She crept over to him and sat down, burying her face against his shoulder. “My parents will adore you. They won’t believe the beauty of this place.”
“Have you told them much about me?”
“I guess I’d better admit to the truth now, because you’ll hear it from Mom when you meet her.” She leaned over to kiss him.
After kissing her back he said, “What truth?”
“She’s been worried about me for a long time. But after you and I clashed in your hallway, I phoned her and told her I’d met a man who’d already changed my life. And if I was lucky enough, maybe I would change his. I kind of told her you looked like a god with black hair and gray-green eyes. I also said Dad would be jealous because when my mom first met you, sh
e would go weak in the knees and might faint, just like me.”
Lucca laughed quietly before rewarding her with more kisses.
“You’re my beloved, Lucca. I’m so madly in love with you, if I lost you now, I’d want to die!”
Lucca couldn’t take it in. “You’re my life, adorata. After your confession, I guess I can tell you mine. The night you came at me with the cane, I knew somewhere deep inside you were the woman I’d been waiting for all my life. But I was terrified because I wanted to be ready to give you all the things you deserve. I feared that after what you’d been through with your first husband, you wouldn’t be able to trust me.”
“Darling …” She traced his profile with her finger.
“You have a lot to learn about a woman in love the way I am with you.”
“I’m finding that out,” he said in husky voice. “Now I’ve got another question.”
She read the anxiety in his eyes. “You mean about being a farmer’s wife? I can’t wait! Do you know something? I guessed that about you right from the beginning.”
He looked surprised. “How?”
“I actually pictured it in my mind that first morning sitting on the terrace. You’d just crept back to this farmhouse in the dead of it because you’re a home boy at heart. Your mother and her family had a love for the earth and all the beautiful things that grow here. Though you have a lot of Guilio in you, you’re an extension of her and your grandfather.”
She nestled closer. “When I got into bed that first night, before you fell in the hall, I felt that the family who’d once lived here had been supremely happy. Through all your pain and suffering, I saw how much peace the farm gave you. Your eyes would go soft when you looked around. The sight of the daisies I picked seemed to speak to you.”
He nodded. “My mother used to pick them in the morning and bring them in house, just like you did.”
“What a wonderful memory you have of her. When you made tea from the lemons growing outside, I learned something profound about you and could imagine you out pruning the trees. I could see myself watching you, coveting your body from a distance while I thought up ways to lure you back in the house.”
“Annabelle,” he whispered, his voice raw with emotion. “Keep saying things like that and never let me go.”
“As if I could,” she cried, covering his mouth with her own.
“This is Canale Eight, with the six o’clock news, broadcasting live from Milan. Tonight ladies and gentlemen, we’re at the Amalfi main showroom in Milan where Guilio Cavezzali, CEO of the one of the most prestigious lines of cars in Italy, is about to unveil their latest creation.”
Annabelle sat in the driver’s seat of the black-on-black sports car, knowing the television camera would be on her the second the curtain was drawn. All she had to do was drive the car into the center of the showroom and follow Guilio’s lead.
Her hair had been swept to one side and cascaded over one shoulder to reveal diamond earrings and a diamond choker. Marcella had decked her out in a stunning flame-orange cocktail dress in a chiffonlike fabric. The straps went from the center of the bodice and fastened at the back of her neck. Her high-heeled sandals were covered in diamondlike brilliance.
Lucca was out on the floor with Maria and Basilio, watching Annabelle from a distance. He’d dressed in a silky black shirt and tan trousers. Her gorgeous husband ought to be the one in the spotlight. She happened to know the black model sports car with the milliondollar price tag was his favorite.
As soon as she got the cue from one of the guys, she started the car and drove to the spot where she’d practiced several times to get it right. Guilio stood front and center with a microphone.
“Here comes the Amalfi Girl now. You’ll see her picture in all our showrooms around the world. Tonight we are happy to announce the launch of the first convertible sports car our company has ever designed. I’ve named it the Amalfi MB-Viper in honor of my son, who served our country flying one of the Viper fighter jets.
“She’ll get out and open the hood so you can zoom in for a closer look.”
Guilio gave a rundown of the impressive stats as Annabelle stepped from the car with as much as grace as she could and did the honors. So far so good as she moved from spot to spot, demonstrating the car’s features.
Even from a distance she noticed Lucca’s eyes smolder as he watched her walk around and open the passenger door to point out the luxurious upholstery and dashboard.
Finally her father-in-law smiled into the camera. “From zero to sixty miles per hour in three seconds. Take a drive in the MB-Viper and slide silently into the future.”