“You’re getting married?”
She jerked her gaze back to his face, her eyes showing hurt, and Christo knew she had every right to feel that. He didn’t like to criticise his cousin, but their separation had been bad, and he couldn’t believe Alessia was capable of what Max had accused her of, despite the photos that had run in the press – photos of Alessia in a passionate embrace with another man. Then again, Nico had no real sense when it came to women, if his blind trust of Claudette was anything to go by. Except Maddie? She redeemed him, surely.
“Si.”
“When?” A grim line formed a gash on Nico’s handsome face.
“Around Christmas.” Her voice was thin. “Don’t tell him, Nico.”
Nico stiffened. “He doesn’t know?”
“He’s lost any right to know anything about my life.”
“Damn it, Alessia, you know –,”
“I know nothing.” She reached a hand out, pressing her fingers to Nico’s wrist. “Leave it, bene?”
He shook his head. “I can’t do that. He’s my cousin, but more than that, he’s one of my best friends. He’s going to want to at least know that you’re planning to marry some other guy.”
Her spine straightened, her eyes clashing with his. She was completely still, her features locked into a determined mask, and then she shrugged. “Suit yourself. I don’t think he’ll care one bit, and if he does, kindly make sure he knows better than to contact me. I love you and your family, you know that, but to me, Massimo Montebello is as good as dead.” She pressed a kiss to Nico’s cheek then stepped away from him, her head held high. He watched her cross the lawn and step onto her Vespa, pulling a helmet onto her head so a curtain of blonde hung loose down her back.
Alessia and Max’s marriage had been five years ago, and it had lasted only months. That they’d married had surprised everyone – Max was a confirmed bachelor and Alessia little more than a teenager, studying her medical degree. Not only that, she was the much adored daughter of one of Gianfelice’s oldest friends. Though she’d always had a crush on Max, that he’d returned her feelings had completely shocked Nico. Oh, Alessia had been stunning, but so innocent and youthful, nothing like the sophisticated women Max generally spent time with.
Perhaps that was why their marriage had been doomed? Alessia had been devastated. Max had been – Nico frowned, trying to remember. He’d been much the same as before. More determined in business, more ruthless, but otherwise, you wouldn’t have known he was going through a divorce. It was business as usual for Massimo Montebello.
Nico waited until she’d accelerated away from the house then turned, moving inside to find his sister in law locked in conversation with the woman he was sleeping with. He frowned a moment – the description not quite right. Maddie was so much more than that. The realisation came to him out of nowhere but he immediately dismissed it. She wasn’t – she couldn’t be. Nonetheless, he paused on the periphery of the room, silently watchful. They looked…like old friends. They were talking quietly, both smiling, their manners relaxed.
Elodie, who had no family of her own, had quickly been adopted into the Montebello family. Yaya treated her like a granddaughter, doting on her to an almost suffocating degree, and for Nico’s part, he saw her now as his own sister. So seeing her locked in a conspiratorial conversation with Maddie did something funny to his insides. He liked the sight of them together. It felt…right.
Everything about this felt right. A sense of unease threatened the pleasure of that moment, but he refused to let it. He wasn’t a fool. The fact this felt right – damned near perfect – didn’t alter the fact it was temporary. Nothing would.
Maddie lifted her face, as though she’d sensed him, and her eyes locked to his. He smiled, and she returned it, and he put all thoughts of the future and the fact he would say goodbye to her from his mind.
Chapter 10
“YOU’RE BEING RIDICULOUS NOW.”
“Is that a complaint?”
Cradled against Nico’s chest, she considered that.
“Not exactly. But it’s been two days. I can hobble around well enough.”
“But you don’t need to when I’m here to carry you.”
She smiled. “At some point though I should probably get back to La Villetta.”
He eased her down on the edge of the pool, so her feet dangled in the water. It was bliss – a blessed relief from the sting of the day’s warmth and respite for her ankle.
“There’s no rush.”
“Is this some frustrated doctor fantasy?” She teased, running her fingertips through the water and splashing a little his way. He caught her fingers and lifted them to his lips, kissing them lightly. Butterflies burst through her.
He laughed, gruffly. “No. Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are. I’m not really the ‘tender, love and care’ kind of guy.”
It was just an expression but the idea of Nico loving and caring her – really loving and really caring for – set her pulse alight in a way that had her breath catching in her throat. “So why are you doing this?” She looked away, unable to meet his eyes, needing a moment to regroup.
“My nephew. My dog. My grass. I feel responsible.”
“Ah.” She nodded sagely. “Guilt care. I see.”
He caught her chin, drawing her face back to his, and his eyes ran over her features so slowly, so painstakingly intently that she forgot to breathe altogether.
“That,” he agreed. “And I don’t like seeing you in pain.”
Something flopped against her belly. She bit down on her lip, refusing to think of Michael, refusing to remember the pain he’d inflicted. But the comparison was impossible to ignore. Here was a man who was doing everything he could to ease her pain. He wanted, more than anything, for her to be happy.
There was such cruelty in this. Cruelty that he was Michael’s friend. Cruelty that she’d slept with him before realising their connection. Cruelty that even with all those issues put aside, he was adamantly against any kind of relationship. Their time together was like a mirage in the midst of a desert. Seemingly perfect, but not based in reality.
“It’s definitely getting better.” She slipped into the water, the coolness lapping against her sides, relaxing her even as she felt a growing sense of trouble.
“Alessia messaged this morning, to check up.”
Maddie hadn’t thought of the other woman since she’d left. Strange when she’d been assailed by such a strong sensation of jealousy. Then again, maybe it wasn’t strange. Perhaps that was part of this magical mirage she’d entered into with Nico. He made her feel so completely safe, unthreatened and content. She refused to believe he’d ever hurt her. So what if he and the stunning doctor had been together at some point? Did that matter?
Not one little bit, and yet she was a natural born question-asker, so she found herself saying, “You seemed to know her quite well?”
“Yes.” Closed off. He pulled his shirt from his body then stood, diving into the water and swimming a length before circling back and catching her around the waist.
But she wasn’t prepared to let the matter drop so easily. “Yes?”
Something like consternation shifted in his features. “She’s…an old family friend.”
“But you and she were more than that?”
“What?” Surprise was obvious. “Christo, no. Alessia and me?” He pulled a face then laughed. “Definitely not.”
“Oh.” And despite the fact she’d just told herself she wasn’t jealous, relief was unmistakable.
“Why would you think that?”
She lifted her shoulders. “You just seemed to know each other well.”
“We’re friends. You don’t have guy friends?”
“I don’t want you seeing him ever again.”
“He’s just a friend, Michael. I’ve known him for years.”
“I don’t give a crap. I saw the way he was looking at you, and dressed like that, what do you expect? You might as well g
o and strip naked for the guy. I mean it, Madeleine. Never again.”
“Not really.” Her smile was tight and she saw his eyes narrow, she knew he understood more than what she’d said.
“Alessia is…she and my cousin Max – Fiero’s brother – were married, briefly.”
“Were?”
“They’re divorced now. It was unpleasant.” He compressed his lips, looking away from her for a moment.
“I’m sorry to hear that. She was wearing a wedding ring?”
“Engagement,” he corrected. “Apparently she’s getting married to someone else.”
“How does Max feel about that?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“Yes.” Then, after a small pause. “Do you think I shouldn’t?”
Maddie considered that a moment. “I don’t know enough of the details.” Then, lifting a finger to his lips. “And I’m not prying. It’s their private business, I don’t need to know the ins and outs. But I can’t possibly advise you what to do. The circumstances would make all the difference.” She toyed with the ends of her hair thoughtfully. “Why do you think you should tell him?”
“Because I’d want to know.”
“If Claudette was getting married?”
He looked visibly surprised so she wondered if he hadn’t been thinking about Claudette. Perhaps there was someone else in his past that he considered to be the ‘one that got away’.
“I suppose I would,” he admitted reluctantly. “But only so I could make sure Alexander’s best interests were being served. That is to say, to be sure the guy wasn’t a drug addict or similar.” He lifted his powerful shoulders so droplets of water trickled down them, glistening in the afternoon sun like diamonds. “What about you and your ex?”
She shook her head. “Honestly? I want to forget he even exists.” She shuddered.
“Not even to warn whoever he’s with next?”
A lump of grief built inside Maddie. “I’ve thought about that,” she admitted with a soft nod. “I’ve agonised over it. I wish I’d gone to the police, so at least there was some record – but I didn’t, and now? I don’t know. I think if I spent the rest of my life trying to warn everyone away from him, bitterness would consume me. I need to draw a line in the sand and forget about him. I need to do that.”
He nodded, lifting a hand and stroking her cheek softly, gently. They were silent a moment, a warm silence of understanding.
“I liked Elodie very much.”
“You and me both.” He grimaced, the expression in contradiction to his words.
“What is it?” She knew he was holding something back, thinking something he wasn’t saying.
“I was just thinking how lucky we all are that she has such a forgiving temperament.”
“Oh?”
“We were all angry with her, when she arrived in Fiero’s life. Jack was a toddler. Fiero had no idea he was a father.”
Maddie’s intake of breath was sharp. “Really?”
“We found it hard to accept that. There was a little Montebello out there and none of us knew about him.”
“I can see why.”
He shook his head. “There are two sides to every story, and she had her reasons. We were blinded by love and loyalty for Fiero; we didn’t exactly give Elodie a chance.”
“You regret that?”
“Si.” His eyes narrowed. “I should have encouraged Fiero to put himself in her shoes, instead of blindly taking his side.”
“I can understand why you’d have regrets, but really, that’s a perfectly natural response. If someone hurts a member of your family, you take their part.”
He grunted. “I suppose so.”
“Anyway, all’s well that ends well.”
He nodded. “She’s been the making of Fiero.”
“How so?”
“She’s softened him, and made him humble in a way he needed.” Nico had visibly relaxed. “I’m one of his closest friends but he had a habit of pushing people away. Elodie and Jack made that impossible.”
“Jack seems adorable.”
“He’s a handful, just like Fiero as a child,” Nico laughed. “But he’s also a very sweet boy.”
“You’re good with him.”
“Thank you.”
“Did you –,” Her voice tapered off into nothing, the question she’d been about to ask surprising her for how intimate it was.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Not nothing,” he insisted, latching his fingers behind her back, wrapping her in the circle of his arms.
“I was going to ask if, after Alexander, you wanted children of your own?”
She was close enough to see his Adam’s apple shift in response. “No.”
“No, you didn’t think about it? Or ‘no’ you didn’t want them?”
“I didn’t want them.” Then, a moment later, “I still don’t.”
Maddie was surprised by the force of her reaction to that. She wanted to argue with him, to convince him he should have children. But to what end? She had no skin in the game – Nico was his own man, he could do whatever he wanted. But he was so good with Jack, seeing them together had made her realise he’d be an excellent father.
“That’s a shame.”
“Is it?”
He was quietly watchful and something pricked at her skin, lifting goose bumps all over her.
“And you?” he moved deeper in the water, so her feet could no longer touch the bottom, so she lifted her legs, wrapping them around his back, the intimacy of that warming her even as their conversation was sharp and pointed.
“And me?” She asked, breathlessly.
“Do you want children?”
“I always thought I did,” she agreed with a small shift of her head.
“You’re not sure now?”
“No, I am,” she bit down on her lower lip, trying to find the right words. “When I was with Mich – my ex,” she recovered quickly, silently cursing the slip of the tongue. “It became a matter of survival. I would never have started a family with him.”
“Did he want to?”
Nausea shifted through her. “He mentioned it once or twice.” A shiver ran down her spine. It had been more like a threat – a way of tying her to him for the rest of their lives.
“When you go back to England,” he said after a moment, his expression distracted.
“Yes?”
“Do you think he’ll still want to see you?”
“Do I think he’ll be looking for me?” She bit down on her lip, moving it from side to side. “The truth is, it’s possible.” She swallowed, her delicate throat shifting with the involuntary action. “And on one level, that terrifies me, but on the other, I’m different now. Like getting away from him, taking some time to recover mentally and emotionally, has reminded me that I’m strong and independent, that I can handle him. Before, it was like I was drowning and every time I thought I could get my head above water, another wave would come and crash against me, so I would go under water once more. But I don’t feel that now.”
He nodded slowly, the look of pride in his eyes unmistakable. “You’re so strong, Maddie.”
“Yeah. I am. And you make me feel invincible,” she said honestly, and then she smiled, because from the ravages of her heartbreak she felt the kind of happiness she hadn’t believed possible, seven months earlier.
“You can come if you want.” He heard the offer and inwardly cringed. Maddie was leaving Ondechiara in a week’s time. Why in the world would he invite her to come to Villa Fortune with him, to eat with his family and Yaya? “Elodie and Fiero will be there. I know Jack would love to see you again.”
But Maddie shook her head, her hair blowing around her face so he wanted to ball it in his hands and hold her to him, kiss her until she was whimpering into his mouth and her body was soft against his. He wanted to kiss her surrender from her and he wanted to make her his. Again. And
again and again. He was already leaving an hour later than he’d intended because getting out of bed had been an almost impossible feat.
Leaving her now, with her hair tousled and her body clad in just an oversized shirt of his that hung off one shoulder, was ridiculously hard.
“Your ankle’s definitely better?”
As if understanding his question, Dante, at her feet, nosed the delicate flesh there. Maddie smiled. “We’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be gone one night. If it wasn’t Yaya’s birthday…”
“Go.” She stood up onto the tips of her toes so her shirt lifted along her tanned thighs and he groaned.
“You’re killing me, Maddie.”
She grinned, batting her long dark lashes. “I hope so.”
When he was getting around the small coastline of Ondechiara, Nico drove. But going to the airport, he preferred to have his driver meet him. It meant he could work, and on this occasion, he was grateful not to have to navigate traffic when his mind was busy pulling apart the question of Maddie Gray and the part she’d started to play in his life, and his mind. What had started as a casual fling had quickly turned into something different, if only by virtue of the fact she’d basically moved in with him after her ankle injury. She was well enough to go back to La Villetta now, but he didn’t encourage that and fortunately, she hadn’t suggested it.
He liked having her around.
He loved waking up next to her.
Something like panic pushed all the air from his lungs, because he sensed the danger of this – of how much he could come to care for her. How much he already did care for her?
The countryside sped by his window and his eyes ran over it, barely noticing the vines and rolling hills, the glistening ocean in the distance.
Was it so bad if he’d started to have feelings for Maddie?
He closed his eyes and it was like being drowned, just like Maddie had described. That sense of independence that had been a part of him from childhood. Was it leaving his mother that had done it? Made him determined never to love nor rely on another person to quite that extent, as long as he should live? Claudette had messed him up, but she wasn’t the first person to break his heart. No, his mother held that privilege and now, he saw that it had shaped him in a way he hadn’t been fully cognisant of. Being wrenched from his home and moved to his grandparents’ had been harder than he’d ever admitted. He loved Yaya and Gianfelice but he’d adored his mother, even when he could now see how inadequate her style of parenting was. To be pulled from her home and told he now lived somewhere else, with someone else, had ripped the rug out from under him.
Just This One Summer: A billionaire forbidden love romance... (The Montebellos Book 2) Page 12