by Metsy Hingle
His mouth closed over her own. Steven kissed her—tenderly, passionately, hungrily. When his tongue tested the seam of her lips, Maria didn’t hesitate. She opened to him. Tongues explored, danced, mated. He kissed her and kissed her, each thrust of his tongue fueling the need for more. By the time he tore his mouth free and groaned, Maria felt dazed. Awash in emotion and sensations, she clutched at his shoulders, fearful her knees would buckle at any moment. Then his clever, oh-so-clever mouth began to kiss the shell of her ear. Tiny, nibbling kisses that made her heart race and her blood heat. When he nipped the lobe of her ear, Maria sucked in a breath.
It was a mistake, she realized as she breathed in his familiar scent. Suddenly her senses were flooded with the smell of him. He smelled of soap and fresh snow and the forest. And Maria couldn’t help but think of how many times during the past few months those scents had triggered memories of him, had made her ache to be in his arms again like this.
When Steven began planting a string of kisses along her jawline, Maria knew she was playing a dangerous game. She wanted Steven desperately, loved him just as fiercely. Yet there could be no future for them. She knew it, had known it almost from the start. Not even the baby growing inside her could change the impossibility of them sharing a life together. To allow Steven to continue would only make him believe otherwise. And to do so would be wrong, she reasoned. “Steven,” she began, knowing she had to tell him to stop.
But then he kissed her neck and the protest died on her lips. Tipping her head back, she gave him the access he sought. As he kissed her throat, the hint of whiskers along his jaw felt like fine sandpaper brushing against her softer skin. The sensation was erotic, seductive. When Steven flicked his tongue across her sensitized flesh, Maria nearly whimpered. She curled her fingers into his sweater, marveled at the feel of hard muscle and sinew beneath the soft cashmere.
“So sweet, so incredibly sweet,” he murmured, his breath a warm rush against her fevered skin. Her heart pounded so wildly in her chest, Maria feared it would burst at any second.
When Steven nudged aside the V-neckline of her sweater and shirt to kiss her collarbone, her breath hitched. Sliding her fingers through his hair, she pulled his head up and brought his mouth back to her own.
This time when their lips met, it was Maria who groaned as he nipped at her lower lip and took control of the kiss. Maria’s head swam beneath the onslaught of his mouth and tongue, the feel of his hands sliding down her back, over her hips. When he cupped her bottom and lifted her, pressed her against his arousal, Maria trembled.
“God, Maria, I’ve missed you so much,” he said as he continued to pepper her face with kisses.
“And I’ve missed you,” she admitted, lost in the feel of his mouth and hands on her after so long without him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the baby…that I ran away like I did….”
“I told you, it doesn’t matter,” he said, cutting off her apology with another earth-shattering kiss.
When he lifted his head, Maria could have sworn the world had tilted beneath her feet. In an effort to steady herself, she looped her arms around his neck and only then did she realize that Steven was carrying her toward the couch.
Gently he placed her atop the cushions and sat beside her. She’d barely had time to register what had happened when he cupped her face in his hands. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, “The only thing that matters is that we’re together now. I swear, I won’t let anything ever keep us apart again.”
His words were like a dash of cold water, instantly sobering Maria. “Steven,” she began.
“I swear to you, Maria, I’m going to be the very best husband and father,” he continued.
“Steven, don’t,” she said and struggled to sit up.
“What is it? Is it the baby? Did I hurt you or the baby?”
“No. No, the baby’s fine. I’m fine,” she assured him.
“Then what is it? What’s wrong?”
“We need to slow down. Everything is happening too fast,” Maria told him.
Steven’s gaze slid from her face to her belly. “Sweetheart, from where I’m sitting, I think we need to move fast,” he said, a note of humor in his voice. “When’s the baby due?”
“In February,” Maria said. “On Valentine’s Day, February fourteenth.” She waited several heartbeats for him to acknowledge the ominous date.
He didn’t. Instead, he said, “Then we don’t have much time to plan the wedding. I’ll be honest, I’d just as soon we elope right now with just Magdalene and Louis as our witnesses.”
“Steven, please.”
“But if you’ve got your heart set on a big wedding, I understand,” he said, ignoring her protest. “I have only one condition, that we get married before Christmas. I want us to start the New Year as husband and wife.”
“Stop it!”
He jerked back as though she’d slapped him, and narrowed his eyes. “Stop what, Maria?”
“Stop trying to railroad me into marrying you.”
Steven stood, but continued to stare down at her with accusing eyes. “Is that what I’m doing? Railroading you into a marriage you don’t want?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. Instead, he continued, “I love you, and I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you,” she told him, feeling frustrated and confused. It was the truth. She did love Steven with all of her heart.
He knelt down beside her and captured her hands in his. “Then marry me, make a life with me and our baby.”
She tugged her hands free and looked away. “You know it’s not that simple.”
“I know it’s not that difficult either. Most people who love each other and are expecting a baby get married.”
“We’re not most people,” she reminded him. “I’m a Barone and you’re a Conti.”
“And our baby will be both,” Steven pointed out as he stood once more.
“I know that. It’s just—”
“We can make this work, Maria,” he insisted. “I know we can. We’ll get married and you can move into my apartment. Or we can buy a house and—”
“Don’t,” Maria cried out, unable to bear having Steven describe a life for the two of them that she knew in her heart wasn’t possible. Tears stung her eyes. And she immediately blamed those threatening tears on her body’s hormones—hormones that had been out of whack since she’d become pregnant. Because she was afraid if she admitted the truth—that she wanted the life with him that Steven had described—she would weaken. And she couldn’t afford to weaken now. Not when there was so much at stake. Deciding she needed distance in order to clear her senses and think rationally, Maria said, “I think it would be best if you were to leave now.”
“Forget it. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then you’ll have to excuse me,” she said primly.
But Steven didn’t move a muscle. He simply stood there, looking tall and daunting as he stared down at her.
“Please get out of my way,” she said firmly, coolly.
His expression hardened and for a moment she thought he would refuse. Then he stepped aside and offered her his hand. Maria hesitated, then admitting that her added bulk from the baby made getting up more difficult, she accepted his help. But once on her feet, she quickly pulled away and hurried past Steven. She walked over to the fireplace. As she stared into the flames, she searched for the right words to make him understand that she couldn’t marry him. A marriage between the two of them would never work. How could it when their union would rip apart both of their families? Worse, she feared they would only end up hating each other.
“If you think giving me that ice-princess routine is going to make me give up, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did. I’m not leaving here until I get the answer I want, Maria.”
And she wanted to give him the answer he wanted. Because it was what she wanted, too. Only she couldn’t do that. Not with the threat of the curse hanging over her and their unborn ch
ild. The idea of something happening to her own baby sent a surge of panic through her, and before she could stop herself, a sob escaped her lips.
“Damn,” Steven muttered. He could just kick himself for causing Maria to cry. And although he couldn’t see her face, he’d bet his last dollar that Maria was already regretting that outburst of tears. He knew her well enough to know that she would consider those tears a show of weakness. But then, Maria had always been her own harshest critic, he thought. Probably the result of having a family that expected far too much of her.
It simply wasn’t fair. Why did she have to be the one designated to carry on Angelica Barone’s legacy? Why couldn’t someone else run the popular Baronessa Gelateria in Boston’s North End? Why did it have to be Maria? There certainly were enough Barones to share the load. But no, for some reason, they all dumped it on Maria’s shoulders. And as far as he was concerned, the entire lot of them had taken advantage of her for far too long. It simply had to stop.
He stared at Maria’s slender shoulders, could only imagine the enormous weight of responsibility they carried. Not only had she been burdened with the problems of running the gelateria and trying to live up to everyone’s expectations of her, but she’d also had to face the pregnancy alone. He should have realized what was wrong long before now, he told himself as his own guilt escalated. But instead of helping her and relieving some of that stress she was under, he’d only managed to add to it. The realization made him feel ten times worse.
Regretful for having upset her, Steven moved behind Maria and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You know I’d sooner cut off my arm than hurt you. I hate knowing that I’ve made you cry.”
“You didn’t. Make me cry, I mean. I’m not crying,” she fibbed even as she swiped at her eyes.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Hoping to lighten the mood, he quipped, “Because when a fellow tells a girl he loves her and asks her to marry him, tears aren’t exactly the reaction he’s hoping for.”
“Oh, Steven, I’m sorry,” she said, tears once again in her voice.
Steven sighed. Since his attempt at levity hadn’t worked, he tried honesty instead. “Is the idea of marrying me so awful?”
“No,” she said and he didn’t miss the hand swiping at her eyes again.
“Then why the tears?”
“I’ve got something in my eye. Probably just an eyelash,” she offered in explanation.
“Want me to take a look?” he asked, hoping to get her to turn around and look at him.
“Thanks, but it’s out now. I…I’m all right.”
“You don’t sound all right. You sound sad, and I don’t ever remember you being sad—not even when things were a mess.” Even amidst the disaster of the new flavor launch in February when she’d had plenty of reason to cry, she hadn’t shed a single tear. Nor had she given any indication of feeling defeated—not like she was doing now.
She let out an audible breath. “It’s my hormones. The pregnancy has them all messed up.”
“I think we both know it’s more than just hormones at work here.” When she didn’t respond, Steven squeezed her shoulders. “Talk to me, Maria. Whatever it is, I promise we’ll work it out.”
“We can’t work it out.”
“How do you know if you won’t at least talk to me?” he asked. When she still remained silent, he pleaded, “I love you. Please, don’t shut me out.”
“I’m not shutting you out.”
“Aren’t you? What do you call running away from Boston the way you did?”
“I didn’t run away.” She straightened her spine and stepped away from his touch. Picking up the fire poker, she prodded at the logs in the grate. “I told you, I needed to get away. I wanted some time to think, to figure out what I should do about the baby.”
Steven froze at her remark. Stunned he took a moment to find his voice. “You can’t mean that you considered…that you even thought for a minute about getting rid of…”
“No!” She whipped her gaze from the fire over to him. “How could you even think such a thing?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that for a minute I thought…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know what I thought. I obviously wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You obviously weren’t thinking at all. If you had, you’d know that I would never do anything to harm my baby.”
“Our baby,” he corrected.
She didn’t comment, simply turned her attention back to the fire. “Anyway, I left Boston because I needed some time by myself so I could figure out how I’m going to handle things.”
“You mean how we’re going to handle things, don’t you?” Steven asked because he fully intended to be a part of her and their baby’s future.
When his question was met with silence, Steven took the poker from Maria’s fingers and set it aside. Then he turned her around so that she was forced to look at him. But one look at her face and he realized she was under even more strain than he’d first thought. Tear streaks stained her pale cheeks and there was a sadness in those big brown eyes that ripped at him. He wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her and tell her not to worry. That he would handle everything. That he would take care of her and their baby.
Yeah right, Conti.
Considering that mile-wide independent streak of hers, he’d be damned lucky to even get the words out before she tore a strip off of him. And then she’d be even more determined to deal with everything on her own. Well, Maria wasn’t the only one with a stubborn streak. He had one, too. And he had no intention of letting her call all the shots. Besides, he reasoned, Maria was under way too much stress—which couldn’t be good for her or for the baby. Somehow he had to convince the lady to marry him if not for their sakes, then for the baby’s sake. “I think it’s pretty obvious what we need to do first.”
“You mean we should get married.”
Ignoring the fact that she’d made the idea sound as about appealing as having a tooth pulled, he said, “That’s right. And I think the sooner we do, the better.”
“I knew that’s what you’d say,” she accused and pulled away from him. “It’s the reason I didn’t tell you about the baby in the first place. Because I knew the moment you found out you’d start pressuring me to marry you.”
“I didn’t realize that you’d find the idea of marrying me to be a fate worse than death,” he countered, his ego smarting.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Then why don’t you explain what you did mean?”
She sat down on the hearth in front of the fireplace and clasped her hands together. After a moment, she looked up at him. “I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than being married to you. And I think the woman who’s your wife will be a lucky lady.”
Feeling somewhat mollified and also relieved, Steven stooped down before her and captured her hands. “I’m the lucky one,” he told her and smiled. “Not only am I getting you for a wife, but a baby, too.”
Maria pulled her fingers free and stood. She moved to the other end of the hearth. “I wasn’t talking about me, Steven.”
“I was,” he informed her. He shoved up to his feet and followed her to the opposite end of the hearth. This time, he moved in, crowded her space. “There’s only one woman I plan on marrying, Maria Barone, and that’s you.”
She shook her head. “We can’t. Think of what it will do to our families, of the problems it will create.”
“We’ll deal with our families. And we’ll handle any problems that come up,” he insisted. “The important thing is that we’ll be together. I love you. I don’t want to sneak around to see you and keep our relationship a secret. I never did.”
“I know.”
“Then you should also know that I want to be able to wake up with you in the morning and go to sleep with you in my arms every night. I want to make a dozen more babies with you. I want to grow old and gray with you, Maria Baron
e. Marry me,” he pleaded.
“Steven, don’t,” she cried and started to move away.
He blocked her path. Capturing her hands in his own, he looked down into those big doe eyes. “Marry me. Say you’ll be my wife.”
“Oh, Steven,” she sobbed and pulled her hands free. “Why won’t you listen? Why won’t you even try to understand? A marriage between us would never work.”
“How do you know it won’t work unless we try?” he demanded, exasperation making his voice harsher than he intended.
“Because I know. Marriage isn’t the answer.”
“As far as I’m concerned, marriage is the only answer,” he spit out the words.
“Don’t be obtuse.”
How in the devil could someone so small be so stubborn, he wondered. Maybe the cavemen had had the right idea, he fumed. Because right now he was sorely tempted to toss Maria over his shoulder, drag her off somewhere and make love to her until she agreed to marry him. Surprised by the primal feelings she aroused in him, he swiped a hand down his face. Right, Conti. You go ahead and try that stunt and Maria will cut you off at the knees.
“You know very well what I’m talking about. Our families hate each other.”
“That’s their problem. Not ours.”
Maria stared at him as though he’d grown two heads. “Are you going to stand there and tell me that the bitter history between the Barones and Contis doesn’t matter?”
“It doesn’t matter. Not to me and you. The feud between our families has nothing to do with us.”
“How can you say that—especially with everything that’s going on right now?”
“Easily,” Steven said, although he knew it was much more complicated than he cared to admit at the moment. “If our families want to keep the feud going, let them. We don’t have to be a part of it.”
“No? What about the fact that your family suspects my cousin Derrick of kidnapping your sister?” And before he could respond, she continued. “What if they’re right? What if Derrick is the one responsible? Can you honestly say that it doesn’t affect us?”