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I smiled a small hesitant smile.
‘Serafina,’ he shook his head at me. ‘You have been warned.’
By the second, his gaze was becoming more and more intense, and I was hypnotised. The thought of doing such an act in public earshot thrilled me.
The bedroom door being knocked broke the spell he’d put me under and brought me to my senses.
‘Boss, the Don has arrived,’ Bruno informed us from the hallway.
‘Can we take a rain check?’ he whispered in my ear on a long exhale.
In answer, I took hold of Salvatore’s hand and led him to the closed door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SERAFINA
We walkeddown the stairs hand in hand. At first, I thought I was holding on to Salvatore to make sure he was in step beside me, but the further we came into view of others who had seemingly been awaiting our arrival, I understood that he was equally supporting me. As the vast number of gathered faces watched our descent, I suddenly felt timid and very much on show.
A light ripple of applause met us both and I matched the array of smiles with one of my own. Then as my body reacted to my nervousness, my right heel wobbled beneath me, and I stalled hesitantly. Pulling in a sharp intake of air, I reached out and grasped hold of the large handrail to steady myself.
As Salvatore instinctively read my reaction, his hand tightened its hold on mine and squeezed in reassurance, reminding me that whatever happened we were together.
This,right here, would be what our lives would look like once he was propelled into the top spot after the death of his grandfather. For the rest of our lives, we would be treated almost as royalty, with men and women stopping to watch us.
We would effectively be captured inside a fishbowl, permanently in the spotlight. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough.
Looking for something from Salvatore, I turned my head quickly to the side and caught his expression.
It rendered me dumbstruck.
Even though we were on show to at least forty people, his face shone out the truth he normally concealed, even from me, deep down inside. The expression he met me with was a look of care and dare I say love?
Love?
I knew that whatever happened from that minute onward, we really were in it together. Removing my hand from the banister rail, I placed my sole trust in him. Impulsively, I lifted my arm and touched the side of his face in a rare show of public affection. I briefly caressed the bristles of his well-kept scruff beneath my fingers and smiled back my thanks.
As the world around us came back into view, I became aware that the clapping seemed to have increased in volume.
‘Welcome home, Mrs De Luca,’ someone called up to us.
‘Lovely to see you back, Serafina.’
With us still frozen together in the middle of the staircase, Salvatore greeted our guests.
‘Thank you for coming to celebrate my wife’s homecoming and her sister Mia’s return from her studies. It’s good to see so many of ourfamilyhere with us today…Our home is your home. We hope you enjoy your day with us.’
His words were met with more applause and after finding Maria at the bottom of the staircase and her nodding her head at him, he carried on. ‘Please find yourselves a drink. Food is now being served out on the terrace.’ Salvatore swept his hand in the direction of the terrace, and we once again began our descent as the crowd of people followed where he had directed them to.
‘Wow. You make a great host,’ I whispered over to him as we finally came to the ground floor.
Turning quickly into me and ignoring the few stragglers still in the foyer, he wrapped one arm around my waist and easily moved his other hand to the back of my head, where he threaded his fingers in between my long lengths of hair. Once I was firmly in his hold, he put his mouth to my ear.
‘Don’t you believe it. I’m just a man on a promise.’
Then he pulled away and picked up my hand to place a gentle kiss to the inside of my wrist.
‘Mrs De Luca… I believe we have guests.’
