Cordelia stiffened. The mention of Isabella was a timely reminder of what she had witnessed and, as if sensing her withdrawal, he leaned forward, his body language imparting a searing sincerity that held her spellbound against her better judgement.
‘Then you came. You showed up. In all your stunning glory.’
‘Don’t, Luca,’ she whipped back.
‘Don’t what?’
‘Try to get under my skin again. I’ve had it with you doing that.’
‘You thought you walked in on me sharing something intimate with Isabella and, yes, you did, but not in the way you think. Isabella is gay. I’ve known that for a long time and that’s why the marriage made sense. I didn’t believe in love. It wasn’t for me. And Isabella wanted the cover of a traditional marriage to hide her sexuality from her parents. Not ideal and I tried to persuade her to come out, but she refused, and I suppose, in a way, the arrangement suited me as it stood.’
He sighed, wondered where doing what was right stopped and doing what was convenient began. The lines had become blurred over time when it came to Isabella. ‘She was crying because she’d finally decided to tell her parents so that she could be with her partner of eighteen months. She was a wreck and I was trying to comfort her and tell her that it would be okay. That was the scene you interrupted and I was a fool for not explaining myself immediately, for telling you that you had to trust me. Who the hell did I think I was?’
‘Isabella is gay? But you were planning on getting married...’
‘And who knows? Maybe we would have if she hadn’t met the woman she’s in love with. Or maybe, if I hadn’t broken it off, the worst would have happened and she would have married me because it would have been what tradition demanded. We would have both been miserable in the end.’
‘Luca... I wish you had said something. Told me the situation from the start. You have no idea...what’s been going on in my head.’
‘Old habits die hard.’ He grimaced. ‘And besides,’ he admitted, ‘I might have been forced to recognise what I’d been hiding from myself.’
‘What’s that?’ Cordelia asked breathlessly.
‘That I’m in love with you. That you were the woman I have been waiting for all my life.’
Afterwards, everything happened very fast. It was a blur. He loved her. She’d questioned him, of course she had. He could be making it up! But she knew he wasn’t because it just wasn’t something he would ever make up.
He’d never believed in love, he’d told her. Love had destroyed his father. He had lost his only love and then worse had followed when he had reacted by hurtling from one ghastly and costly mistake to another. And he, Luca, young and grieving the loss of his mother, had been a casualty.
What was there to admire about that lifestyle? Only a fool, Luca had confided, would have chosen to emulate it. Only a fool would have blithely believed in the restorative power of love, having witnessed first hand its ability to destroy.
Not for him, and that was the rule he had lived his life by. He would marry for convenience and that way he would never risk getting hurt.
Every word had been music to her ears.
She had had to pinch herself several times because she couldn’t believe that the man she had given her heart to had given his heart back to her, not when she had spent so long bracing herself for just the opposite.
Now, back in the gown but on cloud nine, she slipped her hand into his and gazed at him at the top of the stairs.
Her father was due any minute. Preparations were well under way. Noise levels had escalated. As she gazed down, she could see that the hall was festive with lights and flowers and the smell of food was wafting through the house, making her mouth water.
‘I love you.’ She smiled at Luca and reached up to kiss him very lightly on the mouth. ‘I feel I’ve spent my life sitting there by the sea, looking out at a horizon and imagining what might lie beyond it. I never, ever thought that I would find everything I could ever hope for and more.’
‘The mermaid who found her legs,’ Luca murmured, curving his hand against her cheek. ‘Mine for ever.’
His eyes slid past her and he smiled.
‘Your father is here,’ he said, ‘and I’m guessing that the buxom blonde clinging to him is none other than the woman he didn’t want around because he was too set in his ways?’
Cordelia stared and then burst out laughing because that was Doris, all right. Her case was bulging and Cordelia could only guess at what outfit might be inside. Doris had never been known for her modesty when it came to dress code.
‘I don’t believe it,’ she breathed as they headed down the stairs. She gave a little wave to her father and braced herself for the conversation that would soon be taking place, although, now, it was a conversation she wouldn’t be having with a heavy heart.
‘Didn’t I say?’ Luca murmured into her ear. ‘All’s well that ends well, wouldn’t you agree?’
Yes, she would.
There could be no better endings, in fact. She thought that as she looked down at the softly breathing baby in the basket next to the bed.
Three weeks ago, her contractions had kicked in, sending Luca into frenzied panic, even though he had been as cool as a cucumber as the time for the birth had drawn ever closer, wisely telling her when she should pack her bag for the hospital and assuring her that it was all probably going to be far calmer than she feared.
He had stayed with her for the duration of the ten-hour labour, had even helped to deliver their daughter and had only admitted afterwards that he had been close to passing out several times.
He was the most devoted father Cordelia could have hoped for. Now, she felt his arms around her as he shifted against her, levering himself up to gaze at their daughter, breathing softly in her basket, her tiny hands balled into fists. She had a mop of curly dark hair and was pale gold. She was the most wonderful thing they had ever seen and they never tired of admitting it.
Her father had flown over three days after Giulietta was born, along with Doris, and, after fussing over his granddaughter, he had shyly announced that he and Doris would be joining forces to expand the business.
‘When you say joining forces...’ Cordelia had encouraged and he had gone a deeper shade of scarlet.
‘Woman’s only gone and proposed,’ he’d said gruffly, while Doris had looked at him with such tenderness that Cordelia had wanted to rush over and give her a huge hug.
The solitary man who had spent a lifetime mourning the life that had passed him by was finally waking up and Cordelia couldn’t have been happier.
There would be another wedding in three months’ time and Luca was already making noises about having a proper honeymoon afterwards. Somewhere hot and sunny, with a private beach, where they could relive good times, specifically the good times that had brought their beautiful baby into the world.
‘She’s a miracle,’ Luca murmured, wrapping his arm around his wife and nestling closer to her. ‘In case I haven’t mentioned it, you girls are the two most important people in my life.’
‘I think you’ve mentioned it before.’ Cordelia smiled. She wriggled until she was facing him and their bodies were pressed against one another.
‘Have I mentioned, in that case, that I am already thinking that when it comes to family numbers, four seems a far more rounded number than three?’
Cordelia laughed, eyes gleaming. ‘Is that a fact?’
‘I never thought I’d hear myself say it, my dearest love, but loving you is the best thing that ever happened to me...’
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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Expecting His Billion-Dollar Scandal (Once Upon a Temptation, Book 5) Page 16
