Ruthlessly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded

by Abby Green

  So she shook her head. As she did she saw Vicenzo’s face darken and close in, but she assured herself she was making the right choice—even though it felt like anything but the right choice. She felt curiously numb.

  ‘You’re right. All I’ve ever wanted is to be free. And if you’re willing to let me go now…I’d like to go.’ Her heart constricted painfully, but she told herself she was just protecting herself. She wouldn’t be able to endure more heartache than this, and if she stayed heartache was certain.

  Everything about Vicenzo was stiff and unyielding. ‘Of course. If that is your wish. Tommaso will take you to the airport in an hour. I can arrange for your things to be packed up and sent to your new place. I’ll leave it to you to decide what to do about our marriage.’

  Cara opened her mouth but he put up a hand. ‘I’ve destroyed the prenuptial agreement, so if you do decide you’d like to separate you’ll be well looked after. And needless to say you’ll have access to funds in the meantime. I would just ask that you consider what you want before making a final decision.’

  If she’d needed a sign then this was it. He wasn’t even trying too hard to persuade her to change her mind. Cara couldn’t articulate anything anyway, so she just nodded jerkily. And then, before she could break in two, she turned and walked out of the study.

  An hour later she waited on the steps by the front door. Tommaso had gone to get the Jeep. Her heart felt as if ice had been packed around it. She heard a sound behind her and whirled around. If it was Vicenzo—But it was Silvio, and immediately she felt devastated.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted out, tears pricking her eyes. That treacherous ice was melting.

  He came to a stop beside her and looked up with kind, shrewd eyes. ‘What for? You have to do what you have to do.’

  ‘Thank you for understanding.’

  Tommaso pulled the Jeep around and Cara bent to kiss Silvio on both cheeks. He caught her hand just as she would have turned away and said huskily, ‘I don’t think you realise, Cara, Vicenzo hadn’t been back to this house since he left home at the age of seventeen. And yet he brought you here, because I think he knew that for the first time he was willing to risk his heart again.’

  Shock coursed through Cara. No, she wanted to say, he only brought me here so that he could make sure I didn’t cause trouble. And yet… She heard Tommaso open the door of the Jeep behind her, take her small case from her feet.

  The pull to give in was nearly overwhelming—to go back, to ask Vicenzo… But she had to be strong. If she went back he might seduce her into staying, but eventually it would amount to the same ending. A worse heartbreak than she could ever imagine.

  Her mouth wobbled. She had to leave. Now. ‘I’m sorry, Silvio.’

  He just nodded and pulled back in his wheelchair. Cara got into the Jeep and turned her head, so he wouldn’t see her tears as they moved away.

  By the time they were pulling in to the airport, and Tommaso was handing her yet another tissue, Cara had to finally concede that if she even made it onto the small plane waiting on the tarmac her heart would be so broken into tiny pieces that anything in comparison had to be better.

  When she apologised and asked Tommaso to turn around he didn’t look surprised. And when she asked him to stop in Tharros, and she emerged from a small boutique dressed in a simple white sundress sprigged with small daisies, he didn’t say a word.

  The villa was silent when they returned, and she could see what Silvio had meant about there not having been happiness here for a long time. She made a silent vow to do her best to change that—but first…

  She took a deep breath outside Vicenzo’s study and opened the door. He was standing at the window, hands in his pockets. Every line in his body so tense and proud. She saw an opened bottle of whisky on the table and an empty glass. And then he turned around, and she almost flinched at the look on his face. His eyes were bloodshot, and in that instant she knew that there was infinitely more between them than just the events that had brought them together.

  Vicenzo saw Cara standing there, in a plain white dress and bare feet, her hair down. It was a mirage. It had to be. Especially as she wasn’t wearing that awful black. She looked like an angel. She couldn’t be real.

  And then she was walking towards him, lifting herself up on tiptoe to put her arms around his neck and say, ‘I’m sorry for walking away…but I was afraid—so afraid that all you felt was guilt and a duty to let me go… I wanted you to reach out and hold me, to tell me not to go, and when you didn’t…’ She shook her head, eyes glistening with tears. ‘I’m not free without you, Vicenzo. You’re my freedom.’

  Her sweet scent wrapping itself around him told him this was real. She had come back to him dressed in white, to make a statement, to make him believe.

  ‘Oh, Cara…’ He pulled her so tight she could barely breath, and buried his head in her neck and hair. His words were muffled against her neck as he kissed her and talked at the same time. ‘The only reason I didn’t reach out was because I knew if I touched you I’d never let you go again, and then you’d hate me for not giving you the choice to walk away. But you don’t know how hard it’s been to stand here and think of you getting onto that plane… I was attempting to drink myself into a stupor in order to stop myself from going out and hauling you back here.’

  She searched blindly for his mouth, pressing kisses on every bit of exposed skin. ‘I couldn’t do it. The thought of leaving the island, leaving you behind, was too much.’

  Their mouths connected and they kissed as if they’d never kissed before, as if they’d been parted for years.

  When they finally broke apart Cara looked up and smiled tremulously. ‘Enzo…Vicenzo…I love you so much.’

  He smiled, and his body tightened in anticipation at the innocently sexual look in her eyes, at the softness of her body melded to his. He held her face in two shaky hands. Looking deeply into her eyes, Vicenzo asked, with a tremor in his voice, ‘Will you marry me again, Cara? Here on the lawn in front of the people we love…so that I can prove to you how much I love you and need you…’

  Happiness exploded through Cara like a sunburst. ‘Of course I’ll marry you. Over and over again if you want.’ And she reached up and pressed her mouth to his, stealing his soul with the sweetest kiss.

  It was early evening by the time Cara found herself waking slowly and opening her eyes. In her half-sleep she had a momentary sense of panic, and her eyes flew open to see Vicenzo resting on one arm, looking down at her with a serious expression on his face.

  ‘Cara I’ll never leave you again like I did that night. That’s why you never wanted to stay in my bed, wasn’t it? You were afraid you’d wake and it would be that morning all over again…’

  Cara nodded warily.

  Vicenzo bent his head and kissed her deeply, telling her of his love, his devotion. ‘I’m so sorry for hurting you.’

  She put up a hand, touched a finger to his mouth. ‘Don’t be. This is our second chance.’

  He put a possessive hand on her bare belly, and already Cara could feel a tingle of sensation run to her groin. She wriggled.

  ‘Do you think that second chance could include trying for another baby?’

  Cara stilled, and searched Vicenzo’s face. ‘You don’t have to say that just because…’

  He shook his head, ‘I’m not. But I’m happy for it to happen whenever you’re ready.’

  Cara reached up and pulled his head down to kiss him. ‘I think if our track record of getting pregnant is anything to go by then we might already be there… But just in case, there’s no harm in trying again…’

  They were married again in a simple, intimate ceremony in the villa’s garden, overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean, six weeks later. Rob, Barney and Simon had travelled from England to be with Cara as her attendants. If the Italians thought it strange, they didn’t let on.

  Cara walked barefoot down the grassy aisle on Rob’s arm. Dressed in a strapless sheat
h of cream silk that fell in soft clinging folds to just above her ankles, she wore a garland of white peonies on her head, her hair loose and flowing down her back. No jewellery except for the simple pair of diamond studs Vicenzo had given her the day before. He had to fight back the tears as he watched her approach. He’d never seen anything lovelier in his life.

  He was equally casual, barefoot, in black trousers and a white open-necked shirt. Their eyes never broke contact once. And when it came time for them to kiss, after the vows had been exchanged, Vicenzo took Cara’s face reverently in his hands and whispered softly, before touching his lips to hers, ‘I vow to love you always, and to kiss you as often as I can, Mrs Valentini.’

  Cara blinked back her tears and smiled tremulously. ‘Good. So hurry up and kiss me, Mr Valentini.’ He did, for a long, long time—until the crowd started clapping, laughing, and finally pleading with them to stop so that they could get on with the celebrations.

  EPILOGUE

  EIGHT months later Cara smiled sleepily as she felt strong, sure hands take her week-old daughter from her chest, where she’d just started to wake up, grizzling contentedly.

  ‘Time for Sophia Allegra and her papà to have a little bonding time, I think—and to let Mamma rest.’

  Cara opened her eyes just in time to accept a long, lingering kiss on her mouth before Vicenzo—or Enzo, as she was more used to calling him now—stood and winked down at her, then walked down the garden towards the cove with their daughter cradled into his chest.

  She raised herself on her elbows and watched her husband walk away, naked except for cargo shorts, his broad back smooth and darkly olive from the sun after the time he’d taken off work to spend with them. Her heart leapt as it always did.

  And then, not wanting to be left behind, she stood and wrapped a sarong around her waist, and went to join her family as they stood on the shore of the sea, with the waves rushing in and out.

  Vicenzo tucked her into his side with a possessive arm, and the look they shared said it all. She wrapped her arms around his waist and together they stood on the beach with their baby daughter, watching the setting of the sun on another beautiful day.

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

  First published in Great Britain 2009

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  © Abby Green 2009

  ISBN: 978 1 408 90984 3