As luxurious as the helicopter was, with its white leather seats, flat-screen television and minibar full of champagne, Lucy was relieved to finally descend through the rain clouds that hung thickly gray over Rome. As she and Maximo got into the limo waiting for them on the airport tarmac, her legs still shook from the helicopter’s vibrations. It took ten minutes for her ears to stop ringing.
“I got you something,” Maximo said as a chauffeur drove them into the center of the rainy, windswept city. He took out a small lavender box from his coat and handed it to her.
Frowning, she opened it.
And was nearly blinded.
Inside the lavender box, nestled in black velvet, was a necklace. She stared at it, only dimly hearing the heavy raindrops pounding the roof of the limo. Hundreds of enormous diamonds sparkled at her.
“Those—those can’t be real,” she stammered. She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Tell me those aren’t real.”
Maximo smiled. “The necklace once belonged to a princess of Hanover. Now it is yours.”
All those carats, and it had an exotic history, too? This necklace had to be worth more money than she’d earned in her lifetime!
Was he trying to buy her?
She closed the box with a snap and put it down on the seat between them.
“If you think that this necklace will convince me to take Alex’s parental rights away, it won’t.”
His dark eyebrows lowered, as dark as the clouds outside.
“It is a gift,” he said evenly. “Something for you to wear to our wedding.”
“Our—
wedding?” she gasped. “I thought we were already married!”
“We are.” He took her hand in his own, looking at the plain gold band on her finger. “But our marriage must appear real in every way. And you deserve something better than this. You deserve a diamond ring fit for my princess—my bride.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks flamed red as she tugged on her hand, desperate to get away from his enclosing grasp, to be free of the rush of sensation and confusion it always caused her. “That’s all right. Really—”
“No. It is not.” Holding firmly to her hand, he brought it to his lips. Gently he kissed each knuckle of her hand. His tongue flicked briefly between her fingers. She froze, unable to move, unable to breathe as she watched him, shockingly imagining his tongue spreading more than her fingers…
“We will have our wedding, cara,” he murmured. “And afterward, a wedding night.”
A wedding night? So he wasn’t going to follow through with the threat to seduce her tonight?
She exhaled in relief.
“It will take weeks and weeks to plan a wedding,” she said hopefully.
He gave her a wicked grin, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Less than a week, actually. But do not fear.” He opened her palm, kissing the tender hollow of her hand. “I won’t make you wait that long. Tonight, cara. Tonight you will be mine.”
He leaned toward her, stroking her hair, and her lips involuntarily parted as she looked into his handsome, arrogant face. If he tried to kiss her now, in the backseat of this Rolls-Royce driving through the wet streets of Rome, could she stop him? Would she have the strength?
“I know it was never your dream to be married in a hotel,” he said. “My men found the book, Lucia. Your dream book. The white church. White dress. Flowers and cake.”
They’d found the little book of pictures she’d pulled out from bridal magazines, back when she thought she would be Mrs. Alex Wentworth? Feeling utterly humiliated, she stared blindly at the passing traffic. “That was a long time ago,” she said stonily. “Nothing but a girlish dream. Forget it. I have.”
“No.” Gently he forced her to look at him. “I do not want you to forget. I want you to have it. I want you to have everything you desire.”
His words made a tremble go through her soul. How long had she dreamed of a man who would cherish and protect her, and give her the deepest longings of her heart?
He pressed his cheek, already growing rough since he’d shaved that morning, against her own.
“Next week,” he murmured against her skin, “we will be wed in the ancient chapel of my villa. Guests have been invited from all over the world. Your wedding planner will arrive on Tuesday from London. You will direct her in your wishes and spare no expense.” Pulling away, he smiled down at her. “That is my command.”