He sighed. ‘Latterly, I realised that was a mistake. What people were saying was clearly affecting you and making it impossible for you to believe the true story. So, though I hadn’t been seeing a great deal of her anyway for some time, I stopped seeing Fiona, even as a friend, after we got back from our trip to London.’
As he paused, Sofia cut in, her tone full of disbelief, ‘But first you had a nice little farewell fling in Geneva!’
Damiano shook his head. ‘No, we didn’t,’ he told her. He leaned closer. ‘Look, I guessed you’d seen that picture in the paper, and I can’t deny that she was in Geneva at the same time as me. But I never saw her. I swear to you, Sofia. I was going to tell you, but then I didn’t, because I figured it wasn’t worth it—that whatever I told you you wouldn’t believe me.’
He gave a wry smile and sighed as he continued, ‘Do you remember what you were telling me over dinner—about how you felt you could never do anything right in my eyes? Well, I’ve felt that way too, if you really want to know. It seemed that, no matter how often I tried to convince you, you were just determined to go on believing that I was lying.’
Sofia was watching him through narrowed eyes, her heart racing inside her. Could all this be true? Her brain was spinning in confusion. It was hard enough just taking it all in, never mind believing it!
‘So how come,’ she demanded, ‘she was in the restaurant last night? I saw her looking at her watch, as though she was about to keep an appointment with you.’
‘You saw her looking at her watch?’ Damiano looked totally baffled. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but you’re going to have to explain that.’
‘I saw her looking at her watch and just a couple of minutes earlier you’d been looking at yours and saying it was time to go home. I put two and two together and decided you wanted rid of me because you had a secret date with Fiona.’
Damiano still looked perplexed. He shook his head and frowned at her, reaching out as he did so, very gently, to take one of her tightly clenched fists in his hand.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘that was a very clever piece of detective work, but I’m afraid it really was totally wrong. I wanted to get you home because I was worried about you. Fiona was at the restaurant because she was holding a farewell party. I’m afraid I can’t tell you why she was looking at her watch-maybe- she had to make a phone call or something—but I can assure you it had nothing whatsoever to do with me. As I’ve already told you, I didn’t even know she was there.’
He looked into her eyes and smiled a wry smile as he added, ‘You see, I wasn’t even invited to the party.’
Sofia continued to watch him, her brain still whirring. But one thing she had to admit, now that she had heard his explanation, was that her own interpretation of all that watch-checking was definitely beginning to look a bit paranoid. In fact, it -occurred to her that it might even be the case that she’d been a bit paranoid about the Fiona thing right from the beginning, for she really had let her jealousy get out of hand. But before she admitted that there was something she needed explaining.
Sitting very still as he continued to hold her clenched hand—though it was a little less tightly clenched than before—she demanded, ‘What did you mean when you said she was holding a farewell party?’
Damiano smiled softly and reached out to touch her cheek. ‘You obviously haven’t heard. She’s leaving San Rinaldo. Moving to France in a week or so’s time. She’s involved with some man there. She’s going to make a new life.’
Sofia asked, ‘And how do you feel about that?’
‘How do I feel? I simply wish her well.’
‘Won’t you miss her a bit?’
‘I won’t miss her at all. I have no reason to miss her any more.’ He frowned. ‘I have you, and the more I get to know you, the more I realise you’re all I’ll ever need.’
Sofia held her breath as he looked at her. ‘Do you really mean that?’
‘I mean it with all my heart.’ Damiano stood up from the chair and came to seat himself on the edge of the bed. Gazing deep into her eyes, he took her two hands in his. ‘I love you, Sofia, like I’ve loved no woman before. Believe that. It’s true, though I only realised it a short while ago. If you love me, I know we can have a wonderful life together.’
There was a silence. For a moment the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, with a cry of emotion, Sofia fell against him, pressing her face to the hard warmth of his chest.
‘Oh, Damiano, I’ve always loved you! Don’t you know that?’ And as he drew back to look at her; love shining in his eyes, she rushed on, ‘I know I’ve been a terrible wife so far, but I’ll be a good one from now on. Truly, I’ll make up for it. I’ll be your wife, your lover, your friend, your companion. I’ll never let you down again as long as I live.’
Damiano kissed her, holding her tightly, arms wrapped around her. ‘You’ve never let me down. I’m the one who let you down. I’ve been too obsessed with being the Duke and not obsessed enough with being your husband. But all that’s going to change, I swear to you, Sofia.’
He kissed her again, a slow, smouldering kiss. Then he looked into her eyes. ‘You forgot one thing, you know. Wife and lover, companion and friend, you said. But you’re also going to be the mother of my numerous children.’ With one finger he traced the line of her jaw. Then he smiled a gentle smile. ‘You’re pregnant again, aren’t you?’
Sofia looked back at him and blinked. But then it all fell into place. Her tiredness at the reception. The way she had fainted. The half-remembered questions Dr Gentile had asked her last night. She felt her face break into a smile. ‘Yes, I think I am,’ she said.
His eyes were filled with love and joy. ‘How wonderful.’ He kissed her. Then he frowned. ‘But pregnant ladies need their sleep,’ he told her. ‘Perhaps I ought to go back to my own bed now and leave you in peace?’
‘Don’t you dare!’ Sofia scowled at him. ‘You’re going to sleep right here with me! I won’t stand for you sleeping anywhere else ever again!’ She pushed the covers aside. ‘This is where you belong.’
Damiano smiled and kissed her. ‘I was rather hoping you’d say that.’ He tugged at the belt of his Paisley silk dressing gown so that it fell open to reveal his bronzed, muscular nakedness. Then he tossed it aside and slipped into bed beside her, reaching for her, his hands caressing her warm, eager body.
‘Do you want the light on or off?’
‘Leave it on.’ She pressed herself against him. ‘I want to see you making love to me.’
And as he came to her and she lay back against the pillows in welcome, gazing into the dark-eyed face she so loved, it was as though the light that filled the room also flooded her heart, for she had never known it was possible to be as happy as this.
Eight months later Sofia gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby daughter with eyes the exact same -grey-blue as her mother’s and a thatch of wonderful downy red-gold hair. ‘The most adorable daughter in the world,’ Damiano proclaimed her.
But Victoria Maria Paola Elisabeth di Montecrespi wasn’t the only royal birth that month. For just a week after the announcement of Sofia’s pregnancy Carrie, wife of Count Leone, Damiano’s younger brother, also discovered that she was soon to become a mother. And that baby—another girl, the image of her blue-eyed father—was born just a couple of weeks after Victoria. Though even that happy coincidence wasn’t the end of the story, for yet another royal birth was due very soon now. catering, Damiano’s sister, and her husband Matthew were due to become parents in just a couple of months’ time.
‘There must be something in the air,’ Damiano had joked to Sofia. ‘Maybe we picked up something in London and passed it on to everyone else!’
And maybe they had. But, whatever had caused it, these days the Palazzo Verde was a deeply happy place. All the old quarrels and misunderstandings had finally been laid to rest and an aura of bright optimism and goodwill filled the air. And everyone—even the most fleeting visitor to the palace—was aw
are of it.
No one more so than Sofia, however. For it seemed to her as though a miracle had taken place in her life. The man she’d adored in vain for all those long years and who she’d been quite certain would never love her had proved beyond doubt the depth of feeling in his heart. He had made her the happiest woman in the universe.
For over the past months Damiano had more than made up for all the hurts she had suffered in the past, spending time with her, loving her, making her feel needed. And Sofia, for her part, had been making up for the way she had unjustly accused him and doubted him. They knew each other well now. As well as love, there was understanding. And the loving, trusting tolerance without which no marriage can work.
Sofia was watching him now with love in her eyes as they got ready to attend the christening of their new daughter. And she smiled as he turned to look at her and asked, ‘Give me a hand with these cufflinks, would you, Sofia? I just can’t get this one in.’
Sofia crossed to where he was standing. ‘There you are,’ she told him as she slipped the gold cufflink into place. Then she reached up and kissed his chin. ‘How would you ever manage without me?’
‘I wouldn’t.’ He drew her close to him and kissed her hair. ‘Not any more. You’re essential to me now.’
And as he kissed her again he knew that he meant it. He knew, too, that he wouldn’t have things any other way. Falling in love with his young wife was the best thing that had ever happened to him. It had added to his life a whole new dimension, a warmth and special depth that, formerly, it had lacked. He was happier and more fulfilled now than he had ever been before.
He held her close for a moment and looked down into the grey-blue eyes, the same colour as the softly cut wool suit she was wearing. ‘You’ll never know how much I love you,’ he told her, kissing her, ‘or how grateful I am that you had the patience to wait for me. Heaven knows why it took me so long to appreciate what I had right under my nose.’
Sofia hugged him, her heart melting with happiness inside her. ‘You were worth waiting for,’ she told him. And she reached up to kiss him back.
For a long moment they stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms, hearts beating with the strong, sure love they shared. Then Damiano slipped on his jacket and together, hand in hand, they set off for the nursery to collect Alessandro and Victoria before making their way down to the private palace chapel..
And, as they stepped out into the corridor, their eyes met and they smiled. The present was perfect, the past was all behind them, and before them stretched a long and glitteringly happy future.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6340-6
THE DUKE’S WIFE
First North American Publication 1998.
Copyright © 1996 by Stephanie Howard.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, a in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road. Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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