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Tia nodded warily. ‘How did you know that?’
‘I could read your body language,’ he said softly. ‘Our sex life was as miraculous as ever but the rest of the time you were restless and unsettled. I was cursing myself for not being more restrained that first night together. I should have taken it slowly but at the time all I could think about was making you mine. I knew from the first moment I saw you that you were the only woman I wanted to spend my life with.’
Tia could hardly believe what she was hearing. The only woman he wanted to spend his life with?
‘Really?’
‘Really,’ he said softly, a strange light in his dark eyes. ‘And I thought that you felt the same way, which was why I had no conscience about rushing you into marrying me. On the day of the wedding, when I discovered that you’d gone…’ He closed his eyes briefly. ‘Well, let’s just say that it was the worst day of my life.’
Tia was stunned. ‘But you never told me that. You never told me that you loved me.’
‘Because I didn’t want to put more pressure on you,’ he said. ‘And I suppose because I’d never actually said those words to any woman and I found it difficult to say them.’
‘I didn’t know,’ Tia said. ‘I thought that you didn’t love me.’
He closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘Tia, everyone knows I’m crazy about you, except you. Sharon, Duncan, even Dan because I’d forgotten that he spoke reasonable Italian when I told you exactly how I felt in Theatre the other night.’
Tia stared at him in wonder. ‘You told me that you loved me?’
He gave a crooked smile. ‘And a few other soppy things that Dan obviously understood very clearly—I must remember to ask him where he acquired his knowledge of Italian.’ He touched her cheek with gentle fingers. ‘What a pair of fools we have been. When I discovered that you had left, I almost lost my sanity. I assumed that the baby had been the final straw and you had left in a panic.’
‘But when you turned up in England, you still didn’t tell me you loved me,’ Tia pointed out. ‘You said that we owed it to the baby to make our relationship work—’
‘You seemed so determined to give up on what we had,’ he said quietly. ‘I used the baby to buy myself more time. Time to convince you that what we had was unique.’
Tia felt suddenly shy. ‘And then you agreed to all my terms and conditions.’
‘Of course.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I would have agreed to anything to keep you by my side.’
She gave a little smile. ‘You even stopped complaining about me working.’
He nodded slowly, his expression suddenly serious. ‘I understand now why you feel such a strong need to work. It is understandable after such an awful childhood. You need to feel secure. But, Tia, you can trust me. I don’t mind if you want to work but I need you to know that I will always be here to look after you.’
‘I know that. I love you, Luca,’ she whispered softly. ‘I always have.’
He gave a groan and scooped her into his arms, kissing her gently on the mouth.
‘Will you forgive me for rushing you? For doing everything back to front?’ He murmured the words against her mouth, his hands sliding gently over her shoulders. ‘I seduced you that first night without giving you time to get to know me. But I always knew you were the only woman for me.’
Tia pulled away from him, her eyes teasing. ‘And what about all these other women that drool over you? What are we going to do about them?’
Luca’s eyes gleamed. ‘I’m not interested, cara, you should know that by now. There is only one other woman who will ever claim my attention.’
Tia stiffened and then she saw the light dancing in his wicked dark eyes and she smiled.
‘Lily.’
‘Lily.’ He repeated their daughter’s name softly. ‘Already she is turning my heart and my life upside down, exactly like her mother.’
The look in his eyes melted Tia’s insides. ‘I love you, Luca.’
He murmured in Italian and bent his head to kiss her. ‘And I love you, too, cara mia. For ever.’
EPILOGUE
‘IF YOU break the zip on this dress I’ll kill you.’ Sharon stood back and admired her handiwork, her expression softening as she looked at her friend. ‘You look beautiful and you’re a lucky girl, do you know that?’
‘Yes.’ Tia walked across the room to the Moses basket where Lily lay fast asleep.
