Normal?
‘There’s nothing normal about choosing to walk along the Corso Umberto in the heat of the sun.’ Especially when I want to take you to bed, undress you and explore every inch of you.
But that part of their relationship had always been easy. It was the rest of it that had proved challenging. And it was the rest of it he was determined to fix.
They strolled through the old medieval town, exploring the network of narrow streets and alleyways. To the casual observer they probably looked like lovers enjoying a holiday but Laurel was aware that his attentiveness sprang not from the romance of their surroundings but from a genuine desire to heal the deep rift between them.
Whether or not it could be healed, she didn’t know.
Putting her trust in someone had taken a huge leap of faith on her part. And he’d let her fall. She wasn’t sure she was ready to risk doing it again.
A pretty bikini caught her eye in the window of an exclusive boutique and she went to try it on, eager for distraction from her own thoughts.
She hadn’t had a proper holiday for years, she realised as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Not since their honeymoon. After that they’d both been sucked into the volume of work that demanded their attention. It would be bliss to just spend some time lying by that beautiful pool with a book. If she could relax for long enough.
This wasn’t a holiday, was it?
It was—
She frowned as she realised she didn’t really know what it was. A reconciliation? A trial of togetherness? Was it possible to fix what had gone wrong between them? She didn’t know. What she did know was that she wasn’t the same girl he’d married.
Wondering whether he’d still be interested in the person she was now, she handed the bikini to the girl behind the desk. Cristiano insisted on paying and she let him because she knew it would please him to spoil her and it seemed petty to argue over something so small.
As he handed over his credit card Laurel saw the girl send him furtive glances and turn a pretty shade of pink.
Even dressed casually, he had that effect on women, she thought. And most of the time he wasn’t even aware of it. Or maybe it just happened so frequently he no longer noticed.
As they left the shop, Laurel glanced over her shoulder and sighed when she caught the girl staring enviously after her. ‘That girl was ready to marry you and have your babies.’ She spoke without thinking and Cristiano frowned.
‘What girl?’
‘The one in the shop.’
‘I’m already married. And I’m staying that way.’ He didn’t tackle the other part of her sentence and Laurel wondered what on earth had possessed her to make a remark like that. What had she been thinking? And what was the point of this attempt at reconciliation, because even if they managed to fix one part of this mess, there was another part that couldn’t be changed.
With one glance at her stricken face, Cristiano took charge. He tightened his grip on her hand and led her purposefully down a narrow side street that was shady and relatively free of people.
‘All right, enough,’ he breathed, backing her against the stone wall of an ancient church and trapping her with his arms. ‘Right from the moment you told me what happened I have been waiting for you to raise the issue that is worrying you, but as usual you’ve kept it to yourself. I have to sit there watching while you pick at your lunch, growing paler and paler while your mind spins reasons for us not to be together.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Babies. You are thinking, There is no point in fixing this because I can’t have children and he won’t want me if I can’t have children.’
It was a part truth and Laurel felt the sharp sting of tears behind her eyes because the whole truth was so much more complicated than that.
He had no idea.
Alarmed by her own emotional reaction, she blinked rapidly. She was just tired. Really tired. ‘So you’re a mind-reader now?’ ‘Are you telling me I’m wrong?’
‘No.’ But it wasn’t all of it. Despite the searing heat, a chill washed over her. ‘It’s one more barrier between us, that’s for sure.’
‘Not to me.’ His accent was suddenly more pronounced than usual, his eyes a deep, intense shade of black as he looked at her with fierce intensity. ‘I love you. I have some work to do to prove it to you, but I do love you. And I am sorry that I wasn’t with you when you received that news. I can’t even imagine how you must have felt.’ Laurel didn’t enlighten him.
It was too soon for a conversation of that depth, particularly when she knew that her feelings on that subject would probably shock him.
‘I should have been there to support you,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m not surprised you walked out on me.’
It was the first time he’d admitted that her response might have been justified.