‘Amore mio. I love how you want me too. I love everything about you.’
His voice was spiky with emotion, making Ally reach up to cup his face in her hands, tenderness filling her. Angelo’s eyes shone so brightly, she felt she could fall into those rich depths and stay there for ever.
She shivered as a rising tide of desire, gratitude and love flooded her. The best, most remarkable part was seeing those same emotions in Angelo’s face. She felt them in every reverent touch, every careful breath.
Slowly they joined, gazes locked, and Ally felt as if together they entered into one of life’s most profound mysteries. As they moved together their tender touches grew more needy, movements quicker and their breathing turned to gasps as rapture exploded, flinging them into bliss.
Yet through it all, the carnal joy and the ecstasy, was a poignant sense of coming home to where she belonged.
A lifetime later they lay, spent and dreamy, in each other’s arms.
‘I love you, Angelo,’ she said when she finally found her voice. Yet she saw his brow knot. ‘You don’t believe me?’
He raised her hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss to her knuckles. ‘I do. But you’ve just got your memory back. You’re in the process of adjusting to your past and who you are. You need time to be sure.’
‘Iamsure, Angelo. You’re not the only one who’s never felt this way before.’
Still he looked too serious. She reached up and rubbed her finger over the crease that formed above his nose.
‘You’re not convinced.’ She sighed and stretched, surprised to discover awareness build again as she shifted against his naked body. He felt so amazing. ‘Maybe,’ she murmured, ‘you feel the need to remind me again why being with you is a good idea.’
Ally let her hand slide from his face, down his throat to his chest and lower. Angelo’s hand caught hers as she traced an intriguing muscle near his hip.
‘Remind you?’ he growled and tiny sparks of fire ignited all along her backbone at that sound of pure masculine promise.
‘Well, Ihavehad memory troubles.’ She pouted up at him, trying to stop the grin that threatened to break out. ‘You don’t want to take any chances on me forgetting, do you?’
‘Absolutely not.’ His expression turned from tender to voracious in the blink of an eye. A moment later his lips closed around her nipple, making her gasp and arch up against him.
Ally gazed at the man who’d won her heart and soul. ‘I think you’re onto something there,’ she whispered unsteadily.
The wicked gleam in his eyes undid her even more than his erotic caress. ‘You’re right. I need to know you’re sure about us together. I’ll have to remind you regularly, over a long time.’
Ally threaded her fingers through his dark hair and grinned at the man she loved. ‘That sounds like an excellent plan.’
EPILOGUE
ALLYSTOODONthe wide terrace as the sky began to darken to purple and indigo, feeling the end-of-day warmth seep up through her soles from the sun-warmed flagstones.
She breathed deep, inhaling the rich scent of lavender from the rolling fields beyond the lavish gardens. It mingled with the heady perfume of roses, jasmine and a hundred other flowers blooming in the garden.
It was her favourite time of day, the view over fields and valleys to distant hills lit with the last glowing daylight. Angelo’s wedding gift had been this beautiful antique villa on the mainland with an adjacent lavender farm. His thoughtfulness and generosity had almost undone her, for in the process he’d changed his life to accommodate her dreams.
Now, after two years, the house had been renovated to suit them, her business was taking shape and they still managed weekends away at their special island retreat. Angelo telecommuted a lot more and when he went to the city for a few days Ally usually went with him.
She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. Not just to be here, but to have Angelo in her life.
She shivered suddenly, thinking of the unlikely circumstance that had brought them together. It would have been so easy for her to visit Italy and never meet him.
‘You’re cold?’ A deep voice sounded behind her and strong arms slid around her, holding her close.
Ally grinned as Angelo’s lovely heat enveloped her.
‘Not any longer.’
She leaned back in her husband’s hold as his hand settled lightly on her purple-blue silk dress, covering the tiny swell of her abdomen.
Ever since she’d shared her news he hadn’t been able to stop touching her there, as if still not quite able to take in the fact that they were going to have a child.