The Innocent Behind the Scandal (The Marchetti Dynasty 2)

Zoe searched Maks’s face for signs that he was just making this up. But the faintest glimmer of a memory was coming back to her. People talking in hushed voices as they looked at her with pity. She’d blocked out so much of that time, and she’d been so young...and then she’d never wanted to think about it.

That moment when her father had looked back at her just before the crash had been crystallised in her mind, but maybe...

‘Zoe, even if he’d had his eyes on the road he wouldn’t have had a chance. It was too narrow to escape them. You need to know that. It wasn’t your fault.’

This was huge. Too huge to take in fully right now. But even as she thought that she felt something shift inside her, like a knot loosening.

Maks said, ‘We’re different, Zoe. Things can be different for us. I’m willing to take the risk if you are.’

Could she do it? Hand herself over to this man whom she loved but didn’t have the guts to say it out loud to yet?

And then it hit her. She simply didn’t have a choice except to move forward. For the sake of their baby as much as for her own sake. That was why she’d come back here. That was why she’d never contemplated anything but having her baby.

Maks turned her around to face the water and wrapped one arm around her while pointing out to sea with the other. The clouds were parting to reveal blue sky. And a rainbow.

He said, close to her ear, ‘We can’t do anything but trust in each other and weather whatever comes our way, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. I love you.’

The rainbow shimmered and glistened, beckoning her to put her trust in this man. She had a sense of her family around her, urging her on. Urging her to finally let go of the guilt that had dogged her whole life. The guilt that she’d used like a shield to stop herself from getting hurt.

It hadn’t been her fault.

Zoe felt a sense of peace wash over her. Acceptance. And a rush of love so intense that she turned around, rose up on her toes and wrapped her arms around Maks’s neck.

She’d thought it would be hard to say the words, but in the end it was the easiest thing in the world. ‘I love you, Maks.’

‘Say that again.’

‘I love you.’

Joy flooded her being when she saw the awe she felt reflected in Maks’s eyes.

He said, ‘Will you marry me? Not for the baby or for any other reason except that I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I want everyone to know you’re mine. And because I love you.’

Zoe bit her lip, scarcely believing what she was hearing. Slivers of lingering fear and guilt—for wanting what her parents had had and hoping that her life could be different—that it wouldn’t be cut so tragically short-threatened to rise and drown her again.

But Maks brushed her hair back and said, ‘I know, Zoe. I get it. I’m scared too—believe me. I only saw meanness and selfishness. I’m afraid I don’t know how to be a good father. But I know I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. So will you? Marry me and take the biggest risk of your life?’

The fear and guilt receded, banished finally by the naked emotion she saw

in Maks’s eyes. A giddy happiness flooded her whole body.

Zoe smiled through her tears. ‘Yes, I will. I love you, Maks.’

The risk was huge, but she knew that the reward would be even greater.

He covered her mouth with his, taking her breath and taking her soul and her heart for ever.

EPILOGUE

Four years later. London.

‘THERE’S MAMA! LOOK!’

Maks hushed his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Luna as they walked into the huge, cavernous studio where the photo-shoot was taking place.

‘Yes, I see her, piccolina. But we can’t say hello just yet—she’s working.’

‘Okay, Papa.’