“You go ahead,” he decided. “You can supervise on your own.”
The young man straightened. “If you think so.”
“I do.” No need for the student to know that Nico was a coward, and that was why he didn’t want to visit.
Besides, there was someone else he needed to speak with.
* * *
Marianna answered the door in a long floral dress, looking uncharacteristically tousled and unmade-up. Holding Rosabella on her right shoulder, she looked him up and down. “You look worse than I do,” she remarked, “and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in days. What’s the matter?”
“I think I might have messed up,” he replied.
“Messed up how?”
“With Louisa.” As briefly as he could, he explained what had happened a few nights earlier, including what happened with Dominic.
“Tell me you didn’t,” she said when he finished.
“I was trying to help,” he said. Why did everyone have a problem with him talking to the banker? “I gave my recommendation, same as I would for Rafe, or Ryan, for that matter.”
“But we aren’t talking about Rafe or Ryan—although it’s nice to know you would speak on my husband’s behalf—we’re talking about Louisa. A woman who found out her husband had been lying to her about everything. And you went behind her back. Twice!”
“To help,” Nico reminded her. “Steven Clark was a thief.”
“Yes, I know, but surely you can see how keeping a secret, even a well-meaning one, would feel like a betrayal to her?”
Yes, he could.
“You owe her a very large apology,” Marianna told him.
“If only the solution was that simple.”
“You mean there’s more?” The baby started to squirm, and she switched shoulders. “What else did you do?”
“Not me—her ex-husband.”
“What did he do? Besides steal from all those people?”
Nico ran a hand through his curls. He’d already said too much. Having already broken Louisa’s faith, he didn’t dare break it further. “Let’s just say he believed in holding the people he loved as close as possible.”
“Oh. I think I understand.”
“You do?”
“I think so. And if I’m right, then yes, you’ve messed up very badly.”
“She accused me of trying to take over her life. I wasn’t,” he added when Marianna arched a brow.
“Not intentionally anyway,” she murmured.
“Louisa said the same thing.”
That his sister laughed hurt. “Poor Nico,” she said, using her free hand to pat his knee. “It’s not your fault. It’s your nature to want to rush in and take over. You tried to with Ryan and me when I was pregnant.”
“Great. So now you’re saying I tried to control your life, as well.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m used to you. I learned a long time ago to ignore you when you start giving orders I don’t feel like obeying. But I’m not someone like Louisa who is struggling to rebuild her life. I can imagine your interference would make her feel very powerless. Especially since you kept your actions secret. Why didn’t you tell her?”
“Because I...” Because he knew she would tell him no. “I was trying to help,” he finished, as if his intentions excused his actions. “I wouldn’t have talked to Dominic if I didn’t have faith in her.”
“I know you wouldn’t, but can you see how someone in Louisa’s position might see things differently?”
Yes, he could. Especially someone who’d spent so many years trapped in a controlling relationship. Nico washed a hand over his face. So focused had he been on making Louisa happy, he’d let his desires blind him to what she truly needed. “I’m no better than her ex-husband, am I?”
“Your heart was in the right place.”
Small comfort when life blows up in your face. He’d trade his good intentions for having Louisa back in a second.
At that moment, Rosabella started to squirm again, wriggling her tiny torso against Marianna’s body. “I swear,” his sister said, as she tried to make the baby comfortable, “this little one is part eel. Spends half her day squirming. Don’t you, Rosabella?” She nuzzled the baby’s curls. “You know what, why don’t you hold her for a few minutes? Maybe Uncle Nico is what she needs to settle down.”
Doubtful. He could barely keep himself calm at the moment. “Marianna, I don’t think—” Too late. She deposited his niece in his waiting arms and he found himself looking into Rosa’s big brown eyes. For the second time in his life, Nico’s heart lurched.
“She’s so little,” he said, risking a finger stroke against Rosa’s cheek. The baby responded with a sleepy blink.
“She likes you,” Marianna murmured.
“Louisa said I’d fall in love,” he whispered.
“Excuse me?”
“When we were talking about being godparents. She told me I would fall in love with Rosa.”
He remembered every detail of their conversation, from the advice she gave to the way the sun crowned her head as he said goodbye. “She was right in more ways than one.”
His heart threatened to crack open, the way it had every hour since Louisa had said goodbye. Struggling to keep the pieces together, he looked to his sister. “I love her,” he said in a quiet voice.
“I know.”
Neither of them had to say what they were both thinking. That finally after years without it, Nico had found love, only to chase it away.
“I tried to explain myself the other night but she wouldn’t listen, and now she won’t take my phone calls,” he said. “I’d go to the palazzo, but I’m afraid she’ll refuse to come out.” Or send him away. Either outcome frightened him into inertia. “Tell me, Marianna. What do I do?”
“I don’t think you’re going to like my answer.”
“If you’re going to tell me there’s nothing I can do, you’re right. There has to be something I can do.” Surely she didn’t expect him to sit around and do nothing while the love of his life slipped through his fingers. “If I could only get her to talk with me.”
“Why? So you can explain and try to charm her into forgiving you?”
Nico held his sleeping niece a little closer. “Is that such a bad plan?”
“I don’t know. How well did charm work for her ex-husband?”
“I’m not him.”
“Then prove it to her.”
“How? How do I make her see that I don’t want to control her?”
“You let her be her own person. And that includes letting her come to you for help when she’s ready.
“What if she never comes to me again?”
He didn’t realize his knee was bouncing in agitation until Marianna put her hand on his leg. “Poor Nico. So used to being in charge of the situation. Haven’t you figured out by now that love isn’t something that makes sense? If it did, our parents would never have gotten together.”
Their parents. Despite his sadness, he had to smile at her comment. “Never were two people less suited for one another,” he said.
“Or more meant to be,” Marianna replied, squeezing his knee. “I think you and Louisa are meant to be, as well, but you have to be patient.”
“I don’t know if I can.” Each day that passed without speaking to her made the hole in his chest a little wider.
“Of course you can, Mr. Viticulture. Think of it like a harvest. You wouldn’t pick a grape with a poor Brix level, would you?”
“No,” he replied. “But waiting on a grape is a lot less painful, too.”
“You can do it.”
He smiled at the woman beside him. His beautiful baby sister all grown-up and glowing with motherhood. “When did you get so wise?”
“Oh, I’ve always been wise. You just never bothered to ask me for advice. Might as well face it, dear brother,” she said, “when it comes to love, you’ve got a lot to learn.”
Yes, he did. He only hoped he’d be able to
learn with Louisa by his side.
If space was what she needed to find her way back to him, then space was what he would give her.
His resolve lasted five minutes. Then the phone rang.
* * *
“After weeks of speculation, the Halencian royal family confirmed today that Prince Antonio and Princess Christina are expecting their first child. The royal heir is due to arrive early next spring. No other details have been released...”
The television screen showed a photo of Antonio and Christina dancing at their wedding. The same photo that had reignited the Luscious Louisa scandal. Nice to know news outlets recycled resources.
Clicking off the news, Louisa tossed the remote onto the cushions. She was happy for the royal couple. Really she was. They may have had some bumpy times at the beginning of their marriage, but the pair were very much in love.
Funny how that had happened to a lot of the people she knew in Monte Calanetti. The whole “love conquering all” thing, that is. Too bad it missed her. Then again, maybe it was her fault. After all, she’d loved Steven and love hadn’t come in to conquer anything. What made her think the situation would be any different simply because she loved—
Oh God, was she really ready to admit she loved Nico?
She checked her phone for messages. What was a little salt in the wound when you were already miserable, right? Nothing. After six impassioned voice mails, Nico had stopped calling. Guess he’d finally gotten the message. Or lost interest.
Make up your mind, Louisa. What do you want?
Nico, a voice whispered. She shut the voice off. What she wanted was to stop feeling as if she’d been kicked in the chest. Nothing she did seemed to curb the ache. Every day she immersed herself in cleaning and home renovations, working herself to the point of exhaustion. There wasn’t a piece of wood she hadn’t polished or a weed she hadn’t removed from the back garden. But despite collapsing in a deep sleep every night, she woke in the morning feeling the same emptiness inside.
The doorbell rang. “Go away,” she called to whoever was on the other side.
“Louisa!” Nico bellowed from the other side of the door. “Open up. I need to talk to you.”
Careful what you wish for. The anger in his voice could mean only one thing. He’d found out about the Realtor.
He pounded on the door again. “Louisa! You let me in this minute or so help me I will kick the door in.”
Nothing like a threat to kill her self-pity. Anger took over and she reached for the doorknob. “If you damage so much as a speck of dust, I’ll...”
Dear Lord, he looked awful. One of the qualities she’d noticed from the beginning was Nico’s robust appearance. The man on her doorstep looked tired, his healthy color turned pale and sallow. His eyes, while flashing with anger, were flat and lifeless beneath the spark. He looked, to be blunt, as bad as she felt.
“Is it true?” Without waiting for an invitation or answer, he stomped inside, toward the main staircase. There he stood at the foot, arms folded across his body, waiting.
“Tell me you’re not seriously thinking of selling your home.”
“You got the call, didn’t you?”
“But why?” he asked.
“Seriously, you have to ask?” He and Monte Calanetti were irrevocably entwined. How was she supposed to stay in the village and live her life when every corner she turned would present some reminder of him?
“I thought it would make things easier,” she told him, walking into the living room. Maybe if she dismissed him...
Of course he followed. “For who?” he asked. “You?”
“Yes.” And for him. He wouldn’t be forced to share his hometown with an ex-lover as his neighbor.
Nico didn’t say a word. Instead he crossed the room, to the cabinet where she stored the fernet. At first she thought he might pour himself a glass, but he put the bottle back on the shelf.
“Amazing,” he said, shaking his head. “You do like to run away from your problems, don’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you ran away from Boston to Monte Calanetti. You wanted to run away when the paparazzi came and now you are running away from me.”
Louisa couldn’t believe him. “I’m not running from you,” she said.
“Oh really? Then what are you doing?”
“I’m...” She was...
Starting fresh again. In a new place. Away from Monte Calanetti.
All right, maybe she was running away. Maybe she needed to run away in order to save her independence. “What I do or don’t do is none of your business,” she snapped. “If I want to sell the palazzo, I will.”
“Is that so? And here I thought I exercised such control over your actions.”
Damn him. Who did he think he was, twisting her words? “If I am leaving Monte Calanetti, it’s because you tried to take over my life, and you know it.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Oh yeah? Then what was calling Dominic?”
“A mistake.”
A damn big one, too. She was tired of having this argument. As far as she was concerned, they’d already had it one too many times.
Unfortunately, Nico thought differently. “It was wrong of me to call Dominic without telling you. I was excited to be able to help you, and I didn’t think about how my help might make you feel.”
Louisa had liked the conversation better before. Anger was so much easier to oppose than this softer, conciliatory tone.
She stared out the window. The Tuscan hills were starting to turn. Shades of brown mixed with the green. In another few months, it would be a year since her arrival. Seemed like only yesterday she and Dani had met on the bus from Florence. And she remembered the first time she’d met Nico. He’d sauntered through the front door without knocking and demanded proof she owned the palazzo. Here’s a man who insists on being in charge, she remembered thinking. Her insides had practically melted at the thought, and that had scared the hell out of her. Because she didn’t want to be attracted to a strong man.
“Scared,” she said, her breath marking the glass.
“I don’t understand.” He replied.
“Your going to Dominic. It frightened me.”
“I made you feel powerless.”
She shook her head. “No. You made me feel like I’d met another Prince Charming. Actually, that’s not true,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “I already knew you were Prince Charming. Calling Dominic made it obvious.”
“I still don’t...”
No surprise. She probably wasn’t making much sense. “I liked that you came to my rescue,” she told him.
“And that scares you.”
It terrified her. With a small shrug, she turned back to the hills. “I need to be my own person. When I’m with you, it’s too easy to give in and let you run the show.”
“Could have fooled me. In fact, I seem to recall more than one argument over my trying to run the show.”
His shadow appeared in the window. Louisa could tell from the warmth buffeting her back, or rather the lack of it, that he was making a point of keeping his distance. “Do you know why Floriana and I didn’t work?” he asked.
The odd shift in conversation confused her, but Louisa went along with it. “No. Why?”
“Because she was too perfect. I realized that just now.”
“If this is supposed to make me feel better...”
“Wait, hear me out,” he said. “Floriana... She and I never argued. She was always logical, always agreeable, always in tune with my thinking.”
“She was perfect.” While Louisa was the imperfect American who ran away from her problems. Both descriptions sickened her. “I get it.”
“I don’t think you do” was Nico’s reply. The warmth from his body moved a step closer. Not too much, but enough so Louisa could better feel its presence. “Floriana might have been perfect, but she wasn’t perfect for me. That was why I couldn’t truly love her. Do you underst
and?”
She was afraid to.
“I need a woman who challenges me every single day,” he said. “Someone who is smart and beautiful, and who is not afraid to put me in my place when I overstep.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“On the contrary, I think it might be very hard. I don’t know for sure. I’ve never been in love until you.”
Until her. The declaration washed over her, powerful in its simplicity. Nico Amatucci loved her. And she... Panic clamped down on the thought like a vise.
“I know you are afraid,” he said when she let out a choked sob. The anguish in his voice told her how much he was struggling between wanting to close the distance and respecting her need for space.
“I know that Steven left you with some very deep scars and that you are afraid of making the same mistakes. I am not Steven, though. Please know that no matter what happens between us, I will always want you to be your own person.
“So,” she heard him say, “if you want to run away, that’s your choice. All I ask is that you don’t use me as your excuse.” There were a lot of things Louisa wanted to say in response, but when she opened her mouth to speak, the words died on her tongue. In the end, she stayed where she was, afraid to turn to look lest she break down when she saw Nico’s face. She heard his footsteps on the tile, the click of the front door, and then she was alone.
She’d said she wanted to stand on her own two feet. She also wanted Nico’s arms around her. Desperately. What did that say about her?
That you love him. The words she’d been fighting to keep buried broke free and echoed loud in her heart. No amount of running away or lying to herself would make them disappear. She loved Nico Amatucci. She was in love with Nico Amatucci.
Now what? With a sob, she sank to the floor. Did she continue with her plans? Move again and spend her life being haunted by two past mistakes?
Or did she stay in the village she’d come to think of as home and somehow find the courage to let her love for Nico grow?
Wiping her eyes, she looked out once more at the Tuscan hillside and the vineyards that stretched out before her. How much she’d come to love this view. And this palazzo.
She looked around at her surroundings. A lot had changed around here in nine months. If her ancestors could see this place now, they wouldn’t recognize their old home. It wasn’t the same crumbling building she’d found when she’d arrived.
Harlequin Romance February 2016 Box Set Page 16
