AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her praise felt woefully inadequate. His black tuxedo jacket was tailored perfectly, showing off his amazing physique from his muscular shoulders to his taut waist. His dark eyes were intense in his handsome face with a jawline and cheekbones that would cut glass. But he wasn’t just superficially handsome. It was more than that. Some might think he was arrogant, but Scarlett alone knew his heart, his goodness, his love for his family. That was what she loved.
Frowning, Vin tilted his head. “You just need one thing.”
“What?”
Reaching to a nearby table for a flat black velvet box, he drew out a large, dazzling diamond necklace. She gasped as she felt the cold weight of the diamonds clasped gently around her throat. Then he kissed her at the crook of her neck, and she felt a rush of heat. She whispered, “Thank you.”
“Now we can go,” he said softly.
They kissed their baby son good-night, leaving him happily cuddled in Wilhelmina’s arms, and went out into the cold night. Vin gently draped her white stole over her shoulders as they crossed their cobblestoned driveway to the waiting limousine. The gate opened on the street, and the driver, with two bodyguards traveling behind them, whisked them off to the grand palazzo.
Maria and Luca’s evening winter wedding was sublimely beautiful, lit with candles and white flowers in the gilded receiving room of the palazzo. Giuseppe walked her down the aisle, tears shining on his face. Sitting nearby, Joanne cried, as well. Scarlett watched the young couple speak their vows and her heart felt overwhelmed with joy as she looked at her husband beside her and felt all the love around them.
Afterward, they adjourned to the ballroom for a formal dinner. The young bride and groom sat at a table on a dais, with their immediate families on each side of them. That included Vin and Scarlett. She hugged the bride and groom, and then Giuseppe and Joanne. She listened to the speeches toasting the bride and groom, mostly in Italian, and tried to understand. She enjoyed the freedom to drink champagne.
But the whole time, Scarlett was aware of her husband beside her, looking down at her with his darkly sensual gaze. He kept giving quick stolen kisses on her bare shoulder above the sweetheart neckline of her strapless blue gown. He kissed her on her cheek. On the lips. She leaned against him, reveling in his nearness. It was a beautiful wedding, but she could hardly wait to get home...
“We’re going to miss you,” the bridegroom’s father, a wealthy businessman who owned this grand palazzo, called across the table to Vin halfway through the third course. “My son was secretly hoping your wife would give Maria some cooking lessons.”
“Papà!” the groom protested.
“Luca!” The bride tossed her head in her elegant white veil, pretending to pout. “But if I learn to cook, how would we support the restaurants? One must think of helping the economy!”
But Scarlett frowned at Luca’s father. “What do you mean, you’ll miss us?” She looked at her husband with dismay. “Are you going on another business trip?”
“I heard you’re moving to New York,” Luca’s father said. “In fact, I heard you’ve already rented out your villa here on long lease to some Hollywood actor and bought a brand-new duplex in New York for some obscene amount. I read it in the paper—was it fifty million dollars?”
Scarlett relaxed, laughed. “I’m afraid you’ve heard incorrectly, Signor Farro. We are talking about New York, but we haven’t decided anything. We certainly haven’t rented out our...”
Her voice trailed off as she saw Vin’s face. Ice entered her heart.
“You wouldn’t do that,” she said in a small voice. “Not without talking to me. After everything I put into our home, you wouldn’t rent it out from underneath me...”
Vin’s expression was closed. “The decision has already been made.”
“By who?” Scarlett pulled away. “By you?”
The smiles had fallen from the faces of the bride and groom. Their parents started to look anxious. Chic guests at nearby dinner tables turned to look as their voices rose.
Vin set his jaw. “Yes, by me. You were being unreasonable.”
