Modern Romance Collection: March 2018 Books 1 - 4. Cathy Williams

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СКАЧАТЬ breathlessly on the plane, his face filled with dark intensity and something else...something she didn’t recognise. He spotted her straight away and began to walk down the central aisle towards her. People’s necks were craning and women were turning to watch him as he moved, their voices instinctively murmuring their appreciation.

      Sitting bolt upright in her seat, Nicole ignored the loud pounding of her heart and glared at him. How dared he do this? Cause some kind of major disruption, which was probably going to get them both into all kinds of trouble. And for what? Especially when he’d already rejected her and she’d been coming to terms with that, and now she was going to have to do the same thing all over again.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ she bit out.

      ‘You told me you were going to let me know where you were, and you didn’t,’ he accused. ‘I searched every damned hotel in Palermo!’

      ‘Tough. I changed my mind. It’s a woman’s prerogative—remember? And anyway—you had my number if you wanted me.’

      ‘And if I’d phoned, you probably would have hung up on me.’

      How convenient of him to think that. Nicole’s lips tightened. ‘I probably would,’ she agreed steadily, as if she didn’t care. ‘So what are you doing here? You made your feelings very clear yesterday. Why don’t you just leave me alone to get on with my life independently, Rocco?’

      He was crouching down beside her and his face was very close—those bright eyes burning into her like twin blue lasers. ‘I’m here to tell you something you need to hear, which is that I love you, Nicole. Very, very much.’

      His words were like a red rag to a bull. How dared he say such things so carelessly? Furiously, Nicole shook her head, pulling back from him so that she couldn’t be influenced by the warmth of his breath or his proximity. ‘You don’t love me. You don’t love anyone except yourself and your wretched business.’

      ‘I love you,’ he repeated fiercely. ‘And I want to do all those things you suggested in the lemon grove. To start over. To be with you. And to spend the rest of my life making up for everything I’ve done, or failed to do.’

      Nicole shook her head, trying to cling onto some sense of normality, despite the fact that one of the air stewards was now speaking into the intercom and any minute now he was going to get kicked off the plane—and so, probably, would she. Didn’t he realise she didn’t have the kind of funds to keep buying more tickets? Did he even care? ‘It’s too late for all that, Rocco. Don’t you understand? It’s just too late.’

      ‘It can’t be,’ he said stubbornly.

      ‘It can be whatever I want it to be,’ she said, with equal stubbornness.

      After a moment he nodded, as if he’d come to some kind of decision, and then he began to talk in a low voice. ‘In Monaco you asked whether I had married you because you were pregnant and I said yes.’ He voice became more fervent. ‘But the main reason I was willing to marry you wasn’t just because of duty or the life you carried inside you, but because with you, for the first and only time in my life, I had experienced the colpe di fulmine—’

      Nicole frowned because for some reason all the passengers within earshot—far from seeming irritated at their delayed take-off—were now cheering wildly.

      ‘What are you talking about?’ she snapped.

      ‘The thunderclap,’ he interpreted, punching his fist hard against his heart. ‘When love strikes like lightning—so intense and powerful that it cannot be denied.’

      Nicole blinked at him in sheer amazement. Was this really Rocco—cold, emotionless Rocco Barberi—declaring his feelings and his love for her in front of a plane-load of people? ‘Why are people cheering?’ she questioned suspiciously.

      ‘Because Sicilians are by nature romantic and they enjoy a love story.’

      ‘Well, it’s still too late. And now the captain has appeared and is putting on his cap and walking towards us and you really are going to get into trouble.’

      ‘Please, tesoro.’ He cast a wry glance over his shoulder. ‘Can we at least go somewhere else and talk about this? I may own the airline but I really don’t want the plane to miss its take-off slot.’

      He owned the airline?

      Nicole blinked.

      Was there really no escaping the influence of Rocco Barberi on this infernal island?

      She told herself to say no. To tell him she didn’t need him—and maybe she didn’t. But deep down she wanted him and something told her that was never going to change.

      ‘Very well,’ she said grudgingly. ‘I will hear you out—just as long as you understand that I’m not making any promises.’

      ‘I understand,’ he said gravely.

      But despite the clapping which accompanied them as they made their way off the plane, Nicole refused to give the laughing passengers the fairy-tale ending she suspected they wanted. A prolonged kiss in slo-mo and the big clinch on the Tarmac. Because life wasn’t a fairy tale and she still didn’t believe she had any kind of future with Rocco.

      He ushered her towards an unmarked door and before she knew it they were in some sort of private lounge, with huge potted palms, squishy sofas and panoramic views over the runway. But instead of feeling overwhelmed or joyous—or any of the emotions she might have felt if he’d said these things just eighteen hours earlier—Nicole felt flat. More than that, she was angry with herself for allowing herself to be led off a flight which she had paid for—like some docile little mouse. Wasn’t she supposed to have shed her mouse-like skin?

      ‘So hurry up and say whatever it is you want to say, Rocco.’

      It wasn’t the most promising of beginnings. In fact, Rocco would go so far as to say that he had never seen Nicole look so angry. And he knew then that he needed to go further than he’d planned. Further than he’d ever been before. That she would not be willing to accept half-measures—and why should she? He’d pushed her away so many times—why would she believe he had changed unless he was prepared to show her? Unless he opened up a heart which had remained locked and bolted for so many years.

      He sucked in a deep breath. ‘You accused me of pushing you away once we were married and maybe I did—but not for the reasons you imagined. It wasn’t because I didn’t want you, Nicole—there hasn’t been a second of my life since we first met that I didn’t want you—but because I was being cautious.’

      ‘Cautious?’ She fixed him with an enquiring look.

      Restlessly, he shrugged. ‘I had no idea how to deal with a pregnant woman—and you were sick. So very sick. I thought you would prefer a nurse rather than a husband who was out of his depth, and then...’ He swallowed. ‘Then you lost the baby...’

      ‘And that was when you pushed me away—’

      ‘I was giving you space,’ he argued. ‘I thought that’s what you needed. I could see how broken you were and I couldn’t get near you.’

      ‘You didn’t want to get near me,’ she said slowly.

      ‘It wasn’t that. СКАЧАТЬ