“Tomorrow,” Nick said the next morning, as they lay in their rumpled bed.
Alessia laughed. “Impossible.”
“Because?”
“Because, this is Italia. There are laws to obey. Are there not laws in America?”
“We’re not in America,” he said, brushing his lips over hers. “We’re in Italia, just as you said. And I am an impatient man.”
“Well, signore impaziente, there is nothing you can do about it. The law is the law.”
“And you know the law, princess?”
“I do,” she said archly.
She was in public relations. She had made marriage arrangements for others. Nicolo, as an American citizen, could marry simply by filing the necessary papers. But it was different for an Italian national. For her. Banns would have to be posted for two Sundays prior to the day of the ceremony.
Nick rolled her beneath him.
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
“Nicolo. There is nothing to see. The law is the law.”
She sounded like a schoolteacher correcting a recalcitrant pupil. It made him smile. He loved her all-knowing tone, loved the slightly exasperated look on her face. He loved—he loved…
“What are you thinking?” Alessia said softly.
“Let me show you,” he said huskily, and he ended all further discussion the best possible way, with kisses, with his mouth on her breasts, with his body hard and demanding inside hers.
As he had done to find their villa, Nick made a couple of phone calls.
r /> In midafternoon, a messenger came to the door with a manila envelope. Nick opened it, checked the contents and grinned.
“What?” Alessia said.
His grin widened. “Time to shop for a wedding dress, princess.”
Her breath caught. “You mean…” She nodded at the open envelope and the papers spilling out of it. “Is that about the banns?”
“What banns?” Nicolo said and kissed her.
He took her into the heart of Florence, to a boutique he’d noticed one evening as they’d strolled the street after dinner at a small café.
“We want a dress,” he told the clerk.
The woman looked from Nick to Alessia, then at him again. “Is it for a special occasion?”
“Very special,” Nick said solemnly. His arm tightened around Alessia’s waist. “We’re getting married tomorrow.”
Nick smiled. Alessia blushed. The clerk grinned. An hour later, they left the shop with a pale pink silk dress and matching jacket, a tiny gold purse and gold stilettos.
It was dusk, and the temperature had dropped. Perhaps that was why Alessia shuddered. “Cold, sweetheart?”
She nodded and Nicolo drew her closer as they made their way to the Ferrari but the truth was, Alessia wasn’t really cold. She’d shuddered because a thought had crept into her mind. Things were moving so fast. Was Nicolo hurrying the arrangements because he didn’t want to give her time her to change her mind? Or was it because he didn’t want to give himself time to change his mind?
She shuddered again, because she didn’t want to think about it.
Nick knew he was rushing things, but he had a good reason.