by Reina Torres
Uberto took a step forward and then another one when she didn’t eviscerate him for the insult. “Emiliana, you are, and always have been, a magnificent creature, but the Orsinos always have a representative at the meeting.”
“Why you?” Instead of angry, she sounded confused and almost lost. Not that he’d say that since he liked his parts where they were. “Since you left, it’s always been Salvatore. And last year, it was Valerio. Why did it have to be you? Now?”
He didn’t have anything left but the truth. “Salvatore is busy, his cub is young, and he has his hands full as the head of our security firm in New York. Valerio’s mate is heavy with their cub.” He swallowed and steadied his breath. “And even if Salvatore hadn’t asked me to come, I would have wanted to be here. Because you’re my mate, Ana. You’re the center of my soul. I let you send me away once before. That was my mistake.”
“You? The ‘Great’ Uberto Orsino admit to making a mistake?”
His growl silenced her for a moment and he wasn’t going to squander it. “You wear my mark, and you matter to me. You and this valley matter to me. And this meeting is one of our responsibilities.”
“Our?” she questioned with a stubborn tilt to her chin.
He shook his head again. “No. Yes,” he corrected, “since you’re one of us.”
Jet lag. That’s what he told himself. Jet lag was the reason he didn’t see the left hook she leveled at his jaw… and the reason he was on the ground, those ridiculous cobble stones likely bruising his hip and shoulder.
She stood over him for a moment, those incredible heels making her legs look like his personal erotic dream. “Who are you? I told you to stay away from me, ‘Berto, and I mean it. Take this as my invitation to go back to New York. If you’re still here tomorrow, I’m going to take your nose and tear it off, before I stuff it down your throat.”
She stomped away in a huff. Those heels, those legs, that luscious behind.
He may have been born in a town named for a saint, but the insatiable thirst he felt for her rode him like a demon. As he was most certainly in hell.
And he loved every damn minute of it.
Chapter Two
After his underwhelming greeting in town, he decided to get straight to the heart of the matter. Or perhaps, the mountain. Taking an old familiar trail up one part of the valley wall, he found himself on the very doorstop of Emiliana’s father.
Alfonse Bruno was a bear of a man. His shoulders were broad enough to make him turn sideways through every door in Santa Biago. His hair covered his head and the back of his neck giving him the rounded look of a bear and his shoulder-wide stance only added to his ursine appearance. The man had been silvering when they left and now, his hair was more silver than brown. He was aging, but he wore it well.
The elder shifter gave Uberto a look from head to toe and nodded in sage judgement.
“I would say that I wasn’t expecting you today, Uberto.” Alfonse cleared his throat. “Then again, I didn’t expect you at all.”
Uberto’s smile was slow, quizzical. “You were expecting my brother, perhaps?” Salvatore was the head of their family, the one who controlled all the land in the valley.
Alfonse’s voice was tight when he spoke. “No. When I spoke to Salvatore I told him I would handle the meeting. In the last ten years, we’ve hardly been important enough to your family to garner more than a few days visit a year and from one of you.”
Uberto didn’t want to say anything in front of Alfonse, but his argument over the lack of Orsino involvement might become a moot point sooner rather than later, but he’d rather not speak to Alfonse about his plans before he’d spoke at length with Emiliana.
His plans, after all, would rely heavily on her feelings. If he could calm her enough to listen instead of seeing him as an interloper in her life.
“Yes, we have been away from this valley for a long period of time, but the people here have enjoyed the benefits of the money that we have made in America. Resources that we have made available to the people we protect.”
“That,” Alfonse grudgingly acknowledged, “is true. Perhaps it’s too small of a gesture from your family. We have been left to our own devices for so long. We may not want your gifts.”
Okay, that wasn’t even a little passive aggressive, it was aggressive, but nothing Uberto wasn’t used to. While the others respected Salvatore for his position and his power, many of the men in Santa Biago had no problem calling him the baby bear of the family. Time away had reduced the sting, maturity had thickened his hide.
And he could understand how Alfonse might feel. He had lived in this valley since birth and it had always been his home. Even when Salvatore had offered to procure tickets for Alfonse and his daughters to come visit them in America, it had been refused, because he was needed to take care of things in Santa Biago.
Sadly, his two daughters had refused the gift as well, it would have been a wonderful opportunity for him to show Emiliana his adopted city and perhaps given them an opportunity to get to know each other away from her father’s disapproving glare.
“If you and the other elders want to turn away the money and resources that we are happy to provide, I would like to hear it from them. There is no need for anyone to suffer because of someone else’s-”
“Ego?” Alfonse almost roared the word. “Is that what you were about to say?”
Uberto shook his head once. “That is not at all what I was about to say. If the town does not want our assistance, then we will likely respect their decision.”
“Likely?” Alfonse would not have sensed a physical threat from Uberto. The younger man simply didn’t have a grudge against his elder. “Will you force the matter?”
His gaze narrowing on the older man, he looked for signs of the real situation in the man’s expression. “You know that the money and resources that we provide for Santa Biago is given freely. We expect no monetary return for the favors. We are happy to-”
“Provide for those that you feel a duty toward.”
“Yes.”
He saw the cold look in the older man’s eyes and understood it for what it was. He was speaking of Uberto’s ten-year absence.
“And yet you know that Ana would rather you stay away. Is that your duty to her? To ignore her wishes?”
“I won’t force her to spend any time with me while I am here. I will let her know that I would like to see her, and to discuss our differences. And yet, I am here for this visit because I was the only one of my brothers available to attend.” Before Alfonse could make an issue of that as well, he reminded the other man the reasons why he was the one attending the meeting.
“Salvatore and his mate are caring for their first cub and Valerio’s mate is expecting as well. You will have to make do with my presence here for this meeting at the very least.” He was reaching the end of his patience with Alfonse’s constant pressure to leave. “Regardless of how you feel, Alfonse, I will be at the meeting.”
Alfonse folded his arms over his massive chest and nodded in understanding, but it was the smile on his face that made a muscle in Uberto’s jaw tick. “Have you seen my daughter yet? I wonder if Emiliana is responsible for that pinch between your shoulder blades.”
Uberto heard the way the older man had enunciated his daughter’s name, making a point of every syllable as if they were individual barbs thrown in his direction. The youngest Orsino brother was finding it even more difficult to keep his emotions in check.
“I saw her.” Three words to describe so many feelings. “She told me to go home.”
“And you are still here,” Alfonse gave him a long-suffering look, “When you gave her your mark, she told you to leave and you listened to her then. Why must we suffer with you now?”
Uberto heard the hard edge in the man’s tone and wondered if Alfonse was this dead-set against him remaining.
“Because my brother gave me the duty. I have missed Santa Biago. I lived here for the first eighteen years of my
life. If Ana doesn’t want to see me beyond my official responsibilities, I will do my best to honor that. At the very least, I can hope to avoid her claws and teeth while I’m here.”
Uberto was going to blame it on the long flight, or maybe the winding road leading up into the valley, but his temper was already at the breaking point. “Will the meeting be held here or-”
“The meeting,” the older man scoffed, “will be held in the Damiano Bakery.”
Uberto held himself back from asking why they would interrupt business in the bakery for the better part of the day. If he asked, he was sure that Alfonse would find some reason to mock the question. It was easier to find his answers elsewhere. “Grazie, Alfonse. I will see you there in two days.”
As he left the older man’s house, he couldn’t help but think that Alfonse was only too happy to see him leave.
It hadn’t always been like this. When he was a child, the Bruno and Orsino families were very close to each other. Davide, the eldest child in Emiliana’s family had been Uberto’s closest friend. As toddlers they were inseparable for much of their time and rough-housing scamps when they thought they could get away with it. And when Emiliana was old enough to play with them, Uberto’s life was turned upside down. Uberto’s parents and Davide’s both insisted that they allow her to play with them.
The boys had been afraid that their games would have to change, that they would have to remain inside or perhaps even be forced to play with dolls, but Emiliana had been a surprise to them both. She loved to play in the dirt and under the bushes looking for berries, but instead of their pants and well-worn shirts, Emiliana wore her dresses and her hair was always pulling loose from her braids.
And as they grew, her dresses seemed to be just another part of their play time. She was just one of his friends and when he and Davide wore holes in the knees of their pants it was the hems of her dresses that suffered.
Uberto never wanted anything to change from that moment on, but life has a way of changing things in moments. And with each of those moments, there was a new obstacle to returning to those days when things were as simple as having a friend and choosing to spend time with them.
Shaking his head clear of the cobwebs, Uberto got into this car and started the engine. It would be a long drive to the Orsino house and he wanted to get there before dark. He was tired and hungry and the prospect of the next morning was looking more and more like the impending doom of a firing squad. He could only hope that there was a quiet evening awaiting him.
#
When Emiliana pushed open the kitchen door she saw her sister hard at work in the kitchen and inhaled the sweet, heavenly scent of a sauce flavored with basil and oregano. Just the indrawn scent of it worked quite a bit of stress from her shoulders. “Please tell me that’s all for me.”
“You know better than to ask that,” Felisa easily defended the largesse of her cutting board from her sister’s hand, “it can’t all be for you.”
“Yes,” Emiliana waited for her sister to turn and reach for the wooden spoon resting on the edge of the pot before she filched a few pieces of cheese and retreated back to the edge of the counter, “it can.”
She knew her sister heard the laughter in her voice. She saw the look of suspicion on her face when she turned around. “What did you- oh! Emiliana!”
Shrugging, she placed a whole sliver of cheese on her tongue and closed her mouth on a moan. “So good.”
Felisa’s sigh was filled with love. “Now that you’ve ignored the rules of my kitchen are you going to tell me what has you so upset?”
“Upset?” She knew there was no sense in trying to fool her sister. Felisa knew her moods better than she did. “Uberto is here.” She saw a whole myriad of expressions play across her sister’s features, as if Felisa was having a conversation all on her own. “Well?”
“You saw him?”
“You know I did,” she wished she could hold back the hard edge in her voice, but she was nearly shaking with anger as it was. “Ten years he’s gone. Ten long years and he walks into town like it’s his!”
Her sister’s mouth opened and closed when Emiliana narrowed her gaze at her.
“The town belongs to the people, Isa. Salvatore has always said so.”
“And because Uberto is one of ‘the people,’ Emiliana, the town does belong to him, too.” She began to slowly stir the pot before her on the old stove. “And as for the ten years, I do seem to remember you, on many occasions, telling me that if he never came back to Santa Biago it would be too soon.”
The last bit of cheese in her mouth felt like a lump in her throat. “That’s cruel, Isa.”
“Cruel?” Her younger sister’s laugh had never irritated her so much. “Why would you say that?”
“You’re using my words against me.” Emiliana tugged a stool out from under the kitchen island and found that her pencil skirt was probably not the right choice for that particular kind of seat. With a huff she pushed the chair back into place. “You’re supposed to be my sister.”
“I am your sister.” Felisa tapped the spoon on the side of the pot and set it down before she reached for a pot holder and the oven door. “Don’t forget that I was the one you came to after your… conversation with Uberto back then, before he left.”
“I said what I said because I meant it.” Emiliana felt a pang of regret deep in her chest. She was the one bringing up the old drama. And yet, she knew by the raw emotions rolling through her that the old drama was still very much the now drama. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep calm with him around.”
Felisa turned the pans around and then closed the oven door before moving toward the refrigerator.
“Well?”
The younger of the Bruno girls turned her head back over her shoulder. “Well?”
Emiliana shrugged and shook her head. “You don’t have anything to say?”
Felisa turned back to the refrigerator and looked into the back behind some of the bottles.
“Isa? Come on, you’ve got to have something to say.”
Taking out a few jars, she elbowed the door closed. “Same old, same old. Nothing new.” The glass bottles touched the hard surface of the counter with just a kiss of sound. “When it comes to Uberto, you only want to hear what you want to hear.”
“He’s a boar!”
“He’s your mate!”
The door opened, and the two women went silent.
“Should I come back?”
#
Uberto remembered only too late that a kitchen had a lot of knives. And lots of hot water.
And when he looked into the kitchen and saw the tight pinch at the corners of Emiliana’s mouth, he knew he was in a bunch of it.
“Sorry?” He took a hesitant step backwards so that he was at least out of Emiliana’s sight.
“’Berto!” Felisa dropped her potholder and rushed across the room to give him a hug. “It’s so good to see you!”
He relaxed a bit into her embrace and prayed that this was going to be a trend in the rest of his day. “It’s good to see you too, Topolina.”
She stepped back and held him at arm’s length for a moment. “Little Mouse?” She laughed out loud. “I’m only a few inches shorter than you now. Not so ‘little’ anymore.”
He shook his head and pulled her closer to brush a kiss on her forehead. “That is true, Isa. So much has changed.”
A groan reached his ears and he saw Emiliana moving across the room. Any hope that she was coming to greet him a second time and rewrite their earlier meeting walked out the French doors and into the garden with her.
He didn’t dare speak until the door closed. “And some things never change.” When he turned his attention back to Felisa he saw her rueful smile.
“You’ve… unsettled her.”
His answering grin was nearly identical. “I could say the same, Isa. Your sister is trying to kill me.”
That caught her interest. He saw the spark of curiosity
in her eyes. “I don’t see any marks on you. You’re not missing a limb.” She leaned slightly closer and looked down at the front of his pants. “Or did she lop off something I can’t see?”
Uberto stepped back again and gave the younger woman a reproachful look. “Why do you sound so happy at the thought that your sister has cut me and left me bleeding?”
“You can see into my mind then, Uberto?” She laughed. “I would believe that of Valerio more than you, but you have to admit it doesn’t sound so out of character for her.”
“No,” he agreed, “I believe she would do it and likely take great pleasure in my pain, but I’m hoping that her bear might want to keep all of my bits and pieces together if she ever decides that I’m worthy enough to stand beside her.”
Felisa’s smile tightened just the littlest bit. And for a moment, he thought she was going to say something, but she lowered her eyes and moved back to the stove to give the large pot a tentative stir.
Uberto followed her to the stove and watched her as she worked on the sauce.
“Need any help?”
The look she gave him over her shoulder was telling.
“I’ve learned a thing or two in the kitchen in the last ten years. I don’t think I’ll ruin anything.”
She shrugged. “Maybe later, but for now, you can relax and get something to drink from the refrigerator. Or,” she drew in a long breath over the pot of sauce, “open a bottle of wine to celebrate your return.”
Felisa set down her wooden spoon and opened the breadbox on the counter.
“What is it that you’re not telling me?”
“What you really want to know is what she’s not telling you,” she sighed, “and I don’t know what that is either, ‘Berto. She’s convinced that the two of you won’t be happy together.”
“I’m not.” He growled at himself for the slight petulant pinch in his voice. “I am convinced that things can work between us, especially now that I’ve seen what ‘Tore and Valerio have gone through with their mates, what they’ve done to bring them into our lives.”
“And you’re willing to do the same for her?”