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‘Not much,’ he admitted, and then contradicted himself. ‘Everything.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I want to marry you, Mia,’ Dante said. It wasn’t Mia he wanted on her knees, it was himself, down on one, and he did just that. ‘Mia, will you marry me?’
‘Dante!’ She covered her mouth and gave an embarrassed laugh, sure he was just making a show, or saying it for effect to appease the hungry press and the board. ‘Stop it. You don’t have to do this.’
‘But I want to.’
‘What the hell did you say to the board? Dante, I don’t want to be another mistake you’re taking on and I do not want you marrying me just because I’m having your baby.’ She couldn’t bear that, but Dante immediately corrected her.
‘No, it’s not that. I cannot stand the thought of you with someone else. It makes me want to spit.’
And me, she wanted to cry.
‘You’re the best thing that’s ever happened in my life. You wanted romance, Mia, well, you’re getting it. I love you and I want nothing more than for you to be my wife.’
She was scared to believe him, too stunned at the turnaround, and so she reminded him of his firmly held views. ‘You don’t believe in marriage.’
‘I’ll believe in ours.’
His voice told her he was serious, his eyes told her this was true, and Dante, she reminded herself, was honest to a fault. Except that fault made him perfect now, for she was hearing his absolute truth. She was starting to believe that absolutely this was Dante on one knee, telling her that finally he believed in the beauty of love.
‘I think I loved you the day we met,’ he told her, ‘but I’ve spent more than two years denying that I did. Ihadto deny it, and I think I got so used to doing that, I never let myself consider this might be love. But it is. It absolutely is.
‘So, Mia, will you marry me, please?’
She was embarrassed, laughing, humbled and thrilled, just a jumble of emotions as she looked at the man she wanted to be with for ever, and to tell him that she felt the same. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘Dante, I would love to be your wife.’
He stood, and their kiss was a mix of breathless laughter and tears, and sheer elation for all that was to come.
‘I’m going to take you this morning to Via Cola di Rienzo,’ Dante said, ‘and buy you the nicest ring we see, but first...’
‘We have to feed Alfonzo.’
‘We do,’ Dante said. ‘And I want to show you your new bedroom.’
‘Sounds like a perfect morning,’ Mia said.
And she kissed her perfect man.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MIASTOODINSuite al Limone and gazed out at the sparkling lake and the guests all gathered for the wedding, just three weeks after the ball.
A whirlwind wedding, some said, but Mia and Dante felt as if they had been waiting a long time for this moment to finally arrive, when they could stand together and announce their love to the world.
Dante had asked where she wanted to spend her wedding night, and with her vow to never to set foot in a helicopter, Mia had chosen the Suite al Limone. She wanted one more night in this gorgeous space, being made love to by Dante, and then...
She would be ready to leave it.
The wedding was being held in the grounds and then the residence would go to its rightful owner, the love of Rafael’s life.
Roberto had cried when Dante had told him that the place was his. Everyone knew the house and grounds would be cared for and tended. Of course, she and Dante would return and visit, for they were family really.
But now, for the second time, though for the right reasons, Mia was about to become Signora Romano.
She wore the palest green velvet, with a soft tulle overlay, and her hair was in loose curls. On her head there was a small crown of Romano vine leaves and her posy was of wild, freshly cut poppies from the land they loved so.
