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Ellie refused to apologise. ‘I was trying to make a statement, draw a line for you. Maybe it was a little extreme but I was hurting so badly—’
‘I don’t need a damn line, woman… I’ve got you in the flesh!’ Rio told her aggressively. ‘And it was not only extreme but also forbidden. You are not allowed to walk out on me ever again in this lifetime!’
‘Is that a fact?’
‘Sì… You’re my wife, the centre of my world, my everything. You don’t walk out. You sta
y and shout.’
Ellie breathed in deep, helplessly touched by that instruction. ‘I’ll shout the next time,’ she promised.
‘There won’t be a next time!’ Rio spelled out feelingly. ‘Promise me—’
‘Sì… I can promise that,’ Ellie whispered, running adoring fingers through his cropped black hair and down one proud cheekbone to rest against his wilful lower lip. ‘You’re mine. I’m never going to walk away from you again.’
‘Or drive off in my sports car,’ Rio instructed. ‘It’s far too fast and powerful on these roads when you’re not used to it.’
‘I liked it—’
‘No. I want you safe, bella mia.’
And before Ellie could demand that she had the right to influence what he drove in the interests of his safety, Rio kissed her with all the passion of his relief, love and desire for her and her impressionable toes curled. Take that, sensible Dr Ellie, she thought in wonderment that he truly was hers after all her anxiety and distrust, and then a thought occurred and she wrenched her mouth free…
‘You never apologised for calling me a gold-digger!’ she reminded him hotly.
‘Of course I didn’t.’ Rio slowly shook his handsome dark head in apparent amazement at that reminder. ‘That would have been owning up to flawed judgement or stupidity and it would’ve made you think less of me, so I decided to tough it out because I was trying to win you over to wanting to keep me by that stage.’
‘Nothing would make me think less of you, you stupid man,’ Ellie mumbled before she locked her lips to his again, his instant forgiveness procured, and there was no further conversation or indeed argument for quite some time. The excitement of their reconciliation powered the passion and the promises with buoyant happiness and fresh appreciation of the love they had found where they least expected it.
EPILOGUE
POLLY GROANED. ‘I’M OUT of my depth here. What do we do about this situation?’
Ellie groaned too. ‘Mind our own business for now. If the sister we haven’t even met has a thoroughly wicked and dishonest father, it’s not our place to tell her so. Lucy doesn’t know us or trust us yet. She’s found her dad and, at the very least, probably thinks very highly of him and, at worst, really loves him because he’s been kind to her—’
‘But what if he’s just using her for some reason?’ Polly proclaimed emotively. ‘Doesn’t she deserve to know he went to prison for fraud?’
‘We need to establish a relationship with her as sisters first,’ Ellie opined, crossing the terrace of her Italian home to prevent her fiery little daughter from striking the younger prince of Dharia, tall, sturdy Hassan, aged two, for taking one of her dolls and wheeling his toy tractor over the top of it with little-boy glee.
Across the terrace, his older brother, Karim, the crown prince of Dharia, shouted at his little brother in Arabic.
‘He’s telling him off,’ Polly translated. ‘He’s so like Rashad, very well behaved.’
‘That’s never going to be my problem with Teresina,’ Ellie whispered. ‘She’s always ready to fight for what she wants. It’s a continual battle.’
‘Well, you mix two pretty opinionated people like you and Rio and that’s what you get,’ Polly pointed out cheerfully. ‘She’s gorgeous with that hair though.’
Ellie smiled at her daughter, who was two years old now. Born of parents who both had curly hair, Teresina had miraculously straight shoulder-length black hair and eyes that were a lighter green than her mother’s. She was small and slight in build and had learned to walk at nine months old. She was lively and quick-tempered and the greatest joy in Ellie’s world, for she had never realised just how much she would love her child.
In the three years that Ellie had been married, her whole life had changed and she had not a single regret. She spoke fluent Italian and had secured her dream job in the hospital where Beppe had been treated and where she was now continuing her training as a doctor specialising in children’s ailments. Beppe had made an excellent recovery and had, under considerable protest, begun walking to take exercise. She had grown very close to her father and was profoundly grateful to have found him in time to get to know him.
They had finally contrived to trace their long-lost sister to Greece, where she was living with her birth father, who appeared to be a most unsavoury man. But Ellie was convinced that considerable tact had to be utilised where their unknown sister was concerned and Polly and Ellie had yet to work out how to best approach Lucy without frightening her off. Ellie was in favour of sending the ruby ring with a letter introducing themselves and inviting contact. How that would go down was anyone’s guess but at least it couldn’t be seen as threatening or interfering.
Ellie had grown no keener on shopping in recent years, because if she wasn’t at work she was exulting in precious family time and certainly didn’t want to waste that time shopping and preening. Ellie had always dressed for comfort and she was still doing it. For that reason, Polly was still buying her clothes and now Rio was doing it too and her wardrobe was bursting at the seams with designer garments she only wore at the occasional swanky event Rio attended. On the jewellery front, however, her collection could almost have rivalled the jewellery of Dharia’s royal family. Rio never went anywhere and came back without gifts for her and Teresina, and soon he would have a third little person to buy for, Ellie thought with quiet contentment. And she had finally told her sister the story of their grandmother’s diamond brooch and Polly had simply laughed and dismissed the matter without concern, more worried that Ellie had had to deal with their uncle’s spite without support.
The sound of a car coming down the drive sent Ellie leaping upright.
‘I’ll watch the kids,’ Polly proffered. ‘Go on…greet him and make his day! Rio’s so romantic.’
