If Marnie hadn’t already known he loved her, the way Domenico’s voice broke on the last syllable and tears filled his eyes would have confirmed it, and she pressed her cheek to his naked chest and closed her eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘Sorry for what I said and sorry for scaring you.’
He didn’t respond verbally, just pressed a tight kiss to the top of her head and then set off again.
In the warmth of the villa, he headed straight up the stairs, only putting her down when they reached the bedroom, where he set her down gently on the bed. The delicious scent of fresh bubble bath permeated the room.
As docile as a lamb, Marnie let him strip her naked and then carry her into the bathroom. There, he held her hand tightly as she stepped into the steaming, foamy water. Once she was lying back in it and her cold body was sighing with relief at the warmth enveloping it, she watched him strip his trousers and underwear off.
He stepped into the water and settled on the other side of it to her, holding her stare. His features tight, his eyes glittering, he said, ‘Let me make one thing very clear. My marriage to Carmela was a nightmare. We were completely wrong for each other and made each other damned miserable. Yes, we had passion to start with, but there was nothing to underpin it, not from either of us. I never contested the divorce or tried to win her back. She came to me months after she left and tried to seduce me into trying again, but there was nothing left in me for her. I feltnothing, not on any kind of emotional level. All those years of my vengeance was for my pride, not for her. I never wanted her back, but you,fiore mio…’
With a shuddering sigh, he shook his head and pushed himself forward, kneeling between her legs. Bringing his face close to hers, he whispered, ‘When you left me… I went out of my mind.’
Her heart ballooned to the sky at the admission.
‘What I felt for Carmela is the difference between a pebble and a mountain compared to how I feel for you. With you, the passion is different and so much more because it’s entwined and underpinned by love. You said before that you’d made me your life…well, that’s how I feel for you, becauseyouare my life. I don’t know when I fell in love with you, but it feels like I’ve loved you forever, and when you love someone, truly love them, then all that matters is their happiness, and that’s all that matters to me. Your happiness. That’s what I thought I was giving to you earlier.’ Gently, he traced the contours of her ear. ‘You,fiore mio, are more deserving of happiness and the joy life can give than anyone else in this world, and if you feel you can give me the chance to be the one to share that happiness with, then you will make me the happiest man in this world.
‘Please, Marnie, let me share my life with you, not for our baby’s sake but foroursake, because we love each other and because I can’t live without you. I swear I will spend the rest of my life making up for all the…’
She silenced his mouth with a finger to his lips. ‘That’s already in the past,’ she whispered with a smile. ‘Don’t you already know you’re the only person in the world who’s ever made me happy? I’ve loved you forever, Domenico Cannavaro, and I will love you forever.’
His chest rising, he blew out an exhalation and lifted his chest upright, out of the water. Taking her left hand, he rubbed her ring finger and gazed deep into her eyes. ‘Marnie Ware, will you do me the honour of my life and marry me?’
She didn’t have to think twice about it. ‘Yes.’
‘Yes?’
‘Yes. Yes, love of my life, I will marry you.’
In a beat, giant hands had captured her face, and then she was being devoured by kisses so hot and passionate that they smothered all the ghosts of the past, starving them so completely that by the time they came up for air, the ghosts had vanished for good.
Epilogue
DOMENICO SAT INthe home office he shared with his wife in their Roman villa, looking for perhaps the hundredth time through their wedding photos. The professional photographer he’d hired had captured every beautiful minute of it.
Domenico had wanted their nuptials to take place in a cathedral, but Marnie had wanted the chapel of the villa they’d made their home, and so, of course, he’d given in and let her have her way, even though it had meant having to cut the prospective guest list by two-thirds. He’d let her have her way over the whole of it, as he did about pretty much everything in their lives. A happy wife made for a happy life, and Domenico’s life was blissful.
His favourite photo was the one taken on the grounds after the service, of the two of them and six-month-old Luca. He had Luca in his arms, and Marnie was gazing at them both with open adoration. Not a single photo of their wedding day showed her as anything but blissfully happy. It was all there in her eyes, shining as blue that day as the sky that had covered them.
Her eyes always shone. He knew his eyes did, too.
‘There you are.’
He looked up from his desk to find Marnie slipping into the office, beautiful in a strapless, light blue dress that fell to her knees. She closed the door behind her.
He held out his arms to her. She curled onto his lap and, after a loving kiss, pressed her cheek to his and saw what he was looking at. ‘Again?’ she teased.
He grinned and kissed her, and then, because he could never resist—neverwantedto resist—kissed her again. ‘Are the children asleep?’ he asked huskily, slipping his hand up the skirt of her dress.
Her eyes gleamed. ‘Fast asleep.’
‘Georgina?’ Their live-in nanny who had to be the most underused and overpaid nanny in existence.
‘Watching one of her reality shows.’
‘Excellent.’ He skimmed his fingers higher.
‘We’ve got a table booked,’ she reminded him, even as she worked on the belt of his trousers.
‘They’ll wait for us.’
She grinned, and jumped to her feet. ‘Of course they will.’ In seconds, she’d pulled her knickers off and stepped out of them. Seconds later, she was back on his lap, this time straddling him. She put her mouth to his and whispered, ‘Happy wedding anniversary, husband.’
‘Happy wedding anniversary…’ he groaned as she sank on his hard length ‘…wife.’
