He shook his head, kneeling down beside her. ‘No. I don’t want you to leave. Ever. But I also don’t want you to feel obliged to stay because you feel like you owe me, or because of guilt. I love you, Lara, but I don’t want you to feel trapped.’
The world stopped on its axis. ‘You...what?’
Ciro frowned. ‘I love you... I told you yesterday...’
Lara shook her head. ‘No. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that piece of information. You were upset...feeling guilty... You mentioned feelings. But you never mentioned love.’
Ciro took her hand. ‘Well, I do love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you in that street in Florence. I just didn’t know what it was. You were the first woman to get under my skin without even trying, Lara. The first woman I spent a whole night with in my bed. When I proposed to you it was because you were the first woman who made me want more. Who made me hate the cynicism I’d been brought up with.’
Ciro went pale.
‘When those kidnappers ripped you out of my arms that day...that’s when I knew... But even afterwards I told myself that it couldn’t be love. I would never be so foolish, such a slave to my emotions—not like my father.’
Lara saw it on his face. Pure emotion. She put a hand to her mouth to stifle a sound of pure joy mixed with shock.
But Ciro took her hand down. ‘Please believe me, Lara. I love you more than life itself. Without you the world didn’t make sense. I never truly believed you were that person you’d turned into in the hospital, but it was easier to believe that than admit you’d broken my heart.’
Lara touched his face, his scar. Tears blurred her vision. ‘Oh, my love...my darling. I’m so sorry.’
He caught her face in his hands. He looked fierce. ‘Never say sorry again. Never.’
She nodded. ‘I love you...so much.’
Ciro shook his head. ‘I’m almost scared to believe... We’ve been through so much—I’ve put you through so much...’
Lara put a finger to his mouth, stopping his words. ‘Don’t you ever say that again. Neither of us were to blame. We got caught up in events outside our control. I love you, my darling, and that’s all you have to believe.’
She bent forward and kissed him. A sweet chaste kiss. Then she pulled back and said shakily, ‘Even if you had told me you loved me, and we’d stood up to my uncle, I dread to think what might have happened. He was crazy, Ciro. I was his only hope of redemption and he was capable of anything.’
Ciro was grim. ‘Maybe—but he put us through two years of hell.’ He said then, ‘Do you know why I really bought this ho
use?’
She shook her head, marvelling at how full her heart could feel.
‘I kept tabs on you for those two years...hoping for God knows what to happen. I knew where you lived and I bought this house sight unseen. I think I had nefarious plans to seduce you away from Henry Winterborne. It would have proved that you had no morals, but more importantly it would have brought you back to me. I had no qualms about playing dirty to get you back.’
Lara smiled a shaky smile. ‘You have no idea how many nights I dreamed of you coming to rescue me. But then I’d see photos of you, out and about, getting on with your life, with other women...’
The pain of that still made her gut churn. She looked away.
Ciro caught her chin and turned her back to face him. ‘I didn’t take one of those women into my bed. I couldn’t. The thought of you—it consumed me. You ruined me for anyone else. Ever.’
Lara couldn’t hold back. She flung her arms around Ciro and he caught her. Lifted her up and sat down on the sofa, settling her across his lap. Cradling her.
Lara clutched at his shirt. ‘We’ve wasted so much time...’
He caught her chin again, tipping it up. ‘No. We start again now. No more regrets, okay?’
Lara nodded, humbled by Ciro’s capacity to forgive and move on.
He sat up then, and put her beside him. Then he got off the sofa and down on one knee in front of her.
‘Ciro...’
He drew a box out of his jeans pocket. A familiar velvet box. Her heart tripped. He opened it and she saw her engagement ring and wedding ring.
Ciro suddenly looked anxious. ‘Maybe I should have bought new ones.’