by Lynne Graham
Rafaello stilled as though something in that reference to time had ensnared him, and then he froze and levered himself back from her. ‘Dio mio…what am I doing?’
‘Nothing I don’t want you to do,’ Glory was quick to assert, slim fingers closing round the parted edges of his suit jacket as she attempted to ease him back to her.
Rafaello surveyed her beautiful expectant face and the inviting curve of her pink mouth and groaned out loud in frustration. ‘I have to fly straight back to New York—’
‘What?’ Glory sat up fast and linked imprisoning hands round his neck, fingers spearing into the thick black silk of his hair.
‘This was a literal flying visit, cara mia. I only came over because I realised my father was set on approaching you this evening and I knew you were scared of him—’
‘Not any more…don’t go,’ she begged.
‘I have to.’ He drew her hands down, pressed a fervid kiss of regret to one of her palms and then sprang upright again. ‘We’ve got Sam in the house too. We really can’t consider cavorting on a sofa like randy teenagers—’
‘No…’ she agreed in some embarrassment at that reminder, but her voice wobbled, for she could not stand letting him go.
Rafaello made it to the door and then he swung round, hauled her into his arms and claimed a passionate kiss which sent her temperature rocketing. ‘Forty-eight hours…’ he reminded her raggedly, pulling away again and backing across the hall in the general direction of the front door, not removing his attention from her for a second.
‘Are you all right?’ Glory gasped as he banged his shoulder off the edge of the marble hall fireplace.
‘Aching more in places I wouldn’t like to mention, bella mia,’ Rafaello groaned.
He departed and she went off in search of Sam, but the kitchen was in darkness. Only when she went back up to the ground floor again did she hear her brother laughing.
Closer investigation revealed that Sam was in the games room. Benito had not departed as she had assumed. His jacket doffed and a cue in one hand, he was instructing Sam in the noble art of billiards. After a covert glance in at father and son getting on so well, she tiptoed away again, leaving them in peace.
Well, she told herself dizzily, Rafaello had been in love with her when she was eighteen and that was really encouraging to find out. What he had managed once he could, with careful encouragement, manage again. Now that she had time to think about it, she was even more heartened by his admission that he had been devastated when they broke up back then. He had cared, really cared about her after just six weeks…and no sex. Maybe if she had contrived to stay out of his bed in Corfu for more than an hour after her arrival she might have reanimated those warmer feelings.
So, in retrospect, even though she would have been very willing to make love on the sofa, she was frantically grateful that the demands of business had made that impossible. Maybe resisting him was the secret, maybe he needed a challenge, only it was rather difficult to work out how she could meet that expectation once they were married…
CHAPTER TEN
THE next two days were incredibly busy for Glory. She tidied and aired the cottage for her father’s return from hospital. She visited the vicar who was to conduct the service, enjoyed half a dozen lengthy visits from former schoolfriends, who were surprised and delighted at their receipt of wedding invitations, and finally she welcomed her father home.
‘Sam’s taken to Benito Grazzini, then,’ Archie Little gathered within ten minutes of his return, having learned that Rafaello’s father was still staying at the Park.
‘Does it bother you?’ Glory asked awkwardly.
‘It’s only what I expected. Sam’s been one of them from birth,’ the older man remarked with a wry smile of acceptance. ‘I tried to make him into a Little, goodness knows I did, but even as a little kid he had all his own ideas. But it’s not his fault he was a cuckoo in the nest.’
He was a practical man and she supposed it was just as well, for there was already talk of Sam going over to Benito’s home in Tuscany for his half-term break, and Benito was talking about the possibility of buying a house in London. For the foreseeable future, Sam was going to be dividing his time between two families and two very different lifestyles.
Rafaello got back to Montague Park on the night before the wedding. He was not overjoyed to discover that Glory was spending her last night of singledom at the cottage and much, much too busy even to see him. ‘See you at the altar!’ she told him cheerfully on the phone.
‘I just want to see you for five minutes—’
‘No, I’m sorry. I promised Dad I would devote myself to him tonight and if I see you, well, you know it’s not going to be for just five minutes.’
Ten minutes later, the knocker on the cottage door went. Rafaello was on the doorstep.
‘Wedding gift,’ Rafaello drawled, shoving a slim parcel into her startled hands.
‘Oh…oh—er—thanks!’ she exclaimed in surprise, momentarily deflected from literally eating him up with her eyes.
‘Engagement ring.’ Rafaello settled a small box on top of the first package and then a second box as well. ‘Eternity ring—felt I might as well get it all over with at once,’ he imparted as he met her astonished gaze.
Glory thrust the gifts on the dresser to one side of the door and was just within an ace of throwing herself exuberantly into his arms when he backed off in an exaggerated step, both lean hands rising as if to hold her at bay.
‘I can play hard to get too, bella mia.’ A sizzling smile slanted his darkly handsome features, his stunning eyes full of pure gold mockery. ‘Buona notte!’
And with that he sauntered back to his red Ferrari, all fluid grace, cool and extreme sexiness.
Lacking that subtle touch, Glory raced down the path in his wake. ‘You can come in if you like—’
Rafaello paused with one hand on the open door of his car and skimmed her a glance of vibrant amusement and satisfaction. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it. I almost forgot…’ he murmured smoothly. ‘Don’t be late at the church. It’s two minutes away and I will just come and fetch you—’
‘It’s tradition for the bride to be a little late!’
‘Stuff tradition,’ Rafaello enunciated, springing into the Ferrari. ‘I want you there on the stroke of the hour.’
Glory shot between him and the car door and yanked his keys out of the ignition. ‘OK…what’s going on?’ she asked anxiously because, although she was charmed by his wonderfully light-hearted mood, she was disconcerted by the alteration she sensed in him.
‘What’s going on?’ Rafaello laughed. ‘I’m just happy!’
‘Oh…’ As that was news that could only please any woman the night before their wedding, Glory returned his car keys to him.
But Rafaello climbed out of the car, pushed shut the door and lounged back against it. He breathed in very deep. ‘I’m happy because when we were in London you told me you loved me and I’m hoping like hell that you meant it…’
Taken aback by that blunt admission, Glory reddened. ‘Of course I meant it.’
His brilliant eyes gleamed and he startled her by snatching her up off her feet, striding round the bonnet and stowing her in his passenger seat.
‘For goodness’ sake, what are you doing?’ Glory yelped.
‘I’m kidnapping you,’ Rafaello asserted, swinging in beside her and firing the engine before she could do anything about it.
‘Are you crazy? I was about to make Dad’s supper—’
Having accelerated back down onto the lane, Rafaello jammed on his brakes and lifted his car phone to stab out a number. ‘Sam? Yes, I told her I was kidnapping her but she’s not impressed by the dramatic gesture—she’s more concerned about Archie’s supper—’
Glory’s cheeks flamed at that proclamation. Rafaello replaced the phone and dealt her an amused appraisal. ‘Sam will ensure that your father eats…OK? Can you relax now?’
It was a beautiful early
-autumn evening. He parked the Ferrari below the beech trees that lined the woodland walk that followed the river through the estate. Closing a lean hand round hers, he tugged her out of the car. ‘I had to talk to you before the wedding, bella mia.’
‘What wouldn’t keep until tomorrow?’ Glory teased.
Rafaello came to a halt. ‘It crossed my mind on the flight back home that although you had heard me telling Sam that I loved you, I had never actually told you…at least, nor properly.’
‘Not properly…’ Glory repeated unsteadily, her attention resting on the decided colour that had risen to accentuate his fabulous cheekbones. ‘Are you trying to say that you were serious when you said that to Sam in London? I thought you were just saying it to calm him down—’
‘I’m not that good a liar in moments of crisis where you’re concerned. If you hadn’t done a runner on me in Corfu I would have told you I loved you then.’
Glory was desperate to believe that he loved her but afraid to credit that what she most wanted could already be hers. ‘But that last morning we were together at the villa you were so grim and tense with me…that’s why I got the idea that you were going to dump me!’ Glory explained awkwardly. ‘I don’t want you feeling you have to rewrite history just because I got pregnant and you want to make me feel better about our getting married.’
His lean strong face clenched hard with tension. ‘I don’t believe this. I’ve never told a woman I loved her in my life, and the minute I do you start telling me I don’t! But then, how can I blame you for that when I’ve made such a hash of everything? I always get it wrong with you—’
Colliding with the raw emotion in his lustrous dark eyes, Glory started really listening instead of doubting. ‘You don’t—’
‘Yes, I do. Even when you told me that you loved me, I screwed up!’ Rafaello ground out, swinging away from her and raking his fingers through his black hair in a movement of violent frustration. ‘I thought you were only saying it because you had guessed that I was crazy about you and you were feeling sorry for me. That stung my pride—’
Dumbfounded by the revelation that Rafaello could be that insecure, Glory closed her hands round one lean clenched fist and drew him back to her again, but he was so busy talking, he hardly seemed to notice. ‘There’s never been anyone else for me but you,’ he was telling her aggressively. ‘When I first saw you again I went haywire and came up with the mistress idea. I just wanted you back on any terms I could have you without losing face.’
As Rafaello paused for breath Glory was starting to smile. ‘Without losing face?’ she encouraged.
‘Then I wrecked things again by coming off with that rubbish about you trying to trap me by getting pregnant,’ Rafaello informed her with a guilty grimace. ‘I was in shock at finding out you were still a virgin, but by the time I got out of the shower I had actually quite warmed up to the idea that you might conceive my child—’
‘You…had?’
‘Then I realised you’d gone out in the storm, and I don’t ever want to relive that panic you put me in, cara,’ Rafaello confided with a positive shudder of recollection. ‘By the time I got you back up to the villa, I knew I had much deeper feelings for you than I had been prepared to admit—’
‘So you proposed marriage to me when I was in the bath. Trouble is, I didn’t think you meant it—’
‘I’m not like my father. I was really impressed listening to him giving forth about your mother and without a shred of self-consciousness admitting that she was the love of his life. I’m just not great with the words,’ Rafaello interrupted with raw regret, strained dark eyes holding hers as if he was willing her with every atom of his being to believe in him. ‘But I just looked at you and my feelings…well, they just overwhelmed me and I know it wasn’t the most romantic proposal or the best place to propose—’
Glory was so shaken by that disjointed burst of confidence that her eyes stung with tears. ‘And I rejected the idea straight off. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen—’
‘No, it was my fault, throwing it at you like that,’ Rafaello insisted, gathering her close and snatching in a sustaining breath. ‘I realised that I had to try to prove to you that we could be happy together—’
‘You succeeded—’
‘But I didn’t have the guts to sit down and trash the mistress arrangement straight off in case you just upped and walked out there and then,’ Rafaello confessed in a charged undertone of embarrassment. ‘Then that last night we had that stupid argument and you said how mortified you’d be if your family knew what you were doing with me…I honestly thought you despised me for being such a jerk—’
All those brains, Glory reflected in silent fascination, and he could not see the wood from the trees when it came to her feelings for him. ‘I was just saying that because I was angry with you—’
‘But I felt so guilty and ashamed. Then when I came to bed thinking you would be asleep, you turned out to be awake,’ he reminded her. ‘And I was dreading saying what I knew I had to say…’
‘Which was?’ Glory prompted.
‘That I was sorry that I had forced you into becoming my mistress but that I had never once thought of you that way because I loved you and still wanted to marry you—’
‘Why on earth were you dreading saying that to me?’ Glory demanded in some bewilderment.
Shimmering golden eyes assailed hers in a head-on collision and his hard jawline clenched. ‘I was scared you would just pack your bags and go—’
‘But I was nuts about you too!’ Glory exclaimed. ‘I suppose you were so tense the next morning because you were still thinking that but, you see, I thought you were warming up to dumping me. How on earth could you think I would walk out on you after the way I’d behaved in bed with you?’
‘Passion didn’t mean you wouldn’t grab the first chance you got to have your freedom back.’
‘I hope you know different now. Passion and love go together for me,’ Glory informed him gently.
‘When I got back and found you gone I was shattered,’ Rafaello muttered heavily. ‘I assumed you’d gone back to England and I hired an investigation agency to search for you—’
‘You…did?’ Glory was shocked by that admission.
‘Then your father fell ill and I was finally able to find you after two months of hell—’
‘But you were so distant—’
‘Even the most stupid guy would get the message that he was unwanted after being ditched twice over, bella mia,’ Rafaello pointed out defensively. ‘And the way you kept on thanking me all the time for doing what I could for Archie made me feel even worse. I was also feeling very uncomfortable with the fact that I knew Sam was my brother but you didn’t.’
Glory’s bright blue eyes shone like stars as she gazed up at him. ‘You never have been unwanted by me in your entire life, Rafaello Grazzini,’ she swore with a slight break in her voice. ‘You love me, you really love me—?’
‘So much I can’t keep my hands off you in public places.’ Registering that he was on a decided winning streak, Rafaello hauled her even closer and kissed her with hungry passion, breathing raggedly in the aftermath. ‘I can’t wait to marry you, I just can’t wait…’
They didn’t stay out long. He took her home and they parted and Glory went indoors and gave her brother a big hug. ‘You’re even cleverer than I thought you were,’ she told him.
Sam laughed but he was bewildered. ‘Why?’
‘Sorry, can’t explain. But you were right about something that I am incredibly happy to have been wrong about,’ his sister said with an ecstatic smile that left him none the wiser.
It was her father who reminded her about the gifts which Rafaello had brought. Glory discovered that the slim parcel contained a jewel-case which contained an exquisite diamond and platinum necklace and drop earrings. She was overwhelmed by Rafaello’s generosity but it all meant so much more to her now that she knew she was loved. Her engagement ring, the gift which m
ost touched her heart, was an equally beautiful diamond solitaire, and the eternity ring, a narrow matching band.
The next morning, the day of the wedding, she was up early and had only just gone upstairs when she heard a car pulling up outside. Maud, who had come over to help her get dressed, called up to tell her that she had a visitor.
Glory was disconcerted to be told that Rafaello’s father was waiting to speak to her. Maud had shown him into the rarely used front parlour. The reason for Benito Grazzini’s visit shook Glory even more. He had come to give her a very beautiful diamond tiara that had belonged to his own mother.
‘I always planned to give this to Rafaello’s bride but it took me until this morning to work up the courage to offer it to you,’ Benito admitted anxiously. ‘I very much want to repair the damage I have done to you and to Rafaello and I also wish to welcome you with a whole heart to our family.’
Recognising the depth of the older man’s sincerity, Glory thanked him and told him that she had already forgiven him and that Rafaello would soon feel the same.
Maud exclaimed over the tiara but was even more impressed by Rafaello’s gifts. ‘He’s certainly pushed the boat out and no mistake!’
‘It’s just so extravagant…all this for me.’ Glory fingered the gorgeous necklace with reverent fingers. ‘It’s like a dream.’
‘Just like a wedding ought to be,’ the older woman said with warm approval.
An hour or more later, when Glory studied her reflection in the mirror, a glow of incredible happiness consumed her. The instant she had seen the dress in an exclusive wedding store in London she had fallen madly in love with it. The neckline was off the shoulder and elegant and the intricate bodice of silver beaded and embroidered silk ended in a flattering V-waistline. The sleeves were tight but flared out into a fall of exquisite lace at the elbow. The satin-silk skirt opened at the centre to reveal a panel of the same gorgeous beaded silk as the bodice. Having set aside the pretty fake tiara she had intended to wear with her Chantilly lace bridal veil, she had replaced it with the diamond tiara that Benito had given her.