‘You…had?’
‘Then I realised you’d gone out in the storm, and I don’t ever want to relive that panic you put me in, cara,’ Rafaello confided with a positive shudder of recollection. ‘By the time I got you back up to the villa, I knew I had much deeper feelings for you than I had been prepared to admit—’
‘So you proposed marriage to me when I was in the bath. Trouble is, I didn’t think you meant it—’
‘I’m not like my father. I was really impressed listening to him giving forth about your mother and without a shred of self-consciousness admitting that she was the love of his life. I’m just not great with the words,’ Rafaello interrupted with raw regret, strained dark eyes holding hers as if he was willing her with every atom of his being to believe in him. ‘But I just looked at you and my feelings…well, they just overwhelmed me and I know it wasn’t the most romantic proposal or the best place to propose—’
Glory was so shaken by that disjointed burst of confidence that her eyes stung with tears. ‘And I rejected the idea straight off. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen—’
‘No, it was my fault, throwing it at you like that,’ Rafaello insisted, gathering her close and snatching in a sustaining breath. ‘I realised that I had to try to prove to you that we could be happy together—’
‘You succeeded—’
‘But I didn’t have the guts to sit down and trash the mistress arrangement straight off in case you just upped and walked out there and then,’ Rafaello confessed in a charged undertone of embarrassment. ‘Then that last night we had that stupid argument and you said how mortified you’d be if your family knew what you were doing with me…I honestly thought you despised me for being such a jerk—’
All those brains, Glory reflected in silent fascination, and he could not see the wood from the trees when it came to her feelings for him. ‘I was just saying that because I was angry with you—’
‘But I felt so guilty and ashamed. Then when I came to bed thinking you would be asleep, you turned out to be awake,’ he reminded her. ‘And I was dreading saying what I knew I had to say…’
‘Which was?’ Glory prompted.
‘That I was sorry that I had forced you into becoming my mistress but that I had never once thought of you that way because I loved you and still wanted to marry you—’
‘Why on earth were you dreading saying that to me?’ Glory demanded in some bewilderment.
Shimmering golden eyes assailed hers in a head-on collision and his hard jawline clenched. ‘I was scared you would just pack your bags and go—’
‘But I was nuts about you too!’ Glory exclaimed. ‘I suppose you were so tense the next morning because you were still thinking that but, you see, I thought you were warming up to dumping me. How on earth could you think I would walk out on you after the way I’d behaved in bed with you?’
‘Passion didn’t mean you wouldn’t grab the first chance you got to have your freedom back.’
‘I hope you know different now. Passion and love go together for me,’ Glory informed him gently.
‘When I got back and found you gone I was shattered,’ Rafaello muttered heavily. ‘I assumed you’d gone back to England and I hired an investigation agency to search for you—’
‘You…did?’ Glory was shocked by that admission.
‘Then your father fell ill and I was finally able to find you after two months of hell—’
‘But you were so distant—’
‘Even the most stupid guy would get the message that he was unwanted after being ditched twice over, bella mia,’ Rafaello pointed out defensively. ‘And the way you kept on thanking me all the time for doing what I could for Archie made me feel even worse. I was also feeling very uncomfortable with the fact that I knew Sam was my brother but you didn’t.’
Glory’s bright blue eyes shone like stars as she gazed up at him. ‘You never have been unwanted by me in your entire life, Rafaello Grazzini,’ she swore with a slight break in her voice. ‘You love me, you really love me—?’
‘So much I can’t keep my hands off you in public places.’ Registering that he was on a decided winning streak, Rafaello hauled her even closer and kissed her with hungry passion, breathing raggedly in the aftermath. ‘I can’t wait to marry you, I just can’t wait…’
They didn’t stay out long. He took her home and they parted and Glory went indoors and gave her brother a big hug. ‘You’re even cleverer than I thought you were,’ she told him.
Sam laughed but he was bewildered. ‘Why?’
‘Sorry, can’t explain. But you were right about something that I am incredibly happy to have been wrong about,’ his sister said with an ecstatic smile that left him none the wiser.
It was her father who reminded her about the gifts which Rafaello had brought. Glory discovered that the slim parcel contained a jewel-case which contained an exquisite diamond and platinum necklace and drop earrings. She was overwhelmed by Rafaello’s generosity but it all meant so much more to her now that she knew she was loved. Her engagement ring, the gift which m
ost touched her heart, was an equally beautiful diamond solitaire, and the eternity ring, a narrow matching band.
The next morning, the day of the wedding, she was up early and had only just gone upstairs when she heard a car pulling up outside. Maud, who had come over to help her get dressed, called up to tell her that she had a visitor.