Out of Hours...Boardroom Seductions: One-Night Mistress...Convenient Wife / Innocent in the Italian's Possession / Hot Boss, Wicked Nights. Anne Oliver
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Автор: Anne Oliver
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9781472082985
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“Where did you meet my Christo?” Lucia asked her.
“When I was interning at the firm he worked for.” She told the truth as far as she could—about how she’d met him that first time, and how she’d fallen for him—on looks alone—without really even knowing him. But then she said she’d got to know him better, but she’d only come to appreciate what a good man he was later that summer.
She didn’t say how she’d figured that out. Telling Lucia that she’d gone to Christo’s bed and he’d turned her down was a bit more truth than she could bring herself to share.
Then she told Lucia about the time she’d spent at her mother’s where she’d met him again. She told her about his kindness to Jamii, about his getting Jamii to go in the water by telling her about when he’d been able to get over his fear of heights after falling.
“Because you helped him,” she told Lucia.
His grandmother laughed. “I was terrified. I hate heights. But for Christo—well, sometimes you have to do things that you’re afraid of, don’t you? I love him. You know how that is. You are Christo’s lady.”
Natalie knew how it was, oh yes. Just as she knew that she was not really Christo’s lady.
The wedding took place just before sunset in the garden between Xanti’s house and Lucia’s. Natalie sat next to Christo’s grandmother, her fingers firmly entwined in the older woman’s as Xanti, looking surprisingly pale and nervous, and Christo, his best man, looking more serious and remote than ever, stood waiting for the bride and her attendants to walk down the path to join them.
It was a tableau to memorize and keep in her heart—father and son together, so alike in their dark suits, crisp white shirts and neat bow ties. Yet, after a moment, Natalie had eyes only for one. She could have sat there and simply drunk in the sight of Christo forever.
He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Taller and broader-shouldered than his father. Less fidgety, too. Xanti kept running his finger inside the collar of his starched shirt. Christo didn’t move a muscle, not even when the quintet began to play and the guests turned to watch the first of the bridesmaids come down the path.
Then, because everyone else did, Natalie turned to watch the procession as well. There were three bridesmaids, followed by a resplendent Katia, who was a beautiful bride.
In a short, simple, understated dress of ivory silk, she looked regal and serene and steady as she approached Xanti. He still had the look of a rabbit caught in headlights. But when at last Katia reached him and put her hand in his, he swallowed hard, his color seemed to return. And in his eyes when he looked at his bride, Natalie could see that despite his nerves, despite his mercurial personality, despite everything—Xanti was exactly where he wanted to be.
As they stood together and the ceremony began, Natalie found that she didn’t need to speak Portuguese to understand. While Katia’s gentle voice and Xanti’s gruffer one might repeat words she didn’t recognize, the sentiments expressed and the vows taken were crystal-clear.
The familiar form and expectations provided a sort of anchor for her to hang on to in the dangerous sea of her current emotions.
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