Shadow Warrior (Shadow Riders 4)

“I think you’re moving too fast, Vittorio. It must have been very upsetting to have me run in front of a gun when clearly you’re a very protective man.”

He could tell she chose each word carefully, as if she was afraid she would upset him.

“But I think if you take a step back, you’ll see that your lifestyle and mine in no way mesh. I love my job, and I’m good at it. It’s the only thing that’s kept me sane all these years. You’ve had a lifetime of travel, adrenaline and women.”

He knew it would come back to the women. “I’ll admit that my family has played out our lives in the tabloids—but it’s all for show. I never gave who I am to any of those women. What would be the point? So they could sell what they knew to the nearest tabloid? Think about that, Grace. Think about how much damage you could do to my reputation if the things I will share with you were to be splashed all over the newspapers, headlines, media. I’m a businessman. My family owns international banks. Hotels. You name it, we’ve got it. I’m a very private man and I expect what we share between us to remain private.”

Her gaze moved over his face, searching for something. He’d given her the truth and he hoped she saw, because he always intended to give her the truth. There were going to be stumbling blocks, but he hoped he could guide her successfully over every one. Wariness had crept into her eyes. She was getting that he didn’t want a normal relationship.

“Are you opposed to trying an engagement with me?”

Her eyes dropped, but not before he saw the fear. He couldn’t blame her. He was asking for a hell of a lot of trust on her part and he wasn’t making it easy. She was in his home and she couldn’t leave. It wasn’t as if she was a prisoner, but if she left, she’d be giving Haydon Phillips access to her and she wasn’t in any state to fight him off.

She visibly took a breath and he had to resist pulling her into his arms to comfort her. “The thought scares me,” she admitted.

“Grace.” He waited, letting the silence stretch out between them. Finally, she sighed and lifted her gaze once again to his. He smiled at her, proud of her for showing her inevitable courage. He knew, even better than she did, that she was extremely brave. “Tell me why it scares you.”

The tip of her tongue touched her top lip and then her teeth bit down on her lower lip. She swallowed once. “You’re everything I could ever dream about in a man, but it isn’t real. Men like you aren’t real. The man in the tabloids has been around for years, but this one I met only three weeks ago under extreme circumstances. You’d break my heart, and I don’t think I’m strong enough to take that.”

He waited patiently because he could see there was more she was reluctant to admit.

“I know that sounds ridiculous,” she added hastily. “I’ve never had a home or a family. I’ve always had to work out every problem and figure out how to survive. I’ve always been alone. Haydon is the only person that’s ever been a constant in my life and certainly not in a positive way. If I let myself fall in love with you, which would be so easy to do, and then you turned out to be that man in the tabloids, especially if I depended completely on you, I think I would be so broken there would be no fixing me.”

Vittorio felt such pride in her he knew it showed on his face. She was magnificent. That had to have been so difficult to admit to him, and he knew most women would never have done it. Her admission told him she trusted him already far more than she thought she did.

“Grazie, a mia ragazza molto coraggiosa. You are fast becoming mia vita. I can’t imagine what kind of courage it took to tell me the truth, and I appreciate it. I want to be able to have honest communication between us. That’s the only way a relationship like we would have would work. I need to know how you feel and you have to know how I feel. I understand that you’re nervous and even scared. I’m a little terrified of losing you because of who I am and what I need. I’m hoping your needs coincide with mine.”

He fed her several bites of egg, watching the expressions chase across her face. When she finished the eggs, he switched back to his chair to give her some breathing room. At least she wasn’t trying to run for the hills. She was actually giving the things he said real thought.