know,’ she admitted. ‘But I don’t want to be treated like one of your women.’
‘You aren’t.’ Luca’s lips twisted in wry self-deprecation. ‘I never even spent the entire night with a woman before you, Hannah. Not that I want to admit that, but you’re different. I’m different when I’m with you.’
She studied him for a moment, a faint frown creasing her forehead, and Luca could practically read the thoughts going through her mind. How different are you, really? Why won’t you tell me about Tyson?
She didn’t say any of it though, just smiled and kissed him. ‘I suppose you can buy me a dress.’
* * *
Eight hours later Hannah stood next to Luca, sheathed in an elegant Grecian-style gown of ivory silk. She’d had her hair and make-up done at the boutique, and felt every inch the regal princess as Luca introduced her to various acquaintances.
‘Ah, so this is your fiancée,’ a paunchy man remarked with a sweeping, appreciative gaze for Hannah. She stiffened, as did Luca. Clearly the rumour of their forthcoming nuptials had got around. Had they really thought it wouldn’t?
‘When is the date, by the way?’ the man asked.
‘Soon,’ Luca answered in a tone that brooked no more questions. The man moved on.
‘You must really be starting to regret the whole fake-fiancée thing,’ Hannah murmured.
Luca shot her a swift, searching look. ‘I don’t regret anything, because it brought us together. But I’ll be glad to put it behind us.’
But would it ever be behind them? This was the danger of taking one day at a time, Hannah acknowledged bleakly. You never knew what was lurking just ahead.
She still felt worried that Luca might tire of her or of the whole ‘happy families’ routine he’d entered into with such surprising enthusiasm. Maybe she—and Jamie—were nothing more than a novelty.
And maybe she needed to choose to believe what Luca said, that he was different, that he did care. Maybe she needed to believe in him. She’d made that choice with Ben after he’d died, when it had been too late. She’d decided to believe the best would have happened, even if they’d never got the chance to see it become a reality.
Now she needed to believe the best could happen, that Luca could be the man he wanted to be. That she could help him be that man. They just needed time.
They didn’t leave the reception until after midnight, and Hannah’s feet ached in the silver stilettos Luca had bought her to go with the dress.
‘You were magnificent,’ he said as he opened the door to the limo waiting at the kerb.
‘I liked being by your side even if it all felt a bit grand for me,’ Hannah admitted.
Once inside the limo Luca reached for her hand. ‘Stay the night?’
Guilt and temptation warred within her. ‘I can’t,’ she said regretfully. ‘I’ve been away too much as it is.’
Luca didn’t answer, just played with her fingers, his head lowered. Hannah resisted the impulse to apologise. Luca knew what he was taking on. Her responsibility for Jamie was part of the package, and she wouldn’t say sorry for that.
‘I don’t want to be apart from you,’ Luca said finally.
Hannah’s heart lifted at this admission. ‘You could stay with me,’ she suggested tentatively.
Luca lifted his head. ‘What about Jamie?’
‘What about him?’ She smiled teasingly. ‘He has his own bedroom, you know.’
‘You don’t mind me being there? When he wakes up, I mean?’
‘I don’t think Jamie’s old enough to realise exactly what it means,’ Hannah returned. ‘But even a five-year-old will get the message that you’re an important part of our lives.’ She hesitated, feeling as if she had one foot poised over a precipice. ‘And you are, Luca.’ He didn’t respond and she couldn’t keep herself from rushing in with caveats. ‘I mean, I know it’s happened so quickly and we’re taking one day at a time...’
‘Hannah.’ Luca took her face in his hands and kissed her lips. ‘You don’t need to say things like that. You’re an important part of my life.’ He paused. ‘The most important part.’
Relief rushed through her even as doubts niggled at her mind. If she was the most important part, why wasn’t he being more open? Why didn’t she feel as if she could totally trust him?
Time, she reminded herself. It would come with time.
‘Let’s go home,’ Luca said, and leaned forward to tell his driver where to go.
Back at her house, Hannah tiptoed upstairs, Luca behind her. Her mother had left with a smile on her face, glad to see Hannah finally finding some happiness.
Her bedroom felt small and shabby compared to Luca’s glorious open-plan penthouse, but he assured her he didn’t mind as he framed her face with his hands.
‘All I want is you. One day you will believe that.’
‘Why don’t you keep trying to convince me?’ Hannah murmured, and Luca did just that.
They’d made love many times since that first unexpected encounter on the beach, and yet Hannah never tired of the feel of Luca’s body against hers, inside her. Now, as he slid inside her and filled her up, he looked in her eyes, his body shuddering with the effort of holding back.
‘I love you,’ he said, his voice ragged with emotion, and Hannah blinked back tears.
‘I love you too,’ she whispered, wrapping her arms around him, and Luca began to move.
Afterwards they lay together, silent and happy, needing no words.
‘You sign the contract for the Tyson resorts next week,’ Hannah said as she ran a hand down his chest, loving the play of his muscles under her palm.
Luca wrapped his hand around her own. ‘Yes.’
‘Maybe we could go there one day, the three of us,’ Hannah said. ‘I’d love to see how you implement all your ideas.’
Luca didn’t answer and Hannah wondered if she’d presumed too much. Talking about anything to do with the resorts felt fraught. Then he rolled over and drew her tightly into his arms, his head buried in her shoulder as a shudder went through his body. Surprised and unsettled, she returned the embrace. Luca didn’t say anything, and Hannah could only wonder what emotion gripped him. She decided not to ask; it was enough he was sharing this with her, and she knew some things went too deep for words.
* * *
A week later Luca shook hands with Tyson for the last time as the contracts were signed and witnessed. Tyson’s resorts were officially his.
‘I look forward to seeing you implement your plans,’ Tyson told him as he closed his briefcase. ‘I was deeply impressed by your ethos.’
Luca smiled tightly and said nothing. He told himself that he wouldn’t feel so flat and empty once he’d put his plans in motion. Once he’d taken from Tyson what the older man had refused him all along, he’d finally sense that satisfaction that had eluded him. The justice that he had deserved for his whole life.
‘Stephen mentioned that you looked familiar,’ Tyson remarked as he shrugged on his coat. ‘But we hadn’t met before Santa Nicola, had we?’
Words bubbled in Luca’s throat, thick with rage and remembrance. He remembered staring into Tyson’s face, those faded brown eyes flat and hard. You will leave here. Now.
A push at the small of the back, the overpowering stench of lilies from the vase in the foyer. Then a door closed in his face.
‘No,’ he