He sat back and thought about this. It took him barely a few seconds to decide.
‘That’s a very good idea. Why don’t we change the name to the Raoul Tebaldi and Lyddie Sanderson scheme?’
* * *
Jay-Dee had left them when Jen reached for Luca’s hand. She guided it to the swell of her belly, where their son was kicking three bells out of her in an attempt, Jen decided in her crazy way, to reach his father—having recognised Luca as such, of course, being such an advanced child, even in the womb.
‘What shall we call him?’ she asked as Luca froze, with his hard face softened to an incredible degree.
Luca’s answer was to kneel at her side. Turning to look at her, he cradled her face between his hands, and with the utmost reverence and tenderness he brushed his lips very lightly against hers. ‘Let’s call him Luciano, the bringer of light, Luci for short—unless you have a better idea?’
‘I think Luci’s perfect,’ Jen agreed.
‘Will you come home with me?’ Luca asked, frowning as he stood. Reaching out his hands, he helped Jen to her feet.
‘You have a home in London?’ she asked.
He smiled. ‘I do. But once your work on the exhibition for the Queen’s Diamonds has been completed, I hope you’ll come home to Sicily with me?’
Six months apart had been worse than a life sentence for Jen. To have parted on such bitter terms from Luca had left her bruised and hurt. To hear him issue this invitation now was like the cell door flying open, but before she stepped out she had to hear him say that there was more between them than mistrust over his brother’s will. She wanted to hear him talk about love, and what the future held for them and their child, as well as the island.
‘You’re right to hesitate,’ he said when she remained silent. ‘I have no right to ask this of you. I have no right to ask anything of you. I’ve treated you abysmally. And I’ll make no excuses,’ he said, holding up his hand when she wanted to reassure him. ‘I talked about money and I doubted you. I was sick with grief at losing the brother I had somehow lost in life, and lost again in death, but that wasn’t your fault. I’ve thought of nothing but you for these past six months—you and our child. Living apart from you has been my punishment, and I only hope you can forgive me, so that my punishment can end.’
‘So much misunderstanding,’ Jen whispered. ‘The past has conditioned us both to look for trouble, and not to give our trust lightly, but we have to move on.’
‘I don’t deserve you—’
‘To the future,’ she said.
‘So you’ll come back with me?’
The expression on Luca’s face told her everything she needed to know. ‘I’d love that,’ she said honestly, staring into his eyes. ‘I love you.’
‘You have no idea how much I love you,’ Luca assured her fervently. ‘And I’m looking forward to working with you so much.’
‘Just to working with me?’ Jen teased gently as Luca took her in his arms.
‘I’m looking forward to making love to you most of all,’ he admitted wickedly, and when she softened in his arms he kissed her again, and this time the kisses went on and on, until he pulled back, when Jen frowned and asked him, ‘Won’t the bump be a problem?’
‘Cara, nothing on this earth is going to stand between me, and your pleasure. Shall we go...?’
* * *
Sometimes sleeping in a man’s arms told you more about the man than hours of conversation, Jen decided. Sleeping in Luca’s arms was like coming home. All the doubts, all the mistrust, all the hurdles along the way, were just steps she either wanted to take, or she didn’t. If something was worth having, it was worth fighting for, and she had.
They had talked long into the night about the past, the present, and the future. So long as they travelled that road together, she didn’t much mind what lay ahead of them. Luca had trodden a straight line since leaving Sicily, he’d told her, and sometimes, because Raoul had stayed with his father in the hope of winning his love, that road had taken a detour around the brother who had loved him and whom Luca had loved. But he was going to do everything he could to honour Raoul’s memory, and Lyddie’s.
‘Good morning.’
‘Good morning,’ she whispered as he woke up. How precious these moments were after being so long apart. Luca was such a sight, even in the early morning. He was magnificent. His powerful body washed by the pearly light of dawn was sprawled across his big bed in his penthouse apartment. It was impossible to say how much she loved him. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to wake up,’ she admitted.
He opened one eye. ‘Why? So we can continue discussing our plans for the island.’
She shrugged. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I have other plans...’
‘That’s a relief,’ he murmured gruffly.
Luca made love to her slowly and deeply until she came apart in his arms, and not once, but several times. They slept afterwards, and when she woke, he kissed her and smiled. ‘Will you marry me? Or do I have to make love to you again?’
She laughed with sheer happiness. ‘Both,’ she said. ‘I will marry you, but you have to make love to me first. After that you can ask me to marry you again.’
‘The eternal circle?’ he suggested.
‘Of lovemaking and promises,’ she agreed. ‘I’m up for it, if you are.’
‘Oh, I’m up for it,’ he said.
‘Can I just say—I love you so much?’ She smiled into his eyes as she kissed him.
‘You can say that all you want, Signorina Sanderson, soon to become Signora Tebaldi. In fact, I demand that you never get tired of saying it, as I will never tire of telling you how much I love you.’
‘I can’t wait to return to the island,’ she admitted. I’ve missed it—you,’ she admitted wryly, ‘more than you will ever know. I’m thrilled that I finally qualified and became a gemologist like my mother, and I know she’d be proud of me, as would Lyddie and my father, but when I took that diploma in my hand, I knew that what my mother really wanted for me—for both her children, was for us to be happy, and I’d almost thrown that away.’
‘Never, cara—’
‘Yes,’ Jen argued. ‘I was still prepared to risk everything, including you, for the sake of pride. I was hurt and blinded by insecurity and defensiveness, and so I pushed you away, when all I wanted was to bring you close. But I couldn’t admit it. I didn’t have the courage to admit it. When I inherited the money and heard about your brother’s plans for it from Jay-Dee, my first thought was that you must be involved. I knew that was what Raoul would want.’ Her eyes fired with certainty. ‘The three of us working together—’
‘The two of us living together?’ Luca amended with his sexy, slow-burning smile.
Jen gave him the look she had always reserved for Luca when he teased her. ‘It would make the logistics of working together easier,’ she agreed, teasing him back.
Suddenly the cell door wasn’t just open, it had vanished. ‘I love you,’ she said. ‘We’ve both learned a lot, and mostly about trust.’
‘Only trust?’ Luca whispered. ‘What about love? I’ve learned a lot about love, and I’m looking forward to returning to live on an island that will ring to the sound of our children.’
He caressed her stomach and their child responded vigorously, as if in agreement.
‘I need to make up for lost time,’ he said bluntly. ‘I need proof that you’ve forgiven me.’
Jen laughed. ‘You’ll stop at nothing,’ she said.
‘Too right,’ Luca agreed. ‘I’m hungry for you,’ he explained with a rueful shrug.
‘Not as hungry as I am for you, after a fast,’ Jen insisted.
‘I think you may have become insatiable,’ he murmured, frowning as he brushed her hair aside to kiss the nape of her neck.
‘I know I have,’ Jen whispered, pulling him close again.