LITMIR.BIZ

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Still no answer. He took a breath. Then, carefully, he tried the knob. It turned, and the door swung open. The room was in darkness, but she’d left the bathroom light on and the door partly open. He could see the huddled form visible in the center of the bed.

      Rafe called her name again. Still, no answer. Slowly, certain he was going to regret this, certain she’d rear up, scream the bloody building down when she realized he was in her bedroom, he made his way forward and sat down, gingerly, on the edge of the mattress. He could see her now, part of her, at least; she was just a small, sad lump under the duvet, on her belly, her face buried against the pillows.

      His heart constricted. She was small and frightened and he’d known that and added to it.

      Without thinking, he reached out and laid his hand gently against her hair.

      “Chiara, sweetheart, I’m sorry. Please, don’t cry…”

      The bedclothes seemed to explode. Rafe braced himself for a scream, a shout, a right to the jaw. But none of that happened. Chiara launched herself at him, wound her arms around his neck and buried her damp face against his naked shoulder.

      Stunned, he sat absolutely still. Then, slowly, he slipped his arms around her. Filled them with soft, warm, trembling woman.

      He shut his eyes.

      Holding her felt wonderful. And she smelled good. His soap. His shampoo. And mingling with their scents, essence of woman. Of Chiara.

      Of his wife.

      His body stirred. Silently he cursed himself for it. There was nothing sexual happening here. Dawn was about to break over a sleeping city and he had a weeping woman in his arms.

      Remember that, Orsini, he told himself sternly.

      “Chiara,” he said gently. “What is it? Did you have a nightmare?”

      She nodded. Her hair, all those dark and lovely curls, slid like feather wisps against his skin. He shut his eyes again, drew her closer, held her more tightly against his heart.

      “Do you want to talk about it?”

      She shook her head.

      “No. Okay. Fine. You don’t have to—”

      “I dreamed it was my wedding night.”

      A muscle knotted in his jaw. It was her wedding night. A hell of a thing to know that he was her nightmare.

      “It’s all right, baby. Nothing will happen to you. I promise.”

      “My wedding night with… with Giglio.”

      A nightmare, all right. Rafe’s arms tightened around her.

      “Shh, sweetheart. It was just a bad dream.”

      A shudder went through her. “It was so real. His hands on me. His mouth.”

      “Shh,” Rafe said again, an unreasoning rage filling him at the picture she’d painted. “Giglio can’t get to you. Not anymore.”

      Silence. Another shudder. Then, a whisper so low he could hardly hear it.

      “What?” he said, and bent his head closer to hers.

      “I said… I said I have been awful to you, Raffaele. You saved me from him. And instead of saying thank you, I have accused you of… of all kinds of terrible things.”

      He smiled. “Seems to me we’ve done a pretty good job of accusing each other of all kinds of terrible things.”

      “It is only that I never expected any of this to happen. My father had threatened to marry me to an American but—”

      “Just what every guy hopes,” Rafe said, trying to lighten things. “To be a beautiful woman’s worst nightmare.”

      His little attempt at humor flew straight over her head. “No,” she said quickly, “I did not dream of you, Raffaele, I dreamed of—”

      “I know. I only meant. Chiara, you have to believe me. My father wanted me to marry you, yes, but I didn’t have any intention of doing it. Not that a man wouldn’t be lucky to marry you,” he added quickly, “but—”

      Her hand lifted; she placed her fingers lightly over his lips.

      “It… it isn’t that I don’t want to be your wife. It’s that I do not want to be any man’s wife. Do you understand?”

      He didn’t. Not really. He’d been dating women since he’d turned sixteen and he’d never yet come across one whose ultimate goal, no matter what she claimed, wasn’t marriage.

      Then he thought of what he knew of the woman in his arms. Her father’s domination. Her isolation. Above everything else, her fear of sex, a fear he’d done little to ease over the past several hours.

      “Truly,” she said, “it is not you. It would be any man.” She drew back in his arms, her face turned up to his, her eyes brilliant, her dark lashes spiky with tears. “Do you see?”

      God, she was so beautiful! So vulnerable, lying back in his arms.

      “Yes,” he said, his voice a little rough, “I do see. But you need to know—you need to know not all men are beasts, sweetheart.”

      A wan smile curved her lips. “Perhaps you are the exception.”

      The exception? If he were, his body wouldn’t be responding to the tender warmth of hers. He wouldn’t be looking at her and wondering if her mouth tasted as sweet as he remembered, if she was naked under the oversize cotton thing he assumed was a nightgown.

      “I… I appreciate your decency,” she said, and every miserable male instinct he owned shrieked, Yeah? Then how about proving it?

      He sat up straight, all but tore Chiara’s encircling arms from his neck and set her back against the pillows, grateful—hell, hopeful—that his baggy sweats would hide the effect she’d had on him.

      “Well,” he said brightly, “you’ll be okay now.” She didn’t answer. “So, ah, so try to get some sleep.” Still no answer. He cleared his throat. “Chiara? About that divorce?”

      “Yes?”

      The hopeful note in the single word would have thrilled him if this were Ingrid or any one of a hundred other women. As it was, it only made him feel a pang of remorse.

      “I’ll phone my attorney first thing in the morning and get it started.”

      She gave a deep sigh. “Grazie bene, Raffaele. The jewels—”

      “Forget about them. They’re yours.”

      “I can, at least, use them to pay my share of the legalities.”

      “I said, I don’t want them.” He knew he sounded harsh but, damn it, did she really think he’d let her pay for the severance of their marriage? Okay, it was a bogus marriage but still. “I’d prefer you keep them,” he said, trying for a calmer tone.

      “Grazie. I can use the money they bring to live on. New York is expensive, yes?”

      “New York is expensive, yes. But it won’t be so bad. Not with alimony.”

      “Alimony?”

      Alimony? his baffled brain echoed. A settlement was bad enough but alimony? Why would he pay alimony to a woman who’d been his wife for, what, twenty-four hours?

      “I do not expect alimony, Raffaele. We have not had a real marriage.”

      “Yeah, but this is America. Everybody pays alimony,” he said with a straight face, even though he could already hear his lawyer screaming in legal horror.

      Chiara smiled. “I think,” she said, very softly, “I think, perhaps, you are an honorable man, Raffaele Orsini.”

      Guilt made his jaw tighten.

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