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“Why, Vincenzo? Please understand.”
Her agony was so palpable, he couldn’t refuse her. “How soon does she need to come in?”
“Don’t wait any longer than two weeks.”
“I won’t,” Irena answered.
“If you’ll check with the desk in Outpatient and set up an appointment, the next time you come in I’ll examine you and get the blood work done.”
“Thank you, Dr. Santi.”
“My pleasure.”
Vincenzo shook her hand and ushered Irena through the doors to the outpatient department. Near her ear he said, “Make it for two weeks. We won’t be home from our honeymoon until then.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
He waited while she made her appointment, then walked her out to the car, knowing better than to try to talk to her until she’d had time for the doctor’s explanation to sink in.
“Are you upset with me?”
Exasperated, Vincenzo pulled her into his arms. “I’m worried for you, for our baby, but I could never be upset with you. I can see you need this test so you can relax. Whoever the father is, it’s you and the baby I care about.”
“Thank you, Vincenzo.” She hugged him back with surprising strength before getting into the car. On the way to Riomaggiore he stopped for petrol. He didn’t need much, but used it as an excuse to buy them both a soda. She thanked him and nursed her drink all the way back to the apartment, clearly in an emotional state. Evening had fallen.
“Feel better?” he asked once they’d walked inside.
“No.” Her voice wobbled. He caught her in his arms before she broke down sobbing. The need to comfort her was paramount in his mind. In a swift move he picked her up and carried her to the couch where he could sit and hold her.
“I don’t want to lose my baby.”
Cradling her in his arms, he kissed her cheek and hair. “No procedure’s been done yet. Let’s agree that for the next two weeks, we simply enjoy our honeymoon.”
She’d buried her face in his neck, soaking the collar of his shirt. “What do you have planned?” Her lack of enthusiasm would have been daunting if he didn’t know the reason for it.
“We’ll fly to Los Angeles with Dino and do it all. A Hollywood film studio tour, Disneyland, LEGO Land, Sea World.”
He felt her stir before she lifted her tear-ravaged face. “You’re serious?”
Vincenzo nodded. “He’s never been there. Have you?”
“I’ve been to New York many times, but not California. Since I started working for the newspaper I’ve focused my travel articles in Europe. What about you?”
“I promised Dino I’d never go to those places until we could see them together. Part of the visitation stipulation forbids me taking him out of Northern Italy. There was one time I broke the rules to go skiing with him in Switzerland. Dino paid for it by not being able to see me for two months.”
Irena threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “How cruel.”
She had no idea how cruel the powers working against him had been. He rubbed the back of her neck beneath her hair, needing this closeness like he needed water or light from a Mediterranean sun.
“If you haven’t been able to spend more than a week with him at any given time, how can we be gone two weeks?”
“Being divorced tied my hands. On Thursday I’ll be a married man and everything will change.”
He heard a few sniffs before she sat up. “For both your sakes I’m glad things will be different. Looking back on my life, I loved my father so much that to imagine I couldn’t have all the access to him I wanted while I growing up is incomprehensible to me.” To Vincenzo’s chagrin, she slid off his lap before he was ready to let her go. “I want to make this trip with Dino so enjoyable, he’ll remember it all his life.”
“The wedding day, too,” Vincenzo murmured. “He needs a suit. Since I’ll be tied up most of Wednesday with more legal matters, let’s go shopping tomorrow. I rather like the idea of my fiancée picking out my wedding attire.”
She flashed him a smile that came off mysterious whether she’d intended it or not. “You trust a Greek woman with a responsibility like that? Italian men are the best dressers in the world.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You can fool some of the people.” When she laughed gently, it gave him a whole new reason to be alive.
“I need to eat something. Come with me and I’ll make you my own version of bruschetta. Dino can’t get enough of it.”
“I’m afraid I’m hungry again, too. The antinausea medication is working. Now all I do is eat and sleep.” She followed him to the kitchen. “Unfortunately, every meal I’ve had in Italy has been divine.”
Vincenzo chuckled. Her honesty was refreshing. When she liked something, she did it with her whole heart. While he got out the ingredients, she watched him. He liked that very much.
It didn’t take long until he had their appetizers ready. “I’d offer you some of that local sweet dessert wine you tried the last time you were here, but it will have to wait until you’ve had the baby.”
Their eyes fused for a moment. “The deprivation will be worth it.”
He brushed her mouth with his own before he let her reach for a sample. The satisfaction of watching the food disappear pleased him no end. She stood at the counter next to him, munching away. Every so often she made a sound of pleasure.
Vincenzo loved that she didn’t talk about how much weight she was going to gain. He liked every damn thing about her and needed another taste of her. This time when he claimed her lips, they were covered in extra virgin olive oil mixed with the tangy flavor of the herbs he’d added.
Divine didn’t cover it, or the feel of her body as he pulled her against him. “I’ve been craving this all day. You could have no idea how much I want you.” He kissed her long and hard. “The last two months were a desert after you left. Dino was the only reason I functioned. When are you going to admit you’ve missed me?”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Her muffled answer thrilled him.
“Irena—” Consumed with desire, he cradled her face, the better to kiss her features and eyelids, the passionate flare of her giving mouth. Back and forth they gave kiss for kiss, each one deeper and more prolonged.
They both heard the peremptory knock on the front door at the same time, effectively interrupting something private and marvelous. Irena’s reaction was to pull away from him, but Vincenzo knew what the intrusion meant and clutched her to him possessively. The knocking grew louder.
She put her hands against his chest. “Someone isn’t going away.”
“News of our impending marriage has already leaked out through Mila’s attorney.” He kissed her palms one at a time. “One of my cousins has come to find out if it’s really true. Probably Gino. Do you feel courageous enough to meet him if I let him in?”
“Should I be frightened?”
“He poses no threat, but you do by virtue of becoming my wife.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been out of his hair for years, but after we get back from California he and my cousins are going to be seeing a lot more of me. I’ll answer it before he breaks the whole place down. We’ll offer him what’s left of the bruschetta,” he added, smiling.
But when he walked through the apartment and opened the door, it was his stepbrother Fabbio himself standing there. Apparently he hadn’t trusted Gino or Luca to do his dirty work for him. Well, well…The whole nasty history between them flashed through his mind. Vincenzo could count on one hand the times he’d seen his flashy, dark blond stepbrother in the last seven years. “Entrate, prego.”
“I prefer to stay where I am. Is it true?”
Some things never changed. Vincenzo looked over his shoulder. “Innamorata? Come and meet my stepbrother,” he spoke in English.
Irena moved toward him. He knew he could count on her to remain calm in the face of surprise or an emotional storm, except when it came to the baby’s paternity.
Vincenzo didn’t miss the flash of stunned male interest in Fabbio’s narrowed gray eyes when she joined them. After being thoroughly kissed in the kitchen, she’d never looked more desirable.
He put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “Irena Spiros, meet Fabbio. Among his many talents, he’s an avvocato.”
“That means an attorney, doesn’t it?” With the ease and unconscious dignity of a real lady she shook his hand. “How do you do, Fabbio.”
Totally thrown, his stepbrother had trouble articulating. It had to be a rare moment when Fabbio, an inch taller than Vincenzo, was at a loss for words. “I’ve seen you before.”
“People often say that to me. I must have the kind of looks shared by many women.” Vincenzo had never met anyone who could think on her feet as fast as Irena.
“No.” Fabbio wouldn’t let it go.
She said something else to brush it off. “Won’t you come in? Vincenzo just made us the most sensational food. If you don’t finish the bruschetta, I will, and I’ve already eaten too much.” With that voluptuous smile of hers, his married stepbrother’s seduction was complete.
“Since I dropped in without invitation, another time perhaps.” His eyes traveled from her glorious black hair down the curves of her body to her nylon-clad feet, presenting a picture of two lovers enjoying an intimate evening. He finally tore his gaze away to stare bullets at Vincenzo. Fabbio had wished him dead years ago. “If I could have a word with you.”
Irena pressed his arm. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about so I’ll disappear.”
Before she could pull away, Vincenzo pressed a kiss to her red, slightly swollen lips. “I won’t be long,” he whispered.
She nodded. “It was nice meeting you, Fabbio.”
Once she’d gone, Vincenzo lounged against the doorjamb, his hands in his pockets. “What’s this about? As you can see, I have other matters pressing.”
His cheeks went a ruddy color. “Mila just found out you’re taking Dino out of the country for another two weeks on Thursday.”
“That’s right.”
“The stipulation doesn’t provide for changes.”
“You know full well my marriage will have effectively done away with the rules of the divorce decree. The only reason you came here tonight was to see the evidence for yourself. Now that you’ve taken your full measure of my fiancée, I’d like you to leave.”
His anger was near the surface. “You’re not getting away with this without a fight.”
“Surely that’s for Papa to decide.”
“He’s ill.”
“Only when it’s convenient for him.”
“Accidenti a te!”
“Curse me all you want, it will do you no good.”
Now he was breathing hard. “The entire family stands against you.”
“It was ever thus.”
“You won’t succeed.”
“Careful, Fabbio. Your fear is showing.”
“So is yours, or you wouldn’t be doing everything in secret.”
“Can you blame me for wanting to keep her away from the wolves for as long as possible? You’re all waiting to tear her apart, but I won’t have it. Irena is the most important thing in my life right now.” He straightened and pulled his hands out of his pockets. “Buonanotte, Fabbio.”
Irena appeared the moment he shut the door on him. “Don’t you think it’s time you told me about your family?”
He lifted one eyebrow. “Except for my mother who died seven years ago, I’ve been at war with them from birth.”
She came closer, searching his eyes for the truth. “You’re not joking.” The pain in hers revealed she was devastated for him.
“Once upon a time I told you we were opposites. You come from a loving family and almost married into what I’ve gathered is a loving, forgiving family. I, too, love my father because he is my father, but I don’t like him or my autocratic grandfather who’s now deceased, or my stepbrother, or my uncles, not even my cousins once they started to resemble their fathers.”
“Oh, dear.”
“I sound like a monster,” he ground out.
“No.” After a moment of reflection she asked, “Besides your mother, are there no girls in this fearsome group?”
With a sharp laugh, he let out the breath he’d been holding and grasped her shoulders. “Dozens.”
“But they hold no sway in the male-dominated hierarchy,” she divined with her rare capacity to discern the true nature of things. “How often is Dino around them?”
“Mila spends most of her time with them, so that means my son does, too. My father dotes on him.”
“Who wouldn’t? I’m crazy about him even after being around him such a short time. Does Dino share your feelings?”
“I’m not sure.”
“How could that be? He tells you everything.”
He shook his head. “Certain things he keeps to himself. In my case, I’m afraid my noninvolvement with family speaks for me.”
“If he sometimes keeps quiet it’s probably because he feels guilty.”
Vincenzo kissed the end of her nose. “Why do you say that?”
“Because he knows how you feel and doesn’t want to do anything that could upset or hurt you. Or get you in trouble,” she added quietly before easing away from him. “From the sound of it, your intention to marry me has put flame to a fuse.”
“You let me worry about that. The family has nothing to do with you and me. Our lives with our children will be our own.”
