Appalled, Taylor slid her fingers into his.
He’d shouldered responsibility for his parents’ marriage. He’d taken on his mother’s pain.
‘No wonder you didn’t want commitment.’
‘To me, commitment meant being responsible for someone’s feelings. It meant tying yourself in knots to be what someone else wanted you to be. It was about losing your sense of self. I had to watch her suffer every single day of my life growing up.’ His voice was raw. ‘I saw that love was manipulative and painful. I decided early on I didn’t want that.’
‘No. I can see why you wouldn’t.’ Taylor hesitated and then put her hand on his cheek. ‘I’m no expert, but if love exists I don’t think that was it.’
‘I know it wasn’t.’ He leaned his forehead against hers and she gave an unsteady laugh.
‘What a pair we are. We did this to give us both respectability. Thanks to me, your respectability has been blown apart. I don’t think it quite worked out the way either of us planned.’
‘I’m bored with being respectable. It makes me irritable. I want to be who I really am and I want to be it with you.’ Sliding his hand around her back, he pulled her hard against him. ‘How do you feel about doing this for real?’ He breathed the words against her lips. ‘We can spend the rest of our lives being disreputable together. We can live wickedly ever after.’
It sounded so impossibly good that tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away. ‘Is that really what you want?’
‘Yes. I love you, Taylor Carmichael Corretti. I love you for better and for worse—preferably worse, by the way.’ His eyes glittered into hers. ‘I love a bad girl. Think about it—if I marry you we can spend the rest of our lives shocking people.’
She kissed him, half laughing, half crying and loving him more than she’d thought it was possible to love a person. ‘We’ll be tomorrow’s headlines.’
‘You’re with me now. You don’t care if you’re tomorrow’s headlines. Come on, Teresa, let’s go and break a few rules together, with or without clothes. Your choice.’
She was smiling but the feeling of warmth grew and spread through her veins. ‘Do you mean it? What you just said?’
‘About it being real? About wanting to marry you? Definitely.’
‘No one has ever loved me before. No one. You’re not just worried about losing the new face of Corretti?’
‘This isn’t just the face of Corretti—’ he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, his eyes warm as he looked at her ‘—it’s the face I want to see every night when I go to sleep and the face I want to see every morning when I wake up.’
The lump grew in her throat. ‘I never knew you were so poetic.’
‘Neither did I. I’m shocking myself.’ He grinned and kissed her on the mouth until she pulled away.
‘I love you too, but I’m worried I’ll destroy your reputation. What about the board—’
‘The board can sort themselves out. I’ve proved I can do it. I’ve increased their profits. Besides, hotels are boring.’ He stifled a yawn. ‘It’s time my brother Matteo came back and got on with the job he’s paid to do. All this respectability is making me uncomfortable. The other day they used the word sobriety in the same breath as my name. Can you believe that?’
Taylor gave a choked laugh. ‘But what will you do? You’re so brilliant and talented—will you focus on the fashion business?’
‘I’ll do what I do best which is living life to the full. Want to live it with me, dolcezza?’
She didn’t need to think about it. Not even for a second. ‘Yes,’ she said simply, ‘yes, I do.’
‘Bene. In that case I take you, Taylor Carmichael, to have and to hold, to sin and misbehave with until too much hot sex doth leave us breathless and knackered. How does that sound to you?’
Laughing, unbelievably happy, she wrapped her arms round his neck. ‘It sounds just perfect.’
*
Read on for an exclusive interview with Sarah Morgan
Behind the Scenes
of Sicily’s Corretti Dynasty:
It’s such a huge world to create—an entire Sicilian dynasty. Did you discuss parts of it with the other writers?
Whenever you take part in a series like this it’s important to be consistent and link the books so, yes, there was discussion between the writers. We emailed back and forth discussing various aspects of the setting and characters and how we might bring it to life.
How does being part of the continuity differ from when you are writing your own stories?
When I write my own stories I create everything, including the setting, the characters, the backstory and the conflict. I don’t have to think—or worry—about anyone else. In a continuity, the authors are given a large volume of background information to work with and that can be very challenging. Although there is some flexibility and freedom within the brief, I have to remember that any changes I make might impact on someone else’s story. But I’m still writing a love story between two people and the focus is on their emotional journey so the basic process is the same.
What was the biggest challenge? And what did you most enjoy about it?
The biggest challenge is always being given an outline for two characters and the main plot points. Fortunately, I fell in love with these characters. From the moment I read the brief they came alive for me and I could “see” who they were and how their conflict would play out in the story.
As you wrote your hero and heroine, was there anything about them that surprised you?
I was surprised by just how bad Luca was. But I wasn’t alone in that. Taylor was surprised, too. So we spent the book being surprised together!
What was your favorite part of creating the world of Sicily’s most famous dynasty?
It was lovely to spend my day dreaming of Sicilian blue skies and the sparkling ocean, but the best part for me was writing the dialogue between the hero and heroine. I call this my “banter book.” Taylor and Luca had so much fun together, even during the most emotionally charged intense moments of the story, and I had so much fun writing it.
If you could have given your heroine one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what would it be?
Beware of wickedly hot men bearing champagne.
What was your hero’s biggest secret?
I never reveal a person’s secrets! I can tell you that Luca is not a man who feels the need to hide who he is from anyone, but there are things he prefers not to talk about.
What does your hero love most about the heroine?
Apart from her legs? That she’s every bit as bad as he is.
What does your heroine love most about your hero?
That he doesn’t care what other people think of him.
Which of the Correttis would you most like to meet and why?
Luca! He’s one of the most wickedly gorgeous heroes I’ve written and I love his sense of humor. I know a night with him would be something no woman would forget!
*
About the Publisher
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Scandals Of The Powerful: Uncovering the Correttis / A Legacy of Secrets (Sicily's Corretti Dynasty) / An Invitation to Sin (Sicily's Corretti Dynasty) (Mills & Boon M&B) Page 37