"Yes, but she agreed to come alone. She's my mother, Gabriele. I left home without a word. She's been worried about me."
Actually, I'm not sure how worried she was about me versus how much she fears I've wrecked the family's reputation.
"You should have told me before now."
"Don't you monitor my calls?"
"Not that closely. Not since we dealt with Orlov."
Oh, that's surprising. I'm pleased at what I think is a show of trust and then disappointed that he's not obsessing over me twenty-four hours a day.
"It's no big deal."
"Of course it is. I'll have to move things around."
I shake my head. "Oh, no, you are not coming with me."
"You can't go alone."
"It's lunch. In Rome. With my mother." I enunciate each word clearly. "I'll take Santo. It will be fine."
"You'll take Santo, Francesco and Roberto."
"Okay," I agree. "Now be grateful I saved you from having to meet the St. Petersburg piranha."
"The St. Petersburg piranha?"
"I just made that up but I might spread it around, see if it sticks. My mother hates nicknames."
"So how will she feel about you marrying the Beast of Rome?"
"When I tell her how wealthy you are, she'll be fine. You don't have a yacht hidden somewhere I could impress her with."
Gabriele shakes his head. "I don't like sailing."
"Ah, that explains your reluctance to take me on the rowing boats."
He throws back his head and laughs, a sound of sheer delight that rumbles up from his belly. It takes him a minute to get hold of himself. He pulls me up into his arms.
"Oh, Katya, what am I going to do with you?"
"You already asked that, and you did it."
I extract myself from his embrace and jump down from the bed. "But if you want to join me in the shower, we can see what else is possible."
I hold my hand out and he takes it. As we reach the door to his bathroom he pauses to stare down at me with a look I can't decipher. He sweeps the hair back from my face.
"My wife," he says, "is an incredible woman."
"She knows."
"Does she know I'm glad I married her?" He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "That I can't imagine life without her?"
I lean forward and press my face into the crook of his neck. His arms come around me. I breathe in his warm, masculine scent.
"She does now," I say, my voice cracking slightly. "She does now."
TWENTY-ONE
