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“I still don’t...”

No surprise. She probably wasn’t making much sense. “I liked that you came to my rescue,” she told him.

“And that scares you.”

It terrified her. With a small shrug, she turned back to the hills. “I need to be my own person. When I’m with you, it’s too easy to give in and let you run the show.”

“Could have fooled me. In fact, I seem to recall more than one argument over my trying to run the show.”

His shadow appeared in the window. Louisa could tell from the warmth buffeting her back, or rather the lack of it, that he was making a point of keeping his distance. “Do you know why Floriana and I didn’t work?” he asked.

The odd shift in conversation confused her, but Louisa went along with it. “No. Why?”

“Because she was too perfect. I realized that just now.”

“If this is supposed to make me feel better...”

“Wait, hear me out,” he said. “Floriana... She and I never argued. She was always logical, always agreeable, always in tune with my thinking.”

“She was perfect.” While Louisa was the imperfect American who ran away from her problems. Both descriptions sickened her. “I get it.”

“I don’t think you do” was Nico’s reply. The warmth from his body moved a step closer. Not too much, but enough so Louisa could better feel its presence. “Floriana might have been perfect, but she wasn’t perfect for me. That was why I couldn’t truly love her. Do you understand?”

She was afraid to.

“I need a woman who challenges me every single day,” he said. “Someone who is smart and beautiful, and who is not afraid to put me in my place when I overstep.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“On the contrary, I think it might be very hard. I don’t know for sure. I’ve never been in love until you.”

Until her. The declaration washed over her, powerful in its simplicity. Nico Amatucci loved her. And she... Panic clamped down on the thought like a vise.

“I know you are afraid,” he said when she let out a choked sob. The anguish in his voice told her how much he was struggling between wanting to close the distance and respecting her need for space.

“I know that Steven left you with some very deep scars and that you are afraid of making the same mistakes. I am not Steven, though. Please know that no matter what happens between us, I will always want you to be your own person.

“So,” she heard him say, “if you want to run away, that’s your choice. All I ask is that you don’t use me as your excuse.” There were a lot of things Louisa wanted to say in response, but when she opened her mouth to speak, the words died on her tongue. In the end, she stayed where she was, afraid to turn to look lest she break down when she saw Nico’s face. She heard his footsteps on the tile, the click of the front door, and then she was alone.

She’d said she wanted to stand on her own two feet. She also wanted Nico’s arms around her. Desperately. What did that say about her?

That you love him.
The words she’d been fighting to keep buried broke free and echoed loud in her heart. No amount of running away or lying to herself would make them disappear. She loved Nico Amatucci. She was
in
love with Nico Amatucci.

Now what? With a sob, she sank to the floor. Did she continue with her plans? Move again and spend her life being haunted by two past mistakes?

Or did she stay in the village she’d come to think of as home and somehow find the courage to let her love for Nico grow?

Wiping her eyes, she looked out once more at the Tuscan hillside and the vineyards that stretched out before her. How much she’d come to love this view. And this palazzo.

She looked around at her surroundings. A lot had changed around here in nine months. If her ancestors could see this place now, they wouldn’t recognize their old home. It wasn’t the same crumbling building she’d found when she’d arrived.

Maybe she wasn’t the same woman either. She certainly wasn’t the impressionable young girl who’d fallen in love with Steven Clark. She’d loved, lost, withstood public scorn and found a new home.
You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for
, Nico had once said. Maybe it was time to start giving herself credit. Time to believe she
was
strong.

Maybe even strong enough to fall in love with a strong man.

* * *

“I asked Lindsay Sullivan if she would stop by the meeting, as well. It might be useful to get a professional event planner’s input, even if she does specialize in weddings. Is that all right with you, Nico?”

“A wedding planner is fine,” Nico replied. “Whatever you want to do.”

“Whatever I...? All right,” Rafe said, plopping down on the other side of the table. “What have you done with the real Nico Amatucci? Usually by now you would have rearranged the agenda items and brainstormed three or four new ones. Instead, you’ve hardly said a word. What gives?” Folding his arms, the chef tipped back in his chair and waited.

No doubt he found Nico’s shrug an unsatisfactory response. “It’s your committee.”

“That I started with the full knowledge that you would take over. Honestly, I wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if I didn’t think you would do the bulk of the heavy lifting.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he replied.

“Leave him alone, Rafe. He’s nursing a broken heart.” Walking past, Dani gave her husband a playful smack on the back of the head. “Remember how depressed you were when I left Monte Calanetti?”

“Depressed is a little strong. Ow!” He rubbed the back of his head. “I was joking. I was also trying to distract him from his problems.”

“News flash. The playful banter isn’t helping.” Each quip was like salt in his already raw wounds.

“We’re sorry,” Dani said, taking a seat.

“No, I’m sorry,” he quickly replied. “You shouldn’t have to censor your happiness for my sake.” Then, because he was clearly a glutton for punishment, he added, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I called a couple of times, but she isn’t picking up her phone. She’s still in town, though.”

“I know.” He saw the lights on in the palazzo. Yesterday, while in the vines, he thought he caught a glimpse of her on the balcony, and he almost climbed up to join her. But since he was practicing patience, like his sister suggested, he stayed away.

“Do you think she’ll go through with selling the palazzo?” Rafe asked.

God, but Nico hoped not. “It’s up to her.” He personally hadn’t returned the Realtor’s call. Probably should or else risk losing the property altogether. The idea of someone—anyone—other than Louisa living next door... Grabbing a fork, he stabbed at a
cornetto
. Far preferable to stabbing anything else. “It’s her decision to make,” he repeated, as much to remind himself as anything.

“Whose decision to make what?” a beautifully familiar voice asked. Nico looked up in time to see Louisa walking into the main dining room. She was dressed in a navy blue suit, the kind a banker might wear. The dark material made her hair appear more white than ever. Perhaps that was why she was wearing it pulled back in a clip. This, he realized with a jolt, was a different Louisa than the woman he’d left the other day. The woman before him carried herself with confidence and grace.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, setting a leather portfolio on the table. “Oh, please tell me that carafe is American coffee.”

“Espresso,” Rafe replied. He sounded as astounded as Nico felt. A quick look at Dani said she shared the feeling, as well.

Fortunately for all of them, Dani didn’t have a problem saying something aloud.

“We didn’t think you were coming,” she said.

Pink appeared in her cheeks. “I wasn’t sure I was going to attend either. I didn’t make up my mind until last night.”

“And the suit?”

“Confidence booster,” she said, reaching for the plate of pastries that was in the center of the table. “I have a business meeting after this one.”

“You do?” Nico sat up straighter. This was what he feared. She’d come to say goodbye. “You found someone to buy the palazzo?”

“No, someone to help me turn it into a hotel.” Her blue eyes found his. “It appears I’m not leaving Monte Calanetti after all.”

“You’re not?” For a second, he was afraid he’d heard her wrong. There was a smile in her eyes, though. Would she be smiling if she was about to break his heart?

The rest of the restaurant faded into the background. Nico was vaguely aware of Rafe and Dani excusing themselves from the room, not that it mattered. He only had eyes for the woman in front of him. Everything else was background noise.

“What made you change your mind?” he asked.

Of course, her staying didn’t mean she wanted him back in her life. He tried to remind himself not to get his hopes up. She’d never even said she loved him.

But she was smiling. They both were.

“For starters? A good long look at where I was.” Her lip trembled, breaking the spell between them. She looked down at her pastry. “I realized I’d been stuck in the past. Not so much regarding what happened—although I was stuck about those things, too—but more like frozen in time. In my head, I saw myself as that same impressionable twenty-one-year-old girl. I forgot how much time had passed.’

Afraid she was about to beat herself up, he cut in. “Not so much time.”

“Enough that I should know better,” she told him.

She wasn’t making sense. Confused, he waited as she got up from the table. Her high heels tapped out her paces on the terra-cotta.

“I should have known that the person I am today isn’t the same as the person I was back then. At least I shouldn’t be, if I let myself grow up.

“I’m not making much sense, am I?” she said, looking at him.

“No.”

“I was afraid of that.” Her small smile quickly faded away. “What I’m trying to say is that you were right. I was afraid of repeating the past. For so long I thought I was trapped in my marriage. Then the trial happened, and suddenly I had a second chance. Throughout the entire trial, I swore to myself I would never let myself become trapped again.”

And along came Nico charging in to make everything better. Exactly what she didn’t need. He’d heard enough. “It’s all right, Louisa. I understand.”

“No, you don’t,” she said, walking to him. “I should have realized that I can’t make the same mistake, because I’m not the same person. I can make new mistakes, but I can’t make the same ones.”

Through her speech, Nico had been fighting the kernel of hope that wanted to take root in his chest. All of her rambling sounded suspiciously like it was leading to a declaration. Until he heard the words, however, he was too afraid to believe. “Are you saying...?”

“I’m saying I’ve fallen in love with you, Nico Amatucci. I started falling the day I arrived in Monte Calanetti, and I haven’t stopped.”

She loved him. “You know that I’m still going to want to rush in and fix things.”

“And I’ll probably get mad and accuse you of trying to take over.”

“I’d expect no less.”

The eyes that found his this time were shining with moisture. “Because no one said love had to be perfect.”

“Just perfect for us.” After days of separation, Nico couldn’t hold himself back a moment longer. Jumping to his feet, he rushed to take her in his arms. Immediately, he felt a hand against his chest.

“I still have scars,” she said. “You’re going to have to be patient with me.”

“I’ll wait for as long as it takes,” he promised. “There’s no rushing the harvest. A long story,” he added when she frowned. “I’ll tell you about it later. Right now, I’d much rather kiss you.”

Her arms were around his neck before he finished the sentence.
“Bella mia,”
he whispered against her lips.
Thank you
, he prayed to himself. All his dreams, everything he’d ever wanted, he was holding in his arms right now. Nothing else mattered.

As his lips touched hers, one last thought flashed across his mind.

No sweeter wine...

EPILOGUE

February 14, Valentine’s Day

I
F
YOU
ASKED
L
OUISA
, the palazzo had never looked lovelier, not even when the place had hosted the royal wedding party. Standing in the ballroom doorway, she couldn’t stop smiling at the crowd of people who were there to celebrate the opening of her hotel.

This weekend, the palazzo would only host a handful of overnight guests, mostly friends who had agreed to be guinea pigs and test the service. They would open to the general public on a limited basis next weekend, and she hoped to be fully operational by summer.

The crowd was here for the first annual St. Valentine’s Ball. Billed as an opportunity to experience medieval romance and pageantry, the idea was the tourist development committee’s first official success.

A flash of red sequins caught her eye. “Lindsay’s outdone herself this time, hasn’t she?” Marianna said, appearing by her side. “No wonder she does so many A-list weddings.”

“No kidding.” The room was a gorgeous display of roses and red tapestry. “We were lucky she offered to help, what with her schedule.” But then, the woman had a soft spot for the village since it was where she’d met her husband. He was here with her tonight. A quick look across the dance floor found the two of them stealing a kiss in the corner. They were caught by Connor and Isabella, who’d apparently had a similar idea. Yet another couple who had found love here.

Monte Calanetti seemed to have a romantic effect on people.

“I overheard a couple talking in the lobby about booking a room for next year’s ball,” Marianna was saying. “I hope you’re planning to take advanced reservations.”

“Of course,” Louisa replied. Talk about a foolish question. “My business partner would kill me if I didn’t,” Louisa replied. “Speaking of, where is your husband anyway?”

“He went upstairs to check on the baby and her nanny.”

“Didn’t you just check on them five minutes ago?”

“I did, but Ryan has to see for himself. Daddy’s little girl, you know.”