‘You slept with me and kept on walking away again. What else was I going to think?’ Gio chided. ‘It was a new experience for me not to be chased. Being challenged didn’t do me any harm at first, but then I saw you with Ari and assumed he was a rival and that was hell. I’ve never been jealous before. By the time I found Gabriella in bed with another man, the marriage and any feelings I’d had for her were dead. I’d realised I’d married someone I didn’t have a thought or feeling in common with and it was a sobering experience—’
‘And yet you married me—’
‘By that stage I knew I didn’t want a life without you or our children—’
‘It was the same with me for you when I agreed to marry you. You weren’t offering me love,’ Leah admitted, feeling a swell of happiness rise inside her like an unstoppable tide because everything she had ever wanted with Gio was suddenly right there in front of her, ‘but there was this enormous need to be with you and I couldn’t resist it—’
‘Why should you have been able to resist it when I couldn’t?’ Gio asked, efficiently removing her last item of clothing with the single-minded resolve that was so much a part of him. When he set his heart on something he would do anything to win it and she felt so lucky that he had fallen for her. ‘That’s what love is...’
‘Where do you think we’ll be twenty years from now?’ she asked him sunnily, positively buoyant with joy and optimism now that she had his heart and appreciation.
Gio laughed. ‘We’ll be the same. People don’t change but I bet we have more kids. And in the near future I imagine I’m going to meet my grandparents...am I right?’
Leah went pink. ‘I invited them to the christening.’
‘Clever, enough people around to avoid each other if we don’t click but the chance to connect if we do and take it further. You really are amazing,’ Gio told her, pressing her down on the bed to cover her with kisses and show her all the ways in which he was also amazing.
Seven years later, in honour of their wedding anniversary, Gio and Leah and the family were in Norfolk staying at Shore House. Sally was coming to dinner with Tom, the widower who had recently become her regular companion, and Gio was cooking. It would be one of those relaxed, informal evenings that they both so much enjoyed but rarely experienced.
As she finished dressing, she glanced out of the window to check her family, who were all on the beach. They were all so active and athletic that they put her to shame. Aurora and Luca were squabbling over a ball game.
She could tell by their stances with each other, and then Aurora went to thump Luca, who always wound her up into a rage, and Gio was suddenly there, pulling the twins to him and, no doubt, once again explaining why it wasn’t all right to get physical when someone annoyed you. Luca was laughing because he loved to see his sister get mad and have to deal with her frustration. Luca was far too clever for his own good. Their five-year-old, Talia, named for her great-grandmother, tugged at her father’s jacket to get his attention because her siblings’ argument had interrupted her seashell gathering. Their three-year-old, Rocco, was hanging onto Talia. The little boy followed Talia around like a puppy dog.
For a moment sadness shadowed Leah’s eyes as she remembered Spike, who had had a very good innings, who indeed had lived to a very old age and passed away peacefully. Leah had shed many tears over his departure and Gio’s surviving wolfhound had been so devastated at the loss of his only companion that they had had to replace Spike with another rescue dog, which Sally had been delighted to provide them with.
Their family was complete, both animal and child, Leah mused. But there had been losses from the family circle as well. Gio’s grandfather, Eufrasio, had died two years earlier and, several months ago, Matalia, Gio’s grandmother, had agreed to move into their home in Italy. She had her own annexe at thecastellobut loved being within reach of a busy household again with plenty of visitors, many of the child variety, and assistance if she needed it. Leah had never regretted going that extra mile to reunite her husband with his grandparents and over the years since he had thanked her many times for taking the risk of losing face that he himself could not bear. Gio hadn’t had that long with his grandfather, but they had become close during the time they had been blessed with and Matalia, well acquainted now with Gio’s kind heart and attachment to his family, adored her grandson.
And the family circle had grown and not only with children, Leah mused fondly. She had rediscovered her lost kid sister, Eloise, as well. Eloise, however, was no longer called her original birth name and the trials and tribulations that had brought her to her current status were another story entirely. Leah saw her sister as regularly as she saw her brother, Ari, and his family. Every Christmas they took turns and staged a family festive celebration and the next Christmas, it would be Leah and Gio’s home that housed everyone.
Gio strolled into the bedroom and found Leah on the window seat, a favourite spot of hers where she tended to daydream. She wore a beautifully tailored casual blue top with her favourite jeans, the top outlining the swell of her breasts, the jeans showing off her shapely thighs, and that fast he wanted her again with the seething hunger that only Leah had ever inspired in him. The more time he had with her, the greedier he got, he conceded with a slanting grin.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked, and she turned her head, black curls bouncing on her shoulders inciting his hand to rise.
‘Being lazy, watching the rest of you on the beach.’ Inured to Gio’s every move, Leah jerked her head out of reach of his fingers. ‘No, I finally got the frizz out—’
‘Only you see the frizz in your hair. I only see glossy ringlets,’ Gio confided truthfully.
‘I love you, but I want my hair nice for this evening.’ Leah rested big caramel eyes on him, her pink mouth pouting, and it was too much for him.
‘Gio!’ she shrieked as he grabbed her up into his arms and kissed her breathless.
‘You see, you should’ve let me stroke your hair. I would’ve been satisfied with that,’ he teased her as she came back at him for another kiss.
‘Liar,’ she muttered against his lips.
Gio smiled down at her, his black hair tousled from the beach, his stunning eyes glittering with energy. He smelled of the sea and the outdoors and she drank in the scent of him like the addict she was, slender fingers tracing that very kissable mouth of his as she rejoiced in the reality that he was hers, all hers, as much hers as he could be. He was never off the phone when he was away from her. He took interest in every little thing that she and the kids did. She couldn’t have found herself a better man and was still grateful that he hadn’t given up on her, because she didn’t want to think how empty her life would have been without him and the children.
‘You are wearing your new pearls,’ Gio finally noted with satisfaction, fingertips brushing the perfectly matched string at her throat, his gift for their anniversary to match the heavy pearl drop earrings he had given her for her last birthday. ‘I want to see you in them naked in the pool at midnight to commemorate the way we met—’
Leah adored him but she rolled her eyes as if she had never heard anything so ridiculous. ‘We do that every year—’
Glittering eyes intent, Gio ran the tip of his tongue across her collarbone, making her quiver with anticipation. ‘I’ve got game to bring—’
‘You’ve always got game to bring,’ Leah murmured cheerfully, her body melting, but they both knew that their guests would be arriving soon and then there would be the fuss of the children going to bed and there just wasn’t time unless they left it all to their nanny, and they only liked to do that when they had no option. They were both aware from watching some of the kids in the family circle that children grew up terrifyingly fast and they didn’t want to miss out on the cuddles and the bedtime-story phase.
‘Is that a fact, Signora Zanetti?’ Gio teased, hungrily assessing her with his eyes. ‘Dio mio, I love you...’
‘And I love you too,’ Leah told him softly, scrambling off the bed before she gave way to temptation, which was so easy with Gio. ‘Until midnight...’