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Oh, how Maude wanted to read a million and one things into every word leaving Mateo’s beautiful mouth, but she had to keep a grip on reality. Was this all leading up to a convoluted explanation as to why he now wanted to give her the freedom she had demanded? Why he wanted to find his own way, begin his own search for a woman he could love?
‘Or,’ she whispered slowly, disengaging herself from the stranglehold of his dark gaze, ‘is this your way of kindly telling me that I set you on the straight and narrow.’
‘Come again?’
‘You’re going to be a father, Mateo. You’re entering a new chapter in your life. You might not have asked for it, but sometimes things happen not quite along the expected lines. Maybe that’s opened your eyes to what I told you at the start. That a family unit is important, yes, but a family unit with all the right ingredients in place. Maybe going out with me for a while made you see that it’s possible to have something with a woman who isn’t afraid to argue with you...is that it?’
‘Not at all.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that this is my way of humbly apologising for being a complete fool and bravely asking you whether you would consider marrying me for all those right reasons you talked about.’
‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ Maude looked at him in sudden confusion as the ground was swept away from under her feet, and the hope she had been keeping in check burst its banks and threatened to rampage over every iota of common sense she had done her best to put in place.
‘I love you, Maude Thornton.’
‘No, you don’t. Don’t say stuff like that, Mateo.’ Her eyes welled up but she fiercely kept the tears in check. ‘This isn’t a game!’
‘It’s very much not a game, and if you’d look at me...’ he tilted her chin so that she had no choice but to look at him ‘...you’d see that I’m being one hundred percent serious. Darling Maude, why do you think I suddenly decided that you were free to walk away?’
‘Because...because...’
‘Because I love you. We came here and I saw the way you were with your family, the way your family were with you. I realised that there was no such thing as black and white when it comes to family ties and the jumble of emotion that makes us stick at relationships, get married, have hope, believe in happy-ever-afters. I saw the sadness in your eyes and I knew that you were weighing up what you were sacrificing and what you were going to gain. Weren’t you?’
It was a statement more than a question and Maude nodded imperceptibly. Her head was still buzzing with what he had just told her.
He loved her? How could that be? Dared she believe him?
Yes. She did believe him. She could see the sincerity in his eyes but, that aside, she knew this man and knew that he would never, ever say anything like that as a ploy to getting what he wanted.
‘I couldn’t help it,’ Maude admitted. ‘But, however sad I was at giving up on the dream of the perfect life, I was still going to marry you because...’
‘Because I made a great case for it?’
‘Because, when I sat back and really thought about what life would look like without you in it, I...was scared.’
‘Are you saying what I hope you are?’
‘I’m saying that I fell in love with you and, by the time I realised, it was too late to start being rational about it. It hit me like a sledgehammer.’ She smiled ruefully but her heart was soaring and she was giddy with happiness. ‘And then I found out that I was pregnant.’
‘Maude, you’ve made me the happiest guy on earth. The minute you told me about the pregnancy, my whole world tilted on its axis, and suddenly everything seemed to fall into place. I love you so much, my darling. So again, can I ask...will you marry me for all the right reasons?’
‘Oh, Mateo!’ Maude breathed, cupping his face with her hand. ‘I think I can do that.’
‘In which case, it’s time we carried on this conversation with your family...’
They married five weeks later. A wedding in Tuscany, where friends and family were flown over for the weekend, no expense spared. The wine was from home-grown grapes, the food had been lovingly prepared locally and Maude reconnected with some of the familiar faces she had seen when they had been there.
She could not have hoped for anything more wonderfully romantic. It was a small, intimate affair, just friends and family, not a reporter in sight. To think that they had escaped to this villa in Italy to avoid the glare of publicity instigated by a vengeful ex. Now the tabloid press was far too engaged dashing behind a minor royal who had been caught taking drugs and was facing a prison sentence to bother with their story. Indeed, their nuptials, duly reported without any gossipy fanfare, were announced in the discreet pages of the broadsheets and in theFinancial Times.
She had seen the villa in the summer, but it was as spectacular in autumn, and Mateo had arranged for it to be wonderfully lit for the reception with fairy lights, lanterns and outside an elaborate, sprawling pergola entwined with flowers and slatted so that the moonlit, starry sky was visible when you looked up. The food was served there. It was perfect.
And then afterwards they’d moved into the cottage, which had been refurbished, and started on the business of preparing for the little arrival.
It was busy, joyous and dream-like.
Exactly six months after they were married, Maude woke to the dull throb of back pain. Lying in the king-sized bed, with Mateo curved into her, she watched this big man sleep and the love she felt for him was so huge that it brought a lump to her throat.
