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All she had to do was ignore her body, and him, for the next couple of hours and concentrate on what really mattered today: Claudia and her new husband.
Plucking a chilled mimosa from a passing waitress, she fixed her gaze on Ciro.
He certainly looked the part. Like his brother, he was tall, dark and handsome, but the resemblance was superficial.
Where Vicenzu was all languid grace and rolled up shirtsleeves, Ciro wore his suit like custom-built armour, and the imperious tilt of his jaw hinted at an inner confidence and determination that had clearly driven the stratospheric rise of his retail empire.
It was that business success which had persuaded her ultraprotective Sicilian father, Cesare, to agree to the swiftness of this marriage. That and the fact that Ciro came from exactly the kind of respectable background her father craved for his daughters.
The Trapanis were a good, solid Sicilian family, trusted and respected, with a good, solid Sicilian family business to their name. A business that Alessandro Trapani, Ciro’s father, had just sold to her father, along with his beautiful home.
Imma felt her shoulders tense. She didn’t know all the details of the sale. Despite having groomed her to follow in his footsteps, Cesare was both controlling and secretive about many areas of the business he had built from the ground up.
In his words, old man Trapani had ‘got into a mess financially’ and wanted a quick sale. Probably it was those same money worries that had led to Alessandro’s collapse and tragic, untimely death two months ago.
Her eyes were drawn to the petite woman talking to Claudia. Ribs tightening, she felt an ache of sympathy for her.
With her cloud of dark hair and almond-shaped eyes, Audenzia Trapani must have been exquisite when she was younger, and she was still a beautiful woman. But there was a fragility to her now, and a stillness—as though she was holding herself tightly inside.
Her gaze was still hovering on the older woman when she suddenly became aware that she was being watched. Looking up, she felt as if her skin had turned inside out. Vicenzu had joined his brother and was staring at her again, his eyes locked on her with an intensity that almost made her flinch.
‘Immacolata!’
She turned, relief battling with regret. Her father was bearing down on her, and she felt a familiar rush of love and frustration.
Like a lot of Sicilian men of his generation, Cesare was compact—a solid-bodied barrel of a man. The muscles of his youth were turning heavy now, and yet it would never do to underestimate him on the grounds of age. Cesare was a force of nature. Still handsome, vigorous and uncompromising, a powerful and some thought intimidating presence at any occasion.
‘Papà.’ She smiled, hoping to deflect the criticism she knew was coming. As he kissed her on each cheek she inhaled the potent mix of cigar smoke and citrusy aftershave that remained in every room he visited long after he’d left.
‘Why are you not with your sister?’ He frowned. ‘Today of all days I want to show both my beautiful daughters off to the world.’ His dark eyes softened. ‘I know it’s hard for you, piccioncina mia, watching your sister leave home, and I know you think it’s all been too quick, that she’s a little young to be married...’
Imma felt her smile tighten, and her father’s voice seemed to fade into the hum of background chatter. It wasn’t just Claudia’s youth that made her feel anxious about the speed of her marriage. It was something more personal: a promise made...
Only neither her father nor her sister wanted to hear her tentative reservations about how fast everything had moved. Cesare had pursued and married their own mother at the age of seventeen, and as for Claudia—she was a dreamer.
And now her dreams of love and a handsome husband and a beautiful home had all come true.
But what about my dreams? Imma flexed her fingers against her cool glass, trying to ignore the pulse of envy beating inside her chest. When will they come true?
Hard to say when she actually had no dreams. No idea what she wanted. No idea who she even was.
For her, there had never been any time for thinking about such things. She had always been too busy. Trying to be some kind of mother to Claudia, studying hard at school and then university, and always mindful of the wishes of her father. For without a son to fulfil his dreams Cesare had made her the focus of his ambitions.
All his ambitions—including having his say on her choice of future husband, and that was never going to be some local boy made good, like Ciro Trapani, or his rakish older brother.
Not that Vicenzu would ever be interested in her, she thought, her gaze fluttering fleetingly over the perfect angles of his profile. Being in charge of her father’s household and a mother figure to Claudia had made her seem far older than her years. And, although she actually shared her sister’s shyness, her brief, disappointing interactions with men—she couldn’t really call them dates—had left her so wary that she knew her shyness came across as remoteness or disdain.
Hardly qualities that would tempt a man like Vicenzu who, if the internet and the tabloid press were to be believed, was like catnip to women.
But why would she even want to let anyone get close to her? She was tired of being hurt and humbled. Tired of men running a marathon from her when they realised her surname was Buscetta. Tired of never being good enough, pretty enough, desirable enough for them to face up to her father and fight for the right to be with her.
But her sister’s beautiful, romantic wedding was not the time to be letting such thoughts fill her head and, taking a quick, calming breath, she looked up at her father.
‘Just at the beginning, Papà.’ She took his hand and squeezed it.
Cesare smiled. ‘You’ve been like a mother to her, but marriage is right for Claudia. She doesn’t have the temperament for studying or business.’
Imma nodded, her momentary stab of envy instantly swamped by remorse. More than anyone Claudia deserved to be happy, for although their father indulged his youngest daughter, he also found her easy to ignore. Now, though, for the first time in her life, she was in the spotlight.
