by Lynne Graham
‘l’m unhurt and I’m okay-‘
‘No thanks to me. 1 can’t even keep you safe from harm under my own roof,’
Cristiano growled in a driven voice.
‘1‘11 also have to tell Jodie about what happened.
She’s an old friend, and it would be wrong to keep it from her’
‘lf she loves him, she may not want to know.’
‘Thankfully, that’s not our business.’
On the threshold of their bedroom, Cristiano scooped Lydia up into his arms and carried her over to the bed, where he laid her down with gentle hands. He studied her with brooding intensity, as if he still wasn’t quite sure that she really was all right.
‘Will you stop blaming yourself’?’ she sighed.
‘l’m fine-right as rain-fighting fit! ‘
‘of course I’m blaming myself! ‘
Cristiano fielded without hesitation. t1 didn’t appreciate what a nutter Philip was. 1 seem to screw up everything with you! ‘
‘No you don’t.’
Cristiano looked unconvinced. He moved away several feet, turned in a restless arc like a lion confined in too small a space.
”There are some things 1 need to tell you… ‘
Lydia sat up in readiness. Cristiano stared at her, then looked away again, almost imperceptible colour scoring his taut cheekbones.
”Yes …?’ Lydia prompted.
‘l haven’t been straight with you or with myself. I fell in love with you almost two years ago. 1 saw you on that catwalk and then 1 heard your voice, saw the way you put your head to one side when you speak. There was just something so unbelievably appealing about you,’
he said, seemingly unaware that she was now studying him with a dropped jaw.
‘But 1 didn’t realise that what you made me feel was love, because 1 hated the trapped feeling it gave me.
”The…trapped feeling’?’
Lydia echoed, thrust back down to earth again with a nasty bump. Had he really said what she thought he had? Or had her imagination taken a gigantic leap all on its own? t1 don’t think 1 was ready for anything serious. You got inside my head and spooked me. Dio mio, I’d be in a meeting and then out of nowhere I’d find that I was thinking about you! ‘
he recalled with a shudder that spoke volumes.
‘All my focus would be gone. It was a nightmare.
thinking about you! ‘ So when 1 wanted to see you 1 would make myself wait longer. That way 1 stayed in control of events.’
‘so I was right to blame you for not making more effort to see me.’
‘It showed how interested I was in other ways,’ Cristiano countered. ‘1 bought you roses. 1 even sent you a card onValentine’s Day’
‘lt was a black and white picture of NewYork with your name in it and no message-‘
Cristiano wasn’t listening.
‘1 also phoned you all the time. That was serious new territory for me.’
‘l’m surprised that fact didn’t wake you up in the night in a cold sweat! ‘
‘All that woke me up was the need for a cold shower, because you weren’t there in my bed with me, bella mia. ‘
Lydia went pink.
‘When 1 overheard Philip talking about that horrible bet, it wrecked everything.’
”That was all my fault.’
His lean, darkly handsome face was bleak with recollection.
‘l’m sorry you were hurt, but if it’s any consolation it was a body-blow when you took off with Mort Stevens. I was gutted. Life lost all its flavour, and 1 didn’t work out why until very recently. But 1 did have a recurring fantasy in which you came to me on your knees, begging to be taken back, cara mia. ‘
Lydia was perched on the side of the bed, her entire attention lodged on him.
‘ls that why you turned fantasy into fact when you heard 1 was in trouble’?’
‘And the next time 1 got you in my sights 1 made sure there was no way you could leave me a second time.’
‘The contract’?’
Now that its purpose had been fully explained, Lydia felt almost fond of that part of their history.
‘1 wanted you tied hand and foot to me, so that you couldn’t walk away again.’
‘obviously somewhere along the line you got acclimatised to that trapped feeling,’ Lydia remarked.
‘Losing you to Stevens was a painful cure. Although 1 got you back into my life, 1 couldn’t forget that you’d walked out on me…’
”The first time you proposed-‘?’
Cristiano vented a rueful laugh.
‘lt was a disaster. 1 was all over the place. 1 hadn’t thought anything through.
1 felt so guilty, and 1 wanted to keep you with me. But 1 thought you hated me and that made me arrogant.’
Her nose wrinkled. ‘1 thought 1 hated you too.’
”When Gwenna showed me that photo you’d kept of me, it was like a shot of adrenalin. 1 was so low,’ He confessed. 1 wasn’t getting anywhere with you. But it seemed to me that if you’d felt that way about me once, there was still hope. When you got the wrong idea about that Russian model, 1 was delighted.’
Her eyes were radiant, for she was looking back and recognizing how hard he had worked to win her trust and love. Sliding off the bed, she walked over to him and slid her hands up to his shoulders.
”When did you start really wanting to marry me’?’ ‘probably the moment you said no.’
His stunning gold eyes rested intently on her lovely face.
‘1 need to know you’re mine. 1 won’t feel safe until you’ve signed our marriage certificate in triplicate in two weeks’ time.’
”What if 1 asked you to sign a contract’?’
she teased.
His handsome dark head lowered, for he was mesmerised by the tantalizing smile on her soft pink mouth.
‘lt would depend on the terms.’
‘You have to love me as much as 1 love you.’
‘Do you love me’?’
Cristiano searched her eyes with wondering appreciation.
‘1 thought 1 still had to work on that angle.’
‘Actually, you didn’t have to work half as hard as you deserved. That teenage crush of mine worked in your favour.’
Lydia traced a high masculine cheekbone with loving appreciation, her fingers gentle.
‘1 told myself 1 hated you to protect myself from getting hurt again, and then 1 had to accept that 1 still loved you.’
‘1’ll never give you cause to regret it,’
Cristiano swore, with a raw sincerity that touched her to the heart.
He claimed her mouth in a long, drugging kiss. The instant physical contact was renewed, their overwhelming need to express their love in passion drove every other consideration from their minds.
The host and hostess did not reappear downstairs until dawn was high in the sky.
Eighteen months later, Lydia gave her daughter, Bella, a last tender kiss and tucked her in for the night. Bella was two months old and her dark blue eyes were drowsy.
Within minutes the gentle rocking of the cradle sent her to sleep. She was a very pretty baby, with black hair that lay like a silk cap on her pale skin, and a tiny serene face.
Standing with a glass of wine on the terrace an hour later, Lydia savoured the peace and the view across the Tuscan valley that now, more than any other place, felt like home to her.
Two weeks after their engagement party she and Cristiano had exchanged lings and vows in the little candlelit church on the hill. It had been very much a private affair, hushed up to keep the paparazzi at bay and attended by only a chosen few. Gwenna had been her only attendant. Jodie, who had ditched Philip Hazlett, had attended with her latest boyfriend. Lydia had worn fluid white silk georgette, and the Andreotti diamond tiara had come out of the bank vault for the occasion. A single photo of the bride and groom on the church steps had been released to the press. The happy couple had spent their honeymoon on a private island in G
reece, enjoying the feeling that they were getting back to nature while actually living in the lap of luxury.
The period since then had been one of great happiness for Lydia. In six weeks Gwenna was getting married to the businessman she had met at the engagement party.
Cristiano had endowed the Happy Holidays charity with a house in Cornwall, and the funds to keep it running for the children. Lydia had presided over the official opening and had done sufficient fundraising to have long since forgotten her former embarrassment around the staff.
Of course there had been one or two more trying moments in their lives as well. In that category Lydia included Virginia’s frantic appeal for the name of a good lawyer after she and Dennis were arrested by the French police and held in custody for dubious property deals. Everything the couple possessed had since been seized, and a prison sentence for them both looked unavoidable.
Cristiano had made one or two pithy comments about justice being done.
There had also been the time that Lydia had snatched Cristiano’s mobile phone from him and chucked it in the sea. She had got away with that because it had been the same day that he’d managed to persuade her to paddle in the surf. Since then she had reached the stage where she could fool about in the shallow end of a pool without suffering a panic attack, and she had been on Lestara twice for brief cruises. Bit by bit she was overcoming her fear, but she couldn’t have come so far without Cristiano’s support and patience.
A warm smile curved Lydia’s lips when she heard the distant chop-chop of the helicopter approaching. It was Cristiano, flying back from a meeting in London. She heard his steps ringing across the tiled hall inside the house and her heartbeat picked up pace the way it always did when he was near.
When he appeared on the terrace, she flung herself into his arms without hesitation. Releasing a hungry groan, he held her to him and kissed her breathless.
alt’s so uncool when we do this. Our friends would be shocked. No wonder we don’t entertain much.’ Closing a lean hand over hers, Cristiano took a long, appreciative look at her.
‘How’s Bella’?’
‘Fast asleep.’
‘1 guarantee she won’t be at three in the morning,’ her father forecasted.
‘Knowing that, I came home with all possible haste. We can have an early night and still be fresh for our darling daughter when she wakes up in the middle of the night.’
‘But it’s only eight o’clock.’
A provocative smile slashed his lean dark features.
‘1 know.’
She burst out laughing.
‘London was a desert without you,’
Cristiano confided.
‘Every time 1 have to leave you 1 find out all over again how much 1 love you, gioia mia.’
Happiness lighting her face, Lydia glowed beneath the tender look in his stunning eyes. As she settled back into his arms she had not a care in the world-for she had found her place…