A cellphone rang. His. He sat up, dropped a light kiss on her hair and reached for the phone.
“Who?” she heard him say. He frowned, got to his feet and began pacing as he spoke. “Well, I don’t know. I mean, it is kind of you to—No. I agree. There is no real reason not to—Still, the situation is…” He paused. She could see him take a deep breath. “You’re right. It is time. I shall be there.” He looked at Cheyenne. “We shall be there. Si. Yes. Cheyenne McKenna. Yes. Cheyenne. She and I are—we are—we are together. Va bene. We’ll see you then.”
The call ended. Cheyenne stared at Luca. She waited. And waited. Finally, he cleared his throat.
“That was Jacob. Jacob Wilde.”
She nodded.
“There is going to be a party at El Sueño. A Labor Day celebration.”
She nodded again. This was serious. There was that telltale sudden appearance of his accent.
“He says it is a Wilde tradition. A family tradition. And he says that since the Bellinis are family, you know, since we are Wildes, too…”
“I’m glad you’re going,” she said, meaning every word. “But I heard what you said about taking me with you. Thank you for that, but I don’t belong there. I mean, this is a family thing.”
He crossed the room in half a dozen long strides, gently clasped her shoulders and lifted her to her feet.
“I could tell you that I want us to go because it’s a chance for me to take another look at Sweetwater Ranch and get started on planning renovations.”
“Oh, that’s lovely! I didn’t think that you’d—”
“I could tell you that it would be fun to get away together for a few days.” His kiss was as tender as it was hard and deep. “Or I could simply tell you the truth. You belong wherever I am. I love you, Cheyenne. I love you with all my heart.”
“Luca.” She felt her eyes fill with tears. “Luca—”
“And you love me.”
She gave a watery laugh at that bit of arrogance, that Luca Bellini arrogance that she’d come to adore.
“Tell me,” he demanded, as he had so many times before. “Say the words I need to hear.”
What he needed to hear was the ugly truth of her past, but right then, the only truth that mattered was the one blazing in her heart.
“I love you,” she said. “I love you, love you, love you…”
He gathered her into his arms and took her to his bed, to their bed, and they made love with such passion and tenderness that, at the end, she wept.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“…And then,” Alessandra gasped, amidst peals of laughter from everyone gathered around the fire-pit in the back yard at El Sueño, “and then, Bianca and I looked at each other and we pointed at Luca and Matteo and we said, ‘They did it!’ And our mother grabbed each of them by an ear, marched them into the house and sent them to bed without any supper.”
“Which was fine with us,” Luca said, grinning, “because supper that night was maccheroni al formaggio and even when you say it in Italian, macaroni and cheese is still macaroni and cheese.”
“And we hated macaroni and cheese,” Matteo said. “I still do.”
More laughter.
Lissa wiped her eyes. “How come we never thought of laying the blame on our brothers?”
Jaimie and Emily exchanged mischievous smiles.
“Speak for yourself,” Jaimie said. All the Wildes and Bellinis looked at her. “One time, you guys had been home from school, winter break or something, and I had just gotten my driver’s license and I wasn’t supposed to take a car out without permission, but Em and I were supposed to meet a couple of guys at Angie’s Café and so we, uh, we ‘borrowed’ that black pickup we used to have, remember? Things would have been fine except we forgot to refill the gas tank, and—”
“And,” Emily said, “Father flew in the next day and he took the pickup out to check on a couple of oil wells—”
“And he ran out of gas.” Jaimie giggled. “He had to walk back to the house and he was furious. ‘ Who drove that truck and didn’t top off the tank?’ he said, and we both knew he’d ground us if we told him the truth, so—”
“So,” Emily said blithely, “we said one of you guys must have done it.”
“Never could trust ‘em for a minute,” Travis said, looking at Luca and Matteo and grinning.
“How come I wasn’t going to Angie’s with you?” Lissa said.
Emily rolled her eyes. “That was the winter you were too busy drooling over Donny Hayes, remember?”
“His name was Donny Hayden,” Lissa said with mock indignation. “And I did not drool.” She batted her lashes. “Well, okay. Maybe a little.”
Lissa’s husband wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. “Aha,” he said. “A secret past.”
She smiled at him, and all the love in the world was in that smile.
“Jealous?” she asked sweetly.
Nick kissed her. “No,” he said, and kissed her again, “because you’re not Donny Hayden’s, you’re mine.”
Everybody sighed.
“What a scene,” Caleb said. “Probably straight out of Nick’s next movie.”
“Well,” Nick said, “now that you mention it…”
They all laughed.
Cheyenne sat in the curve of Luca’s arm, warmed by the fire, by the wonder of seeing people who had been enemies coming together as a family, but warmed most by the joy of being with the man she loved.
They’d flown in yesterday and rented a car for the drive to the ranch.
She’d been on edge. On edge? Terrified, was more like it. She was about to meet her lover’s brother and sisters, his half-brothers and half-sisters, their spouses, their kids…
She was about to meet all the people who mattered to him and yes, she’d met them before, but that only made it worse because that first meeting, right here at El Sueño, had certainly not gone well.
“Nervous?” Luca had asked, when they pulled up at the house.
“No,” she’d replied, but her teeth had chattered.
He hadn’t laughed, hadn’t teased her. He’d simply leaned across the console and kissed her.
“I love you,” he’d said. “And so will everyone else.”
The first few minutes had been a little sticky. They’d been the last to arrive. Same as the last time, the Wildes and Bellinis had all been gathered at the big table in the dining room; they’d been eating lunch and talking non-stop, but they fell silent when she and Luca entered the room.
All those upturned faces. The polite smiles. The questioning eyes. Given the chance, Cheyenne would probably have turned and run, but Luca hadn’t let that happen.
He’d put his arm around her shoulders and drawn her close.
“Everybody,” he’d said, “this is Cheyenne.” A pause. “Just in case you don’t remember meeting her before.”
He’d said it lightly. A few people smiled.
r /> “She owns Sweetwater Ranch.” She stiffened, and he drew her even closer. “Which is about to become a place where kids with problems learn to trust the world, thanks to Cheyenne and an organization called Horse Sense.”
That drew more smiles, looks of interest and a couple of knowing nods.
“But the most important thing you should know about her,” he’d said, “is that I love her.” A gasp. Stares. “And she loves me,” he’d added, and that had done it.
Everybody had started talking at once, Matteo had high-fived Luca, Lissa had told them all to shove over, Emily had taken plates and silverware and napkins from the sideboard and just that easily, Cheyenne had been made a part of the group.
And, she thought now, as she watched the flames of the fire shooting into the night sky, it was one heck of a group.
An actor. A chef. A psychologist. A CFO. A VP. A couple of lawyers. A university professor. A financial guru. A guy who ran a half a million acre ranch as well as one of his own. Another guy who owned a high-level security company. Two men who designed and built structures known around the world.
It would have been easy to be impressed, maybe even intimidated, but they were all really nice people. They’d made her feel as if she belonged here, asking her about the places she’d been, the ads she’d done, the world in which she moved.
Amazing.
Only a couple of months ago, questions about her life had seemed intrusive. Luca’s love had changed that. He’d shown her that the world could be a welcoming place instead of a judgmental one.
As for his big family… She liked them all, but she felt especially comfortable with his sisters, maybe because they so obviously adored him.
“Whoops,” Lissa said. “We’re out of cookies.”
Bianca said that she would go into the house and get more. Alessandra offered to go with her.
“Me, too,” Cheyenne said, and rose to her feet.
“Come back here, woman,” Luca said with a fake growl.
She leaned down and kissed him.
“Two minutes,” she said. “I promise.”
“Two minutes,” he said, smiling at her. “And then I’m going to come after you.”
She laughed. His sisters did, too, looping their arms through hers as the three of them walked across the grass, through the back door and into the kitchen.