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She loved him.
She had lied to him only because shelovedhim, Raffaele reflected, thunderstruck by that admission. Even after all he had done, she had somehow contrived to fall in love with him? Rafiq had compared the conception of Izzy’s twins to the eighth wonder of the world but Maya had pulled off an even bigger wonder in Raffaele’s opinion. She loved him. He couldn’t believe it, he just couldn’t believe it and, intent on seeking further explanation, he followed her back out of the bedroom and down the corridor to where Sal and two of his security team were standing over a giant pet carrier, Sal’s face pale and rigid.
‘What’s going on?’ Raffaele prompted.
The strange woman beside the carrier broke into a flood of explanation that ranged from her mother’s broken hip to her mother’s current incarceration in hospital. ‘I couldn’t possibly keep them for you the way my mother promised,’ she said apologetically to Maya. ‘There’s no room in my home for two lively puppies.’
‘I understand. It’s fine, thank you for bringing them,’ Maya broke in gently.
‘I’m afraid I’ll have to take the carrier with me but I’ve brought a bag of immediate supplies, their vaccination records and current feeding schedule and their other documentation,’ the woman told Maya, indicating the large sack one of the men carried as she bent down to release the catch on the carrier. ‘Any problems you have, my phone number is in the bag.’
Maya caught a glimpse of Sal’s anxious face as she bent down and guessed instantly that he knew the same tragic tale of Raffaele’s brief pet ownership as she did and was concerned about Raffaele’s possible reaction to the animals. A little black nose poked curiously out of the carrier, swiftly followed by a little squirming golden puppy body, and then a second explorer appeared.
‘They were a gift for your birthday,’ Maya whispered weakly to Raffaele as the carrier was withdrawn. Somehow, she got through the departure of the breeder’s daughter and said all that was polite before she even dared to glance in Raffaele’s direction again.
Raffaele was down on the floor engulfed in puppies. At least he wasn’t backing away or fighting them off, she told herself in consolation. He lifted glinting dark golden eyes to hers and smiled. ‘Thank you,’ he said in a husky undertone.
Maya recognised the tears in his eyes, and she was stunned. Grinning, Sal was already hustling the rest of his team out of the penthouse and their housekeeper was lifting the sack of supplies.
‘Puppies,’ she said in barely hidden consternation. ‘Here.’
‘But not for long, Mrs Abram. We’re moving out to the country as soon as possible,’ Raffaele informed her, a puppy gathered under each arm as he walked back to their bedroom, clumsily hit the button that opened the patio doors onto the balcony and set both little animals down outside. Puddles quickly appeared and he laughed. ‘Yes, these two are going to keep us busy.’
‘You’re not upset?’ Maya whispered worriedly. ‘It seemed such a great idea but after I thought about what I had done, I started getting second thoughts, but it was too late because I’d already booked and picked and paid for them.’
‘Itwasa great idea...and now I believe that you love me,’ Raffaele admitted almost buoyantly. ‘Because you understand me too. You knew I was afraid to love anything or anyone again.’
‘Yes,’ she muttered limply. ‘You don’t mind me loving you?’
‘Why would I mind such an honour?’ Raffaele demanded. ‘If it means you’ll consider staying with me for ever? I presume itdoesmean that? I’ve got you for good?’
Her smooth brow furrowed because she was confused by his attitude. ‘For good?’
‘We’re not a business deal any longer, we’re a couple in a normal marriage. That’sallI want and I can promise you now that I will not do anything to make you regret staying with me,’ Raffaele swore feverishly. ‘I’ll probably annoy you and frustrate you at times, but I will never deliberately hurt you.’
Maya nodded slowly as if she was afraid to break the spell. ‘For good,’ she agreed. ‘But what’s changed?’
‘I had the stupid idea that all you did want from me was a baby, that you didn’t actually want me for me...which was perfectly understandable after the way I’d behaved. But it wasn’t something I felt that I could live with long-term,’ he explained ruefully. ‘You could have had a baby with any man, even had a baby without a man and gone for artificial insemination, so you wanting a baby fathered by me didn’t really mean much, just that you knew it was achievable with me because you already knew that I was fertile.’
Maya had paled. ‘I never thought of it from that angle.’
‘Nobody has ever wanted me for me but you,’ Raffaele breathed grimly. ‘I’ve been wanted a hundred times over for my wealth, my looks, my body, for the publicity I attract. I’ve never been wanted just for me.’
‘Oh, I’m sure you have, you probably didn’t notice,’ Maya opined, dismayed to register once again that she had wounded him by telling him that she only wanted him because he could give her another baby. ‘And maybe you haven’t always been the most lovable person around other women, but you’ve been honest and wonderful with me since quite early on, always surprising me with how kind and thoughtful you could be, and tender.’
Raffaele winced. ‘I’m really not the tender type.’
She wanted to tell him how amazingly affectionate and demonstrative he could be, but thought that possibly it was wiser for him to slowly recognise that about himself. He needed to accept that his ready affection did not in any way detract from his masculinity, that indeed it only enhanced it.
He had picked her a dream of a wedding gown, had guided her around Egyptian antiquities purely to surprise and please her, had in every way pandered unerringly to her likes and dislikes rather than his own. He had reunited her family, had introduced her to her long-lost grandparents and had searched out and designed a beautiful ring for her pleasure. He had even lied and declared that their marriage was rocky to his brother-in-law to cover up any damage she might have inflicted by avoiding her sister for so long.
And after they had been engulfed by their first crisis when she suffered a miscarriage, he had ignored her attempts to push him away even though that would have offered him an easier path. He had not been detached and even when she had lashed out at him, he had stayed supportive and caring. The more she thought about everything Raffaele had done for her since their first intimidating meeting, the less she marvelled at the love she had for him because he had changed just as much as she had changed and within that change they had grown very close.
‘In fact... I may not be tender or sensitive or any of that stuff that’s important to women,’ Raffaele admitted gruffly, ‘but I do really love you. I couldn’t face the idea of life without you. When we viewed Grey Gables, I said, “when we’re no longer together” to try and get a reaction out of you...something,anythingthat would give me hope, but instead you succumbed to the pregnancy sickness and afterwards, well, you were a bit quiet but you certainly didn’t seem upset to me.’
‘You saidthatdeliberately?’ Maya gasped. ‘I was upset and hiding it. Where were your eyes?’
‘Well, you’re pretty good at hiding being upset. You burbled about the house all the way back here.’
