Claimed In The Italian's Castle (Once Upon a Temptation, Book 4)
Page 16
And always, always, songs of joy.
These were the spells she cast, he thought. These were her enchantments.
The sun began to sink toward the horizon. Pinks and reds took over the sky. And still she played, and he could picture her so perfectly, bent over the keys with her eyes half closed. Her hands like magic, coaxing so much beauty out into the world.
He could hardly wait to have them on him again, where he liked them best.
Benedetto had so many things to tell her, the way he always did after time apart. Whether it was five minutes or five weeks. How much he loved her, for one thing. How humbled he still was, a decade on, that she had seen the good in him when it had been hidden from everyone. Even himself.
Especially himself.
She had a heart as big as the sea, his lovely wife. She maintained a relationship with her family, and he rather thought her quiet example made her sisters strive to be better than they might otherwise have been. Her mother, too, in those few and far between moments Margrete Charteris thawed a little. And if her father could never really be saved, it hardly mattered. Because Anthony Charteris had as a son-in-law a rich and besotted billionaire more than willing to spend his money on his father-in-law if it pleased his wife.
After all, there was always more money.
Benedetto would spend it all if it made her happy.
He heard the music stop and found himself smiling. He decided he would wait until they were alone to tell her that he had decided to share her piano playing with the world. Whether she wanted to perform or not, he could certainly share her music. He thought the world deserved to know that not only had Angelina soothed the savage beast with her playing, she was one of the best in the world. Accordingly, he’d bought her a record company.
But that would come.
First there was tonight.
He heard her feet on the stone and then she was there beside him, her eyes still the bluest he’d ever seen. Particularly when they were sparkling with music and love and light, and all of it for him.
“Happy anniversary, little one,” he murmured, kissing her. He felt that same rush of longing and lust, desire and need, tempered now with these long, sweet years. “I have loved you each and every day. I love you now. And I only plan to love you more.”
“I’m delighted to hear that,” she replied, in that dry way he adored. “I love you too. And it turns out I have a rather bigger gift for you than planned.”
Benedetto turned to look at her in some surprise, and Angelina smiled.
She took his hand in hers—her thumbs moving over the calluses there that it had taken her years to understand he got from performing the acts of physical labor he preferred to a gym membership—and moved it to her belly.
And he had done this so many times before. It was the same surge of love and wonder, sweetness and hope. Disbelief that she could make him this happy. Determination to do it better than his parents had, no matter what it took.
He was already better, he liked to think. If his grandmother could see him now, he was sure he would make her smile. And maybe even his grandfather, too.
“Again?” he asked, grinning wide enough to crack his own jaw.
“We really should do something about it,” she said, her eyes shining. “It’s almost unseemly. But... I just don’t want to.”
He pulled her to him, marveling as ever at how perfectly and easily she fit in his arms. “Angelina, my angel, if you wish to have enough children to fill this entire castle, we will make it so.”
She laughed, her mouth against his. “Let’s not get that carried away.”
And he kissed her, because the future was certain.
That wasn’t to say he knew what would happen, because no man could. Storms came. Sometimes they took more than was bearable. Sometimes they left monsters in their wake.
But he was not alone anymore.
He had Angelina, and together, they made their own light. And Benedetto knew that no matter how dark it became, they would find a way to light it. And with that light, they would find their way through.
They would always find their way through.
And all the while they would stay here, in this ancient place where they’d found each other. When the tide was low, they would welcome in the world. There would be laughter in the halls, and deliciously creepy stories about disappearances both centuries old and more recent.
But soon enough the tide would come in, and the castle would be theirs again.
Like their heart made stone and cared for throughout time, they would love this place. They would love each other and their children. They would choose light over dark, hope over heartache, and they would do what no other Franceschi ever had across the ages.
They would make Castello Nero a home.
Their home.
And he kissed her again, long and deep, because that was how forever happened when it was made of love—one life-altering kiss at a time.
Coming next month
REVELATIONS OF HIS RUNAWAY BRIDE
Kali Anthony
‘This marriage is a sham.’
In some ways, he agreed with her. Yet here he stood, with a gold wedding band prickling on his finger. Thea still held her rings. He needed her to put them on. If she did, he’d won—for tonight.
‘You’re asking me to return you to the tender care of your father?’ A man Christo suspected didn’t have a sentimental, loving bone in his body.
Thea grabbed the back of a spindly chair, clutching it till her fingers blanched. ‘I’m asking you to let me go.’
‘No.’
Christo had heard whispers about Tito Lambros. He was reported to be cruel and vindictive. The bitter burn of loathing coursed like poison through his veins. That his father’s negligence had allowed such a man to hold Christo’s future in his hands…
There was a great deal he needed to learn about Thea’s family—some of which he might be able to use. But that could wait. Now it was time to give her something to cling to. Hope.
‘You’ll come with me as my wife and we’ll discuss the situation in which we find ourselves. That’s my promise. But we’re leaving now.’
She looked down at her clothes and back at him. Her liquid amber eyes glowed in the soft lights. ‘I can’t go dressed like this!’
No more delays. She glanced at the door again. He didn’t want a scene. Her tantrums could occur at his home, where any witnesses would be paid to hold their silence.
‘You look perfect,’ he said, waving his hand in her direction. ‘It shows a flair for the dramatic—which you’ve proved to have in abundance tonight. Our exit will be unforgettable.’
She seemed to compose herself. Thrust her chin high, all glorious defiance. ‘But my hat… I told everyone about it. I can’t disappoint them.’
‘Life’s full of disappointments. Tell them it wouldn’t fit over your magnificent hair.’
Thea’s lips twitched in a barely suppressed sneer, her eyes narrow and glacial. The look she threw him would have slayed a mere mortal. Luckily for the most part he felt barely human.
‘Rings,’ he said.
She jammed them carelessly on her finger. Victory. He held out the crook of his arm and she hesitated before slipping hers through it. All stiff and severe. But her body still fitted into his in a way which enticed him. Caused his heart to thrum, his blood to roar. Strange. Intoxicating. All Thea.
‘Now, smile,’ he said.
She plastered on a mocking grimace.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. ‘Like you mean it, koukla mou.’
‘I’ll smile when you say that like you mean it, Christo.’
And he laughed.
This second laugh was more practised. More familiar—like an old memory. But the warmth growing in his chest was real. Beyond all expectations, he was enjoying her. For his sanity, perhaps a little too much…
Continue reading
REVELATIONS OF HIS RUNAWAY BRIDE
Kali Anthony
Available next month
Copyright ©2020 by Kali Anthony
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