by Sara Craven
Emily felt herself begin to tremble. She told herself she couldn’t listen to this. That she must stop him—now, but no words
would come, and after a moment, Raf went on, his voice quiet and reflective.
‘You told me once that you hated me. I hoped—I think I even prayed—that it was not true. I told myself it was
impossible that I could love you so much and receive nothing in return. That eventually everything I felt for you must reach
you—touch you, and I had only to be patient.
‘That there would be a moment in my arms when you would smile at me and whisper, “Ti amo.I love you.” But you said
nothing. Ever. Not even when you knew we had made our first child together. And somehow that was the most hurtful
thing of all.’
Emily shook off the spell that had her in its grasp.
‘You talk about hurt’ she threw back at him hoarsely. ‘You dare mention the word love—when your mistress paid me a
visit, apparently at your instigation.’ She lifted her chin. ‘When she set me straight on the future you both had planned for
me, and—and the baby. You wonder that I decided I’d rather be alone That I want nothing more to do with you’
‘If you refer to Valentina Colona, I learned she had been at my house.’ His voice was hard. ‘It seems your maid,
Apollonia, admitted her secretly, knowing you were alone.’
He paused. ‘I said, if you remember, that I thought I had seen the girl before, and I was right. She had once worked for
Valentina. And she was still being paid by her—to report back on every detail of our marriage.’
Her lips parted in shock. ‘Apollonia was—spying on us There were times when I wondered…’
‘She confessed everything on the day you left,’ he said. ‘Rosanna caught her trying to sneak out through a side door with
her suitcase while the house was in uproar. She thought it strange, so she locked her in a pantry to await my return.
‘Apollonia had taken some of your clothes and a few small items of jewellery, so the threat of prosecution loosened her
tongue admirably.
‘And Valentina Colona is not my mistress,’ he added with cold emphasis. ‘We were once briefly involved and I have no
defence to offer except that I was alone and unhappy and she made it clear she wanted me. But it was over almost as
soon as it began. And it has never been resumed in any way.’
She drew a sharp breath. ‘I—I don’t believe you.’
‘No,’ he said bitterly. ‘You would, naturally, prefer to put your faith in the lies of a vengeful bitch.’
‘Do you deny there were stories in the papers about your plans to marry her’ she challenged.
‘Si,’ he agreed. ‘There were stories but solely of her invention. They bore no relation to any plan of mine.’
‘Why should she do that’
He shrugged. ‘Because she believes she is irresistible, and clearly I did not agree. Something she could not forgive, so her
self-esteem demanded that the record must be adjusted—publicly. Not merely a transientaffaire ,’ he added drily, ‘but a
permanent relationship.’
His mouth twisted. ‘She told me at the time that she would make me sorry. I assumed that the lies in the newspapers
were as far as she would go. But I was wrong.’
He paused. ‘Also, and more importantly, I rejected the opportunity to finance the expansion of her business ventures,
after she learned that her husband would invest no more money in Valentina X. And she, with equal determination, has
refused to accept my decision.
‘Even when we were in Scotland, her company accountants were bombarding me with requests for further meetings, all
of which I declined.
‘So, according to Apollonia, I had to be punished. And, it seems, she saw the manipulation of my already shaky marriage
into breakdown as her ideal revenge. Because I too would undergo public rejection. And by the girl that all Rome knew
was carrying my child.’
She swallowed. ‘But that’s impossible. I didn’t know myself—not until the day I left. I was horribly sick when I woke up,
so I started doing sums.’
He almost smiled. ‘Davvero I did my own mathematics several weeks ago. And almost immediately I was tackled by
Marcello’s mother,’ he added drily. ‘She told me that she could see it in your face, and that she was never wrong.’
‘After that, I found myself being congratulated on all sides over my impending fatherhood.’ He paused. ‘By everyone,
that is, except the girl who would make it a wonderful reality for me.
‘Every day I hoped—I waited for you to come to me—to tell me, but you said nothing.’ He bent his head. ‘And I began
to think that your silence meant you were angry. That you did not want our baby, because it would tie you to me and you
wished only to be free. And then I began to be angry too.’
She stared at him. ‘Is that why you stopped sleeping with me’
He said quietly, ‘A friend of mine is an obstetrician—a good man. I went to him because I had begun to think about my
mother, and there were questions I wished to ask.’
Emily’s heart missed a beat. ‘Did he put your mind at rest’
‘He said it was a rare condition, a one in a million thing, and that these days medical science could deal with it.’ He
paused. ‘But he also said that making love in the early months might harm the baby. That it would be better to wait until
your pregnancy was well-established.
‘That night I saw how tired you looked and I knew he was right.’ His mouth twisted wryly. ‘So I decided it would be
better to remove myself from temptation altogether by sleeping in another room.’
She said huskily, ‘I—I thought you didn’t want me…’
‘Always—always.’ Raf’s eyes were anguished as they met hers. ‘From that first moment, and for ever.’ He took a step
towards her, then hesitated. ‘Emilia, listen to me,carissima . You said you wished to have no more to do with me, and it
may be that things have become so wrong between us that there is no way back. But, even if you cannot love me in the
way that I long for, I still wish to take care of you, and our child.’
He drew a deep breath. ‘If you come back to me—to my protection, I will ask for nothing else. We will live as you
decide.’
Her brows lifted. ‘You mean—myself at the house and you in your apartment in Rome You’d agree to that’
He bowed his head. ‘If that is what you wish.’
‘I’ll tell you what I wish,’ she said with sudden fierceness. ‘I wish you would take me in your arms and never let me go.
Because there’s nothing in this world for me without you.
‘I wish I’d said “Don’t go” on our wedding night, and shown you then how much I wanted you.
‘I wish you’d sleep with me tonight and every night for the rest of our lives. And that you’ll live with me, and scold me
and spoil me and make me laugh. And take care of me and all the babies I hope we’ll have.
‘And I wish with all my heart that you’ll believe me now, my darling, when I say—ti amo. I love you—love you…And I
always have.’
He came to her, lifting her off her feet and putting her down on to one of the sofas as gently as if she were made of glass.
Then he knelt beside her, his face buried against her stomach, and she stroked his hair with tender hands and whispered
all the things she had never dared say to him before, and knew that the freedom she’d wanted was hers at last.
When Raf raised his head, there were tears on his face. He said softly,
�
��Do you believe in miracles,mi amore ’
‘I believe in us.’ She kissed him on the mouth, her lips warm and lingering as they smiled against his. ‘And, whatever your
doctor friend may say,mio caro ,’ she whispered huskily, ‘tonight you will most definitely need to shave. And that’s a
promise.’
ISBN 978-1-55254-808-0
THE FORCED BRIDE
First North American Publication 2007.
Copyright © 2006 by Sara Craven.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to
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author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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