He took a breath, knowing what he had to say now.
‘Eloise, believe me—please, please believe me—if you felt I ever took you for granted it was not so, not in the way you fear! Yes, romance has always come easy to me—I admit it, confess it. But you...you were always different. It was that sense of...of rightness between us. How we were together. It was that I took for granted, not you!’ His voice changed, becoming darker, with a thread of pain in it. ‘Losing you has shown me that all I want...all I crave...is to make my future with you. My precious Eloise.’
His eyes were soft as he said her name, as soft as velvet, and she felt their power over her senses...and her sense.
‘It’s too soon,’ she faltered.
But her blood was surging in her body, quickening her pulse, heating her beyond the external heat of Long Island in the summer.
‘But you’re not saying no?’ Vito’s reply was quick, his eyes still holding hers.
Heat fanned out across her cheeks. Emotion was powerful within her. Impelling her onwards. Sweeping her forward on a tide, carrying her out of the safe harbour where she had taken shelter after the storm of Vito’s betrayal.
But—whatever answer she might want to give—she had to hold back. She must not let herself be swept away—not again. Not now, when it was not just about herself. Or him.
Her eyes dipped. ‘You said no pressure—’ She could hardly get the words out.
Instantly she felt him acknowledge what she’d said. His hold on her hand slackened, relinquished her. He nodded, his mouth set, but resolute for all that.
‘And I will abide by that. You have my word.’ Briefly, he touched her knuckle with his forefinger. ‘I have told you what I feel. I will not change, Eloise. I am here for you...for your future...if you will have me. Always. Whatever life brings us, I will be here for you.’
He took another breath and then, as if with a deliberate act of will, he reached for his beer, taking a last mouthful to finish it. She watched him—watched the strong muscles of his neck as he swallowed, watched the curve of his fingers around the glass. Heard the echo of his words inside her.
‘Whatever life brings us...’
If that were true...
She felt emotion flare within her. Emotion that she dared not give a name to. Not yet...
He set down the glass, smiled across at her. An open smile, an easy smile. As if the intensity of their discourse had not happened at all.
‘So,’ he said, ‘where shall we go after lunch?’
Relief filled her—and something more. Something that hovered over the rest of the afternoon like an aura around her, a golden haze that she wanted to immerse herself in. But it was a temptation she dared not indulge in.
Not yet... Not yet...
The most important question of all—the one she had to discover the answer to—still awaited. And everything would depend on the answer.
CHAPTER NINE
THE RENTED FERRARI crunched slowly along the gravel as Vito swung it up to the front door of the Carldons’ house, turning off the engine. Silence lapped around them. He turned to Eloise. He was smiling, but she could see in his eyes a tension, a question.
For the rest of the day, as they’d taken their ease, exploring the far reaches of the island like tourists, they had kept things simple, light-hearted. Fun. Unpressured. But now, at the moment of their imminent parting, she could feel that pressure mount again.
‘Will you think of what I’ve said to you?’ Vito asked, his voice low, his eyes expressive.
Eloise’s gaze flickered. ‘How could I
not?’ she countered.
He nodded. ‘For now, that is all I ask,’ he said. Then his expression changed. ‘I must fly down to Ste Cecile tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I can’t postpone it any longer.’
‘Of course,’ Eloise said. Her gaze flickered again. ‘Will...will you be coming back to New York afterwards, or going straight back to Rome?’
His answer was another question. ‘Would you rather I went straight to Rome?’ he asked.
His eyes rested on her, but she could see there was a veil over them. Her hand twisted on the handle of Laura Carldon’s straw bag. She could feel her heart beating.