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‘It’s her mother’s necklace,’ Matteo said. ‘Abby wore the necklace th
e night that her team placed first. I’m sure it must mean a lot to her and I’m not going to take it from her.’ He continued. ‘I can’t.’
‘Even though you know it means everything to me.’
‘Even knowing that,’ Matteo said.
‘You’re in love?’
‘I think so.’ Matteo admitted as much as he dared, because love wasn’t a place that he knew. ‘What I do know for sure, though, is that I care about her and I’m going to do whatever it takes not to cause her pain.’
He was not his father’s son, Giovanni realised.
Matteo was very much his own man.
‘I hate letting you down.’ Matteo continued to speak as Giovanni took the news in. ‘I know that I told you I’d bring the necklace to you but, at the end of the day, I can’t do that to her.’
Giovanni sat back in the chair and looked out to the lake. He wanted the necklace so badly. A part of him had hoped that finding the Lost Mistresses, and having them together again, might somehow heal his fractured family. And yet, while he ached to have the necklace that meant so very much back in his possession, maybe its magic had already worked. Giovanni had never heard his youngest grandson speak of anyone in this way.
‘Could I see it again,’ Giovanni asked. ‘Do you think, if you explained things to Abby, that maybe she would let me hold it one more time?’
‘I think so.’ Matteo’s response was cautious. ‘The thing is...’ He blew out a breath. ‘It might take a bit of time to get her to agree. I’m going to have to tell Abby that the necklace is the reason I first got in touch. If I know Abby at all, then that isn’t going to go down very well.’
‘You’re going to be in trouble again.’ Giovanni smiled.
‘For sure,’ Matteo agreed. ‘Let me work on it.’
And work on it he did.
It was quite a busy few days for Matteo but he did make the time to call Abby and he could hear the surprise in her voice.
‘I just wanted to see how everyone pulled up after the celebrations,’ Matteo said.
‘Well, I don’t think anyone has pulled up yet,’ Abby admitted. ‘I don’t think anyone’s coming back to earth any time soon. We’ve got the big presentation and party in LA on Friday. You could come...’ She tried to keep her voice light, to not build her hopes up that he had called her.
Actually, Matteo couldn’t be there for the presentation in LA, not that he could tell her why.
‘I can’t make it on Friday. Will Hunter be there?’ he checked.
‘Nope,’ Abby said. ‘He’s gone to ground.’
‘Good. So when will you be back?’
‘On Saturday afternoon.’
‘Would you like to go out for dinner?’ Matteo casually asked, as if he hadn’t already booked the restaurant, as if all the plans he had made this week didn’t depend on her response.
There was a long stretch of silence before she answered.
Long, because she hadn’t expected his call and now an invitation to dinner on the very night she got back was a little more than she dared to glimpse.
He might just want to discuss the team, Abby attempted to warn herself, but her heart refused to be reeled in.
Oh, please don’t hurt me, Abby thought.
Please don’t get my hopes up high because I accepted a one-night stand when you said it could be no more than that.
‘Yes.’ Abby cleared her throat and did her best to sound as if it wasn’t such a big deal. ‘Dinner sounds great.’
