"That I wouldn't find out."
"Exactly."
"Why did you do such a stupid thing?" The sun slanted across the last rolling hill, spilling a soft heat on her shoulders and head. The smell of dark earth and tangy vines imprinted the moment into her mind and soul. This was the moment when she and Dante would understand each other. This was the moment when it all would be laid bare.
She would forgive.
And surely, he would too.
"I lost my temper." He wouldn't meet her stare and his voice was filled with self-contempt.
She understood him at last.
"Dante. It's all right to lose your temper."
"No."
"It's okay to show your emotions."
His hand slashed against her statement.
"Look at me."
With stoic resignation, he glanced her way.
"I like it when you show your emotions," she declared. "I like it when you lose your temper."
"Please." He made a sound of dismissal.
"I love it when you lose control."
He shook his head and it filled her with anxiety. He didn't understand what she was saying. Her mind scrambled, trying to find some way to get through to him. Some way to find out what she needed to know. "Let's return to the beginning. When I came into Papa's study that day-"
"And jumped to conclusions."
"Why did you let me keep those conclusions?" Staring into his black, shuttered eyes, she tried to find the answer. "Why did you let me think so badly of you for all this time?"
His mouth thinned as if he wanted to contain the words.
"It's time," she stated. "Time to tell each other the truth."
His eyes closed tight.
"Tell me."
"Because I had to have you," he admitted in a choked voice. "I knew you wouldn't marry me unless I forced you."
Anguish and chagrin reverberated through his words. She stepped forward and laid a hand on his chest, feeling the breath leave him. "Why did you have to have me? You could have married any number of women."
He stared at her, astonished, as if she'd missed the most essential part of the puzzle. The essential part of him. "I couldn't marry another woman."
"Why?" She held her breath.
His gaze begged for her forgiveness, all defenses gone. "Because I love you."
A shiny zing of pure joy filled her. This was the only thing she needed, the only thing she wanted. Everything that had come before could be forgiven and forgotten with love. "I forgive you."
Dark eyes were suddenly veiled by dark lashes. "Grazie, bella," he drawled. He started to withdraw, but her words stopped him.
"And I love you too."
His mouth fell open and his gaze met hers.
"Dante, I love both sides of you. The cool, calm businessman and the passionate, emotional man beneath." She touched her hand to his cheek, loving the rasp of his days-old beard. "Without your emotions, we would never have found each other. Without the honor and integrity that drives you, I would never have fallen in love with you. You don't have to hide anything from me ever again. I love every part of you."
His eyes widened and then the shadows, the shadows she hated, drifted over them. "You love me," he halted, his mouth twisting in clear disbelief. "Yet, you do not want to have my children."
"Not true." She twisted her hand in his shirt, keeping him by her side. "Let me explain about the pills."
His grudging nod gave her hope.
"When we married, I was angry." She stared up into his pale countenance. "You knew that."
"Si."
Her confidence stuttered at his sharp slice of a word. Still, she kept at it. She had to win this battle because it meant the war between them would finally end. "I felt controlled. So I took control of the one area I could."
"Controlled." His eyes flashed with immediate understanding. "Like your first marriage. You got the pills to make a point."
"Yes, if only to myself." Her heart soared at his acknowledgment of her dilemma. "But I haven't taken those pills in weeks."
"No?" Lingering disbelief rang in his one word.
"No, I haven't." Her breath came out in spiky chops, emotion spilling into her words. "I want your children, Dante. I want you to love me and together we'll have the children we both want. And we will love them just as much as we love each other."
A poignant silence fell between them. She watched her husband, watched the tenseness of his shoulders fade, watched as his hands relaxed at his sides. Watched his face as he took her words and love in. "Lara," he rasped.
"I love you." She took her heart out of her soul and placed it in front of his feet. "I have loved you for all of my life and I always will."
Her love coursed through him and joy flooded onto his face. Her heart bloomed as she saw he believed at last. "Bella." He stepped toward her with his arms open.
Laughing, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him down, kissing his open mouth until he met her passion with his own.
"Madonna in cielo," he murmured into her ear, pressing a string of kisses along her tingling skin. "Sognavo di te."
"I've dreamed of you, too." She smoothed her hands down his chest, trying to soothe and stir him at the same time. "I missed you, too."
Groaning, he caught her mouth and the latent passion he kept under strict command poured out of him, blanketing her senses with overwhelming results.
She broke the kiss, pulling his head up to stare into eyes glazed with pleasure. "Never leave me again."
"Never." The glaze cleared and all that was left was pure love. "I have loved you for a long time. And I will love you forever."
There was no sign of the unflappable man she'd married. Instead, before her stood a man who'd been pulled apart and put together again. He was complete beauty to her. His body was sweating, his hair a mess, his face flushed with emotion. And his eyes, those black, inscrutable eyes, were now sparkling with pure happiness. "I am … "
"You are mine," she finished for him. Licking his salty skin, she reveled in the shiver that ran through him. "I want you. Now."
With a yank, she pulled him down with her as she fell to the dusty ground.
"Lara." Cushioning her fall by rolling onto his back, he tried to object. "Not here, tesoro mio."
"Right here. Right now." She slipped her hands underneath his shirt and stopped the last of his objections with her tongue and lips.
The sun's rays dappled their skin as clothes flew and hands and mouths touched and sipped and gloried in their union . For the first time in her life, she was fully attuned to everything inside her and everything around her. This man made her whole, and filled her with a certainty of pure acceptance and love. He would be her champion and she would be his.
"Now, my love?" Holding himself above her, he gazed down, his skin red with passion, his eyes dark with love.
"Yes, Dante, yes." And she pulled him to her.
Epilogue
Antony Pietro Tomas Casartelli was not pleased.
His naps were extremely important to him. In fact, other than eating, that was what he did the most: napping, sleeping, snoozing. Without his naps, his mamma said he turned grumpy and surly.
Which he had a right to do, obviously.
"Ssssh." The high voice disturbed him again. "You'll wake him, Lucia."
"You ssssh," another high voice whispered in response.
Antony opened his eyes and frowned.
"Oh, no." The high voice turned into a shriek. "Now you've done it."
"It's your fault, not mine, Mia."
With that, he threw his head back and roared.
"Now, now." His mother's stern voice came to him but he was in mid-roar and it felt too good to stop. Gentle hands pulled him up and he landed on a familiar soft bosom. Suddenly, he was hungry. He continued to roar knowing this was a sure way to get what he wanted. Food and attention.
"Girls."
"I'm sorry, Mamma."
"He's so cute, Mamma. We couldn't help looking at him."
"I suppose it doesn't matter since it's time he ate."
Soon, he was given what he wanted and he decided it was better to eat than to roar.
"Will he ever get taller?"
"Will he ever talk?"
These questions were highly offensive. Not worth the cessation of his morning snack, however, worth a glare. Antony managed to glare sideways. He met two sets of honey brown eyes staring at him with fascination.
"Yes, he will get taller and he will eventually talk when he's ready." His mamma smoothed a hand across his dark curls as she leaned back on the solid oak tree. "He will be bigger than both of you some day."