The Temporary Mrs. Marchetti

He turned and looked at her with one of his smiles that wasn’t quite a smile. ‘You know what’s ironic? My brother was the one with his heart set on taking over the business. I had other plans.’

Shock ran through Alice in an icy tide. Plans? What plans? How had she spent six weeks with this man and not once realised he’d had other plans for his life than the hotel business? He was so successful. He owned and operated some of the most luxurious boutique hotels in the Mediterranean. When you thought of boutique hotels you thought of Cristiano Marchetti. But what had he wanted to do with his life?

‘You mean you didn’t want to be in the hotel business? Not at all?’

He picked up a photograph of his grandparents as a young couple that was on the walnut table near the window, his fingers moving over the carved frame as if he were reading Braille.

‘No. I wanted to be an architect. But it was impossible once my parents and brother died. I don’t think I even mentioned it to my grandparents after that. I knew my fate. The responsibility was ultimately mine otherwise everything my parents and grandparents had worked for would be lost. I had to shelve my plans and immerse myself in the business. But don’t feel too sorry for me, cara.’

He put the photograph back down and glanced at her.

‘I have plenty of opportunity to express my creativity when I’m working on renovating an old building.’ His mouth twisted in a self-deprecating manner. ‘I make the architect’s life hell for a few months but that’s life.’

Alice was in a turmoil of regret over not realising any of this until now. She had made so many assumptions about him. She had even playfully mocked him about his wealth on occasion. And not so playfully recently, when she’d made that crack about all the silver spoons hanging out of his mouth.

All the clues were there now she stopped to reflect on their time together. He had been reluctant to talk about his past because he found it so painful. Not just because of the loss of his family but the loss of the life he had mapped out for himself. He had lost control of everything the day his parents and brother were killed.

She thought of all the times she had talked to him about her plans to build her own beauty spa. She had told him how she had wanted to do it since she was a little girl when she went with her mother to a beauty salon when her mother got her nails done for her second wedding. Alice had been captivated by all the lotions and potions and the sense of luxury so unfamiliar in her life back then. She’d made a decision right then and there to own and operate her own beauty salon where women could escape the humdrum of life and spoil themselves with some pampering. She had fought for her dream and achieved it in spite of the disadvantages of her background.

But Cristiano’s background—the one she had envied so much—had been the cause of him not being able to live his dream.

Alice walked over to where he was standing and placed her hand on his forearm. ‘I’ve always felt jealous of your wealth, that you could buy anything you want, travel anywhere you like, do anything you like. But it’s been more of a burden than anything else, hasn’t it?’

He placed his hand over hers, bringing it up to his chest. ‘It’s both a blessing and a burden but I would much rather have the security of wealth than not. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my work. I didn’t for a long time, but I do now.’

‘But who will take over from you once you get to retirement age?’ Alice asked. ‘Your cousin?’

‘God no,’ he said with a roll of his eyes. ‘Rocco has no head for business. His idea of a hotel makeover would be to install slot machines in every room. My parents and grandparents

would spin in their graves.’ He sighed and released her hand. ‘No, I’ll probably sell the business outright when the time is right.’

‘But if you had a family, a son or daughter, they could take over and—’

‘You seem a little hung up on this issue, Alice.’ His tone was on the edge of being crisp. ‘Does this mean you’ve changed your mind about having children?’

Alice forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. You have so much to offer a child. You have a strong sense of family. You’ve had great modelling in both your parents and grandparents. Why wouldn’t you pass on that wonderful heritage to your own offspring?’

‘Let’s talk about you, then,’ he said, his gaze unwavering. ‘Who will you leave your goods and chattels to? A dog’s home?’

Alice pursed her lips and then puffed out a sigh. If they were supposed to be working at a truce then why shouldn’t she be honest with him?

She shook back her hair and raised her gaze back to his. ‘Okay, I’ll let you in on a secret. I have thought about having kids. I’ve thought about it a lot recently.’

‘And?’

‘And it’s something I’d like to do one day. When I find the right man, of course.’

His expression became shuttered. ‘What made you change your mind?’

Alice picked up another photo next to the one of his grandparents. It was a family shot of Cristiano with his parents and older brother. She had seen it before without really seeing it. Cristiano was a happy child in that photo, smiling with an open and engaging expression. Nothing like the serious and closed-off man of today. She put the photo back down and looked at him again.

‘It was a gradual thing rather than an overnight change of heart,’ she said.

Not unlike my feelings for you.

‘I realised what I’d be missing out on when I saw my friends and my clients with their babies. It’s such a special relationship—unique, really—the love between a mother and child.’ She gave him a flutter of a smile. ‘My mother drives me completely nuts but deep down I know she loves me more than anyone else on this planet. I want to feel that love. I want to experience that bond.’

His mouth turned up at one side in a rueful angle. ‘What a pity my grandmother meddled with your life. You’ll have to put your baby plans on hold for another six months.’