, the white-blond curtain of her hair casting her cheeks with shadows.
“The day I stumbled across those financial reports was the best day of my life, because I knew I could finally walk away,” she said.
Only walking away hadn’t been as easy as she made it sound.
The truth wasn’t as simple as she described. Walking away was never easy. The details didn’t matter. Her story explained a lot, however. Why she balked every time he offered to help, for example. It definitely explained why she feared her friends would cut her off.
“Do you still love him?” It was none of his business, and yet he could not stop thinking about her words before. Love makes you blind.
“No. Not even in the slightest.”
If he shouldn’t have asked the question, then he should definitely not have felt relief at her answer. He did, though. To save her heart from further pain, that was all.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I told you before, I don’t want your pity.”
Her voice was rough from crying, the raw sound making him hate Steven Clark all the more. “I don’t pity you,” he told her truthfully. He didn’t. He admired her. Did he know what kind of strength it took to pull herself free from the hell she had become trapped in? Not only pull herself free, but to begin again?
“What I meant was that I am sorry I accused you of abandoning the palazzo,” he said.
“Oh.” The tiniest of blushes tinged her cheekbones as she looked down at her feet. “Thank you,” she said. “And I’m sorry I lost my temper.”
“Then we are even.” Funny, but he’d forgotten why she’d lost her temper in the first place.
By silent agreement, they started walking toward the production facilities. They’d been in the field most of the morning, Nico realized, or so said the sun beating on the back of his neck. His employees would be looking for him. Wasn’t like him to ignore the winery for so long. Add another uncharacteristic behavior to the growing list.
Even though Louisa’s confession answered a lot of questions, Nico found his mind more jumbl
ed than before. Mostly with vague unformed ideas he couldn’t articulate. Finally, because he felt the need to say something while they walked, he said in a quiet voice. “I’m glad you made it to Italy.”
The sentiment didn’t come close to capturing any of the thoughts swirling in his head, what he wanted to say, but it was enough to make Louisa smile.
“Are you really?” she asked.
She sounded so disbelieving.
“Yes, really,” he replied. More than he’d realized until this moment. The town wouldn’t be the same without her. The palazzo and Monte Calanetti needed her. He...
The thought lingered just out of reach.
He knew he was taking a risk, but he closed the distance between them anyway, reaching up with his hands to cradle her face. “I can’t imagine Monte Calanetti without you.”
Her trembling lower lip begged for reassurance or was it that he begged to reassure her? To kiss her and let her know just how glad he was to have her in Monte Calanetti.
Cool fingers encircled his wrists, holding him. Stopping him. She was backing away yet again. “Thank you,” she said, slipping free.
This time when she began to walk, Nico purposely lagged behind.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“MAY I BORROW you for a moment?”
Louisa was in the middle of attaching mailing labels to boxes when Nico appeared in her doorway. As soon as she looked in his direction, her stomach somersaulted. She blamed it on the fact that he’d startled her.
Along with the fact he looked as handsome as sin in his faded work clothes. How did the man do it? Look so perfect after being out in the fields for hours. None of the other workers wore hard labor as well. Of course there was always the chance he was supervising more than actually working, but standing around didn’t seem his style. More likely Mother Nature wanted to make sure Nico looked a cut above all the rest.
Mother Nature did her job well.
Nico arched his eyebrow, and she realized he was waiting for a response. What had he asked? Right. To borrow her. “Sure,” she replied. “What do you need?”
“Follow me to the lab.”
Louisa did what he asked, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t blame being startled this time. Your palms didn’t sweat when you were startled.
It’d been two days since their conversation in the vineyard, or rather since Louisa had bared her soul regarding her marriage. They hadn’t talked since. Nico continued to leave the house before breakfast and didn’t return until late. To be honest, Louisa wasn’t sure he came home at all. After all, the dinner plate she left last night hadn’t been touched. If it wasn’t harvest season, she’d worry he was purposely avoiding her.
Oh, who was she kidding? She still worried, just as she was worried how to behave around him now. Strangely enough, however, it wasn’t her meltdown—or her confession—that had her feeling awkward. It was the memory of Nico holding her close yet again.
Since arriving in Italy, Louisa could count on three fingers the number of times she’d truly felt safe and secure. All three had been in Nico’s arms, and they were as engrained in her memory as any event could be. If she concentrated, she could feel his breath as it had brushed her lips when he’d said he couldn’t imagine Monte Calanetti without her. The simplest of words, but they made her feel more special than she’d felt in a long time. With his touch gentle and sure on her cheeks, she’d wanted so badly for him to kiss her.
Still, the last time a man had made her feel special, she’d wound up making the biggest mistake of her life, and while she might be older and wiser, she was also a woman with desires that had been neglected for a long time. The idea of giving herself over to Nico’s care left a warm fluttery sensation in the pit of her stomach—a dangerous feeling, to say the least. Thank goodness she managed to keep her head.
Thank goodness, too, that Nico understood. In fact, seeing his relaxed expression, she’d say he’d managed to brush the moment aside without problem.
Louisa was glad for that. Truly.
Nico’s “lab” was located at the rear of the building a stone’s throw from where the grapes were stored after being picked. Now that harvesting had begun, the rolling door that led to the loading dock was left permanently open so that the forklifts could transport the containers of grapes from the field trucks to the washing area. Louisa breathed deep, taking in as much of the sweet aroma as she could.
“Do you mind if I close the door?” Nico hollered. “It’ll be easier to hear each other.”
She shook her head. Out here the sound was much louder than by her office, where the machines were still dormant.
There was a click and the decibel level was suddenly reduced by half. “Much better,” Nico said.
Better was relative. In addition to being small, the room was stuffed with equipment making the close space tighter still. Standing near the door, Louisa found herself less than a yard away from Nico’s desk, and even closer to Nico himself. He smelled like grapes. To her chagrin, the aroma made her stomach flip-flop again.
Trying to look casual, she leaned against the door, arms folded across her midsection. “What is it you needed to talk about?” she asked him.
“Not talk. Taste.”
He pointed to the equipment on his worktable. “I need a second opinion regarding this year’s blend.”
“This year’s blend?” She knew that super Tuscans were wines made by combining different varieties of grape, but she assumed that once the formula was created, the blend stayed the same.
“Every harvest is different,” Nico replied. “Sometimes only subtly, but enough that the formula should be tweaked. Mario and I have been playing with percentages all day, but we’re not quite sure we’ve achieved the right balance.”
“I see.” Speaking of the university student, she didn’t see him.
Nico must have seen her looking around because he said, “Mario has gone home. He was a little too enthusiastic a taster.”
“You mean he got a little tipsy.”
“Don’t be silly. He needed a break, is all.” He’d gotten tipsy. “Anyway, I think I’m close, but I could use a fresh palate.”
“Wouldn’t you be better off asking someone else? I’m not much of a wine connoisseur.” If he wanted to know about finish and undertones, she couldn’t help him.
“You don’t have to be,” he told her. “You just have to know what you like.”
Stepping to the worktable, he retrieved two beakers containing purple liquid and a pair of wineglasses. “Fancy bottle,” Louisa joked.
“Good things come in odd glass containers,” he joked back. He poured the contents from each into its own glass and set them on the edge of his desk. “Tell me which one of these wines you like better.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Simple enough. Picking up the first glass, she paused. “Am I supposed to smell it before I drink?”
“Only if you want to.”
Louisa didn’t. Things like that were better left to someone like Nico who actually understood what they were looking for. “And do I spit or swallow?” She vaguely remembered there was supposed to be some kind of protocol.
“Drink like you would a regular glass of wine. If you normally spit...”
She returned his smirk. “Fine. I get the point.”
The contents of the first glass tasted amazing. Sweet but not overly so with just enough tang to make it stay on your tongue. Delicious. “Mmm,” she said, licking her lips.
She was about to declare the choice easy until she tasted the second glass and found it equally delicious. “You’re kidding,” she said, setting the glass down. “There’s supposed to be a difference?”
“Don’t focus on finding the difference. Tell me which one you like better.”
She tasted each one again, this time with her eyes closed in order to really focus. Took a couple of sips, but in the end, the first glass won out. “This one,” she said, finishing
the glass with a satisfied sigh. “Definitely this one.”
When she opened her eyes, she found Nico watching her with an unreadable expression. His jaw twitched with tension as if he was holding back a response. “Tha...” He cleared his throat. Nevertheless his voice remained rough. “Thank you.”
“I hope I helped.”
“Trust me, you helped me a great deal.”
“Good.” Their gazes stayed locked while they talked. Louisa never knew there could be so many different shades of brown. The entire color wheel could be seen in Nico’s irises.
“Would you like some more?” she heard him ask.
Wine. He meant more wine. Louisa blinked, sending everything back into perspective. “Better not,” she said. “I’m not as practiced a wine taster as you are. Or are you purposely trying to send me home like Mario?”
Nico slapped a hand against his chest, mimicking horror. “Absolutely not. We’re shorthanded tonight as it is.”
The float-decorating party. It was Marianna’s idea. With so many of the employees working long hours, she didn’t think it fair to ask them to help decorate the winery float, as well, so she’d convinced a group of friends to do it instead. Louisa had been the first person she’d recruited.
It would be Louisa’s first public appearance since the headlines broke.
“Maybe I will have another glass,” she said reaching for the beaker.
Nico’s hand immediately closed around her wrist, stopping her. “There is no need to be nervous,” he said. “These are your friends.”
“I know.” What amazed her was how much she meant it. A week ago she’d have been a crumbling basket of nerves, but not so much now. Partly because the story was winding down.
And partly because the man next to her was scheduled to be there, as well. Her personal protector at the ready, his presence made being brave a lot easier.
After much back and forth, it was decided the vineyard would have to give up on trying to win any awards and instead design as simple a float as possible. Something that could be assembled with minimal manpower in as short a time as possible. Nico was the one who came up with the idea. Some of the parts of last year’s float, namely the fountain, were in storage. All they needed was fresh foliage. While it was too late in the day for the fountain to spout water again, they could easily recycle it into a different design. And so it was decided they would recreate the royal wedding. Two of his employees would play Prince Antonio and Princess Christina while others played wedding guests. The couples would waltz around the fountain, pretending to dance beneath the stars. It might not be an entirely accurate representation, but it would do the winery proud.
Harlequin Romance February 2016 Box Set Page 10