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‘I’m sorry,’ she sobbed. ‘But I was scared, Dante. So scared. And it was a long time since I’d felt that way. My career was the only solid thing I’d ever had and I was afraid that if I let it go—if I learnt to lean on you and rely on you—it would make me vulnerable. That it would all come crashing down around me.’ She shuddered in a breath and wiped her wet cheek with her fist. ‘The stupid thing was that it all came crashing down in any case.’
‘I should never have tried to hold you back,’ he said slowly. ‘I see that now. I should have realised that your talent and your career were all part of the woman I loved, and that trying to stop you from exploring your potential was like putting a bird into a cage. I should have realised you needed to spread your wings.’
‘I have done,’ she said huskily. ‘I went on the flight of my life. Only now I’m tired of flying and I’ve discovered that I need somewhere to come home, to roost.’
He stared at her for a minute which seemed like an hour before letting go of a sigh which seemed to come from deep, dark place inside him. Then he opened his arms.
‘You’ve found it,’ he said simply. ‘I’m right here.’
Her heart missed a beat as she stared at him, knowing that this was crunch time. That if she took those few small steps then she really would have to leave the past behind for ever. ‘Dante...’ she whispered.
‘There is just one more thing, and it’s probably the most important thing of all.’ His lips softened as every fibre in his being ached to touch her. But he knew that she had to come to him. He could not take from her what she needed to give to him freely. ‘I love you. You do realise that?’
She read the truth in the molten depths of his black eyes and her heart turned over with longing. ‘Oh, Dante,’ she whispered back. ‘Darling, darling Dante. I love you. I tried so hard not to—but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.’
He started laughing. ‘Then what the hell are you doing over there?’
She moved almost without realising it, until he was holding her, and she was kissing his lips and his nose and his eyelids, and tears were welling up in her eyes and dripping down her cheeks.
‘I’m safe now,’ she whispered.
He closed his eyes against her silken hair and let her cry as he knew she needed to. He let her cry until there were no tears left, and then he gently pushed her in the direction of the bathroom and told her to go and wash her face. When she returned, she found him on the sofa, with two glasses of red wine on the table before him, and it was as if he’d read her mind—for wasn’t this scene what she’d longed for when she’d first walked in?
She walked over and sat on his lap, facing him, before lowering her head to kiss him. She kissed him tenderly. Deeply and slowly. She kissed him with all the love she’d been holding back until she felt him smile against her lips, and when she pulled away he gave a mock-groan.
‘Just one more thing,’ she said.
‘Hurry up,’ he grumbled. ‘I want you in my bed within the next ten minutes.’
‘It’s about all those men I told you I slept with.’
His face darkened. ‘I am doing my best to be a tolerant and modern man,’ he warned. ‘But there is a limit, tesoro.’
Ignoring his scowl, Justina wriggled her shoulders. ‘Well, they don’t exist. I made them up.’
‘What do you mean, you made them up?’
‘Just that.’ She shrugged as she met the dawning comprehension in his eyes. ‘I pretended that I’d had other lovers because I wanted you to believe I was over you. But I was never over you—I could never seem to stop wanting you or loving you. I invented a whole raft of fictitious lovers so that you would think I had moved on. Only I hadn’t. You see, there’s only ever been you, Dante. Only you.’
She watched as the implications behind her words registered and he gave a distinctly macho smile of satisfaction.
‘Oh, I see,’ he drawled.
‘Now you can kiss me,’ she said.
He smoothed back the hair which was clinging to her damp cheeks and smiled. ‘I’ve missed you, Justina.’
‘You were doing a good impression of a man who was fine without me. When we came back from Tuscany it was as if you’d stopped caring completely.’
‘Because I knew that I had to force your hand. I had to show you what life wou
ld be like if we split. I had to push you away in order to get you back. It was a gamble, but it was one I was prepared to take. You had to come to me because you wanted me—because you know your life would be bleak without me. Just as mine would without you.’
She lifted her hand to his face and stared into the brilliance of his eyes.
‘I love you so much, Dante D’Arezzo,’ she said. ‘And I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much. But now, if you wouldn’t mind, would you please just kiss me?’
EPILOGUE
