She let out a sigh. Where to from here? If Dante wouldn’t help her, how on earth was she to get the money? She leaned back and closed her eyes, and tiredness slid over her. She hadn’t been able to sleep last night. Dante’s taunting words about running away ate at her confidence. She had run. But as soon as she needed help she’d run back to him.
Her mobile phone interrupted her memories. A text. What she read made her skin grow cold and fear gnawed her insides as if she’d swallowed a piranha.
Your grandmother had a small turn yesterday. She’s in hospital and recovering well. She’s resting at the moment but perhaps call her this evening. Any news?
It was from her friend Susan. Thank goodness she’d arranged for Susan to watch over Nana.
Any news?
She was running out of time. No. Her grandmother, the only family she had left, was running out of time. Perhaps she’d been too hasty. Perhaps she should have stayed and discussed Dante’s proposition. Pride was something she could no longer afford.
Her fingers hovered over the keypad of her phone. How to reply?
Soon. I’ll have news soon. Tell Nana I love her and I’ll Skype with her tonight. Make sure she has her iPad. Thank you sweetie.
Just as she pushed send, a flurry of pigeons erupted in the square below, and as they parted she noted that everyone seemed to stop and look to the right-hand side of the square.
A man was striding over the cobblestones heading toward her, a vision of potent masculinity.
Dante.
The women sitting at the café tables stared. Who wouldn’t? In his light pink shirt, over which he wore a charcoal gray suit that fitted like a second skin, he was utterly gorgeous. His black hair gleamed in the sun. He wore sunglasses that made him look like a movie star. Here was a man who was oblivious to the undercurrents of interest he created. From his casual walk, everyone knew he was someone important.
As the women in the square followed his progress, Abby could well imagine that all the men wanted to be him. Abby couldn’t look away. She stared at his approachwith her heart in her throat. His features were blank, his chiseled jaw tight. His perfect white teeth flashed a smile as he stopped to retrieve a ball that a little boy kicked his way. He crouched and spoke to the child. She watched the little boy succumb to the Lombardi charm with a big smile spreading across his face. The boy ran back across the square and waited while Dante kicked him the ball. Something broke inside Abby while watching Dante play ball with the toddler. This could have been them, a real family.
The boy’s mother finally stepped in and rescued Dante or he could have been there all morning. His smile of thanks looked as though it made the woman weak at the knees, and a wave of jealousy enveloped Abby. Dante glanced up. She pulled back the shade. She didn’t want him to see her with her tongue hanging out of her mouth like every other female in the piazza. He stood staring for a moment before striding toward her hotel.
Abby glanced at the text message on her phone. She knew she had to listen to whatever despicable offer Dante presented. But she’d stipulate a few conditions of her own.
When the knock on the door came, she was prepared. She stayed on the balcony and hardened her heart. There was no way she’d waste one tiny piece of her heart on a man who categorically stated he didn’t “do love.”
“Come in, Dante.”
She heard his footsteps across the bedroom tiles. Then large, warm hands massaged her shoulders. “You didn’t run far this time,cara.”
“I wasn’t running.”
She felt a sense of loss when Dante removed his hands. He took off his sunglasses and put them in his jacket pocket. “Interesting choice of hotel.” He looked over at the bed. “Abby,” he said with corrosive lightness, “I remember many pleasant hours spent in a bed similar to this.”
“Obviously not pleasant enough or you would have come looking for me.”
“Frankly, I was too bloody angry. If after everything I’d given you… You didn’t even leave me a good-bye note.”
Guilt crushed her tension-filled shoulders. “I didn’t think you’d care. Actions speak louder than words. You didn’t even care enough to call my grandmother to find out if I was all right.”
“I did call, Abby. I called every day for weeks.”
“Nana didn’t pass on any messages.”
“At first your grandmother told me you didn’t wish to speak with me. Then she told me you’d gone traveling and she didn’t know how to contact you.”
A shiver chilled her spine, and she closed her eyes momentarily. If only she’d known…
“There was a time I thought that if I gave you your space, you might come back on your own. That living with me, sharing my life and my bed, wasn’t so terrible.” His clear blue eyes met hers. “But obviously I was mistaken. You only returned when you needed something from me. ”
Abby struggled to make sense of Dante’s confession that he’d tried to contact her. He wouldn’t make something like this up. It was far too easy to check. No wonder Nana didn’t want her to come here and ask for his help. Why did her grandmother keep this from her? She couldn’t even ask her. She was too frail to be confronted.
“I never knew,” she said.
