The Doctor's Runaway Bride

‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly. ‘That must have been difficult for you. How did he die?’

‘Living life to the full,’ Luca said wryly, his voice amazingly matter-of-fact as he described an event that must have had devastating consequences for a young boy. ‘He was riding a motorbike. My mother thought that my father took too many risks for a man with children, and maybe he did…’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Fortunately his business was thriving and my uncles were able to carry on running it so she had no financial worries, but my mother had always let my father make all the decisions and suddenly he was gone.’

‘So you took over?’

He nodded slowly. ‘I was barely more than a child myself, but that’s exactly what I did and soon everyone expected me to make decisions for them.’

Tia tilted her head on one side, a smile touching her mouth. ‘Are you trying to justify why you’re so autocratic?’

‘No. That’s probably just a basic character flaw.’ He gave an apologetic smile that was so sexy it made her stomach flip. He really was staggeringly handsome.

‘But you made all the decisions in the family?’

He gave a dismissive shrug. ‘I suppose so.’

Tia nodded. ‘Well that explains a lot about you.’

‘It does?’ His dark eyes shimmered with amusement and she blushed.

‘Well, if you’re used to bossing your sisters and your mother then I suppose it’s hardly surprising that you try and take over my life, too,’ she said quickly, hoping that he couldn’t read her mind. Her thoughts were positively X-rated! ‘The trouble is, I’ve also been looking after myself since I was young and I don’t need anyone to make decisions for me. It’s probably why we clash.’

Luca’s gaze sharpened. ‘How young?’

She played idly with her knife. ‘Eight.’

‘Eight years old?’ His voice was soft. ‘That must have been very hard, cara mia.’

She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘Maybe.’

He sighed and sat back in his chair. ‘Tia, I’m fully aware that you change the subject every time I mention your parents.’ His voice was gentle. ‘Are you going to hide from me for ever, or are you going to trust me?’

There was a lengthy silence. He was right, of course. She did hide from people and she always had. It was a defence mechanism that she’d developed over the years. And as for trusting him…

‘Tia, if you want me to understand you, you have to start revealing some of yourself to me,’ he said quietly, and she swallowed hard, acknowledging the truth of what he was saying.

‘My parents were actors,’ she said, quickly outlining the bare facts. ‘They married very young—too young, I suppose. My mother was crazy about my father and she thought that he felt the same way about her.’

Luca’s eyes were fixed on her face. ‘But he didn’t?’

Tia’s mouth tightened. ‘It would seem not. He had one affair after another and my mother started to drink. Too much.’ She broke off and glanced at him briefly. ‘She died when I was eight.’

He let out a long breath. ‘And your father?’

Tia played with her spoon. ‘My father made it clear that he couldn’t look after me so I went into care.’

‘Care?’ He looked blank. ‘You stayed with family?’

‘There was no family,’ Tia said simply. ‘I went into foster-care and then a children’s home while I waited for someone to adopt me. But they didn’t.’ She gave an overly bright smile. ‘And who can blame them? You think I’m reckless now, you should have met me then. I was your average teenage nightmare.’

His gaze didn’t falter and she knew that her bravado hadn’t fooled him. ‘So you never had a proper home? Family?’

‘No.’

‘That must have been difficult.’ His voice was even, as if he knew that too much sympathy would be hard to cope with.

She stirred her soup slowly. ‘Well, it made me very independent. It’s probably the reason I don’t take kindly to people telling me what to do,’ she told him with a smile. ‘I’m used to having to work things out for myself because I’ve always been on my own.’

‘But you’re not on your own now.’