Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) (24 page)

Riana wasn’t exactly sure
what she did next. She remembered blacking out and waking up to that picture.
She then remembered picking up her handbag, going to the airport, and booking a
flight to New Providence and all that was hazy, too. The only thing she
remembered clearly was telling Reno that Allan was dead.

She blinked several times
and tried to ignore the pain in her chest.

This wasn’t the time to cry.
She needed to speak to Melody and she couldn’t fall apart. She wanted to tell
her about Aurora, and ask why the charity’s name was Riana
Albury
.

“You can deal with Theresa
if you want to, just don’t get any blood on the dress.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll borrow an
apron.” Loraine tugged at her hand pulling her closer. “There she is, the
brunette talking to that sexy guy. He’s got a nice ass!”

Riana turned to Loraine with
a raised brow.

Loraine raised her
shoulders. “What? He does.”

Riana sighed shaking her
head. “Just get me to her before I turn tail and run.”

Loraine squeezed her hand.
“You’ll be fine. Ready?”

Riana nodded even though the
anxiety was beginning to choke her. She needed to do this for Aurora. Allan
would have wanted his sister to meet his daughter. But the closer they got to
Melody, the more nervous Riana got. She was already beginning to see black
spots.

Oh God I’m going to faint!

Loraine lifted her hand and
placed a thin glass rod in it. She then lifted her hand and touched something
to Riana’s lips. “Drink. Now!”’

Riana gulped down the cool,
bubbly liquid and Loraine took the glass from her replacing it with another.
She held that up to her lips too and Riana flushed that down as well. It didn’t
take long before she felt lightheaded.

“Take a deep breath.”

She did and her vision
cleared, enough to reveal the worried look on Melody’s face. She looked so much
like Allan. The resemblance made her chest hurt.

Why did he have to be dead?

“Are you all right?”

Riana wanted to respond but
the lump in her throat choked her. She couldn’t do this! She needed to go home
to her baby. Why did she even come?

Loraine pulled her closer
and Riana turned her face down to the side to hide her unshed tears. She was
glad Loraine was there. She would do this for her. At least start it off while
Riana gathered her courage to continue.

“Melody, I’m Loraine
Larson,” Loraine introduced herself.

Melody sighed. “You are the
first one not to call me Miss Sinclair. Thank you. And you are?”

Riana knew that last bit was
directed at her but she didn’t turn around nor respond. She hadn’t found her
courage yet.

“My friend is a little
emotional. Her name is Riana
Albury
.”

Riana heard a gasp and she
felt the little courage that kept her standing there crumble. She was right.
Melody must blame her for Allan’s death. She needed to leave. Right now!

 
She pulled away from Loraine to do just that
when a hand clapped around her forearm.

“Wait! Don’t leave!”

Riana clenched and
unclenched her hands as she struggled to keep her breathing normal.

Just turn around and get it over with. She won’t say
anything you haven’t heard before. Then tell her about Aurora and hope for the
best.

Riana slowly turned around.
She had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing clearly. Melody had
tears in her eyes, and her lips were parted in a large grin.

“Please tell me you are the
Riana
Albury
that went to Italy with my brother.”

Taken aback, Riana just
nodded.

Melody threw her hands
around Riana and held her in a tight hug. Riana just stood there, unsure of how
to react. Loraine had the same puzzled look in her eyes.

Melody then quickly pulled
away and grabbed her hand. “Come with me. There is someone I want you to see.”

Riana looked to Loraine for
help. She just nodded. “I’ll be here if you need me.”

Riana let out a shaky breath
and let Melody drag her away.

“I can’t believe it’s you!”
she squealed happily, wiping her cheeks dry only for them to get wet again from
her crying.

“Please don’t cry. It’s
taking everything in me not to break down and your tears aren’t helping.”

Melody stopped and stared at
Riana for a moment before she nodded her okay. “What happened in Italy?”

Riana immediately felt like
she was suffocating again and began walking.
Breathe, just breathe.

“When your brother…when he…”
Oh God she still couldn’t say it.

“When he what Riana?”

Riana clenched her fists so
tight they shook. She could do nothing about the tears but she wasn’t going to
curl up on the ground in a fetal position and cry her heart out. Allan would
want her to be strong and she was going to be.

“I know you must blame me
for… If I had stayed with him, Allan would still be alive.”

Melody’s brows pulled
together. She looked confused like she had no idea what Riana was talking
about. How could she? She hadn’t been there.

“You think…” Her face
relaxed when she started laughing. “Come with me, Riana.”

Riana was shocked and a hell
of a lot confused by the change. Shouldn’t she be yelling, cursing her out for
taking her brother away? For not being there to help Allan, escape Anthony?

What would she think when
Riana told her Anthony had her safely taken to the airport before he torched
the boat with her brother in it?

Melody would hate her for sure.

Should she confess now and get it over with?

Allan, help
me!

 
Melody stopped
walking and turned to her again. “Did you have the baby?”

“What?”
How does
she know about Aurora? Oh God, is she going to try and take her from me?

Riana felt her throat close just at the thought of it.
She had barely survived Allan’s death. That final thread was going to snap if
she lost Aurora.

“Riana, you don’t look so good. What’s wrong?”

“How do you know about Aurora?” Riana croaked.

Melody’s lips trembled as fresh tears ran down her
cheeks. “You named her after our mother?”

Riana nodded. “I—”

“Riana!”

Riana felt her heart slam painfully against her ribs
at the sound of his voice. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it. It haunted
her, day and night. She used to respond to it until a distant aunt told her she
too would die if she kept answering the dead. She didn’t think it was such a
bad idea until the moment she held Aurora for the first time in her arms.

Riana closed her eyes and whispered, “Allan, please
don’t.”

She felt a warm hand on her bare shoulder and she
jumped. She knew that hand. It was engraved on every inch of her body. Her mind
was playing tricks on her again. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t handle it.
She could bear only so much before she snapped.

“Please don’t do this to me.”

She let out a sigh of relief when the hand moved. Now
she just needed a few minutes to compose herself before she could try and
explain her few seconds of craziness to Melody.

Her skin went cold when she felt those same hands
bracket her face. “Please look at me,” he pleaded.

“Allan, she thinks you are dead.”

Riana shoved the hands away and turned to Melody’s
voice before she opened her eyes. “You can see…see him?” she spoke barely above
a whisper.

Melody nodded. “He’s who I wanted you to meet. You two
have being living for over two years thinking the other was dead. Riana, he
truly is real.”

She felt his hand on her cheek and she leaned into the
warmth as he turned her head to face him. She didn’t close her eyes. She stared
straight into his eyes and her heart lurched.

Nothing about his face looked familiar. He had a beard
and his long hair partially covered the parts of his face that were whisker
free. But his eyes. She would know those eyes anywhere.

She lifted her hands and cupped his face. “Allan?”

He nodded, laughing and crying at the same time.

“You really are alive…I’m not imaging you?”

“No, just like I’m not imaging you. Riana, I’ve been
so lost without you.”

The last thing Riana felt was the touch of his lips on
hers before her world was flooded in darkness.

Chapter Thirteen

Allan laid Riana’s limp body
on the bed, his eyes riveted on her face. She looked too peaceful, in fact. He
had to press her chest against his on their way up to the suite just to feel
her breathe and make sure she was unconscious and not dead.

He took off her shoes, and
then proceeded to take off his own including his jacket and tie before he
joined her on the bed.

He touched her face lightly,
tracing its structure with his fingers. He wanted to make sure it really was
her. Not a clone, or a look-alike, or a figment of his imagination. That Riana
was really alive, here, lying in his arms, unconscious from the shock.

Where had she been for the
last two and a half years? What had she been up to? He knew why she thought he
was dead but…how was it she was still alive?

He pushed up on his elbow,
supporting his head in his hand as he leaned down over Riana, moving so close
he could make a perfect shade for her body.

How did she escape Anthony?
He should have known better than to trust that liar.
Two and a half years wasted because of that asshole!

 
It was a good thing he was already dead or
Allan would have killed him all over again.

Two and a half years…my baby!
Allan thought with a start.

He placed his hand on the
little pouch at her waist.

 
“What happened to our baby, Riana?” he
whispered to the unconscious form placing loving butterfly kisses on her
temple.

Was it a boy or a girl? Did she have it, or was the thought of my death
too taxing that…

Allan shut the thought down.
He was in pain just thinking of the love child they might have lost all because
he was a coward.

But she’s here, and we can have more babies.

He pressed his hand flat on
her belly and whispered against her lips. “I love you, Riana. I’ll give you
anything you want, admit to anything, if you’ll just forgive me.”

Allan pulled back when Riana
groaned, her head slowly moving from side to side.

“Allan…” she murmured.

“Wake up, love.” He pressed
his lips against hers. “I’m right here.”

He pulled away just in time
to see her eyes flutter open. She smiled up at him for a moment then her face
creased.

“Why did you leave me,
Allan?” she cried, tears running down her temples.

Allan felt his stomach twist
in knots as his throat burned. She had suffered as much as he had if not more.

He dug his hands under her,
lifted her to a sitting position, and cradled her against his chest.

“Look at me, Riana. Feel me.
I’m alive, just like you are.”

Riana blinked a few times
and Allan could see the wheels turning in her head. She moved her shaking hands
to his, moving them gingerly up to his arms, to his shoulders until they came
to rest on his face. She then pulled his head down and pressed her trembling
lips against his. Then, like she’d been stung, she jumped away, her eyes wide
with recognition and confusion.

“Allan!”

“Yeah, honey, it’s me.”

* * * *

Am I awake?

Riana wasn’t sure. The only
thing she was almost sure about was that Allan was sitting in front of her.
That she’d touched her lips to his and felt like she was hit with a high
voltage current.

She’d had a weird dream.
That Allan was alive and he’d said he was lost without her. She remembered he
kissed her then…things kind of went dark after that. But now she was sitting on
a bed with him staring at her with so much love, hope and…she looked closer.
Yes, she saw how anxious he was.

If this was a dream, they
would be making love and not staring at each other waiting for the other to
blink first.

But Allan was dead, right? Who is this guy?

“Honey, it really is me. I’m
so sorry for all you went through thinking that I was dead. I’m even more sorry
about how we parted in Venice.” He swallowed hard, a dark shadow crossing his
face his eyes squinted in what looked like pain. “After what Anthony said…and
when the boat blew up…” He went silent, his eyes rising to meet hers again.

Riana just stared at the man
who said he was Allan. There was nothing about him that looked like her Allan.

Allan liked keeping his hair
in a shorter do. This guy had really long hair falling around his shoulders,
framing his face in a sexy kind of way. And with that beard, he looked more
like a rock star rather than the businessman who liked to stay clean shaven,
his smooth, soft face absent of even one tiny stubble. Allan’s shoulders were
as wide but thicker, in fact this guy looked two sizes smaller that Allan.

But those eyes and that
easy, sexy smile…

She went on her knees and
moved closer to him until he was looking up at her. She saw his hands flex at
his sides before they clenched into fists. It was like he was fighting not to
hold her. Like he wanted her to make the first move.

Riana slowly raised her hand
and pushed his hair away from his face. She combed it back with her fingers,
and then fisted it in her hand, keeping his head held back. Then, with her
other hand, she ran her fingers over his rough, hairy cheeks.

It would be so much easier to accept this wasn’t a dream without all
this hair!
She sighed frustrated.

“I know. I need a shave and
a haircut. But you used to like my hair longer than my normal cut.”

He was right. She did like
his hair longer, but not
this
long!

“Pinch me.”

“What?” he chuckled.

“Just in case I’m dreaming,
because if I am, and you aren’t really sitting here…” Her voice broke with
emotion and she battled to keep the unshed tears where they were. She cleared
her throat and demanded again. “Pinch me.”

Allan stared up at her
quietly for a while before he moved.

She felt his hands on her
bare lower thighs and her breathe hitched. That touch…her skin knew Allan’s
touch and this man’s felt so familiar.

“I’ll do something better,”
he whispered huskily.

His hands moved up, pushing
the dress higher up slowly and Riana felt like she could barely breathe.

It wasn’t just familiar
anymore. She recognized it.

She bit her lower lip to
keep from panting, her chest heaved with short breathes. The last time she felt
so aroused from a single touch was when Allan was alive.

But he is alive. He’s sitting right in front of me. Touching me like he
knows my body. Like my body belongs to him.

His hands stopped at her
hips. “You wore this dress on our first dinner date in Rome. I never got to
take it off because we had our first fight that night. Now I can finally take
that pleasure.” He stroked her inner thighs so softly it felt like a tickle
that charged her desire. “Your body knows who I am. What about your mind? Has
it accepted me yet?”

She chuckled, then laughed
and cried at the same time. She opened her eyes and looked down at him through a
blur of tears. “It really is you! Allan you are alive! You are alive!”

He lifted her then lowered
her slowly onto the bed before he moved over her

“I’ve missed you so much,
Riana.”

Riana cupped his face in her
hands and gave him a wobbly smile. “I’ve missed you, too. It almost killed me—”

He pressed his lips against
hers and cut her off. “You are here and I’m here. That’s all that matters.”

With a cheer, Riana pushed
him on his back and began raining kisses on his face and exposed neck, touching
him everywhere her hands could reach just to make sure he was really there.

Allan laughed heartily,
rolling her back under him. She felt his lips against hers again and she could
swear her heart began to beat with the same fury his nearness used to provoke.
She felt alive!

Allan stared down at her
with a sober expression. “I love you. I love you with all my heart, soul and
body. Please forgive me for being such a
fu
—
uh
,” he chuckled, “brainless coward.”

Riana’s smile grew to a
grin. She knew it. She’d known all along his feelings for her but it felt
wonderful hearing him say those three words.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.
We are together and we aren’t going to waste any more time on regret or could
have been.”

“You are the smartest girl I
know, you know that?”

“When was the last time you
made love?”

His brows drew together in
confusion. “You were the last person I was intimate with.”

She wrapped her arms around
his neck. “We’ve both been celibate for two and a half years. Are we going to
add another day to that before you—”

She never got a chance to
finish. Allan pressed his lips against hers in a hungry kiss, his hands moving
the rest of the dress up to her torso.

Riana arched up on instinct
trying to get closer. He pulled away, yanked the dress over her head before he
descended on her again, his hands everywhere, touching, groping, teasing
hungrily like a man starved. Her body responded to his touch in a way she never
thought possible again.

Tired of feeling cloth
against her skin, she quickly undid the buttons to his shirt. Having an active
twenty month old required her to work fast, especially when dressing and
undressing her.

Once all the buttons were
undone, Allan helped pull the shirt off, while Riana moved to his pants. That
only took two seconds to undo and one more second to push it and his boxers
down to his ankles so that he could kick them off.

Allan pulled away and looked
at her, stunned. “That was fast. Where did you—”

“
Aha
,” she said noncommittally, pulling him back down to kiss him.

He lifted her leg and she
felt a thrill rush through her knowing what was coming. She fought an excited
giggle as she returned his hungry kisses.

She cringed biting down a
yelp when he drove into her. It hurt, a lot. For a person who’d given birth,
she shouldn’t be so tight.

Allan kissed her chin, her
nose, her eyelids and her forehead before he sucked on her earlobe and
whispered in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry. I know it’s been a long time. Damn I
swear you’re tighter!” He kissed her lips. “I’ll try to be gentle.”

She nodded, holding on to
him as the pain faded to discomfort.

He stared down at her, his
brown eyes rich with lust and love. She touched his face, her fingers moving
over his handsome features, features she thought she would never feel again,
then moved down to his chest. She could feel his restraint on his muscles
there. She knew he didn’t want to hurt her but she could feel the toll it was
taking from his trembling tense muscles.

He leaned down and took her
nipple into his mouth. She felt her body shiver with pleasure from his teasing
ministrations. She buried one hand in his hair to hold his head there, the
other holding on to his shoulder. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the
solid muscle that flexed under his skin.

He released her nipple and
moved up to press his rough cheek against hers. He then moved inside her again,
his fingers knotted into her hair, his breath warm on her lips, her breasts
crushed against his hard chest.

The discomfort broke into
hot desire as he filled her slowly again and again. Fire burned inside her and
Allan’s passion fed it like fuel.

He wrapped his arms around
her, his body flexing over hers as his lips brushed against her ear. “Hold on
to me, Riana. I want you so close that I can feel your heart beat in my chest
like it used to when we made love.”

Riana’s body trembled at his
words delivered in a husky voice. So hot and wet in her ear that it made her
tremble again.

She wrapped her arms around
him tightly, her legs automatically going around his waist to hold him there
like she was going to keep him from disappearing again. She wasn’t going to
lose him a second time.

His breath hitched in his
throat. His hardness thrust into her again, filled her aching void, remolded
her flesh to fit his again, and his rhythm increased.

“Allan!” Riana buried her
face in his neck and breathed him in. She wanted him to fill her in every way.

Allan tightened his hold on
her. She felt only his thrusting hardness filled with hungry desire. She could
feel her orgasm build in her womb. Her fingers dug into his back, grasping for
some sense of reality, but this was as real as it was going to get.

He’s alive. He’s here, making love to me. It is real.

Sheer desire and genuine
emotion rushed through her veins. He thrust harder and she gasped with a cry as
he sank deeper. Waves of pleasure crashed over her, threatening to send her
flying into oblivion. The pleasure mounted and overcame her—nothing less than
exquisite torture. The orgasm exploded, tearing through her. It claimed her
with shuddering intensity and she screamed out his name.