The Italian's Wife

'What's going on? Who are those people?'

'The press.'

'But why would they be interested in our wedding?'

'Rio getting married is news,' the older man advanced. 'Nobody knows who

you are either, and that was sure to whip up a storm.'

At that point the double doors near by were opened wide from the other

side and organ music flooded out from the main body of the church.

Holly gazed in horror at the packed pews she could now see, the

swivelling heads of those keen to see the bride, and she backed out of

sight again at speed. 'I can't do this!' she gasped in genuine panic.

'Not walk down that aisle on my own without my dad or any bridesmaids.

Why didn't Rio warn me it would be like this?'

'He probably didn't think. You'll be fine,' Ezio Farretti soothed.

Holly liked and trusted the older man. She scanned his smart appearance

in his well-cut suit and mustered the courage to make a special request.

'You could give me away...' A note of entreaty underlined her strained

voice. 'That way I wouldn't look so odd and I wouldn't be alone.'

Ezio dealt her a startled look and then absorbed the fact that she was

still backing in the direction of the exit. With a slow smile, he

straightened his shoulders and extended his arm. 'I would be honoured.

But remember that this was your idea, not mine,' he warned her gently.

However, if Rio was taken aback to see her approach the

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altar in tandem with his security chief, Holly was too enervated to

notice. No sooner had she arrived than the priest began to speak, and as

she looked at Rio and met his brilliant dark eyes her heartbeat just

went haywire. The instant the ring went on her finger was so precious to

her but it also made her regret that she had not thought to ask him if

he would have liked to receive a ring too.

But then, he would have had to buy that for himself as well, Holly

realised with a stab of mortification. She wondered how it was that when

life had been normal she had never worried quite so much about money nor

felt so much of a pauper. It hurt her pride that not a shred she wore

even on her own wedding day had been paid for with her own money, for

she had nothing that he had not given her.

'You look really stunning in that gown.' Rio flashed her an appreciative

smile while they stood on the church steps being filmed and photographed.

His smile filled her with warmth and security. Without him by her side,

Holly knew she would have bolted for cover. Never before had she been

the target of so many speculative stares and she had never dreamt even

in her wildest fantasies that she would ever marry a male likely to

attract such enormous attention from the media. She fingered the slender

band of gold on her wedding finger as if it was a talisman that might

yet make her feel that she was really and truly Rio Lombardi's bride.

But just then, regardless of the winging sense of happiness

strengthening her, it still felt like a crazy daydream.

As a limousine whisked them away from the church she turned to him, her

lovely face betraying her continuing strain. 'Why didn't you tell me

that there would be so many people coming?'

Rio elevated a smooth ebony brow and responded with

his own question. 'Why would you have thought otherwise?'

'You told me to leave Timothy at home-'

'I thought that that would be more relaxing for you,' Rio slotted in

smoothly. 'Nor would Timothy enjoy being deprived of his mother and

surrounded by strangers.'

Both statements were indisputably correct but Holly could not help

wondering if her son's exclusion might also have been linked to a

certain unwillingness on Rio's part to brandish the fact that his bride

was already a parent, and to a child who was not his.

Rio rested knowing dark golden eyes on her. 'You're wrong.'

Holly flushed. 'I didn't say anything!'

'You don't need to. I also once sat through a wedding during which a

baby screamed continuously. It left a lasting impression on me,' Rio

mocked, reaching for the taut fingers coiled on her lap and closing his

hand over hers in reassurance. 'I will look on Timothy as my son and

treat him accordingly. Didn't I promise you that?'

'Yes...' Holly's throat had thickened with tears because she was ashamed

that her own insecurity had made her doubt him.

'If I kiss you now I'll wreck your make-up,' Rio teased.

'To heck with that...' she muttered in a wobbly undertone.

With a husky masculine laugh, Rio laced indolent fingers into the bright

fall of her hair and crushed her soft mouth under his own with a hunger

that sent miniature lightning bolts stabbing to every sensitive spot in

her quivering body. 'Enough,' he groaned, setting her back from him. 'We

still have a reception to get through, although I'm not planning on a

lengthy stay.'

Holly tensed. 'A reception?'

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'Feeding one's guests is an inescapable duty,' Rio quipped. 'Sometimes I

wonder if we grew up on the same planet, cara.'

At that crack, Holly paled and said defensively, I just didn't know we

were going to have a proper wedding.'

'What else could we have had?' Rio regarded her in polite bewilderment.

'What did you expect?'

'Just us.'

'Just us?' Rio stressed in patent astonishment at the idea. 'Don't you

think that would have looked very odd? In the circumstances, the very

last thing I would wish is the suggestion that there is anything odd

about our marriage.'

'So who arranged all this stuff, then?'

'My staff. I have an extensive staff,' Rio pointed out gently.

Her mouth still tingling from the smouldering contact of his, Holly

nodded hurriedly in receipt of that information and strove not to look

as if her own ignorance was embarrassing her when indeed it was.

In the grand and exclusive hotel where the reception was staged, she

shook hands with a countless number of people and later recalled not a

single face or name. Rio's relations, his business connections and

personal friends got all mixed up inside her buzzing head. During the

superb meal that was served, a lot of the conversation around her kept

on switching from English into Italian and she tried not to feel

excluded and tried not to seem conscious of the enormous curiosity

behind the lingering appraisals she received. Obviously learning to

speak Italian was going to be one of her first challenges, she told

herself, but it was something of a shock to meet with that language

barrier and to sit there feeling like the quietest bride that had ever

existed.

She angled her head closer to Rio's and whispered, 'I'm just going to

find a phone to ring Timothy.'

Rio interrupted his conversation to turn questioning eyes on her.

'Ring...Timothy?'

Holly reddened. 'Yes. Sarah can hold the phone to his ear so that I can

talk to him.'

Rio eased a hand into his pocket and withdrew his cellphone. 'Be my guest.'

'I wouldn't know how to use it-'

'It's simple.'

Accepting the phone, Holly slipped away from the table to find a quiet

spot in the foyer, but no matter how many buttons she stabbed she

couldn't work out how to use the darned thing and got nothing but words

coming up on the tiny screen. Peering down at it in frustration, she

only then noticed that the same words seemed to be going round and

round: 'I love u. Call me.'

A chill ran down her sensitive spine. As she stood there by the wall,

two women engaged in animated conversation strolled out of the crowded

function room. 'Well, all I can say is...if the baby bride stole Rio

from Christabel, there's hope for all of us!'

'Did you hear that hilarious accent of hers? I almost burst out