Too Cold To Love (27 page)

"
Dannazioni,
Elise, will you let me
worry over her. She
will
go away. All it needs is the right amount of
money. I don't care how much it'll cost, I'll shut her up. That's all she ever
wanted me for anyhow. I was a goddamn fool to ever think she cared about
me."

When Elise put her hand on his mouth to stop him
from kissing her again his eyes flashed with barely disguised anguish. He
stepped away from her, and ran one hand through his hair.

"Why the concern about her? I told you in
the garden, it doesn't matter what she said, unless she was right of course.
And you don't want to be with me, because I, I can't..
. Dio Santo...
that's
it isn't it. I'm such a fool, I thought."

Elise didn't catch the rest of his anguished
words as he lapsed into Italian shaking his head in disgust.

The pain in his voice sliced Elise's heart wide
open.

"
No
, Marco, no, that's not it at
all. How could you even think that? We've got Mimi, haven't we? And besides,
Alex and his sisters are doing a wonderful job at repopulating the Giovanni all
by themselves. We certainly don't have to add to them."

"But I want to."

Three simple words that held so much pain and
anguish, as he stood there, hand thrust into his trouser pockets, his jaw so
tense, Elise could almost hear his teeth grind together.

"Why? Marco, why is this so important to
you?"

She took a tentative step towards him. Her heart
ached for him.

"Why is it not important to you?"

Marco shied away from her touch. His expression
even darker if that was possible, his blue eyes scanned her face.

"I didn't say it wasn't important, Marco,
but you said yourself you could never have children. I would dearly love to
have your baby, but I meant what I said, too. You're a brilliant daddy to Mimi.
The fact that you can't have any more children doesn't make you any less of a
man."

"You say that now, but in time... surely if
you cared, then it would matter... you'd want...
Dio Santo
, I'm such a
fool to fall for this again."

Elise's heart clenched hopefully and then turned
into a jackhammer at the barely audible words.

Oh my, tell him how you feel girl, now!

"Time won't make any difference, you silly,
silly man, and I do care – that's why it doesn't matter.
 
I fell in love with you the way you are, heaven
only knows why, you arrogant, stupid, male—"

Marco caught her shriek of surprise in his mouth
when he suddenly filled her vision. His mouth claimed hers and kissed her
senseless.

"Say that again,
amore mio,"
he
growled in her ear. His eyes glittered with emotion, holding her captive as her
own heart expanded at what she saw in his.

"I love you, Marco Giovanni."

Elise smiled through her tears as she felt the
way his whole body relaxed. He buried his face in her neck, and his breath made
her shiver as he sighed.

"Ti amo cosi tanto, cara mia."

"And in English that would be, wise
guy?" Elise couldn't help but tease him, though his whole body language
was telling her all she needed to know, her heart and soul recognizing their
mate.

Marco's light chuckle against her neck vibrated
through her. It set sparks of happiness zinging along ever part of her. He
lifted his head, his large hands cupped her face, and his intense gaze devoured
her. He murmured between kisses.

"My heart, my love, I love you so much, I can't
even begin to tell you, so..." and his smile turned wicked as he nudged
her towards the bed. “I'm just going to have to show you."

Epilogue

12 months
later

Marco stepped through his front door and
promptly ducked, the ball missing him by a hair's breadth.

"Hey easy, guys." He chuckled as the
latest arrivals whizzed past him, clearly engaged in a very competitive game of
hallway football.

Good, they've settled then, but will the
house survive?

Affection welled up in Marco at the chaotic
scene in front of him.

Their latest arrivals were three and four year
old brothers, who had clearly been traumatized by their abusive home life.
Elise had worked hard with the social workers to help them come out of their
shell. And if the chaos they were right now causing with Noah was anything to
go by, then they had had a breakthrough, finally. Marco knew they were in it
for the long haul with these two. In fact, he had to speak to Elise about that.
He'd grown very fond of them, and Mimi doted on them as though they were really
her brothers. Whilst foster parents didn't usually adopt, there were always
exceptions.

When Elise had first suggested fostering to him,
he'd been skeptical. They'd just won full custody of Mimi, his ex-wife having
been dispatched with a suitably large settlement, and Marco had had another
extremely disappointing visit with his specialist.

Elise had hugged him and asked him to come with
her to visit one of the local children's homes. She'd grown up in places like
this, and she was so passionate about wanting to help, he'd found himself going
along with it, to please her if he was honest to himself. But the string of
children who'd passed through his house since then had wheedled their way into
his affections with amazing speed, and he couldn't imagine life without them
now.

"Sorry, Uncle Marco, but they're winning,
will never do!" Noah threw over his shoulder, Mimi in hot pursuit.

"
Ciao,
Papa!"

"
Ciao
to you, too," murmured
Marco. He winced at the loud crash as that football hit something else.

Though maybe the house could do without them.

"Take it outside guys,
now
!"

Agnes appeared out of the kitchen, rolling her
eyes at him and muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

"Gah, lost the plot they have... all very
well... need to settle... hah... no the ones who have tae clean up after
them...boys!"

Louder screeching from the kitchen had Marco
roll his own eyes. The twins were here, too, then. Elise didn't know when to
say no. Sure enough, Alex's and Kitty's youngest twin Alessandro ran full pelt into
Marco's legs putting chocolate fingers all over his light trouser legs.

"Oh no, you little horror!
 
Here, catch, babe." Elise threw a wet
cloth towards Marco whilst hitching Rosetta up on her hip a bit higher. Her
stern features softened when the little girl giggled. "Sandro bad
boy."

"He got away from me before I could wipe
his hands. What are you doing home so early? Sorry, you kinda walked into a war
zone, didn't you?"

Elise worried her bottom lip. Her hair had
escaped its ponytail. She had a streak of what he sure hoped was chocolate on
one cheek; her jeans were covered in sticky finger prints, yet she was glowing.
Si,
that was the only way to describe his
pasticcino
right now.
Put her in a houseful of kids, and she was at home.

He reached across to drop a kiss on her nose,
grateful to be home, chaos or not.

"The boys are finally playing then. I
almost got decapitated by a ball coming in."

Elise smiled apologetically.

"Noah brought the ball, and well they hit
it off so well, I didn't have the heart to stop them. We may have to give Agnes
a raise, mind. She's not happy."

"Yes, I noticed that walking in."
Marco laughed. "But why are Noah and the twins here in the first place?
Surely it's Mamma G's turn to babysit?"

Instead of answering, Elise put Rosetta down and
steered her and Alessandro towards the garden.

"There, find the others. Noah is out there
somewhere."

At the mention of her big brother's name,
Rosetta's face lit up, and she clapped her hands running into the garden, her
twin in hot pursuit.

"I don't know who leads whom into trouble,
you know. Kitty says it's Alessandro, but I reckon it's the other way round.
Would you like some coffee, Marco?"

Marco stepped deliberately in front of her
noticing how nervous she was for the first time.

"I can get my own coffee,
caramia.
What has you so rattled?"

Elise flicked a worried glance at his face
before nibbling her bottom lip again. Something was definitely bothering her,
and he drew her into his arms, his protective instincts kicking in.

"Tell me,
angelo mio.
What's
wrong?"

Elise's barely audible sigh had him cupping her
chin to make her look at him.

"Nothing's wrong exactly. It's just that,
well Alex is taking Kitty for a...scan. You know how run down she's been
lately. Turns out she's pregnant."

"Again?" Marco whistled low through
his teeth. The quick stab of envy he felt at his cousin's fertility was blown
away by the concerned look in Elise's eyes.

"I'm sworn to secrecy, ‘cause they don't
want anyone to know yet, and you know what the rest of them are like, and well,
Alex was worried about your reaction, I guess."

Her arms came round his neck. Her soft curves
pressed into him when she whispered, “I told them not to worry, but are you
okay, babe?"

Was he okay? Marco had to smile looking at his
wife. Oh,
si,
he was more than okay.

"
Si, amore mio.
I have everything I
need right here."

And he kissed her with all the love, admiration
and thankfulness he felt for the woman who had rescued him from himself and
filled his home with love and laughter and chaos.

The tinkling of breaking windows, followed by
Agnes erupting into a furious harpy, had them sigh, foreheads touching,
savoring just being together.

Elise smiled ruefully.

"United nations peace-keeping, here we go
again."

"I'll ring the glazier, then. Just as well
we have his number on speed dial."

Elise blew him a kiss, making Marco grin as he
picked up the phone, admiring her backside as she strode away. Her soothing
voice calmed the chaos that was now his happy home in the same way she'd
soothed his own troubled soul. Yeah, all things considering he was one lucky
guy.

"Hello, this is Marco Giovanni, how soon
can you come and fix another window?"

The End

www.dorisoconnor.com

Other Books by Doris
O’Connor:

Lure of the Blood

Lure of Forever

Too Hot to Handle

Virgins Behaving Badly

Riding Her Tiger

Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com