The Marriage He Must Keep(42)

“I was shocked when he suggested it last night, too. I only asked him whether he thought he’d set up false expectations, letting Giacomo move in when he was campaigning for election. He hadn’t expected them to stay on, he said, or that my cousins would inveigle their way into moving in, but...they’re family. He sees now that his generosity has created a gray area.”

She supposed it was better for Ermanno to announce his wishes now than for Alessandro to inherit sometime in the future and then what? Turn everyone out at that point? That really would be a mess.

“Where will they go?”

“They have homes. Some are rented out.” He shrugged, not saying aloud that they were collecting income while living off Ermanno’s good graces. “I’ll be offering the town house to Giacomo until they are able to move back into their own. That’s one of the reasons I’m going into the city, to set up the movers, along with finalizing the restructuring at the office. I’m not leaving you in a kennel, Octavia,” he added with disdain. “Kindly don’t insult me like that again. I’m asking you to stay here as a statement that this is our home now. This is where I live with my wife and son.”

She could only stare at him, hands squeezing her knees while she took in that running his town house was nothing compared to overseeing the running of a house this size on a huge estate with a working winery among other things. The task intimidated her down to the bottoms of her bare feet.

“Will your grandfather stay here with us? To run the estate?” Please say yes.

“I’ve asked him to, but he wants to move into his grandmother’s rooms attached to the old stable house. We’ll have to take a hard look at its condition. My sisters used it as a playroom when we were young. It may be three or four months before he actually makes the move, but he seemed determined.”

“I don’t know what to say.” She really didn’t.

“You could say that you understand and agree.” He ambled the few steps to bring himself to stand in front of her, then he caught her wrist and drew her to stand. He hooked his arm around her and pulled her tight against his tailored clothes. “You could say that you’ll come downstairs and stand beside me. If you wanted to add that last night was as good for you as it was for me, I’d like to hear that, too.”

She blushed, but he kissed her, not letting her talk as he made her remember exactly why she hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him. With a moan, she softened under his hard kiss, smoothing her hands up the stiff fabric of his jacket to curl around his neck.

He smelled good and molded her against him with that confident way of his, making the silk she wore grow warm and slide against her skin, turning her on even more.

But he wasn’t trying to manage her. With his own swift loss of control last night, he’d made it clear he was as reactive to her as she was to him. He wasn’t trying to persuade a pawn right now. They were equals in bed, and he was asking her to be his partner out of it.

Her heart swelled and she encouraged him to play out their long, passionate kiss, rubbing against him invitingly as she felt his arousal.

He pressed her away with a warning flashing in his gaze. “I’ll need another cold shower at this rate. Will you dress and come down?”

“They’re going to hate me,” she sighed, but lowered to flat feet and moved into the walk-in closet. Of course she would accompany him. It wasn’t just for Lorenzo, either. It was for Sandro. For this marriage they were trying to save.

She wanted to save it, she admitted tentatively to herself.

“I sent an email to Michaela to come and fit you with a new wardrobe,” he said, following to lean in the doorway as she started to remove the overwrap for her nightdress. “You’ll need something for Nonno’s birthday anyway.”

“Thank you.” She paused with the open ties in her hands, glancing at him.

He made no move to leave, looking very comfortable leaning there.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Unless you have something.”

“No, I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes or so.”

“Good.” Still he didn’t move.

She folded her arms. “Are you planning to stand there and watch me change?”

“Yes.”

“No,” she assured him, moving forward to press him out of the closet. “You’re not.”

“We have been married too long for shyness,” he argued, refusing to be budged, hands finding her hips and straying freely.

She caught them and pushed them off her. “Go have a baby and come back and talk to me about shyness.” She applied her full weight to his shoulder, pushing until he made a tsk noise and backed out of the doorway.