“A trip? Where? I mean…I’d love to, but I can’t leave the kids…”
“For all of us. You, me, and the kids. Mrs. Ballas can come along to help wrangle.”
Constance still sensed an underlying tension to him, but he did seem genuinely excited about his plan.
“Where would we go?”
“I’ve told Joe to get the yacht ready. We can cruise around the islands, get away from everything for a while, all the craziness. It can just be us.”
“That sounds wonderful. Can you do that? I mean, aren’t you supposed to meet with your dad again soon?”
“Don’t worry about him. This isn’t about him anymore. This is about us.” He cupped her face and drew her in for a kiss.
She sank into him, letting the last of her anxiety drift away. Whatever had upset him earlier didn’t seem to be an issue. She’d probably blown it out of proportion.
“Let’s go home and get packed,” he said, breaking away long enough to gather up the rest of the things they’d brought.
“What, you mean we’re leaving today?”
“Why not? You didn’t have any other plans, did you?”
“Well, no.” Constance laughed. “I guess I’m not used to having someone say hey let’s go on a cruise in my yacht and have it be an actual possibility.”
He grinned. “Well, get used to it.” He gave her a quick kiss and then pulled her out the door to the motorcycle.
She wrapped her arms around him again but tried not to get too carried away. They’d be walking into a house with six kids this time, not a private bungalow. They might not be able to rush straight to the bedroom upon arrival.
When they pulled up to the house, however, the kids were nowhere to be seen. The house was almost eerily quiet.
“I wonder where everyone is,” Constance said.
Joseph came out of Luca’s office. Constance gave him her usual bright smile but his expression was tight, subdued. What was going on?
Luca frowned at Joseph and wrapped his arm around Constance’s waist. “Is everything ready?”
Joseph nodded. “She’ll be ready to leave within the hour.”
“Excellent.” Luca turned to Constance. “As soon as you can get packed we’ll head over.”
“So quickly?”
“Why wait?” he said, though the smile he gave her seemed forced.
“Luca, what’s going on?”
“Can’t a man want to take his fiancée and a parcel of kids on a trip without something being wrong?” he asked with a spark of his usual humor.
She relaxed a little. “I suppose.”
“Then go pack your bags so we can get this show on the road.”
“Yes, sir,” she murmured, leaning in for a kiss that was so sweet and gentle it raised red flags all on its own.
She pulled away with a slight frown. “Luca…”
He cupped her face in his hands. “There are several things we need to talk about, Stanzia, but I don’t want to do it here. I want to get you and the kids on my boat and get underway so we can relax and take our time.”
“Am I going to like what you have to say?” she asked, not sure if she should be excited or terrified. Surely he wouldn’t be planning a trip with her if he were going to break things off. She couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than being stuck on a boat with someone you’d dumped, with six kids you had no real tie to tossed in for fun.
“I hope so,” he said, pulling her closer for another kiss that curled her toes and melted her heart. “Now go get packed.”
She grinned and hurried off to their room to grab her things.
She had her bag nearly ready to go when Mrs. Ballas came in.
“Oh, Mrs. Ballas, good. I was wondering where you and the children had gotten to. Are they packed and ready to go?”
“They’re all ready, but I wanted to make sure you really wanted to go before I told them where we were going. No sense in getting them excited if they weren’t going to get to go after all.”
Constance frowned. “Of course we’re really going. Why wouldn’t we?”
“I thought you might be upset over what was in the papers this morning. I suppose that’s why Mr. Vasilakis is taking you on a trip. It’s a good idea, actually, get away from it all until those jackals find some other bones to chew on.”
The knot reformed in Constance’s stomach. She didn’t want to ask, didn’t want to know. There shouldn’t be anything in the papers. Nothing new, anyway. Nothing Luca would feel the need to take her away from. They hadn’t been anywhere but his bungalow. Maybe they’d gotten some unflattering pictures of her on the beach earlier?