The anguish in his grandfather’s face hadn’t been an advertisement for the joys of love. More like a cautionary tale.
Sandro didn’t want the sort of vulnerability that came with loving, but he had never disregarded his grandfather’s wisdom in his life. It wasn’t as though Octavia had asked him for love, though. She’d made a point of telling him it wasn’t required. If she wasn’t prepared to risk her heart, that was good, because neither was he.
He wanted her trust, though, and told himself it would come with time. Today he had news that he hoped would put the worst of their conflict behind them.
“You came home for a swim?” she asked as he found her new swimsuit and dug out his own. “It’s a nice day, but not that nice. Have they even readied the pool yet?”
He shook his head. “Not here. Is he done?” He grinned at the drunken look on his son’s face as he finished nursing. Sandro tossed the suits on the bed, then scooped up Lorenzo to burp him. “Scusi, figlio, you’ll have to stay home,” he said, patting the baby’s back. “Too hot for you. I looked it up.”
“What is?” Octavia asked, holding up her swimsuit and wrinkling her nose at the thought of wearing it.
Sandro wanted it to be a surprise. Thirty minutes later, they were in a private water taxi, puttering through the towering cliffs of a narrow gorge to the baths carved by ancient Romans into the rock walls. By then she had figured out where they were going and the hot springs were a lovely treat, but—
“You should have told me before we left the house. I wouldn’t have worn my new ring,” Octavia said as she came out of her changing room, a towel wrapped over her modest two-piece.
The humid air was warm and the blue water inside the cave misty and inviting. Only a handful of people were here, all tucked in private corners, but she hadn’t wanted to leave the ring in her changing room.
She tilted the blue sapphire that had arrived hours after Alessandro had gone into the city the other morning. It sat where her wedding rings still didn’t quite fit.
“I’ll be terrified the whole time that it will slip off and I’ll lose it,” she said.
“I noticed it before we left, but I didn’t want you to take it off. I don’t like seeing you without my ring.” He brought the knuckle of her finger to his lips. “I’m possessive.”
Octavia made a noise. She knew that much about him, she thought wryly, but curled her fingers inside his loose grasp, thinking about what had happened when the ring had arrived at the house.
Her troubled thoughts must have shown in her face because Sandro asked stiffly, “You don’t like it?”
“What? No, I love it. I told you I did when it arrived,” she reminded, pulling her hand from his to ensure the stone was perfectly centered. “It was just that when Viviana saw it...” She couldn’t hide her distaste at how Primo’s family was treating her. “She asked if it was a push present.”
“A push—?”
“A gift from a husband to his wife for pushing out a baby. She said I didn’t deserve one because the surgeons did all the work.”
She stepped into the pool and silky heat washed over her calves, soothing her prickly mood.
Alessandro halted beside her. “Your coolness the last few days begins to make sense. She’ll apologize,” he said tightly.
“Is that why you brought me here? You thought I needed warming up?” she asked. Twisting her mouth to the side, she scrunched her nose at him. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you, but I didn’t want to tell you. I was pretty rude. But I had had it with the way they’re all acting toward me, Sandro! She sounded just like Primo. I knew that was the source of it and I just snapped.”
His brows went up. “What did you do?”
“Stooped to her level.” She swept her towel off and tossed it to the edge, then sank quickly into the blissfully hot water, turning so she still faced him, but was hidden to her shoulders. “I told her that she might want to consider who I sleep with, since she’s asked you to underwrite that tanning salon of hers.”
Sandro slowly came down the steps after her, not sinking into the water, not taking his gaze off hers. He was wearing his disapproving look, but she didn’t know if it was for her or his cousin.
“She told me not to expect you to fight my battles and I said fine. She was right. That I have no right to interfere in your business decisions, but that she can’t expect to enjoy the hospitality of someone she is insulting. I said that if she needed help packing, she should let me know since I’d be more than happy to arrange assistance from my staff.”