VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE

by Kimberley Reeves

  “I know that look, Logan Vittorio,” Shelby chastised, “and if you think this is all about sex you’re wrong.”

  Logan chuckled and raised her hand to his lips. “Do not worry, carissima, I will make sure you are fed afterwards.”

  “Oh, you’re impossible,” she snatched her hand away.

  “Are you saying you have not imagined a stolen hour of intimacy with me in the middle of the day?”

  Her cheeks burned a glorious shade of scarlet. “It never crossed my mind.” His laughter brought a smile to her lips. “Okay, so maybe I did think of it briefly but that’s not all I want to do whenever you can manage to slip away to see me.”

  “You will not be disappointed when there are days I cannot get away at all?”

  “Of course I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t be unhappy because it will make those days you can see me so much more special. I’ll have my painting to keep me busy and without Alba around to scowl at me whenever I invade her kitchen I’ll be able to make lunch for you. And if you have to stay late I can bring you dinner or maybe even help you with your work.”

  “Shelby…”

  “Please don’t say no before you even give me a chance to prove I can be useful. I know you think I have my head in the clouds because the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do is paint but I’m very good with computers and I can type seventy words per minute. And you forget I took business courses in college so I’d know how to keep my own books and I do so want to be involved with your work so I’m not completely lost when you talk about your ventures…”

  “Okay, okay,” he laughed, “I will give you a chance to prove yourself. If you like, I can have my Personal Assistant, Margaret, train you. If things work out, perhaps you can fill in for her when she takes time off.”

  “Oh, Logan, that would be wonderful!”

  “I warn you, I am not going to be easy on you. Margaret’s job is very demanding and the only reason she has lasted as long as she has is because she does not let my moods affect her. She knows I can be abrupt and does not take it personally. I cannot have you falling to pieces if I seem harsh at times.”

  “I wouldn’t expect any favoritism and I promise you can fire me on the spot if I don’t measure up to your standards.”

  “I can trust you not to be angry with me if I find it necessary to fire you?”

  “No tantrums, I swear.”

  “We will give it a trial run then, but if Margaret does not think you can handle it I will have to accept her opinion and expect no argument from you.”

  Shelby’s high spirits took a slight dip. “You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

  “Innamorato…”

  “Don’t you sweetheart me, Logan Vittorio,” she admonished, “you think I’m going to fail.”

  Logan chose his words carefully. “I am confident you will do your best but it is a tough job and I do not want you to be upset if it does not work out.”

  “I’m not as fragile as you think I am.”

  “Perhaps not, but I am worried about the strain it may put on our relationship.”

  He turned onto the private road leading to their house, not at all happy with the path their conversation had taken. He shouldn’t have given in so easily or tried harder to talk her out of working with him. Logan was under no illusions about how difficult he could be and though he considered himself to be a fair and generous boss, he was also extremely demanding and often sounded rather abrupt, especially when he was up against a tight deadline. He waited until they’d passed through the wrought iron security gates and was halfway to the house before stopping the car.

  “I am afraid we will not have the house to ourselves tonight,” he confessed with an apologetic smile. “When I told my parents I was bringing you home, my mother insisted on getting the family together to welcome you back.”

  Shelby brushed aside what he’d said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I expected that she would. Logan…I know you have reservations about us working together but it’s not because you think I can’t do the job, is it?”

  “No, cara mia,” he answered softly.

  “Then what is it?”

  “I just do not want anything to come between us and…”

  Logan shifted his gaze and stared out the windshield. How could he look into those already troubled eyes and tell her what he was really thinking when he knew it would distress her even more? He’d let Shelby’s enthusiasm about working for him and his own desire to be with her cloud his judgment but if he told her that he’d changed his mind…

  “You don’t want me there,” Shelby said with a sinking heart. “You’re perfectly happy to let things go back to the way they were, aren’t you?”

  “It is not like that, cara.”

  “Then you’d better tell me what it is like,” Shelby shot back, “otherwise you can just turn this car around and take me back to the cottage!”

  Chapter 7

  “You cannot mean that,” Logan finally said once he’d managed to drag enough air back into his lungs to speak.

  He still wouldn’t look at her, but Shelby didn’t need to see his eyes to know she’d hurt him. “I don’t think this is going to work,” she said in a subdued tone, “not when we can’t even talk to one another openly…or look at each other.”

  Logan nodded slowly. “You are right, this is not going to work.”

  Shelby drew in a stilted breath, desperately fighting back the panic that was welling up inside of her.

  “I…I didn’t mean we wouldn’t work. It was horrible of me to tell you to turn the car around and…oh Logan, please forgive me!”

  “We have lost something, carissima,” he said woodenly. “We are both afraid to say what we feel and there is so little trust between us.”

  “We can get it back,” she cried passionately, “I know we can.”

  “I want to believe that…” Logan started, but before he could say another word, Shelby had unfastened her seatbelt and maneuvered herself onto his lap.

  “Don’t you dare start doubting us now,” she said fiercely, “not after you refused to sign the divorce papers and searched for me for months and convinced me that what we have together is strong enough to endure anything.” Threading her fingers through his dark hair, Shelby drew Logan’s mouth down to hers. “I love you,” she whispered, just before he crushed her lips with a savage kiss.

  “Say it again,” Logan pleaded softly when he finally lifted his head.

  “I love you, Logan Vittorio, with all my heart.”

  “And I love you, cara mia, but I meant the part about being able to endure anything.”

  “What we have is strong enough,” she said vehemently, “but we have to be open with each other and right now I feel as if you’re holding something back.” The tenderness in his eyes faded but it didn’t deter Shelby from coaxing an explanation from him. “Logan, if you really want this marriage to work, you have to trust me.”

  “Just as you trusted me?” He asked cruelly.

  Shelby ignored the stinging sensation that shot through her. “I was wrong not to have faith in you and we’ve both paid the price for that mistake. Please…tell me what’s bothering you. Whatever it is, I promise we’ll work it out together.”

  “Very well,” he agreed reluctantly. “I am not the same man at work that I am with you and the truth is I do not think you would like what you see. I have…doubts about your ability to keep our relationship at the office separate from our relationship as husband and wife.”

  “Oh Logan, don’t you think I know your responsibilities at the office dictate that you be demanding? I’ve heard you on the phone talking business and you don’t sugar coat anything. I respect that, I honestly do, and I don’t expect or even want you to go easy on me.”

  “You say that now…”

  She silenced him with a kiss. “I trust you, Logan, and if you can find it in your heart to trust me again then the only thing we’ve lost is time.”

  “Time we can
never get back, cara.”

  “That’s true, but maybe we could find a way to make up for it?”

  Luminous green eyes reflected every emotion Shelby was experiencing, just as he’d known they would. Whatever else had changed between them, she still couldn’t look at Logan without the love she felt for him shinning through. She’d nearly broken him when she’d run away and even though he understood her reasons for doing it now, he had to question whether he was strong enough to endure the pain if she left him again. And yet, he had only to touch her or breathe in the alluring scent of her skin to know he didn’t have a shot in hell of guarding his heart against her.

  “Very well,” he finally said, “I will agree to convert a room in the penthouse into a studio for you, and I will let you work for me on a trial basis. But,” he gave her a stern look, “I still expect you to manage running the house and you will be at my side when there is a social or business event.”

  Shelby wasn’t intimidated in the least by his austere expression but right now what Logan needed most was to know he was in control. She’d taken that away from him and she despised herself for it. Her husband was the epitome of the alpha male; strong and self-assured, arrogant in many ways but always with such an air of unquestioning authority he dominated a room and everyone in it from the moment he walked in. There was never any doubt in his mind he could do exactly what he promised and it was that more than anything that made people believe in him.

  Shelby lifted adoring eyes to his. “Of course I’ll be there, Logan. My place is with my husband.”

  “And if you discover your husband is not the man you thought he was?”

  She smiled softly. “I know your heart and as long as that never changes I’ll be the happiest woman in the world.”

  “Mia amore,” he whispered as he caught her up in a passionate kiss.

  This was what she had longed for during those dark, lonely days without him; Logan’s arms wound possessively around her, his lips devouring her, sending her emotions into such a wild tailspin she could barely catch her breath. She loved him more than ever, not just because he’d given her a second chance to make their marriage work but because he’d given back her life.

  She’d been lost without him and she didn’t care if he did turn into a tyrannical ogre at work because at the end of the day she’d be right where she was now; in her husband’s arms where she belonged.

  “There is something I need to tell you,” Logan told Shelby as he helped her from the car. “Only the immediate family knows that we have been…separated, and I confided in Simon that you filed for divorce but no one else.”

  The knots in her stomach loosened a little. “I’m glad…but, how did you explain my absence to our friends and your business associates?”

  “I told them you had taken a sabbatical so you could concentrate on your artwork. I have attended only those functions that were imperative to the business so everyone just assumed I was spending time with you whenever I could.”

  Shelby’s throat constricted. “I’ve put you through so much, how can you ever…”

  “It is over and done,” he said firmly. “We are together now and that is all that matters.” Logan gripped her shoulders, locking eyes with her. “The divorce was never going to happen, Shelby.”

  “I understand. No one knows but Simon.”

  “No, you do not understand. Those papers meant nothing, that is why I tore them up. I would not have allowed you to divorce me.”

  Even the fierceness of his tone couldn’t keep her from smiling. “What would you have done, Logan? Were you going to tie me up and lock me away in a closet?”

  “Careful, cara mia, I am still not entirely sure we are on solid ground yet and you are giving me ideas that are rather tempting.”

  Shelby laced her arms around his neck, her expression suddenly very solemn. “I know I’ve hurt you, and I know I’ve shaken your trust, but I love you with all my heart and I swear I’ll never leave you again. I was miserable without you, Logan. It was like something inside me died, and if you hadn’t come for me when you did…” Her voice hitched in her throat and she couldn’t seem to get the rest of the words out.

  Logan enfolded her in his arms and just held her. He knew exactly what Shelby meant when she said something inside her died because he’d felt the same way. Maybe it wasn’t wise to give so much of your heart to someone else, not when it meant losing a part of yourself in the process. But would he have passed up the chance to share his life with Shelby if he’d known the kind of utter devastation he’d suffer this past six months?

  Logan closed his eyes for a moment. She felt so small, yet having her in his arms warmed his entire body. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her familiar scent, and tried to remember if he’d ever felt this alive before he’d fallen in love with Shelby. Oh, there had been plenty of women who’d stimulated him sexually, but none who’d ever driven mad with desire like his wife. He’d thoroughly enjoyed the company of the women he’d chosen to be his companion for more than a night or two, but he’d never found himself daydreaming about them in the middle of an important meeting like he did Shelby.

  Logan feathered kisses up the side of her neck, blazing a moist trail across her satiny cheek to her lips. He loved the way she melted into him when he kissed her and how perfectly her body conformed to his in spite of the difference in their size. And he loved how soft her skin felt against his when they were making love and the way his heart tripped whenever she smiled or laughed or slipped her hand into his when they were walking together. He got butterflies in his stomach driving home for God’s sake, and that was certainly not a response any other woman had been able to elicit from him.

  Logan drew her closer and deepened the kiss. It was worth it. Whatever hell he’d endured during those long, lonely months after she’d left him, it was worth it just to be able to hold her and touch her again. If he was a fool for loving her as much as he did…well, that was okay as long Shelby kept on loving him too.

  ****

  “We were starting to wonder if Logan was going to drag you off to the boathouse to make out before he brought you in.”

  Shelby blushed profusely as she gave her sister-in-law a hug. “You’ll never change, Milana,” she laughed. “You always say what’s on your mind no matter how outrageous it is.”

  Milana arched a brow. “Outrageous? You and I both know that if there wasn’t a house full of people right now, Logan would have carted you straight to the bedroom.”

  Shelby eyed Milana’s expanding waistline pointedly. “It looks like you and Luc have been spending your fair share of time in the bedroom. Logan didn’t even tell me you were pregnant. When is the baby due?”

  “Four months and sixteen days, not that I’m counting.”

  A light tremor raced up her spine when Logan’s arm slipped around her own trim waist. She smiled up at him and another tremor coursed through her entire body. Would there ever be a time when she could look at her husband and not want him to cart her off to the nearest dark corner and have his wicked way with her? Not in this lifetime, she thought when he hitched her more snuggly to his side then leaned down to plant a soft kiss to her lips.

  “Perhaps we will have news of our own to share soon,” Logan told his sister.

  Milana let out a squeal of delight. “I’m so happy for you both. I hope you get pregnant right away,” she beamed at Shelby. “It would be wonderful to have our babies so close together, don’t you think?”