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Sensing that she was wavering, he lifted a finger to her lips. “Don’t answer me now. Give me a month to show you that I can do this.”
Jane bit down on her lip. She wondered if she’d regret being so weak, where Carlo was concerned. But she knew she had no choice. She’d regret it even more if she didn’t jump into the cold, scary water.
“I’ll give you a chance, Carlo. But if you hurt me again, so help me, you’ll be the one needing Liz’s protection.” She was only half joking, and Carlo knew it.
He nodded gravely. “I love you.” He had her engagement ring in his pocket, but he left it there. When he slipped it on her finger, he wanted it to be because she was thrilled, and free of any doubts.
* * *
The benefit of having employed Liz to keep guard of Jane was that he owned the townhouse beside hers. Carlo moved into it immediately, so that he could be on hand without crowding Jane’s space. He understood that he had to re-earn her trust slowly. And he was not going to stuff it up this time.
He spent the first week putting her at ease. Their sexual chemistry was far, far too easy to obey, but it was also the beginning of their undoing. It was a simple matter to be distracted by great sex, and ignore the more important structure of their relationship.
So he started slowly. Walks around the area. Coffee. One afternoon, they went to see a movie, and the most he permitted himself to do was put an arm casually around her shoulders.
The second week, when Jane was seeming like her old self around him, he took it up another notch. He began to cook for her. Simple meals that he remembered from his childhood. And he rubbed her feet after dinner each night, before returning to his own home, and his own bed, by ten o’clock at the latest.
By week three, he began to buy small gifts for her.
Nothing lavish. He’d done that already. This time, he spoiled her with thoughtful, carefully selected presents. First, a DVD of the first movie they’d ever seen together. Then, the next day, a pair of fingerless gloves, because her circulation had become poor owing to the pregnancy, and he wanted her to be more comfortable. Finally, a guide book to Italy. “I want you to think about what you want to see. If you ever come back to Italy, I promise to take you anywhere you want, cara, to see anything you want.” That had been the closest he’d come to hinting at the future he desperately wanted.
By the fourth week, Carlo finally felt it. Jane was his again. Without hesitation, and without doubt.
He grinned as he moved about in her kitchen, but it was a grin tempered with his own fears. He was nervous.
“Why won’t you tell me what’s for dinner?” Her voice came through from the lounge room.
He shook his head as he craned it around the doorway. “Were you always this stubborn?”
“I think so,” she said, wrinkling her nose. The sight of Carlo in her apron was now so normal that it no longer made her laugh.
“It’s almost ready, mi bella. Just a moment more.”
He lifted the tray from the bench and moved into the lounge. Jane smiled when she saw the chip butties stacked high. “My favourite.”
“I know.” He placed them on the coffee table then sat down beside her.
“How do you feel?” He was prevaricating. Nerves were shredding him to pieces.
“Fine,” she frowned. “Not even a hint of morning sickness so far.”
“I am pleased. I hope it means our child will continue to be kind to you.”
“I can’t believe I have to be out of here next week,” she said, looking around at the half-packed room.
He nodded. He didn’t want to comment, because he had yet to discuss the question of where she would move to. He was hoping she would agree to come with him, but so much was riding on the next few minutes that he couldn’t think ahead. He forced himself to remember that he was a powerful, fearless businessman with a self-made fortune in the billions. “Can I get you a sandwich.”
“Thank you,” she said, her heart flopping in her chest. How lucky she was to have him back in her life. Giving him the chance to prove himself to her again had been the best decision she’d ever made.
Their relationship was no longer like what it had been. When first they’d met and married, there’d been such a disparity in their ages and experience, that a lack of balance had felt natural. But Jane was now older and wiser, and Carlo had allowed himself to accept the total dependence he felt for Jane. It no longer bothered him, because it was a crucial part to loving her.
She watched as he knelt down on the timber floor to put some food on a plate for her. But he paused and instead reached to the floor.
“Are you okay?” She asked, leaning closer to see what he must have knelt on.
Carlo looked at her with a bemused expression. “I hope I will be soon. Right now, I feel like I’m about to have a damned heart attack.”
She frowned. “What?”
