“I need to move on with my life,” she continued, before he had a chance to say anything. “To do that, I need you to be honest with me. Whatever your reasons for changing your plans and taking on our project, getting involved with me—I don’t care anymore. If you never loved me, fine, whatever, I’m still standing. The truth won’t destroy me, but it will allow me to make better choices. And I think if nothing else, you owe me that.”
She paused a moment, stared at the table and then back at him. “I need to know what’s in your heart, Antonio. If it’s not love then please, just be honest with me.”
She was going right for the core of things, to what mattered. She wanted him to put his heart on the table, to expose all he held there; she wanted his truth. He would give it to her.
“And so you shall, mia amore.”
LUCIA FROWNED WHEN Antonio took some papers out of his pocket, unfolded them and smoothed them out on the top of the table. He drew in a breath and slid them toward her.
“What’s this?”
“A document I had drawn up with a lawyer. It states that when the funds in the trust are distributed, they’re to be given to you, whether you agreed to marry me or not. The date at the bottom is from a couple of weeks ago, before this whole mess started, before you’d ever even heard about the trust.”
“What!” Lucia stared across the table at him, her expression one of shock and confusion. “Why would you do such a thing?”
“For one very simple reason.” He reached out and took her hand, breathed thanks when she didn’t pull it away. “I love you, Lucia. When I realized how important you’d become to me, I wanted to try to eliminate any possibility you might doubt that love. I was planning to tell you about the trust the night Mitch showed up. If you remember, I told you there was something we needed to talk about. Once you knew the truth, I was hoping you’d forgive me for waiting so long to tell you, and if you did, I planned on asking you to marry me.”
He rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. “My deepest regret is that we never got the chance to talk before you overheard my grandfather and me. What you heard was nothing more than me trying to turn the tables on him for holding things over my head for so long. He saw right through what I was doing, knew all along there was no truth in it, but you didn’t. You believed it, and it hurt you. For that I am sorrier than you could possibly know.”
Antonio held her gaze, his eyes full of emotion. “We’re meant to be, mia amore. I truly believe that. Whether through destiny or choice, we’re meant to be. You said you needed to know what’s in my heart. It’s love, Lucia. For you and only you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove it to you if I have to. Please believe me, darling.”
Lucia swallowed, got weepy for about the hundredth time since overhearing his conversation with his grandfather what seemed like a lifetime ago. But these tears flowed for a different reason. These tears were full of hope and promise. He’d opened his heart to her, told her what it held, and she’d seen the truth in it. And she couldn’t deny the papers on the table that proved it.
“I believe you.”
His sigh came heavy, full of relief, she realized. Lucia smiled lightly, her eyes drinking in his beloved face, and in his eyes she saw love, a love she would have seen all along if she’d only trusted her heart more. She had no doubt now, though, as she looked at him. Antonio really did love her.
He stood up, reached down and took her hands, and in the next instant she was in his arms. He brushed his lips over hers, a kiss light as a whisper, endearing, full of promise, and then rested his forehead against hers.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said softly. “Maybe we are meant to be together, because right now my heart’s telling me together is right where we’re supposed to be.”
His arms tightened around her. “I don’t know what that says about destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it. All I know is I love you. I love you with no effort, with no thought, with every heartbeat. I didn’t make a conscious choice to love you, although I would choose you over and over, a thousand times I would choose you if the choice were mine. My heart decided on you before I even had a chance to think about it.”
He looked down at her. “Was it destiny? I don’t know and I don’t care. The only thing that matters to me is that you know now and believe what’s in my heart.”
“I do believe, Antonio.”
His grin came quick and full of joy, and made her laugh.
“You know, I have to tell you, I’m developing a real fondness for your Aunt Rosa. If she hadn’t locked you in the kitchen with me, there’s no telling how long it would have taken for me to convince you to talk to me.”
“I’m beginning to warm up to her too. Maybe she really is just watching over us, trying to take care of us. I don’t know why, but she made it clear she wasn’t about to let me walk away from you when I should be holding on with everything I had.”
Antonio caught his lip. “We still haven’t discussed the other thing you overheard.”
Lucia tilted her head, thought back and tried to remember if there was something else but came up blank. He loved her. She hadn’t been wrong in that. What else mattered? She furrowed her brow, thought a moment more, and then shook her head.
“You’ve got me,” she said.
He tightened his arms some more. “And I don’t intend to let you go.”
“Good, because now that I know the truth, I’ve decided to keep you, too.”
“Which brings us to that other matter.”
He took a step back and asked her to sit down again. Keeping her hands in his, he got down on one knee and looked into her eyes.
“Lucia Bonavera,” he said, his tone serious, almost reverent, and her eyes filled up because she suddenly remembered the other thing she’d overheard.
“Will you do me the honor of walking through life with me, hand in hand, heart with heart, as my partner, my wife, as my love?”
Her answer echoed in her head, yes, yes, yes, but the words got stuck in her throat, too full of emotion to get them out, so she threw herself at him instead, wrapping her arms around his neck and knocking him over. They tumbled onto the terrace slate.
Antonio hugged her to him and pressed his lips against her ear. “Can I interpret that as a yes?”
Lucia laughed, nodded, and lifted her head. “Yes,” she said, able to get it out now that she’d knocked the word loose. “I will walk through life with you, hand in hand, heart with heart, with you as my partner, my husband, as my love.”
“Oh my God, that was one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen! Except for you knocking Antonio over, Lucia.”
Lucia and Antonio looked at each other and then both turned their heads toward the open solarium doors where Marcella and Eliana, who’d been the one to announce their presence with her declaration, stood.
Eliana clasped her hands to her chest, over her heart, a dreamy look on her face. Marcella was grinning, apparently not immune to the moment, and from what Lucia could tell, neither looked like they were going anywhere soon.
Antonio rolled Lucia to his side, stood up, and then reached down and took her hand. He helped her up and then grinned over to her sisters, apparently not the least bit embarrassed or annoyed they’d witnessed his proposal.
Eliana rushed over and threw her arms around them. “Oh, oh, oh! I’m so happy for you guys! Congratulations. This is so exciting! You are going to let me plan the wedding, right?”
Lucia looked at Antonio and rolled her eyes. He only laughed. Marcella came over then, gave them each a hug that was a little less effusive, more in keeping with her quiet nature, and said, “Yeah, I saw this coming.”
“Okay, so we need to open some wine and celebrate,” Eliana declared, having apparently decided this was now a group event. “Cel, call Cat and tell her to come down here, and Antonio…” She looked at him. “Do you want us to see if your grandfather’s still up so he can join us too?”
Antonio dipped his h
ead toward Lucia, arched a brow. His eyes sparked crystal blue amusement and her heart did a little dance in her chest. Lord how she loved this man. He was everything she wanted, needed—smart and good and sexy as hell—and he didn’t look at all like he wanted to strangle her sisters, so that was a bonus since she was stuck with them.
“I agree a celebration is in order, and what better way to celebrate than with those we love, with family.” He leaned down, kissed her forehead, then pushed the hair back from her ear, kissed her there, and whispered for her ears only, “And after, we’ll celebrate with just us two.”
The warmth of his promise flowed through her veins, and she smiled. She was loved. Her heart had been right all along.
ANTONIO TURNED THE latch on the bedroom door and put his hands on Lucia’s shoulders. “There are some things I’m not willing to share with your sisters.”
“Even they wouldn’t dare open that door tonight.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, so grateful for the man he’d proven himself to be. “You were very gracious this evening, celebrating with my sisters and your grandfather at Eliana’s suggestion.” She bobbed her head. “Okay, hijacking of your proposal and turning it into a party. I’m not sure most men would have been as understanding.”
“They’re yours. They love you as you do them. They got caught up in their happiness for you, for us, and as I believe it was that which motivated them to…umm, seize the moment and want to share in it with us, how could I not indulge them? They have always been and will always be your sisters. Because I love you, because I’m yours and you’re mine, I view them as part of the package.”
He dropped his hands to her waist and moved against her. “With the aforementioned exception.”
“Our private celebration.”
“Umm hmm.” He started walking toward the bed, smoothly urging her backward as he went, his hands never leaving her sides.
“After we celebrate, we’re going to need to talk about logistics.”
Antonio chuckled. “I love it when you talk common sense. It’s such a turn-on.”
“Well, we will, you know. We live in different countries, or did that not-so-little detail slip your mind in all the excitement?”
“It didn’t slip my mind. I’ve given it a lot of thought.” He stopped when the back of her legs met with the bed.
“And the trust. We’re going to need to talk about that. I appreciate what you did and understand why, but I don’t feel right about it. It should be distributed more fairly.”
He kissed her, his mouth gliding over hers, holding back even as she could taste his hunger on them.
“I don’t care what you do with it. Put it into Serendipity, split it among your sisters, it doesn’t matter to me.”
He reached around to the back of her dress, found the zipper, inched it down, the pad of his thumb trailing over her skin as he did like a matchstick lighting the embers of her desire.
Logistics could wait, talking about the trust could wait. She needed the touch of his skin against hers, the feel of his mouth, his hands, giving, taking, holding nothing back. For a brief space in time she thought she’d lost him, but he was here, now, and would be always.
He eased her dress off her shoulders, slid it along her body, stopping to lavish her breasts with kisses, her stomach, lingered over her hips, and then slipped it the rest of the way off before working his way back up to her waiting mouth.
She found the hem of his Henley and pulled it up, over his well-toned chest, the broad shoulders, and above his head, then tossed it aside. He toed off his shoes, undid his jeans, and worked them off along with his boxers.
Free of all that kept them from their desire, Antonio gently eased her down onto the bed, followed, and brought the words he’d given her earlier to life. With his mouth and his hands and his body, he showered her with love.
ANTONIO WAS ON fire, and the accelerant stoking the flame to burn out of control was named Lucia. The taste of her, the scent of her, the feel of her body moving under him, against him, with him, all combined to fuel the blaze to flare higher.
Surely no other woman could ever bring him to these heights of desire, to incite this need to join with her, to claim her as his, and to give her all that was within his power in return.
He molded his hands over her breasts, stroked the erect tips that pleaded for his attention until she cried out, and then he gave her more, leaning down and taking them into his mouth, one after the other, as she tossed and turned beneath him.
“Please,” she moaned, the word laced with need.
He drove her up, over and over, wanting her to feel as desperate as he did, until he could bear no more and slid his hand down between her legs. She was wet and warm, and when he drew his finger over the center of her pleasure, he thought she might fly off the bed.
“Now, Antonio,” she demanded. “Please, I need you now.”
And what was a man to do when the woman he loved asked so nicely? He slid up to take her mouth with his, his tongue hungry to mate with hers, to taste the desire there as he nudged her knees apart and slid into her heat.
He filled her, got swept up in the love, the lust. Pleasure inundated him. He opened his eyes, saw the love in hers, the miracle of what she offered, and he knew there could never be another for him.
They rode out the storm, a tempest that raged until they both burst like a million fireworks lighting the sky. When they came down, they laid in each other’s arms in silence, both shaken to the core by the intensity of what they’d just shared.
Antonio reached up, stroked her head, wrapped a length of her hair around his hand.
“My heart is yours, mia amore.” He laid his lips against her temple. “Now and always.”
Few men have imagination
enough for reality.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In the week and a half that followed, in between meetings with Liam and the two new clients he’d picked up through referrals, Antonio spent as much time as he could with his grandfather before his return trip to Cortona.
Lucia joined them whenever possible, and on two occasions when Antonio had other commitments but she was free, she and Vincenzo went out to lunch together, just the two of them. She cherished the time, getting to know him better, listening to stories about Antonio as a boy, a younger man, and to learn more about her own grandparents.
He left on a Monday. Most of her weekend guests had checked out the prior afternoon, with only two couples staying over through Tuesday. Eliana volunteered to cover reception so Lucia could go with Antonio and his grandfather to the airport.
“I’m going to miss him,” Antonio said on the drive back to the winery.
“I know you will. I’ll miss him, too.” Lucia reached over and rested a hand on his knee. “But he said he’d come back at least once a year to visit, and you’ll be going there for a week in November, so you’ll see him again in three months.”
“I’m surprised he wants to come back, given how he said he’d never come to the States again after his only other visit.”
“You’ll be here now, so he has a reason.”
Antonio shot her a glance across the front seat, his lips twitching. “And so are you and your sisters. I think the main reason is because he enjoyed being fussed over by the four of you.”
They had spoiled him, but it had been hard not to. He was a delight, full of charm, a compliment to brighten your day, and a story if you had the time. And at his age, she thought he deserved a little spoiling.
Vincenzo had sat down with Lucia and Antonio early that morning to tell them he hadn’t been completely honest about the stipulations of the trust he and Rodrigo had set up. When she learned about it from Antonio, he’d explained that his grandfather told him a trust had been set up for Antonio for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that would be distributed to him when he turned thirty. He didn’t mention that it had been set up by him and Rodrigo, or that it was connected to their betrothal
contract.
Antonio had assumed the trust was connected to his parents’ estate, a logical assumption. When he decided to start his own architectural firm several years earlier, his grandfather offered to lend him a hundred and fifty thousand to do so, and Antonio signed a promissory note that he’d pay him back within one year of his thirtieth birthday. That would have given him twelve months after he received the money in the trust.
It had been a no-brainer for him, until a year ago when his nonno decided Antonio, who’d refused up to that point to consider even going to the States to meet Lucia, needed a little motivation. And that was when he found out the trust had been set up by their grandfathers as an incentive, should they need one, to bring their progeny together. It stipulated that Antonio needed to marry Lucia by his thirtieth birthday. If the two failed to marry, the funds wouldn’t be distributed until he and Lucia turned forty and would be divided equally.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Antonio asked.
Lucia glanced across the seat. “Oh, I was just thinking of our grandfathers’ agreement, and the trust. Did you really think your grandfather was going to stick to the original terms?”
“He’s a stubborn old man, and he and your grandfather swore a pact. He felt like it was his duty to honor it. He didn’t have any siblings, and he told me on several occasions that Rodrigo was like a brother to him.
“I always knew my grandfather loved me, which is why a part of me couldn’t believe he’d maneuvered me into a financial debt that I couldn’t repay if I didn’t do as he asked.”
Lucia took her water bottle out of the cup holder and screwed off the lid for a drink. “You didn’t seem that surprised this morning, though, when he told us he’d changed the terms of the trust years ago.”
Antonio grinned. “Not totally. I think deep down I knew he’d come through and do the right thing. As close as he was to your grandfather, it was hard for me to believe he’d let his best friend’s grandchildren get nothing from the trust while I got it all. When I came up with that crazy plan for a temporary marriage, my original thought was that if you went along with it, I’d split everything equally among the five of us.
Lucia (The Bonaveras) Page 24