The Sicilian's Marriage Arrangement

She forced herself to smile. The man she loved wanted to marry her. He wanted to have children with her and he had promised her fidelity. He respected her, he liked her and he desired her, she reminded herself. Perhaps from that, within the intimacy of marriage, love would grow.

“I guess we’d better get dressed,” she said, not nearly so complacent as he about their state of undress when she did not have passion to dull her normal thinking process.

He stayed her movement toward the edge of the bed. “I too want an assurance from you.”

“What?”

“No more being alone with other men.” He was all conquering male.

She sighed. “We were only playing cards, Luciano. You must know it wasn’t anything more.”

“I know this, but I did not like finding you alone with Giuseppe. He is a womanizer of the first order.”

“Well, he was a gentleman with me. He may be a flirt, but I don’t think he would go after a woman who was attached to someone else.”

Luciano didn’t look impressed by her belief. “Promise me.”

“You’re being ridiculous. What do you want me to do, run from the room if I’m alone and another man comes into it?”

When he looked like he might agree, she glared at him. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Face it, you were so busy with your friends, you didn’t even notice I was gone.” The memory of Zia’s overly warm greeting still rankled. “We had time for me to beat him at gin rummy before you even came looking. I don’t think you should complain too loudly about me finding my own entertainment.”

“I believed you were with Martina. When she came back to the pool with other friends and without you, I immediately began looking for you.”

“I wouldn’t have left in the first place if you hadn’t let your ex-girlfriend kiss you.”

“I did not let her kiss me. She just did it.”

Hope had to give him that. And he had pulled away very quickly. “You touched her when you wouldn’t even put sunscreen on my back,” she accused. “When was the last time you kissed my cheeks in greeting? You treat me like the untouchable woman.”

His brow rose in mockery. “Do you wonder at this? I touch you and five minutes later, we are naked on a bed together.”

“Are you saying you’ve been avoiding touching me because you want me that much?” It was a novel concept, one that was infinitely good for her feminine ego.

“I promised you I would not seduce you.”

And the most casual touching put that promise at risk. At least that was what he was implying. Knowing he was that physically vulnerable to her assuaged some of her fear at marriage to a man who did not love her.

“And now you want a promise I won’t spend time alone with other men.”

“Si.”

Luciano hadn’t liked finding her with David that day in Athens and even less discovering her alone with Giuseppe. She should understand that because she wouldn’t like the reverse either. Only she’d made him promise her fidelity. Perhaps he had his own insecurities. The idea was almost laughable, but the strangely intent expression in his eyes was not.

“I won’t make a habit of being alone with other men and I will never be unfaithful to you.” It was the best she could do, because she wasn’t going to go running from a room if a man walked into it and she wasn’t going to make a promise she couldn’t keep.

He seemed satisfied and nodded. “We will marry in two weeks time.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“BUT why does he wish to see you before the ceremony? This is not normal.” The older woman rang her hands. “Ai, ai, ai. American men, they are not rational.”

Hope stifled a smile. Her future mother-in-law had very definite views of what constituted proper male and female behavior. Hope’s grandfather had confounded her several times over the past two weeks, wanting to approve the wedding dress, insisting on consultation with the chef for the reception and a host of other equally odd, to her mind, requests.

She patted Claudia di Valerio’s arm. “It’s all right. He just wants to see. He won’t touch anything.”

Her grandfather had been ecstatic at the news of her upcoming marriage and had flown over immediately to take part in the preparations, much to Luciano’s mother’s dismay. She was not used to having a man around giving orders in the domestic arena, but Joshua Reynolds wanted to be involved on every level of planning the wedding.

Luciano might be bossy, but he wasn’t quite the controller Joshua Reynolds was. When her grandfather was interested in a project, he wanted final sayso over every aspect. For some reason, he’d decided to take an interest in Hope’s wedding. Assuming it was part of the strange change in his behavior since the heart attack, Hope dealt with his interference with more equanimity than her future mother-in-law.