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bsp; Inside, it was dark and enormous, and there was a lingering odour of dust and disuse.
‘The last time I was here,’ Matteo said thickly, ‘It was just before Christmas. A tree stood over there.’ He nodded towards the stairs, which were wide and sweeping, moving in a large, wide circle upwards to the mezzanine above. ‘It had the most beautiful decorations, fine gold and a dark red, made of glass from Murano. It was a real tree, and enormous, so that the whole room smelled of pine. There were lights, twinkling little fairy lights that shimmered in the tree and across the ceiling. And there was a pianist in the corner, playing old-fashioned Christmas carols.’ His eyes held some of the magic of the scene when they dropped to Skye’s face. ‘It was a special place, Skye.’
She nodded, perfectly able to envisage the beauty he had seen. The spectre of what he’d described. He crouched down, his trousers straining across his powerful haunches as he ran his fingertips over the floor. Snakes appeared in the thick coating of dust, revealing the grain of the marble beneath. ‘This was quarried from the south and it took six months to ship it all up.’ He stood, wiping his hands together, his eyes simply skimming over hers as he moved deeper into the hotel.
He moved to what Skye presumed would have been the reception area. A tall, dark wood bench with a marble top, the same as the floor. There were old-fashioned lights above it, as she’d imagined might have been used in banks in the twenties and thirties. Matteo pressed one of the gold switches on the wall but it did nothing.
Of course, there was no power.
‘My great-great-great-grandfather built this hotel.’ His voice carried an emotional note. ‘He built it, and then each generation added to it. Yes, we created an empire, and yes, we have money, but this hotel—’ He broke off, looking around the room with such helplessness that Skye’s heart thudded inside her and pain gulfed in her belly. ‘My family lives in these walls.’
She nodded and turned away from Matteo, unable and unwilling to expose herself to him in that moment, as realisation after realisation dropped through her. This place meant everything to Matteo, and her father had taken it and refused to sell it back.
‘Your father didn’t want it.’ Matteo echoed her thoughts unconsciously. ‘In fact, letting it fall into disrepair pleased him.’ The words were uttered grimly.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Skye said quietly. ‘What reason could he have for buying something and then destroying it?’
‘You know the answer to that.’
‘Revenge,’ she muttered, the word coursing through her venomously. ‘Damned revenge.’
‘Yes. He closed the hotel and had it boarded up as soon as it had been transferred to him. He told me he would have torn it down if the place weren’t protected by historical covenants.’
‘God, Matteo.’ Skye squeezed her eyes shut, guilt filling her. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘This was not your doing, cara.’
‘But he hurt you and I wish... I wish...’
‘Hush.’ Matteo came around from behind the reception desk, staring down at his wife and fighting every urge he had to touch her, knowing that it would solve nothing. ‘You and I wish the same thing,’ he said with frustration and urgency. ‘We both wish it hadn’t happened. But then...’ He dropped his hands to her stomach, pressing his fingers into her, imagining the baby that was coming to life with every day that passed. ‘We wouldn’t have this gift. And I believe our baby is a gift, cara. I married you for the hotel, and it no longer matters. Not compared to the baby that grows within your body.’ He dropped his mouth to hers, kissing her lightly. ‘It means everything to me.’
Skye’s heart trembled in her chest. His love for their unborn child filled her with happiness, but there was envy too, for the way he was able to be so lavish in his praise for the baby and remain as closed off to her as ever before.
‘I know this is not as either of us would have wanted,’ he continued thickly. ‘But you are pregnant, and we need to focus on making this work. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or in a month. But I am committed to this baby. With all that I am.’
Skye couldn’t answer. Tears were clogged in her throat. She was a tangle of emotions; they were running through her, violent and insistent. She did her best to blank them. To be calm.
‘I’m just trying to be smart.’
Matteo grinned. A grin that made her tummy flop and her own lips twist in an answering smile.
‘You’re already smart.’ He shrugged. ‘Why don’t we try to be happy now?’
Happy. The word lodged inside her as he moved away once more, deeper into the hotel, towards the stairs. The smell was stronger there, and she realised that the carpet had been saturated over time. With a frown, she looked up and saw that the roof had a hole in it. It had been patched at some point, but a hint of the sky was visible through it.
Matteo was looking at it too, his expression impossible to read. Then he roused himself and took a step upwards, placing a hand in the small of her back. It was just a tiny gesture; it meant nothing. And, in terms of their intimacy, it was nothing like what they’d shared.
And yet it set Skye’s pulse racing.
‘How many rooms are there?’ she asked, the question a little breathy as she tried to control her raging emotions.
If he noticed, he was sympathetic enough to respond in kind. ‘There were fifty.’
‘An even fifty?’ she responded.
‘Originally only twenty,’ he said with a nod. ‘When the trend was for accommodation to feature apartments rather than rooms. But over the time each lodging was downsized, to make more accommodation. Though, compared to a lot of hotels I’ve stayed in, they’re still pretty spacious.’
