At the Count's Bidding(78)

                Paige might not be certain what she deserved, but her daughter deserved everything. Everything. She would use Arleen as her base and do the exact opposite. That meant many things, among them, not settling for a man—even if it was Giancarlo Alessi—simply because he was in front of her. Paige had watched that dynamic in action again and again and again. Her baby would not.

                “How did you find me?” she asked, keeping all of her brand-new hopes, all of her wishes and all of her realizations out of her voice. Or she tried. “And more importantly, why?”

                “The how is simple. I remembered you said you wanted to see the fall leaves change color in Vermont.”

                “I did?”

                “When we first met. It was autumn in Los Angeles, hot and bright, and you told me you wanted to see real seasons. You also said you wanted to live near the sea and see the snow.” He shrugged. “I decided that all those things pointed to New England. After that, I utilized the fact that I am a very wealthy, very motivated, very determined man to hunt you down.”

                “Giancarlo—”

                “And the why is this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, and smiled slightly when she jerked back.

                “No.” It was automatic. And loud.

                Giancarlo didn’t seem at all fazed.

                “This was my grandmother’s diamond,” he said. He cracked open the box and held it out, and she remembered, then, that first night with him in Italy, when he’d stood with his hand out and she’d thought he could stand like that forever, if he had to. His dark gaze met hers, and held. “I had the ring made for you ten years ago.”

                Paige felt her eyes flood then, and she let them, covering her mouth with her hands, unable to speak. So he did.

                “Everything you said about me is true,” he told her. “I can’t deny any of it. But I want to understand you, Paige. I want to dedicate the next ten years to learning every single thing that makes you you. I don’t simply want a partner, I want to be one. I want to be yours. I want you to yell at me and put me in my place and I want to help you teach our daughter never to surrender herself to terrible men like her father.” His voice was scratchy then. “Not ever.”

                “Stop,” she said, and she didn’t mean to reach over to him. She didn’t mean to slide her hand along his perfect, lean cheek. “I never gave you anything I didn’t want to give. You must know that. It was only that I knew it would end.”

                “This won’t,” he whispered. “It hasn’t in ten years. It won’t in ten more, or ten after that, or ever.” He leaned forward, sliding his hand over her belly to cup that small, unmistakable swell, and the smile that moved over that mouth of his broke her heart and made it leap at once. Then he made it far worse, leaning in to press a reverent kiss there. “I love you, Paige. Please. Let me show you.”

                “I love you, too,” she whispered, because what was the point in pretending otherwise? They’d already lost so much time. “But trust is a whole lot more than a pretty ring. I’ll always be the woman who sold you out.”

                “And I’ll always be the man who greeted the news of his daughter’s impending arrival like a pig,” he retorted. “Based on the wild fears of the four-year-old boy I haven’t been in decades.”

                “That sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

                “I know.” He shifted then, pulling the ring from its box and slipping it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, and Paige couldn’t seem to breathe. And his eyes were so bright, and she felt three times the size of her skin, and she didn’t want to let him go this time. She didn’t want to sacrifice him, ever again. “Believe me, I know, but it’s not. It only means we’ve tested each other and we’re still here.”