She was surprised at the fervent note in his voice. Like he cared. About his reputation, though she was quite sure he didn’t. About Ascione, though she hadn’t been sure there was any loyalty there considering he’d had very little to do with it all these years.
But she’d banked on the probability that somewhere deep down, all the talk of legacies she’d grown up with would have been instilled in him as well.
“You’ll marry me then.” She managed to sound calm, but inside she was a nervous wreck. Inside, she wasprayinghe said yes. And somehow dreading that yes at the same time. It was what she knew needed to happen, but it was not what shewanted.
And that really was the story of her life, so she couldn’t fathom why it unsettled her as much as it did.
“Marry you? I thought you were brilliant,cara. Why would I have met you in public, for many to see, if not to plant the romantic seeds of our engagement?”
She could not stop herself from pulling a face at the wordromantic.
Luciano chuckled. “You will need to work on your acting skills.”
“Indeed.” She cleared her throat. “But, if you did not notice the papers this morning, I have already planted my own seeds.”
He did not frown exactly, but she could tell he had not gotten wind of the stories yet. She pulled her phone out of her purse and brought up one of the gossip channels that had the picture she’d arranged. Then she slid the phone across the table to him.
He picked it up. “Look at you, Serena,” he murmured, studying the picture. He handed her phone back, then smiled, his gaze sharp and on her.
A flutter centered in her chest. Like nerves, but warmer. She felt…compelled to hold his gaze, even as something shifted low in her stomach. She didn’t understand it.
Or like it.
Because as much as she’d like to pretend it was some kind of victorious feeling from having him agree to her plan, she knew it had nothing to do with agreement, and everything to do with that smile and his eyes on hers.
He lifted his glass of wine. “Then I suppose we have a deal. Let the games begin,compagna.”
Partner.
She thought about how he’d said his father should be rotting in hell and hoped for a brief moment her father was doing the same for leaving her to deal withthis.
* * *
They had agreed their first public appearance would be the dinner party put on by one of the CEOs of the major American conglomerate that had been swooping in and stealing their clients away.
As Luciano prepared himself for the dinner, he thought back to their parting shots to one another at lunch.
“I should like to see you in a color. Perhaps a hint of skin,”he had said, to see if he could watch closely enough for her mask to slip.
It hadn’t.
“I cannot fathom why you would care at all what I wear,”she had replied as they’d walked back to his car.
“There should be some sense that we are rubbing off on one another, should there not?”
“Then what will you do?”she’d asked, sounding sincere. She’d delivered the blow with that same tone.“Learn to read?”
He had been torn between shocked affront and a laugh. She was indeed a worthy adversary. Except, no longer an enemy. Now, they were partners.
He wondered how long it would last before one of them would plan a betrayal.
Not until both companies were back on even footing. Serena would not risk Valli, and while he wasn’t quite so taken with Ascione, he wanted none of his father’s failures associated with his own name.
Because I am better.
So for a few months yet, they would have to be full-on partners. No behind doors backstabbing just yet.
What a shame.
