“So, the divorce will take time, you don’t want to warm my bed once more, and the bank gave you the money for your store. Why are you here, then?”
“I need a lot more money for something else.”
“You are not making sense,mio fiore.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Touchy. You were my little flower.” He reached and stroked a finger down her bare arm. “Like jasmine, you bloomed at night in my bed.”
She fought the urge to close her eyes and block the images of his mind-blowing lovemaking. He’d been such a fabulous lover—yet a terrible husband.
She swallowed her denial. She’d be a liar and he knew it. When they’d first married, he only had to look at her and she grew wet with desire. A single touch had her begging for him to take her. It would appear nothing had changed.
“Please, sit,” he said with a proud, satisfied smile.
“I’d rather stand, thank you.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders and tooka seat back on the couch. Leaning back just a little, he crossed one long leg over the other, watching her intently. Did he notice the way her eyes followed the movement as she tried to disguise her hunger for him?
His lips broke into a lascivious smile before it died in the ensuing silence. “What is it you want? I am a busy man and I have…company waiting for me.”
“The redhead can wait.”
He leaned forward, almost rising off the couch. “That was brilliant acting. I would almost believe you are jealous if not for the fact that you walked out on me.” He slammed his hand into the couch, sending cushions flying.
She could get angry too. “You know why I left. The choice you gave me wasn’t fair. I was twenty-one. I was beginning my life. I deserved your love and support. I was petrified coming into your world.” Her shoulders slumped. “Never mind. You’ll never understand. I was a foolish young girl. I didn’t realize on our wedding day that I had neither your love nor your support.”
Abby watched his face darken in anger. He’d always been a proud man.
“I’ve had to run the Lombardi Group since I was twenty. I understand how daunting the world of Lombardis is. There has been a Lombardi male leading the company for over ten generations.” He leaned forward. “Ididn’t have the luxury of running away when things got difficult. I was twenty years old and still in university when my father died, leaving me with a multinational conglomerate to run and enormous responsibilities and everyone in the family flailing and looking to me for both comfort and security. I needed to make decisions, important ones, difficult ones, on behalf of my family and I still do. Everything I do is for my family. Everything!”
“Your father would be proud of you,” she whispered.
She watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. “Thank you.”
She raised her hand appealing to him. “Please, this is not why I came. I know why you married me. I think I might even understand it.”
“Do you? Really?”
She gave a choked cry. “Of course I do, because I wasthere.” The pain sliced at her memories. He had not married her for love.
“You think I was so desperate that I had to marry the first beautiful woman who caught my eye?”
“Suitable woman,” she mumbled, although his assertion of beauty sent tingles of warmth over her skin. Dante had thought he was getting an infatuated, quiet, and willing wife to stand by his side. A woman who was madly in love with him and his family. Once he’d made up his mind to marry, she’d had no chance of escape.
“Unbelievable. Are you listening to yourself?” He swore in Italian. “I could have married anyone, but I chose you! Although why escapes me right now.”
“Does it? Perhaps if you’d told me how you felt about me?—”
“I showed you every night, usually all night. I picked you to be the mother of my children.”
“Oh, here we go again. Children! That is really what you married me for, admit it.” She moved closer. “Most couples marry because they’re madly in love with each other. You married to gain a brood mare.”
“If I’d wanted a brood mare, I could have married a local Italian girl from a Catholic family. Then there would be no stupid talk of divorce. I’ll never understand you. You used my desire for children as an excuse to run from what scared you, nothing more.”
“Perhaps I left because you think love is a dirty, four-letter word.”
His silence spoke volumes. Abby couldn’t remember Dante ever saying those three little wordsthat hold such power. All she’d wanted was to become like any other member of his family. Loved. By him. Her husband.
