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And, God help her, she believed him.
CHAPTER TEN
SEBASTIAN GLARED DOWN at the paperwork in front of him. He’d hoped that printing it out would make it easier to digest than staring at it on the screen, but if anything, the last agreement Salvo had worked on in his lifetime was even more complex and concerning in hard copy.
He sighed, returned to the first page and started reading over again.
A soft knock at the door disturbed him after only a few moments, and he looked up as he called, ‘Come in.’ He knew he should be annoyed at being interrupted, but to be honest, the distraction was welcome. Even more so when Maria’s beautiful face appeared around the door.
‘Hey.’ With a soft smile, she slid into the chair on the opposite side of the desk and peered across at his papers. ‘What’re you working on?’
‘Papà’s last deal,’ Seb said with a groan. Then he realised. The only time Maria had come to his office at the chalet in the last week had been to fetch him when they had plans to go out. Had he forgotten some plan or another? And if so, what? He checked his watch quickly. ‘Sorry, were we supposed to be doing something with Frankie? I’ve been lost in these documents for days, it feels like. But I’ll stop now and we can—’
‘Seb, it’s okay.’ Maria’s smile was almost a grin now. ‘Much as I appreciate your efforts to drop everything and spend time with your family, Frankie has been whisked off to the local toy store by his all-too-indulgent aunts and uncles. Apparently it’s time for him to choose his Christmas presents.’
‘And you didn’t want to go?’ Seb asked, surprised.
‘I was told—quite firmly—by your sister that I wasn’t invited.’
Seb bit back a smirk. ‘So he’s getting spoiled rotten while you’re not there to stop them.’
‘Basically.’
‘Lucky Frankie.’ Seb leaned back in his chair, surveying her across the desk. ‘So, what are you up to?’
‘Absolutely nothing.’ Maria made it sound like the worst fate in the world. Whereas, to Sebastian, it sounded much more like an opportunity.
‘Then you’ve got time to do something with me,’ he said gleefully.
Maria rolled her eyes and, before he could suggest something romantic and maybe even a little bit seductive, she reached across the desk and picked up the stack of papers he’d been trying to make sense of. Her eyebrows rose steadily as she flicked through it, then started at the beginning again, just as he had.
Okay, so it wasn’t romantic, but Seb couldn’t help but wonder what Maria would make of the contract. So he waited.
After another minute or two she put the papers back down on the desk. ‘I have trouble believing your father wrote that contract.’
‘He didn’t,’ Seb confirmed. ‘It was the other side. What gave it away?’
‘It’s convoluted, confusing and unclear in areas that are likely going to blow up on you later on.’
Exactly what Seb had been worried about. ‘Want to help me figure out how to fix it?’
Maria beamed. ‘Absolutely.’
* * *
An hour later, any doubts Seb might have had about Maria working for Cattaneo Jewels were definitely long gone. As they worked their way line by line through the deal Salvo had struck, Maria was right there with him—and often a step or two ahead—as they identified ambiguities, potential problems and possible attempts to slip something past them. Occupied with another big project at the time, Seb hadn’t been in on the negotiations for the deal—the takeover of a smaller jewellery firm in Switzerland—so trying to second-guess exactly what his father had been aiming for, or had agreed, was tricky. Luckily, Salvo’s assistant had taken good notes.
Finally, they reached the end of the document—now covered in scrawled notes and questions in both their handwriting—and Seb sat back, rolling his shoulders to try to release the tension that had settled there.
‘You okay?’ Maria asked, watching him.
‘Yeah. Just glad I had you here to help me with this,’ he admitted, ‘otherwise it was going to take all night.’
Maria frowned, and pulled out her phone. ‘It practically is night. Noemi and Max should be back with Frankie by now...’ She swiped across the screen of her phone, and her face cleared as she scanned it. ‘Except they’ve gone for ice creams, apparently. Noemi says they’ll be back in an hour, and that Frankie has asked them to give him his bath and story tonight.’
‘Really?’ Seb couldn’t help but smile at that. He loved how close Frankie had grown to all his family. ‘In that case, I guess we’ve got a little more time to kill.’
‘More work?’ Maria asked, stretching out her arms in front of her, her fingers interlaced. She must ache as much as he did, but there was no hint of it in her voice.
But Seb was done with work for the day. It was time for some fun. ‘I’ve got a much better idea.’
* * *
Darkness was already falling as Seb led Maria out of the chalet, a mysterious bag slung over his shoulder.
‘Are you seriously not going to tell me where we’re going?’ she asked, picking her way through the snow behind him.
‘It’s a surprise.’ Seb glanced back over his shoulder and flashed her a grin. ‘I’m being romantic.’
‘That’s half the problem,’ Maria muttered under her breath, as she followed him.
Distracted, work-focused Seb she was used to. This new version, who showered her with attention, never missed a date and read Frankie his bedtime story every night, was a complete mystery. Working with him on that contract, though...that was new, yes, but the discussion and collaboration was familiar from the first days of their marriage, when Seb had still found time to talk to her about what was going on at the office.
It had been nice to feel useful to the family business again that way. The idea of spending more time doing just that—of it being her actual job—made her glow a little inside. If things carried on going this well, Frankie could have two parents who loved and made time for him, she could have a career she enjoyed and that fulfilled her, and she could even have a partnership with a husband who respected her, and who she respected in return.
Not a bad life, by anyone’s standards.
But will it be enough?
Maria shook the thought away as she realised that Seb wasn’t leading them towards the town of Mont Coeur. Instead, they’d swerved off the main road and were tramping through a field towards...
‘We’re going ice-skating?’ she asked, her voice high with excitement as she spotted the frozen lake before them.
When had she last been out on the ice? She tried to remember as Seb pulle
d two pairs of skates from his bag and presented one to her with a flourish. She must have skated since that night with Seb fifteen years ago, surely? But if she had, she couldn’t remember it.
Whenever she thought of ice-skating, she thought of him, and remembered that night.
‘Think you remember how?’ Seb asked, as he laced up his own skates, perching on a low fence to do so. ‘Or have you secretly been keeping up your training when I wasn’t looking?’
Maria shook her head. ‘No training.’ There was no rink near her parents’ estate, and the lake froze only rarely—plus, without Seb to sneak out with her, what was the point? The only place she’d have ever skated would be Mont Coeur, and the Cattaneos tended more towards skiing than skating, so she had, too.
‘Me neither.’ Seb held out a hand to pull her up from the fence, so they could totter towards the ice together. ‘But if we hold hands, I’m sure we’ll be fine.’
‘Hold my hand. I’ll keep you safe.’
As his fingers wrapped around hers, she could almost hear seventeen-year-old Seb saying the words, as he had that night.
Just like then, she clung on tight as they took their first steps onto the ice. But this time she wasn’t holding on for fear of the ice breaking—this lake was so shallow it froze hard all winter—or of her parents catching them. This time she just didn’t ever want to let go.
‘Ready?’ Seb asked. Maria nodded.
And then...oh, then they were flying. The cold night air stung her cheeks as they spun around in wide circles on the ice, whipping past the snow-covered trees and the silent mountains beyond. For the first time in so long, Maria felt free. Leaving Seb hadn’t brought her that freedom she’d sought so desperately, but he had, just for this one night.
As she gripped Seb’s hand, it was as if the whole world fell away, until all that mattered was them and this perfect moment.
Just as it had the night she’d fallen in love with him, all those years before.
Maria let out a whoop of joy as Seb spun her, and his echoing laugh filled the whole sky.
