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  ‘No, that was a lie. But it was my fault that she made you the target of her venom,’ Sergio said gravely.

  ‘How could it be your fault?’

  ‘Grazia’s a vulture. When she tried to get back into my life, I didn’t discourage her as much as I could have done and her vanity was her undoing,’ Sergio revealed with visible reluctance. ‘Her pursuit amused me. It was before I met you and I didn’t see why I shouldn’t play her along as she had once done to me—’

  ‘You wanted revenge?’ Kathy was startled by a possibility that she had not considered before, and uplifted by the belated awareness that he was no longer interested in the beautiful blonde.

  Sergio shifted a dismissive brown hand. ‘I would never have sought her out on my own behalf; I didn’t care enough. But I was angry when she dared to approach me last year. I didn’t have to do anything to settle old scores—just stand back and watch while Grazia plotted and planned to get me back.’

  Kathy released a shaken sound of consternation. ‘But she was Abramo’s wife.’

  ‘Grazia goes where the money is and the minute Abramo lost his, he was yesterday’s news. He knows that as well as I do and I do believe he is over her now. What kind of a woman deserts her husband when he’s ill?’

  ‘A ruthless one—the sort of woman I thought you admired.’

  ‘But she’d never beat me at chess in a million years, delizia mia. She’d never dream of telling me I can’t climb Everest because it’s too dangerous and I might get killed—by the way, I did it a few years ago. I think it’s fortunate that I took in certain experiences before I met you because there’s a long list of manly sporting pursuits which bring you out in a rash of anxiety, isn’t there?’

  Kathy had turned pink with mortification, not having appreciated that her terror at the prospect of anything happening to him was quite so obvious.

  Sergio rested dark golden eyes on her and reached for her hands. ‘Grazia would have encouraged me to follow dangerous sports because she’d have enjoyed being a merry widow more than wife. How could you think I’d want her back for even five minutes when you were around?’

  ‘You and I sort of fell into a relationship. Nothing was planned—especially not Ella.’ Kathy’s voice was uneven. ‘But you chose Grazia. You wanted to marry her.’

  ‘Per meraviglia,’ Sergio sighed in a tone of regret. ‘I was twenty-one and she was a trophy my friends envied. I loved her to the best of my ability then. I was a boy, but now I’m a man and I have a very different take on what I want in a wife. But until I met you I didn’t know what I wanted—’

  ‘All you wanted was sex,’ Kathy told him bluntly.

  ‘That may be how I first saw us, but you taught me to want other things that I didn’t even know that I needed.’

  ‘Like what?’ she prompted.

  ‘Ordinary things like laughter, honest opinions, arguments…’

  ‘You think you needed someone to argue with?’

  ‘Opposition is good for me now and again. And the occasional intelligent dialogue that did not relate to jewellery, clothes or diet was very welcome, amata mia,’ Sergio confided. ‘Of course, I didn’t properly appreciate what a catch you were until you vanished for seven and a half months and I found out what it was like to miss you.’

  Kathy was enthralled, for at first she had thought he was teasing her but now she was recognising the sincerity that lay behind the self-mocking delivery. ‘You missed me?’

  ‘And it was too late. You were gone. Now if Grazia had played that card she would’ve shown up again within a couple of weeks, but, you being you, you were gone for good.’

  ‘I thought it was for the best at the time.’

  ‘The knowledge that I came that close to losing you for ever still haunts me. The stag cruise was a disaster. No…’ Sergio groaned when she suddenly snatched her hands from his. ‘You have to let me talk about this—’

  Her face tight, Kathy stepped back from him. ‘No, that kind of stuff is better left buried. It was before we were married and none of my business.’

  Sergio strode forward and swept her up off her feet. ‘Oh, I like that when it’s still being held against me and thrown up at every opportunity!’

  ‘When did I last throw it up?’ Kathy yelled.

  ‘You didn’t see the judgemental look on your face when you got on this boat for the first time…’

  ‘Maybe your conscience made you imagine that. For goodness’ sake, put me down!’

  ‘No. I didn’t get horrendously drunk on that stag cruise. I didn’t even kiss anyone. Okay?’ he demanded. ‘You were inside my head to such an extent you might as well have been with me. You were the only woman I wanted.’

  Shocked by that burst of confession, Kathy let him carry her downstairs to their stateroom. ‘I didn’t like you very much then.’

  Sergio laid her down very gently on the bed. His brilliant dark eyes were bleak. ‘I know and it’s what I deserved, totally what I asked for. But I’ll never be like that with you again because I love you. Even if you were a thief I would still be married to you and I would still feel the same way.’

  Kathy was stunned by the raw emotion stamped in his face. ‘You fell for me?’

  ‘Probably the first time we met and my brain started malfunctioning. I was all over the place, assuming this, assuming that about you. The sex was amazing, but so were you. When I was in Norway, the rest of the guys were in stitches at the number of times I phoned you.’

  ‘Yes, you did phone quite a bit,’ she acknowledged.

  ‘And the move to France may not have appealed to you, but it was my first fumbling attempt at a committed relationship in a decade,’ Sergio argued in his own defence.

  ‘I’m glad you used the word fumbling.’

  ‘And I blew any remaining goodwill with that stupid stag do. I accept that. But when I couldn’t find you, I was devastated. That’s when I knew how I felt about you. That’s why there was nobody else all that time…’

  ‘Nobody?’ Wide-eyed, Kathy turned her coppery head to study him. ‘Not one single woman in all those months?’

  ‘Call it retribution for the night I made you sleep with me. I haven’t been with anyone else since I met you and I’m amazingly proud of that fact.’ His rueful smile tilted her heart on its axis. ‘I did get you to agree to marry me in a weak moment. It was deliberate. I knew I wouldn’t feel secure until you were my wife. I would have done virtually anything to get that ring on your finger.’

  Kathy was smiling back, flattered by such eagerness to marry on his part. ‘So it was really just the wedding hoopla you disliked? Not the act of getting married to me?’

  ‘Is that what you thought?’ Sergio grimaced. ‘It wasn’t meant that way, bella mia. I thought I could make you happy—’

  ‘You did.’

  ‘But all the time I was making the worst mistake I could in not believing in you. I feel very guilty about that.’

  ‘It’s true you’ve got flaws, but I love you anyway—or maybe even because of them. I don’t think I could stand you if you never did anything wrong but don’t take that as an invitation to stray.’ A luminous smile curved her rosy mouth while he studied her in wonderment. ‘Because as you know—the stag thingy—I’m not forgiving about stuff like that—’

  On his knees on the bed, he hauled her to him and kissed her with a passionate intensity that made her blink back tears of happiness.

  ‘And what is more, a good husband keeps his energy for his wife,’ Kathy told him dizzily, yanking off his tie.

  Sergio pitched off his jacket and wrenched at his shirt with considerable enthusiasm. ‘How the hell did you manage to fall in love with me?’

  ‘You’re annoying, but very good-looking, sexy, entertaining…’ Kathy spread admiring fingertips on his bronzed and muscular chest, but her eyes were soft and bright and loving. ‘I have to confess that when I beat you at chess it gives me a thrill—’

  In answer Sergio tipped her back against t
he soft pillows and kissed her breathless. His rampant enthusiasm met with a most encouraging reception.

  Almost three years later, Kathy put the finishing touches to her make-up, smoothed her vibrant copper hair into place and stood back to get the full effect of her shimmering golden ball gown.

  Within the hour, everybody who was anybody would be arriving at the Palazzo Azzarini, because Sergio Torrente was throwing what was being described as the party of the year. Why? A miscarriage of justice had been declared in Kathy’s case and her wrongful conviction as a thief quashed. The judge during the original court case was also deemed to have misdirected the jury, thus preventing her from receiving a fair hearing. She had had the support of a wonderful legal team, who had had to work long and hard to achieve that successful result even though Janet Taplow had finally owned up to planting the jug in Kathy’s bag.

  Indeed Janet Taplow had ironically already served her sentence and won her release by the time Kathy contrived to clear her own name. But Kathy had not been bothered by that reality. It was enough for her that the truth be known. When she received compensation for her imprisonment she planned to donate it to a charity that helped former offenders to settle back into the community and find work.

  No longer haunted by painful bitter memories, she was at last managing to leave the past behind her. Little by little, she was regaining the easy confidence and friendliness that had once been so much a part of her personality. Her happiness had contributed most to that process.

  Bridget and Renzo had recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary. Bridget was now the mother of a little boy of six months, a development that had surprised and delighted the older woman, who had assumed she was at an age when a pregnancy was an unlikely event. Abramo had recovered from his illness and started dating again. Sergio was slowly forging stronger bonds with his half-brother and had put him in charge of one of his smaller companies. Grazia had collected a small fortune off Sergio and had gone on to become the fourth wife of a fabulously wealthy Egyptian. Like Cleopatra, she was said to bathe in milk and honey.

  Kathy had spent most of the first two years of her marriage based in London so that she could take classes and complete the business degree she had been working on when she had first met Sergio. Maribel Pallis had become one of her closest friends. Sergio and Kathy also regularly visited Bakhar to enjoy Rashad and Tilda’s lavish hospitality with Maribel and Leonidas. Their children all knew each other very well.

  Kathy put on her jewellery, a recent birthday present from Sergio. The contemporary diamond pendant glittered with white-fire brilliance at her throat and the earrings caught the light with every movement. She went to say goodnight to Ella, with her pet Siamese cat, Horace, padding fluidly in her wake. Already Horace was like her shadow and he had almost—but not quite—filled the space left by his much-missed predecessor, Tigger.

  Ella was still awake and complaining about Elias Pallis, who was almost three years older. In truth, Elias and Ella frequently fought like cat and dog. Elias liked to lay down the law and Ella couldn’t stand being told what to do. Tilda’s son, Sharaf, was always the peacemaker, very much a future diplomatist and ruler in the making while Bethany, his little sister, was as feisty as Ella. Soon, Kathy reflected dreamily, resting her hand against the very slight curve of her tummy, there would be another child in the group. Boy or girl, she didn’t mind. She was looking forward to telling Sergio her good news.

  Lethally tall, dark and handsome in a dinner jacket, Sergio joined Kathy on the gallery at the top of the stairs. ‘I love the dress. Gold is your colour. Is Ella asleep?’

  ‘Yes, don’t disturb her,’ Kathy advised. ‘She’ll only start muttering about Elias again. They’re a double act from hell. Ella’s cheeky to him, he winds her up, she loses the plot and he laughs.’

  Sergio tugged her into the shadows. ‘Isn’t that the way you are with me, delizia mia?’

  Assailed by teasing dark golden eyes, Kathy laughed. ‘Only when I first knew you. I’ve grown up quite a bit since then—’

  ‘So you’re not the woman who slammed down the phone on me last week when I couldn’t get home in time for dinner?’

  Kathy went pink with embarrassment and squirmed. ‘Well, obviously that was an exception and I was in the wrong—’

  ‘Oh, you can slam the phone down on me any time you like. I’m tough as granite,’ Sergio husked, one hand splaying to her hip to curve her into connection with his long powerful thighs. ‘And you said sorry very nicely in bed that night.’

  Her guilty blush hit her hairline.

  Sergio stared down at her with appreciative eyes. ‘I love you, Kathy Torrente. You and Ella are the sunshine in my life—’

  ‘And you’re going to have to share that sunshine in the near future,’ Kathy told him playfully, wanting to make her announcement before they joined their guests for the evening.

  ‘You mean Horace, the most spoilt cat in Italy, is finally getting a mate?’

  Kathy giggled like a drain. ‘No, I’m pregnant!’

  Warm satisfaction burnished his brilliant smile. ‘You are an amazing woman.’

  ‘I’m glad you think so.’ Kathy locked her arms round his neck. Eventually they emerged from the shadows and she was lamenting that she would have to renew her lipstick. But she was laughing and he was watching her every lively change of expression with the intensity of a man very much in love. It was a while before they joined their guests…

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-1365-8

  THE ITALIAN BILLIONAIRE’S PREGNANT BRIDE

  First North American Publication 2008.

  Copyright © 2008 by Lynne Graham.

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