Delucca's Marriage Contract

He spoke into the phone, his voice curt. ‘Have the helicopter ready within half an hour and tell them I’m on my way.’

* * *

When Keelin woke she had a strange sense of déjà vu. And then a sound broke into her consciousness. She cracked open her eyes and noted that she was spreadeagled across the bed, gloriously naked.

A tumble of images came into her head, of Gianni dragging her up to the room yesterday, and of how he’d been remorseless...in his determination to send her over the edge. So many times that she’d been begging for mercy.

They’d finally fallen asleep and the sound made Keelin frown. It was louder now. A rhythmic thwack thwack.

The helicopter. She went cold. No. Gianni would not have done this again.

She got out of bed and scrabbled for clothes, dragging on her shorts and a T-shirt. She raced downstairs and to the front of the villa, opening the door just in time to see the helicopter rise into the air from the back of the villa.

There were two figures in the seats, and one was unmistakably her husband. For a moment Keelin felt a lurch of panic—perhaps something had happened?

But Gianni made no attempt to

look down, his gaze firmly set on the distance where they were headed. The machine banked left and then it took off over the estate and towards the horizon.

And he was gone. Just like before. Without even saying goodbye. Except this time there was no reason—she hadn’t made him angry.

Frowning, and not liking the slightly sick sensation in her belly, Keelin went back inside and looked in Gianni’s study to see if he’d left a note. But there was nothing.

Then she thought she might have missed something in the bedroom, but again there was nothing.

She could hear movement and realised that this wasn’t as bad as the last time. Now she knew that people were around, and also, she had the somewhat unsettling realisation that even if others weren’t around, she wouldn’t have that awful sense of abandonment.

But the hours crept by and there was no sign or call from Gianni to explain where he’d gone. And any kind of confidence Keelin had been feeling started to crumble, like blocks that weren’t steady enough yet to weather any undue force.

She smiled as Lucia served her lunch, valiantly trying out the few words she’d been learning. And now she felt silly. What had she been doing for the past few days? Fooling herself into believing that somehow everything began and ended with this villa? That the real world wouldn’t encroach and remind her that this was all just a mirage?

She’d had the strong suspicion that Gianni had just gone out of his way to seduce her into believing that she might be happy as his wife.

And by the time evening rolled around with still no sign of her husband, Keelin was coming to terms with the fact that clearly he felt that he’d spent enough time lulling his wife into a false sense of security so why would he need to hang around for longer than necessary?

All day and evening, Keelin had resisted the urge to call Gianni, believing the onus was on him to explain himself. And now she seethed and hated the familiar sense of powerlessness and that she was being ignored.

But she was no longer helpless.

Before Lucia disappeared to bed, Keelin found her and managed to find out what time the train to Rome was in the morning.

There was no way that Gianni was going to get away with believing that she would be happy to sit quietly at his rural home and await his return. She was so focused on her anger that when she took a stingingly hot shower and emotion rose up in a wave it shocked her.

Sob after heaving sob erupted from her chest, tears coursing down her cheeks to merge with the hot water. Aghast at this outpouring but unable to stop it, Keelin shut off the shower and stepped out, her chest still heaving slightly.

Feeling shell-shocked, she looked at her face in the mirror and saw puffy swollen eyes. And she had to finally acknowledge the truth that she’d been resisting all day, and since Montefalco, if she was honest.

The worst thing had happened. She’d fallen in love with her husband. She’d fallen in love with a man who would never love her back. His actions today only proved that.

After all she’d been through, she’d learnt nothing, except that the defences she’d so carefully erected long ago had started tumbling as soon as she’d locked onto that black gaze.

And all the while Gianni had just been playing with her. Proving his dominance. Ruthlessly dismissing her own wishes and desires in a bid to get what he wanted. His cynicism knew no bounds. For the past week he’d wooed her with his body and attention, only to drop her from a height.

And now Keelin looked at herself and felt despair at her lovelorn expression. Was she really so pathetic? So she’d fallen in love with a man who had never made any promises to do the same. If anything, he’d been nothing but brutally honest with her. So she had no one to blame but herself.

But she knew what she had to do. It was time to end this charade once and for all—deal or no deal. And if that meant sacrificing her deepest desires, then she would do it and move on. Because nothing was worth a lifetime of unrequited love. She’d already been defined by that and she wouldn’t allow it to define her again.

CHAPTER TEN