The Arranged Marriage (16 page)

“Just remember you’re quality. Real quality, Gina Terlizzi,” he insisted on a sharply serious note. “Don’t undersell yourself.”

Amazing to hear Alex’s warning about dealing with Peter Owen coming now from Peter’s mouth and directed at Alex’s interest in her. Clearly Peter had guessed something from having seen Alex leaving her house last Sunday.

She looked down at the extravagant sheaf of roses resting in the crook of her other arm. The cost of so many might not mean a lot to Alex King, but to Gina’s all too impressionable mind, it meant he did not hold her cheap. But was he trying to buy her? Win another night in her bed?

She wanted him.

It might be a terrible weakness in her but...she lifted her gaze to the man leading them towards the table where he had his family gathered and she ached to touch him; to run her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, to curve her hands over the muscles of his broad shoulders, to lose herself in the strong masculinity he exuded from every pore of his magnificent body.

Was it only lust driving him?

Her instincts cried that it had to be more.

Surely the roses said it
was
more.

All she knew was... she had to find out.

She
wouldn’t look at him.

Alex pressed the introductions to his brothers. They responded admirably. His grandmother said all the right things. Gina had to know he was not intent on pursuing some hole-in-the-corner affair with her. She had to know. But she wouldn’t look at him.

She laid his roses on the table. Her hands were trembling, revealing an inner agitation that he desperately wanted to soothe. She addressed his grandmother. “Will you please excuse me, Mrs. King? My family is here...”

She was going to walk away. His roses meant nothing. She wasn’t going to keep them. Only courtesy to his grandmother had brought her this far.

He was seized by a wild primitive urge to grab her, hold her, preventing any escape from him, carry her off to someplace where they could be alone together, where he could...

“Your family?” his grandmother picked up. “I would very much like to meet them. Alessandro, please ask if they will join us.”

“Of course,” he plunged in, grateful for the lead. Control, he fiercely told himself. Meeting her family was good. Best it be accomplished right now, so Gina would be forced to acknowledge him, to introduce him to those closest to her. It forged a bond she couldn’t ignore.

“Thank you,” she replied to his grandmother, then hesitantly, “I’m not sure...”

Alex instantly appropriated her arm and tucked it around his. “Let’s ask them,” he said, forcefully denying her the chance of refusing on their behalf.

For a long, tense moment she stood absolutely motionless, staring at their linked arms, still not looking at him. Her face took on a set determination. He could feel her thinking, “Well, let’s see how he deals with this!” Alex was equally determined to meet any challenge she put in his path and come out the winner.

For the next few minutes he focused on winning the regard of the Salvatori family; Gina’s parents, Frank and Elena, her older brother, John, and wife, Tessa, all of whom seemed somewhat bemused by his personal interest in Gina and the invitation to join his family in a celebratory drink. To his intense relief they were happy to comply with the sense of
occasion,
pleased to be included in Isabella Valeri King’s party, which meant Gina had no ready excuse to evade his company.

Nevertheless, he was acutely aware of the mental and emotional barriers that remained—silent but very powerful barriers of pride, humiliation, raw wounds that needed urgent attention.

He could count on his grandmother to play gracious hostess to the Salvatoris. He could count on his brothers to make them feel welcome. He could even count on Peter Owen to entertain them. A sense of civility forced him to wait through this last round of introductions, but waiting any longer was beyond him. Impossible to sit down and pretend a party mood in this situation.

Gina’s arm was still tucked around his. He clamped his other hand over the connection to reinforce it, bent his head close to hers and poured all his willpower into a quiet command.

“Come with me!”

She didn’t reply.

He didn’t wait for a reply.

“Please excuse us. I’ll bring Gina back soon,” he announced to the rest of the party.

Immediate action, removing her from their midst, heading for the doors that led to the outside deck beyond the lounge. His heart beat an exultant tattoo as she came with him, not even a tug of resistance. Her fingers clenched under his grasp—a fighting impulse?—but her feet followed his.

The deck overlooked the channel to the marina downriver; rows of boats as far as the eye could see. The Terlizzi fishing boats were undoubtedly amongst them, boats his family had helped to finance. It reminded him that Gina was too conscious of such things, considering herself an
unsuitable
match for him, which was nonsense. Absolute nonsense!

Nevertheless, the fresh salty air and the imminent prospect of the fight ahead of him, blew away the heat that had driven him this far. To win this woman, it was reason he needed, not passion. Yet the dictates of his mind were lost in a surge of need as he drew her over to the deck railing and he swung her into his embrace, the desire to hold her to him overwhelming everything else.

“For God’s sake! Look at me, Gina! I don’t know what else to do to prove to you Michelle lied.”

Finally, finally she dragged her gaze up to his, her golden amber eyes darker than he’d ever seen them, dark with an anguish that tore at his heart.

“Does it really matter, Alex?”

“Yes. It matters.”

“Because you’re still hot for me?” Her hands pressed against his chest, her body straining away from contact with his, her eyes sadly mocking the desire they had shared. “You had it right when you first kissed me. This isn’t fair.”

“I won’t let you go, Gina.”

“You will...eventually,” she said with dull certainty. “I think Peter read it correctly. Your family...the roses... tonight is about winning. You don’t count the cost. You just want to win.”

“Owen!” A red haze of anger blurred any clear judgement. “He has his own barrow to push, just as Michelle did.”

“At least it’s a barrow I can fit into.” Her mouth took on a wry twist. “Where do I fit in your world?”

“With me.”

“The Sugar King? The chief executive of what amounts to a private bank? The heir to the castle?”

“I’m a man with the same needs as any other.”

“More needs, Alex. You’re no ordinary man. You may not have noticed when you barged in on my family, but they are in awe of you. How could they refuse a King invitation? Your family represents a power they have never personally known. They don’t understand this is about proving you didn’t lie to me. You’ve pulled them willy-nilly into a situation that I’ll have to explain, and what answers am I to give them?”

“I’d say the situation is self-explanatory. I’m aiming to have a serious relationship with their daughter, their sister, you, Gina!”

“An ordinary canefarmer’s daughter.”

“You’re not ordinary!”

“An ordinary fisherman’s widow. With a child. Who isn’t yours.”

“I’d be proud to have Marco as my boy. He’s a wonderful child.”

“Yes he is! But he’s not yours!” Her eyes flared a poignant despair at his stubborn rejection of her protests. “What you want with me...it will never progress to you actually taking Marco on as your son, will it? You’ll want your own children.”

Had Michelle fed her these lines?

Or had Peter Owen?

Michelle and Owen together, pursuing their own selfish interests, not caring what they destroyed as long as the destruction served their purpose. Thursday... Michelle doing her damage first, Owen following up with his proposition. Then tonight, feeding her the poison about winning...

Gina’s hands suddenly curled into fists and beat at his chest. “We’re not toys you can pick up and put down when you find something more attractive.”

“Neither am I!” he retorted fiercely, dropping his embrace to catch her clenched hands and contain the violence of feeling they emitted. “Why don’t you listen to me, Gina, instead of the people maligning me? Michelle wanted to get rid of you. Owen wants to use you. You’re letting them screw us both over.”

Shock, agonised confusion.

“What of all you felt with me? Did that mean nothing?” he pressed.

Pain in her eyes. A desperate searching. “What did you feel with me, Alex?”

He took a quick deep breath, harnessing all his energy to answer her in convincing terms.

“Enter the villain,” Peter Owen drawled, stepping out onto the deck and closing the door to the lounge behind him.

It startled them both into turning towards him, Gina tearing one hand free of his as she swung aside.

Owen gave her a crooked little smile as he strolled forward. “I know I promised no interference, but it just occurred to me that Alex might colour me black, which doesn’t suit me at all.”

“What do you mean?” she shot at him.

He paused to light a cigarette.

Alex was sorely tempted to smash Owen’s face in but Gina had left one hand in his and he was not about to release it. Holding her with him was more important than anything else.

Owen exhaled a stream of smoke, then cocked his head consideringly. “Has he told you it was me in the garden with Michelle last Saturday night?”

A shocked “No!”

Owen shrugged. “Well, he knows it anyway. And he probably thinks I was in on Michelle’s plot to undermine your relationship with him so you’d see my offer as an alternative road to take.”

“Oh, Peter!” Disappointment...pain...

Owen shook his head at her. “But that part isn’t true. I may not have many morals, but I can see the difference between a woman like Michelle and a woman like you. I meant it when I said I’d treat you as my little sister and I’m telling you with absolute honesty, the mud Michelle slung at you was not mine.”

“But you knew she was going to do it,” she said flatly.

He nodded. “People do what they are bent on doing. I had no power to stop her. Michelle doesn’t care for anyone but herself.”

“Neither do you, Owen,” Alex sliced in bitingly.

Another crooked smile. “Funny thing about that. I would have agreed with you last week. But I now find myself caring about Gina getting hurt. By you or anyone else. She has a great voice. It should be heard. I can do that for her. So don’t use your opinion of me to rubbish what I can offer. That will hurt her, Alex. Her singing is an expression of all she is.”

Alex hadn’t expected that perception from Owen, nor the sincerity with which it was delivered. Had Gina touched something in his heart...tugged on his soul? It was certainly possible, Alex silently acknowledged, his contempt for the man shifting as a measure of respect weighed in.

With his usual air of flouting any criticism of his behaviour, Owen took another drag on his cigarette, then flicked it into an ashtray left on the deck for smokers. His gaze held Gina’s for a moment before moving a hard mocking challenge to Alex.

“The thing is...” he drawled. “My offer to Gina is genuine...and would be good for her. Can you say the same of yours?”

The caring was definitely there. Alex’s mind was still adjusting to this incredible fact as the man raised his hand in a salute to Gina.

“Exit big brother,” he said ironically. “I’ll call you Monday. Okay?”

She nodded. “Thanks, Peter.”

They watched him return to the lounge, the challenge he had thrown down—
will you be good for her?
—gathering a silent force that Alex knew was very much the enemy in tonight’s battle with Gina. Yet in a roundabout way, Owen had given him the one weapon that might open her heart and mind to the truth that had brought him here.

Her singing is an expression of all she is.

Truth.

She had to recognise it.

“Those words you sang tonight...
love changes everything...”
Gently he pulled her around to face him. “You have to believe them to sing as you did,” he pleaded with all the passion she stirred in him. “You have to believe love does change everything.”

Love?

Gina’s mind struggled through the morass of thoughts that had kept her in torment since... since Alex had presented her with the red roses.

Red roses for love?

The wild hope that had hit her then...Dear God, could it be true? Please...?

With the helpless sense of surrendering her soul, she lifted her gaze to the man whose love she yearned for with all her heart.

A vivid blue blaze instantly seared away any doubts about his holding anything she’d said against her. An intense caring came at her like a tidal wave, crashing through the apprehensions and uncertainties that had been clinging on, fretting at a truth he was forcefully laying bare to her.

“What are you saying, Alex?” she whispered, not quite daring to believe.

“I’m saying I love you, Gina Terlizzi. And that definitely changes everything you’ve said against being with me.”

Her whole body tingled with the energy he poured at her, carrying with it the determination to heal any breach, to prove the way was clear for them, no barriers, not even shadows of barriers.

Did it change...
everything?

“I’m sorry I...I listened to Michelle,” she choked out, shamed by the strength of his feeling for her.

“I’m sorry I ever became entangled with her in the first place. It was never right. Not
right...”
He lifted a hand to her face, stroking her cheek tenderly as he softly added, “...as it is with you, Gina.”

She took a deep breath and asked, “How do you know it’s right this time, Alex?”

No hesitation for thought. “I guess you could say I knew it in my bones the day we met. And the recognition just keeps getting stronger.”

Instinct? Chemistry?

“I’ve never been hit like this before,” he went on. “There have been other women I’ve found very attractive—obviously.” An ironic edge there. “But what I feel with you goes much deeper. It’s like you’re in my blood, Gina, and you make it sing.”

Yes, she thought, it
was
like music...big and overwhelming at times, soft and sweet, always emotional, passionate, tender, joyful, stormy and sad, as well.

“One thing I’m sure of...it’s not going to burn itself out,” he said very emphatically. “This isn’t some brief candle. It’s something essential—elemental—that goes right to the core of the man I am- Call it the fire of life. That’s what you’ve lit in me, Gina. You are the woman it revolves around. And I’m not about to let it go out.”

The fire of life...
It seemed to Gina a perfect description of love—the magic spark that brought a man and woman together, making the heat that eventually gave birth to children, the source of heart-warmth that made life so much worth living. Yesterday, it was as though she’d been left with dead ashes, cold chilling ashes, and singing could never really take the place of the fire. All it did was reflect it in music. It could never match living it.

“I don’t want it to go out either, Alex. I more or less plunged into a deal with Peter Owen because...because I was frightened of the emptiness... with you gone.”

“I’m right here. I’ll always be here for you.”

Tears pricked her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe. Michelle said things...things that struck true to me...like our lives were at odds with you being who you are and me being...”

“Perfect! You are everything I want, Gina. Everything! And don’t ever let anyone tell you any different. Their vision might be messed up by things that are totally irrelevant to me, but my vision is very, very clear on what counts in my life. And you count one hundred percent. Have you got that?”

She nodded, the joy and the wonder of it momentarily robbing her of speech.

“As for the deal you’ve made with Peter Owen...”

“I don’t know that I want to go far with it,” she rushed out, not wanting anything between them spoiled. She heaved a long shaky sigh and laid out the dearest dream of her life. “The truth is...I mostly wanted to sing to my babies. Angelo and I had planned a big family.”

Alex’s hands slid around her waist, drawing her closer. “We’ll have as big a family as you want. And I
will
have Marco as my son if you’ll allow me to adopt him. I want to. I may not be the father Angelo would have been to him, but I’ll do my best to fill that role, Gina. He makes me feel...” His smile held a whimsical appeal. “...I wish he was mine.”

Her heart turned over. “You’re...you’re thinking of marriage?”

Burning certainty in his eyes. “I want you as my wife and the mother of my children. That’s where we’re going, Gina, if you’re happy to come with me.”

A fountain of happiness exploded inside her.

“But that doesn’t mean I want you to give up professional singing,” he went on seriously. “Your voice is such a powerful gift, I think the world should hear it. Owen’s right about that. And I was wrong about him. I have no doubt now he’ll do the best he can for you, Gina.”

“I don’t want it to interfere...”

“It won’t. We’ll fit around it.”

His confidence, his absolute self-assurance about handling anything where she was concerned, held Gina in silent awe. Was it possible for every dream to come true? It seemed the brightest of bright futures was shimmering before her eyes and it was difficult to take it in, difficult to believe that the groundwork for it was being laid right now...with Alex. Alex King!

She felt such a huge swell of love for him, it lifted her onto tip-toe and her hands flew up to curl around his neck. “I was afraid,” she confessed. “I thought you were bulldozing everything in your way, just to have your way. Even using my family...”

“I was glad to meet your family. I wanted them to know. Mine, as well.”

“I love you, Alex King.”

His eyes glowed with blue fire. “There
is
a place for us. I promise you we’ll make it together, Gina.”

“Yes,” she breathed ecstatically.

And that place—
somewhere
—was suddenly here and now as they kissed, pouring out all the passion in their hearts, touching, holding, hugging the fire they’d lit in each other, determined on nurturing it through all the years of their lives.