AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As that sank home, in response, I’d gestured to the waiter hovering behind myself and my new husband that my glass needed refilling. While our guests started to talk once again with a break in the speeches, I tried to lose myself. I’d carefully brought the second small glass up to my lips and begun to sip at the sweetness captured inside the glass, mesmerised as every single piece of the patterned glass reflected the yellow that was all around us. The De Lucas had arranged one extremely long wedding table beneath their avenue of ancient lemon trees, as was apparently their tradition. And although our wedding was out of season, due to the unseasonal warmth we were still experiencing, the trees were still full of fruit. I realised that the trees not only gave off a beautiful aroma, but were offering us a false feeling of warmth and protection. The same second, I also realised that the glass in my hand was once again empty.
Rapidly, I’d lifted it up behind me to be replenished.
Then I’d stared straight down the long table with my refilled glass in hand, unable to smile and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. I knew I needed to keep the rising feeling of anxiety at my situation in check, as Salvatore Snr began his speech about finding his grandson and welcomed me into the family. On automatic pilot I’d raised my glass, which was filled with what I hoped would soon be sweet oblivion, when the entire table had stood up in a sudden flurry of activity. Then with the sound of chair legs scraping over the cobbles beneath us, as they toasted the two of us, I’d tipped my head back, emptying the entire glass into my mouth, and fighting down the urge to gag I’d quickly swallowed the lot.
But despite the three glasses, my body, although unused to any alcohol, was still in a state of hyperawareness, with no oblivion in sight. My senses were focussed in their entirety on my new husband, the man sitting to the right of me. As my papa’s daughter, I hated myself for being completely transfixed by the man who’d caused our family’s downfall, but the newly found woman inside of me wanted him, every single part of him. His dark eyes, and his even darker soul, hell bent on revenge. I even wanted the demons I was now convinced resided inside him.
As far back as I was able to recall, I had been struggling to prefer my English way of life, with its regulated normalcy and platitudes, when all along I knew that my Italian blood needed the thrill of a life right here on the edge of reason.
I just wasn’t convinced I was strong enough to live it.
I had, for as long as I could remember, wanted to be with Salvatore, to touch him and to be touched by him, but since exchanging vows in the same place as hundreds of people before us, I now craved him.
His unmistakable cologne, filled with citrus hues and blending effortlessly with the scent of the lemon oil we were enveloped by, had left me feeling heady. And although he hadn’t touched me since he’d placed his hand into the small of my back to lead me to the top of the table and then grazed the bare skin on my shoulders with both of his thumbs as he’d pushed my chair in, the small of my back and my shoulders still tingled from his touch.
But worse still, were my lips.
Nearly three hours before, we’d been declared man and wife by the priest and Salvatore Diavolo De Luca had lifted the long white veil he’d crafted, away from my face. As it fell away from my body and shimmied over the floor behind me, the devil by name had exposed his young bride, dressed in black, to the invited guests. I’d heard the gasps echo around the cool building as my provocative dress was finally revealed to them and for a few seconds, I’d regretted my decision to wear it.
But as I’d watched the corners of his mouth curl, when he witnessed my few seconds of remorse, I stood myself up straighter in defiance. I could have sworn that I saw the thin fissures of amber flecks in his eyes expand, until his dark eyes were momentarily consumed with fire. Suddenly, he’d pulled me into his arms and after wrapping me up tightly in his embrace, he’d briefly brushed his mouth against mine. It was gentle at first and I heard a low moan escape my mouth as my body instantaneously demanded more. Salvatore had responded immediately and with an increasing sense of urgency he’d kissed me with more fervour. In those few minutes, as we’d stood joined as one in front of our audience, he’d not only convinced me and them of our marriage, but also of his love and as we broke apart and our eyes once again found each other’s, the congregation around us started to applaud.
The applause had carried on, but within seconds Salvatore’s dark eyes had once again returned and his hold on me had loosened. As we’d started to walk back down the aisle hand in hand, as man and wife, I’d taken in the smiles all around us and I knew then that they were as fooled by him as I was.
But whatever sort of young fool I was, I understood that the way he made me feel, the way my lips could still taste and feel his on mine, was nothing less than the truth.
What is this?
As the question entered my head, I briefly turned my head to take in the man sitting next to me. His clean, damp hair had now dried in the warmth, becoming once again unruly thick waves, making him more recognisable as the boy I had run to find at the beach. And I was convinced the well-trimmed stubble on his face had grown just ever so slightly as the day had gone on.
Whatever he was or wasn’t, I understood that he was the most beautiful human I had ever had the pleasure to look at. Desperation began to be the most dominant feeling in my body, pushing away anxiety and surprisingly even the fear that I had lived with for the past few weeks. Knowing we were now man and wife, having experienced the kiss he’d bestowed on me and having felt the briefest of touches he’d given, had made my body feel more alive than I’d ever felt in the whole of my sixteen years. Although he hadn’t so much as touched me again, I knew that Salvatore would have also noticed how my body was effectively standing to attention as it clamoured for his attention.
Attention?
Desperation was quickly replaced with sadness.
I was certain attention would have been forthcoming following any normal wedding. We’d have kissed and fawned all over each other until we were completely oblivious to anyone else.
But we weren’t normal, and neither were the circumstances of our marriage.
Given our history am I allowed to want to be with him?
Truthfully, I couldn’t see any way out of my situation. I was damned either way.
Our marriage was a joining of families, an arrangement, and I knew I had to start distinguishing between the romance books I loved to read and reality. I slowly let out a long sigh and hoped Salvatore hadn’t heard me as I rolled my eyes up high into my head and just managed to stop short of shaking my head at myself.
Enough...stop thinking!
As Romeo, one of Salvatore’s brothers, started his speech as best man, I closed my eyes briefly and forced myself to zone out, as finally a slow, welcome glow began to travel its way throughout my body.
Salvatore’s warm breath connected with the exposed shell of my ear, and he growled quietly so only I could hear him.
‘That one will be your last. Make sure you drink it slowly.’ He placed my fourth glass of wine down in front of me.
Fleetingly, my body faltered and then with a small fire building in the pit of my gut I sat up straight, turned my head violently to face him and our eyes connected.
How bloody dare he?
But I knew precisely how he dared. He was my husband and my life from this day forward would forever be in his hands. With our faces only fractionally apart from each other’s, the recent glow from the dessert wine evaporated.
