She shook her head. “Not…properly.”
His shoulders seemed taut, as though the idea of this was unpleasant to him. But his eyes were glittering like onyx as they remained trained on her face, and he said, “Luca Di Santis,cara.That is my name.”
Di Santis.He saw the way she reacted. The way her whole body seemed to jerk with electricity as she equated the ancient, powerful name with the man in front of her.
“Luca Di Santis. As in…you own that airline. And oh my God, the hotel we were just at. And a lot of hotels, come to think of it. And…I feel like a football team? And…”
He held up a hand to silence her again. “We will be here a long time if you intend to narrate my family’s entire catalogue of commercial assets. Yes, that Di Santis.”
“Holy crap.”
He made a guttural noise of agreement.
“Holy crap,” she repeated. “I had no idea.”
“And now you do. Does it change your mind?”
She shook her head. “If anything, I feel a little better about having asked for such a large amount of money. You can easily afford it, right?”
He concealed the amusement he felt at that. She clearly had no idea of his net worth. He would have paid the sum she’d requested for a month of her time. “Yes.”
“Okay.” She shook her head slowly. “But, I really don’t understand this. You already run those businesses, don’t you? I’ve read your name in papers,” she added, cheeks overheating anew.
“Yes. However, my grandfather has retained control with vice-like determination. He is well into his eighties, and has no interest in the day-to-day running of our affairs, but he has refused—until recently—to even entertain the idea of officially passing the baton, so to speak.”
“Why?”
He grunted. “Because he’s an ornery, difficult son of a bitch.”
“That’s your grandfather you’re talking about.”
“When you meet him, you’ll understand.”
Her face blanched. “Suddenly, I’m not so keen for that.”
“Unfortunately, it’s a necessary part of this.”
She stood, pacing to the other side of the dingy hotel room, deep in thought. “When did you tell him about our wedding? Surely that was a risk, given we’d agreed to an annulment.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“But you said he was full of good wishes, or something?”
“He was. He saw the photo online, and called to congratulate me, just after you left.”
She whirled around to face him. “There’s a photo online?”
He shrugged, not seeing that it mattered. “I guess paparazzi wait around at these chapels. Or maybe someone who works there calls them when they see a well known name.”
“So you’re telling me a photograph of us is in the papers? Online?”
“Yes. And yes.”
Her eyes were huge. “Why?”
“Because I’m a Di Santis,” he said, grinding his teeth against his legacy and his life. Though he’d grown up with the weight of expectations on his shoulders, he had also tried to run from this. Joining the military had been his way of carving out a life for himself that was different to what everyone expected. He’d been trying to outrun destiny; he’d failed.
“Right. And…now I am too?”
