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Andreas sounded husky. ‘I know you said you never wanted another piece of jewelry, but this was my grandmother’s engagement ring. My mother gave it to me for my future wife when I was eighteen and heading off to Athens to work for the first time. I resented the implication that I would have to get married. I hated it and everything it symbolised and I vowed that it would be a cold day in hell before I gave it to anyone. Consequently it’s languished at the back of many safes over the years—until this week. When I took it out and got it cleaned. Because I’d finally met the one person I could contemplate giving it to.’
Siena felt slightly numbed. Andreas held the ring up now, out of the box, and took her hand. She could feel him trembling—or maybe it was her trembling.
‘Siena DePiero…will you do me the honour of becoming my wife? Because you’re in my head and my heart and my soul, and you have been for five years—ever since I first saw you. First you were a fascination, then you became an obsession, and now…I love you. The thought of you being in this world but not with me is more terrifying than anything I’ve ever known. So, please…will you marry me?’
Siena opened her mouth but all that came out was a sob. Her heart felt as if it was cracking open. Tears blurred her vision. She tried to speak through the vast ball of emotion making her chest full.
‘I…’ She couldn’t do it. She put her hand to her mouth, trying to contain what she felt.
She saw the look on Andreas’s face—stark sudden pain as it leached of colour. He thought she was saying no. Siena put her trembling hands around Andreas’s face and looked at him, fought to contain her emotion just for a moment.
‘Yes…Andreas Xenakis…I will marry you.’ She drew in a great shuddering breath. ‘I love you so much I don’t ever want to live with
out you.’
That was all she could manage before she put her arms around his neck and noisy sobs erupted. His hand was on her back, soothing until the sobs stopped and she could draw back. Siena didn’t care how she looked. Andreas was smiling at her as he’d smiled a long time ago, with no shadows of the past between them. Just love.
He took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. It fitted perfectly and she looked at it in shock, still slightly disbelieving. She looked into his eyes. Her breath hitched. ‘That morning…when you left on your bike…I wanted to go with you.’
Andreas smiled and ran his finger down her cheek. ‘I wanted to take you with me, even as I cursed you.’
‘I wish you had,’ Siena whispered, emotional as she thought of the wasted years.
‘Your sister,’ Andreas reminded her ruefully.
Siena smiled too, a little sadly. ‘Yes…my sister.’
Andreas moved back onto the steps beside her and held her face in his hands. ‘Serena is being looked after and she will be okay, I promise you. Here and now is for us. This is where we start…and go on.’
Siena looked at him, her smile growing, joy replacing the feeling of regret. ‘Yes, my love.’
And then, after kissing her soundly, he drew her between his legs, wrapped his arms around her and together they watched the most beautiful city in the world emerge from the dawn light into a new day.
EPILOGUE
TWO AND A HALF years later Siena stood under the shade of a tree on the corner of the square near Andreas’s parents’ house. It was a fiesta day: long trestle tables were laid out, heaving with food and drink, and Andreas’s extended family were milling around, children running between people’s legs, causing mayhem and laughter. Flowers bloomed from every possible place.
Siena could see the bright blonde head of her sister Serena, where she sat at one of the tables. Just then Andreas’s mother came past and bent to kiss her head affectionately.
When Serena had been discharged from the clinic they had brought her here and she had moved in with Andreas’s parents. Receiving the unconditional maternal love that Andreas’s mother lavished on everyone had done more for Serena than any amount of drugs and therapy.
They’d just bought her an apartment in Athens and she was starting a job. Every day she got stronger and better, surrounded by people who loved her.
Once Serena had been strong enough Andreas had set up a meeting between them and their brother Rocco. It had been very emotional. Rocco had regretted his harshness on meeting Siena for the first time. But now they had a half-brother, a niece and a nephew, and Siena had a best friend in Gracie, his wife. The only reason they weren’t here today was because Gracie’s brother was getting married in London.
Siena’s eyes didn’t have to search far to find the centre of her universe. Her husband and her eighteen-month-old son, Spiro, their two dark heads close together.
She could see Andreas start to look around, searching for her. She recognized that possessive look of impatience so well, and it sent thrills deep into her abdomen, where she harboured the secret of a new life unfolding.
She put her hand there for a moment, relishing the moment she would tell him later, and Andreas’s head turned as he found her. Siena smiled and swallowed her emotion, and walked forward into the loving embrace of her family.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Beholden to the Throne by Carol Marinelli
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