He knew it was the right answer by the look in Valentino’s eyes. For a moment, he registered genuine emotion there, and when he shifted his gaze to Allegra, there was true warmth on his features. “Luca’s grandmother was just the same. Never saw the trappings, only ever the man.”
Luca ground his teeth. That was true, yet at times it had given him cause to question his grandmother’s sanity. How could anyone love the hard-hearted Valentino? Luca reserved the same scepticism for himself: he knew no woman would ever love him, because he wouldn’t let them. Love was not on his radar—it was something he was always clear about.
Even before deployment, his focus had been on the business. On proving that regardless of his parentage, he belonged. Then, he’d lost Marco, and a part of him had died alongside his best friend. He could not simply move on with his life, and look for happiness, when Marco had lost that opportunity.
“Do you like it, my dear?” Valentino’s question dragged Luca back to the present, and the ring box that was resting in his palm. He forced himself to play his role, lifting the ring and holding it towards Allegra, sliding it onto a ring finger that was trembling ever so slightly.
“It’s…beautiful,” she said, but in a way that was far from convincing. A second later, her eyes hooked to Luca’s. “Please, tell me it’s insured.”
Luca’s laugh was soft. “No.”
Her eyes went saucer wide.
“It is too valuable,” he said, with a lift of his shoulders. “But we could replace the diamond,” he said. “It’s more the sentimental value.”
“It’s old,” she said, slowly.
“Very,” he agreed, understanding her hesitation. “You don’t have to wear it,” he offered. “We can choose another.”
She expelled a soft breath that showed relief, but Valentino was speaking over the top of her.
“I disagree,” he said, voice firm. “This ring is your birthright, Luca. You are the oldest Di Santis, it passes to you, and from you to your bride. It is a family tradition you cannot refuse to honour.”
“I do not particularly care about family traditions.”
“We both know that’s not true.” Valentino’s summary was like a thunderclap. “You want the whole world to know you belong.”
“I don’t care about the whole world.”
“Fine. You want your brother and cousin to know. This ring shows them.”
He bristled at his grandfather’s observation. Damn the man for being so astute, for understanding the wounds that had long since dug into his soul. “The only person I’ve ever thought of as a brother died in the Middle East,” he corrected, speaking plainlyeven when he’d barely explained the situation to Allegra. One brief look at her face and he saw the uncertainty there. “I do not care what anyone else thinks.”
“It’s okay,” Allegra said, putting out a hand and pressing it to Luca’s knee, worry in her face. “I’ll wear the ring. At least, when we’re out in public, or doing things with your family.” She frowned for the briefest moment before turning a beaming smile on Valentino. “I’m very grateful for the honour.”
Valentino nodded his approval. “Good night, then.”
Allegra leftthe terrace shortly after Valentino, excusing herself to get ready for bed, pleading exhaustion, and so he waited on the terrace alone. He hoped that if he waited long enough, she’d be asleep before he entered the room. It would be so much easier to resist her if she were sleeping. So much easier to ignore the pounding temptation to reach out and touch, as he had on the terrace. Even now, his fingertips tingled with remembered sensation, the softness of her skin, her warmth, the way her breath husked at his touch, and he groaned into the night air, a plea to the heavens now, to make the next year go quickly. God knew if he kept seeing her in his mind, naked and wearing only that damn diamond that told the world she was his, and his alone, he would never get through it. Three hundred and sixty-five nights suddenly felt worse than a prison sentence.
She’d toldhim she was exhausted, but it wasn’t true. Oh, on some level, she supposed she was. On some level, her body was fatigued from the flight over, and then the day they’d had. But her mind was whizzing and spinning, and an anticipation was moving through her, reminding her of the way it had felt to kiss him, to touch him, of the fact that no matter what, she was his wife for the next twelve months.
That anything might happen between them.
And her heart began to thump with a new kind of rhythm, a hope forming inside of her that was based on the world Luca and Luca alone had opened her eyes to. Was it any wonder that instead of trying to sleep, she sat up in bed and waited for him to come to the bedroom? Any wonder that she waited for Luca with an ache growing in the pit of her stomach only he would be able to satisfy?
He crackedthe door open carefully, not wanting to make any noise, or let in any light, that might disturb her.
He had only taken one small step into the room though when her voice came to him through the dark. “I’m still awake.”
His gut dropped and his body surged with awareness. He expelled a quick breath, eyes finding her easily. Though the lights were out, the moon was full and high, a silver orb sending a beam directly into the room through the window she’d left open. Having seen the way she’d marvelled at the sea view, he understood why.
She wanted to see it when she woke up, perhaps to smell the salty clay smell all night.
How did he know that about her, when they’d only just met?
“It is late. You were tired.”
The sheets rustled as she sat up. “I couldn’t sleep.”
