Once A Moretti Wife. Michelle Smart

would never have taken off. With her by Stefano’s side, Moretti’s could only strengthen further.

      It had been the best business decision he’d ever made. He’d learned to trust her judgement completely.

      He’d believed her to be as straight as a line. He’d thought that with Anna what you saw was what you got, when all along she’d been nothing but a grasping gold-digger.

      Now the bravado that always shone in her eyes was muted by alarm. ‘It’s just you and me here?’

      ‘We like our privacy,’ he said. ‘We can walk around naked without having to worry that we’ll frighten anyone.’

      Her cheeks turned the most becoming crimson but she raised a tired brow and wanly retorted, ‘I can assure you I won’t be walking anywhere naked within a mile of you.’

      Amused by her stubbornness even when she was so clearly ready to fall into a dead sleep, he whispered into her ear, ‘And I can assure you that when you’re feeling better you will never want to put your clothes on. Believe me, bellissima, we spend a lot of time together naked.’

      ‘If I don’t remember it then it didn’t happen.’

      Studying the firm set of her lips, he remembered what it had been like between them when they’d first married. He’d had no idea she was a virgin until she’d blurted it out when they’d walked into the bridal suite hours after exchanging their vows. She’d stood as defiant as she did now but there had been something in her eyes he’d never seen in her before: fear. That had been a bigger shock than her declaration of virginity.

      He’d made love to her so slowly and tenderly that night that when he’d felt her first climax he’d been as triumphant and elated as if he’d been the first man to conquer Mount Everest. That night had been special. Precious. And it had only been the start.

      Once Anna had discovered the joy of sex she’d been a woman reborn and unleashed.

      She had no memories of any of it. When he next saw her naked, for Anna it would be the first time, and he remembered how painfully shy she’d been then.

      He took one of her hands and razed a kiss across the knuckles. ‘Can you walk to the bedroom or shall I carry you?’

      Her eyes flashed and she managed to inflect dignity into her reply. ‘I can walk.’

      She allowed him to help her to her feet and held onto his arm as he led her to the bedroom he’d slept alone in for the past month.

      The last twenty-four hours had brought such a change to his fortunes that Stefano was tempted to wonder whether it was he who had suffered a bump to his head.

      His wife was back under his roof and shortly to be back in his bed.

      He caught her unconcealed surprise when he opened the door to reveal a room cast in soft muted colours and dominated by an enormous emperor bed.

      ‘We chose the decor together,’ he told her. ‘You chose the bed.’ It had been the first thing they’d bought as a married couple. He’d known she would hate sleeping in a bed he’d shared with other women.

      And now they would share it again. Anna needed to know that this was theirs, a bedroom they’d created together, a room they’d made love in hundreds of times. He needed to consolidate in her mind that they were a properly married couple and that it was natural for them to sleep together.

      He couldn’t begin to dissect his own feelings about sleeping by the side of the woman who had played him for a fool so spectacularly.

      ‘Seriously?’ she asked in a voice that had gone husky.

      ‘Sì. And when you’re better I can promise you’ll enjoy it as we always used to. But all that can wait. Consultant’s orders are for you to do nothing but rest for the next few days. I promised I would take care of you and you know I am a man of my word.’

      He always kept his word. To his way of thinking it was what separated humans from animals. He’d married Anna giving his word that he would be faithful. He’d given his word that if he ever felt the impulse to cheat he would tell her before acting on it and they would go their separate ways.

      She’d given him her word too. She’d promised she would trust him. Her word had been a lie. Her intentions had been a lie. It had all been a lie. Their entire marriage had been built on lies and deception. No sooner had she left him than she’d hit him with her demands for a massive slice of the fortune he’d built from nothing.