The Secret to Marrying Marchesi

CHAPTER TEN

RIGO WAS IN awe of the strong, confident woman who stood poised on the steps of the courthouse. She held the media in the palm of her hand. Her words were unpractised, imperfect and deeply emotional, but they held all the more weight for it. What had begun as a press statement had somehow morphed into a public shaming of the paparazzi and their careless disregard for children.

He was seeing his wife transformed before his very eyes. Gone was the passive girl who had lived her life according to everyone else, and in her place was this fiery woman, poised and ready to wage war on those who dared to oppose her.

As she finished speaking a crowd of onlookers erupted into applause, and then the press began to ask more questions, one after another.

Rigo motioned to his guards to move forward as he carefully guided Nicole away.

‘That was quite possibly the most terrifying, exhilarating thing I have ever done.’ She smiled as they walked towards the street. ‘I feel as if I could take on the world.’ Her smile faded as he held open the door of his limousine. ‘I’m not going with you, Rigo. I came straight from the airport,’ she said quietly, gesturing to the town car parked just behind them. ‘I’m flying back to Tuscany straight away.’

‘We need to talk, Nicole. Please—just come back to the apartment with me.’

She shook her head. ‘There’s nothing else to say.’

‘Nicole...’

Rigo fought past the strange tightness in his chest. He was trying to tell her how proud he was. How lucky he was to have her by his side. But the words wouldn’t come, so instead he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. His hands tangled in her hair as he took his time, not caring about the people around them. He kissed her deeply, trying in vain to show her how much she meant to him.

When he ended the kiss she was breathless, and his chest was tighter than ever.

Nicole’s eyes were guarded as she pulled away from him. ‘Rigo...’

He held his breath as he watched her war with herself, but when she raised her eyes and he saw the solemn look in them, he knew the answer would be no even before she turned and walked away to her car.

* * *

As the pilot made his final checks Nicole took her seat and looked out the window with unseeing eyes. She should have just gone with him and drowned in his kisses. They would have gone back to the apartment under the pretence of talking and ended up falling straight into bed.

She bit her lip, swallowing past the lump in her throat that hadn’t eased since she had walked away from him outside the courthouse.

She had told him that she loved him and he’d made it clear that he didn’t feel the same. He cared about her. She knew he did. But she couldn’t stay in a relationship in which she was the only one with both feet in the boat. Watching him walk away from her in Tuscany had broken her heart all over again, and she knew that she couldn’t keep going round in circles when she was the only person who kept getting hurt.

There was a commotion at the door of the plane and suddenly the stairs were being lowered to the tarmac once more. Heavy footsteps banged hard on the steps and Rigo’s hulking form appeared in the entryway.

‘What are you doing here?’ She unbuckled her seat belt and moved to her feet, facing him off in the bright cabin. The stewardess tactfully disappeared into the cockpit, giving them privacy.

Rigo stepped forward, his eyes dark with some unknown emotion. For the first time she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the way his jaw was overgrown with dark stubble. Had he looked so tortured outside the courthouse?

‘I shouldn’t have kissed you like that.’ His voice was deep with emotion as he fought to regain his breath.

Nicole crossed her arms. ‘No, you shouldn’t have.’

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I just keep saying or doing the wrong thing with you. Time after time.’

Nicole bit her lip, silently willing him to leave so that she wouldn’t be tempted to forget why she’d left in the first place. ‘There’s no need to say anything. I told you to go and live your life separately.’

‘That’s the problem, Nicole.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to be anywhere else but right here with you.’

The air in the cabin seemed to thicken around them as his words echoed in her mind.

He continued, watching her intently. ‘That day with the photographer, when I walked out and saw you terrified and bleeding, I swear to God something seemed to rise up and choke me from inside. I’m a grown man, and yet I was afraid of how utterly helpless that made me feel. You had already told me to either love you or leave, Nicole. But what I didn’t realise is that I’ve been trying not to lose my mind over you from the moment I first saw you.’