The Duke's Willful Wife (15 page)

“Good morning,” she replied and rolled over onto her back, pulling the sheet with her.

He chuckled and
shook his head.  “Still trying to be demure after last night, eh?”

She felt her cheeks heat up and sighed.  “Sorry.  Habit.”

Her stomach clenched when his face turned serious.  “Last night, did you kiss me because yo
u were jealous that Cristolo had
found another woman?”

She stilled, horrified by his question.  “You saw them last night?”

“Of course.  You tried to distract me, and it worked well.  But I’m not blind.  The blond woman is very beautiful and you’ve been gone for a long time.  It’s good that he’s moved on, but I have to know if you can forget him before we decide to re-start our marriage.”

Sasha couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  She pulled out from underneath him and pushed her hair out of her eyes
, grabbing her robe and pulling it on with jerky movements
.  “You think I’m still pining for Cristolo?”

“It was a natural assumption after last night.”

She pulled herself away and walked over to the large reading chair
and tried to gather her thoughts, not sure how to respond.  A part of her wanted to explain the whole thing to him, but after all this time, would he even listen to her?  Would he believe her?  She had a promise to Cristolo, but it occurred to her that Dante’s brother wasn’t living up to his end of the bargain.  Was she supposed to sacrifice her own happiness for a man who couldn’t even stand up to his brother and mother?  These were all new thoughts that she’d have to mull over, figure out on her own.  She couldn’t do it with Dante not five feet away from her, naked and sexy as anything she’d ever seen. 
“I’m not pining for Cristolo.  Have you spoken to him lately?”
  She asked softly, the anger gone from her voice.  She could see Dante’s side of this situation now that the hurt was easing. 
She couldn’t put all of the blame on him for not trusting her.  A good portion, no doubt.  But she had been keeping secrets from him. 

Dante stood up, completely unembarrassed by his own nakedness.  “
He works in the family businesses and h
e does his job, that’s all I ask of him.
  When he stops obeying my orders, then I’ll fire him and find someone more capable.  Until then, we have a business relationship and that’s all.
”

She shifted in the chair and watched as he moved into the bathroom.  Following him,
she
continued the conversation even though he appeared to think the discussion was finished.  She could let it go and try to talk to Cristolo once again.  But he was here and
she wanted more answers.  “So, you’ve completely rejected me.  You’ve removed your brother from your life and you know that your mother treats me like
a doormat.  What does this say about your life?” she asked as she leaned against the wall, watching him soap up, her eyes watching his hands, fascinated despite herself. 

He turned and looked down at her.  “It seems that my world is falling apart.  So there’s only one thing to do,” he said.  Without any warning, he grabbed her hands and pulled her into the shower,
robe
and all.  With deft hands, he ignored her squeak of protest and divested her of the
now soaking material
, letting it drop to the floor in a wet mess and unconcerned about the issue
.  When she was as naked as he
was
, he covered her protesting mouth with his and kissed her until she wasn’t arguing anymore,
and he didn’t relent until she was clinging
to his shoulders, her body moving against his in the age old rhythm. 

“You don’t play fair,” she whispered as he lifted her up and pressed her against the
cold tiles of the
shower wall. 

“Don’t ever forget that,” he groaned as he slid into her, pressing her back and lifting her with his arms to get her into a better position.  “You’re so beautiful!” he growled as he kissed her against her neck and proceeded to make love to her
standing up
. 
Because this was a new position, and very interesting indeed as she gasped with each of his thrusts, she couldn’t really argue with his statement.  She couldn’t really say anything at all. 

Chapter
5

“You look like the cat who had a bowl full of cream this morning,” Rennata commented when Sasha walked in later that morning. 

Sasha smiled and bent over to kiss
Rennata’s
wrinkled cheek.  “And you look absolutely fabulous yourself.  So when are you going to dump this dive place and come back home?”

She sat up slightly higher in her bed, her eyes alert and eager. 
“Are you telling me that you and Dante have finally resolved your differences?”

Sasha shook her head
as she took up her usual place in the uncomfortable chair next to Rennata’s bedside
.  “We have only called a truce for the moment.  As soon as you’re out of here, we’ll both go our separate ways.”

“Then I think I’ll become much more ill,
”
she said with determination and settled herself against the hospital pillow. 

“You’re a belligerent old lady, aren’t you?” Sasha asked and chuckled at
the lady’s
determination.  “Are you telling me that you got sick only to get me and Dante back together?  If so, I’m glad that you’re diabolical plan isn’t working.”

She surveyed Sasha’s more spirited expression and relaxed shoulders. 
“Isn’t it?”

“Not at all.”
  Sasha wouldn’t give an inch on this subject.  She and Dante might have had sex.  A lot of sex!  But that didn’t mean anything about the future of their marriage.  He still didn’t trust her and she couldn’t figure out how to explain the situation to him.  There was also the part of her who wanted Dante to believe her without any explanation and was hurt that he didn’t offer that automatically.  She’d never done anything to cause his distrust so what had caused him to revert to this cynical stranger? 

Rennata chuckled slightly at Sasha’s denial. 
“
Your
smile would indicate otherwise.”

“You’re making things up in that dreary old mind of yours because you have nothing better to do with your life, little lady.”

Rennata laughed, almost cackling with delight.  “You’re just as spunky as I remembered.  I’m glad you’re back and
giving my grandson what’s what.”

Sasha thought about the morning in the shower and almost contradicted
Rennata
.  It was more like Dante was giving her the ‘what’s what’ and she was just enjoying the ride.

“Don’t get your hopes up.  We are not getting back together.”

“What would you call it?  Anything that puts that kind of smile on your face has to be something worth fighting for.”

“The man still thinks I’m a hussy who would sleep with his brother.”

Rennata rolled her eyes.  “That man is just afraid.”

Sasha laughed
and waved away her statement
.  “I’ve never known Dante to be afraid of anyt
h
ing.  Much less a little woman like me who weighs about half as much as he does.”

Rennata sputtered. “You
wish you could be thought of as little.”

“I weigh only…”

“Weight is nothing.  It’s what’s in here,” she said, po
u
nding her chest slightly, “that makes you big.  And you have lots to give.  That man is just too afraid to take
what
you have to give.  He found a reason to not trust you.  To thrust you out of his life and he jumped on it
because he’s afraid you’ll run out on him
at some point
.  He doesn’t want to be vulnerable so he pushed you away
.”

That made her sad to think that Dante had been so unsure of her feelings. 
“Well it worked.  He says he doesn’t trust me and I believe him.”
  What had she done to do that to him? 

“Don’t you dare!” she said forcefully.  “That man loves you more than he wants to.  Trust me on this
Sasha
.  He doesn’t want to so he’s grasping at anything so he can control his feelings.  But he needs you as much as he needs air to breathe.  He’s been miserable this past year without you.  He works all the time, almost never eats.  He exercises like a madman, all because he’s trying to exhaust himself so he doesn’t think about you any longer.  And it’s not working.”

Sasha looked at Rennata curiously.  “How do you know all of this?”

“I know my grandson.  He’s in love and he hates it.”

“Why?” she asked cautiously. 

“You ask him that.  He’s a stupid fool and needs you.  Just make him understand that and you’ll be the happiest woman alive.”  She humphed and shook her head.  “Now where’s that book with the short stories.  I was telling Riasa some and she actually laughed.  That woman needs a bit more laughter in her life as well.”

Sasha was stunned.  “I thought you didn’t like the short stories.”

Rennata’s eyes snapped open and she looked at Sasha carefully.  “Not like them?  They were wonderful.  I especially like the one with the little boy taking the dandelions to his mother and finding all of them pressed in the family Bible at her funeral.”

Sasha had to swallow the lump in her throat at the memory of that story.  It had been poignant and sweet, and made her think of Dante as a little boy running through a field, carrying weeds for his mother in a grubby little hand.  Except she couldn’t quite imagine Dante with dirty hands since he was so well dressed all the time. 
And she couldn’t get the image of Riasa pressing dandelions into a bible.  That would be too undignified for the elegant, mean spirited woman. 

It occurred to Sasha that perhaps there might be a reason Riasa was so angry all the time.  But she left so much hurt around that Sasha didn’t have the energy to search out the answer. 
At least right at the moment.  It was an intriguing thought that she’d have to contemplate later. 

Sasha pulled the book filled with the short stories out of her bag and opened to the page where they’d left off and started reading.  But her mind wasn’t fully on the words.  She was thinking through
Rennata’s
comments
about the book
, trying to figure out if she believed them or not. 
Was Rennata simply being polite?  Or was she only hones
t to Ri
asa?  And what about her comments
regarding
Dante?  Rennata had said the same thing that first night when she’d just woken and thought that she and Dante were back together.  Was she right about Dante’s fear of her rejection?  Had she done something that would give him that impression? 

Or had someone done that to him in the past?  Her heart ached at the idea of Dante loving another woman but it was entirely possible that something like that had happened.  She knew that he’d dated a great deal in the past.  And all the women had been extraordinarily beautiful.  But how could a woman be with Dante and not fall in love with him?  Sasha simply couldn’t understand it, but she was perhaps a bit biased about the subject. 

Rennata
had an uncanny ability to understand human nature, Sasha reminded herself.  But perhaps she might be a little too close to Dante and herself?  And the woman wanted a great grandchild
and wasn’t above a bit of
emotional
manipulation in order to get one
.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Rennata said softly
, interrupting Sasha’s thoughts
.

Sasha looked up, confused and unaware of the fact that she’d stopped reading.  Her mind was flitting back to the night before.  And this morning. 
And Rennata’s comments as well as thinking about the other women Dante might have fallen in love with and
might have hurt him
.   Something about last night niggled at her mind and she had to concentrate carefully, going through the details. 
“Oh no….” she whispered. 

“Sasha?” Rennata asked, turning her head and looking at her with sharp eyes.  “What’s wrong?”

Sasha shook her head and closed the book
, her heart racing as she realized something horrible
.  “I’m sorry, Rennata.  I have to go.  I’ll be back,” she replied and grabbed her purse, rushing out of the room and down the hallway. 

Outside the hospital, she quickly caught a cab and gave the driver the address to Dante’s office.  Once there, she paid the driver and stood outside the steel and concrete building, her heart hammering in her chest and her mind fluttering all over the place. 

“No,” she said, shaking her head with determination
while she paced back and forth in front of the building
.  “Everything is going to be okay.  I just missed it,” she told herself as she forced her feet to walk her forward.  She didn’t want any confirmation, but she knew she
couldn’t
ignore the situation.  And she hadn’t been thinking clearly last night.  She’d been too desperate to feel him and maybe….