“I’m sorry if my actions cause you to lose your job,” he said quietly.
“Don’t be. It’s not like I’ve been there very long, and if my family get their way, I’d have to give it up soon anyway…” Her words trailed off. The future she didn’t like to think of was inching ever closer. “It’s funny when you think about it,” she said with a small shrug.
“What is?”
“That I spent all those months after graduating begging to be allowed to go out and work, and then weeks after my parents finally gave in, I’m all set to lose it.”
“Why did you have to beg? You’re a fully grown woman…” A flare of amusement came into his eyes. “…and we both know you’re extremely good at getting your own way.”
She smiled wryly and had a sip of her wine. “Gino, we live in the middle of nowhere, with no public transport. I had no way of getting anywhere without my parents’ help.” She shook her head and expelled a sigh. “I was only allowed to go to university on condition that my father escorted me to and from the lectures, and even that took me the whole of my last year at school to get them to agree to. Every bit of freedom I’ve ever had has been a fight. My father taught me to drive on our land, but they wouldn’t let me have a car or drive any of theirs when I passed my test. I was never given an allowance. I’ve always been entirely dependent on them and…”
Francesca stopped short as a thought hit her.
“What is it, Chicca?” he asked into the hanging silence.
“How long have the talks between my family and the Ranieris been going on for?” she asked slowly.
His eyes narrowed. “To my knowledge, a month or so.”
“And my parents’ involvement?”
He hesitated before answering. “From the start.”
She felt the whole of her body sag.
“What’s wrong?”
She laughed bitterly. “Now it makes sense.”
“What does?”
“Their sudden agreement to me working.” She couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to work it out. “I was so happy and relieved to have got my own way that I never stopped to think that their change of heart came overnight. I got up one morning, and they told me they’d arranged for me to startworking at a local chateau as a tour guide. They even bought me a car so I could drive myself there and back.” Her eyes blurred with tears as the truth filled her in all its non-majestic glory. “It was all a sop, wasn’t it? A tiny taste of freedom that just happened to get me out of the house while they worked out the details of the trade that’s my life.”
He didn’t answer. He already knew all this.
A tear spilt down her cheek. She wiped it away and swallowed a breath in a futile attempt to keep the rest at bay. “You know why I always buy my clothes online? Because my parents think it’s too dangerous for me to go shopping. They’ve always wrapped me in cotton wool, much worse than they ever did with Artu. All my life, I’ve had to deal with their paranoia that something bad would happen to me, and now they’re the ones colluding to sell me into marriage with a monster.” The tears wouldn’t stop falling. “All I have ever wanted is my freedom, and when I think I’m finally getting it, it’s all a lie, just smoke and mirrors to distract me.”
Rubbing the tears away, Francesca had a gulp of her wine and closed her eyes, breathing deeply to calm herself. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
His mouth was set in a grim line. “You have nothing to apologise for.”
“What’s he like? This Elio Ranieri? Please tell me. Would you allow your daughter to marry him? Your sister?”
“I don’t have a daughter or a sister.”
“But if you did? And please don’t tell me I shouldn’t care about your opinion; we have long passed that stage. If you had them, would you allow your daughter or sister marry that man?”
His sigh was heavy, and when he looked back into her eyes, she swore she could see a weight in his. “No, Chicca. If you belonged to me, I wouldn’t let you anywhere near him.”
Chapter Thirteen
Crying pulledGino from his sleep. No, a whimpering. So deep in sleep had he been that it took a second to recognise the sound was coming from Francesca and that she was on her back, thrashing about beside him.
He put a hand on her shoulder and gently shook it. “Francesca, wake up.”
She immediately went rigid. There was just enough light in the room to see her eyes open. “Gino?”
“Yes, I’m right here, Chicca. You’ve been having a bad dream.”
