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“And I needed to know that you’d stand by your word.”
“You didn’t trust me then?” The words felt disingenuous on his lips when her hand was in his. Touching her had always been less about logic and rationality and something more.
“We didn’t have any to begin with. It was all mind-blowing sex. Maybe now, we could build it, if not give it unconditionally.”
Pulling his hand from her clasp, he leaned back on the coffee table, allowing himself a wider look at her. Allowing her words to sink deep. Although he didn’t agree that it had just been sex. And if that wasn’t a reversal in his own head… “There’s a change in you.”
“Yes,” she said, biting into her lower lip.
“Do you plan to tell me what it is? Or am I going to discover all your little secrets through someone else,bella?”
She looked down at her laced fingers. “Something Maria said struck a chord with me. It was my foolish pride that threatened you with leaving. It grated on me, still does—” a shiver went through her “—that you thought I was capable of…that.” She swallowed. “Giving you an ultimatum gave me back a sense of control, but it was only false. What I want more than anything is to give these two a happy, secure future, to break away from all the insecurity that Nadia and I faced. I needed to wake up to the fact that I don’t have to be miserable, that I can still build a future with you.”
“You don’t intend to leave me anymore, then?” he said, his head still reeling from all she’d done, all she was saying.
It was like this was a new Nyra—confident, realistic and smart. Not the wraith who’d clung to him for protection or who had drowned in the pleasure he pulled from her. He didn’t know what it said about him that he wasn’t sure how much he liked this new version of her.
No, that was a lie. He knew and didn’t like how it reflected on him. It smacked too much of how his father’s ego would inflate based on how much power he could wield over innocent women.
“I plan to stick it out in the marriage, Adriano. I even came up with a promise to make to you. A belated vow, I guess. Since all we did was exchange signatures in that tacky chapel.”
Every cell in him stood to attention. But he refused to ask her for it. Christo, but she turned him into a churlish man-child.
She scooted closer to him on the sofa, a slight grimace crossing her expression at the movement. The outside of her thighs grazed the inside of his, sending a heated flush through him. She raised her eyes, a solemnity to them, and met his.
He kept his palms spread on the coffee table behind him, keeping them out of her reach.
Refusing to be put off, she cupped his knees. His muscles bunched tight at how her long fingers splayed. “I vow to be a better wife to you than I’ve been before and a good mother, hopefully, to our children.”
“I’m not sure what a better wife is,bella.”
If she was aware that he was mocking her, she didn’t betray her irritation. “I mean to take an active role in your life. Be the wife that the mighty Cavalieri bank chairman needs. Learn how to host dinners and talk about high fashion and art and whatever it is your people talk about. Dress in the height of fashion, as I’m expected to. Maybe join the board of a few charities.”
She quoted them like bullet points on a list, or like a formula to solve a problem. “I see,” he said, without knowing what to think at all.
A wide smile bloomed across her face. “I’m going to start by throwing a party to celebrate your birthday in two weeks. I’ve already brought your mother on board. Hopefully, that should stop all the rumors swirling about us. The pregnancy and now this scandal, I know it’s been a lot.”
“Mama?” he said, feeling as if he’d been punched in the head.
She gave another shrug, and a button holding the edges of the cardigan popped. “We had a talk this morning. Or rather I showed up at the villa, demanded she hear me out, and she did. Seeing me so visibly pregnant shook her, I think. She muttered something about you never giving me up now that I carry your children.”
“She knows that much about me, I guess,” he said dryly.
“Honestly, she gave me the perfect opening with that statement. I made it clear that I wasn’t going anywhere and the palazzo was my home. And that our children would be the next Cavalieri heirs. That it’s in her interest to be on my good side. I fibbed that I told you about everything she’d ever said to me and that you were mighty upset. The whole time, I nearly peed myself.”
“Go on,” he said, barely stopping his mouth from falling open.
“It was Fabi’s idea actually. You know that she feels guilty about snooping through my stuff, right? She’s been visiting me regularly and, wonder of wonders, I think we’ve become friends. Beneath all the fashionista hauteur, your sister is witty and just as full of insecurities as I am. Isn’t it great?”
“Si,” he said, barely digesting it all. But Nyra’s transformation was so…complete that it caught him too.
“Anyway, she gave me oodles of insight into how to handle your mother. I don’t know why I let her cow me. You just need to speak her language. Nigella’s nothing compared to some of the men I dealt with at the casino. And the fact that I wasn’t running away with my tail tucked between my legs at this new scandal seems to have raised me in her estimation. She’s one of those people who likes to know the order of things. And I let her know that I was on the top in this family. She admitted that the only way to weather this scandal will be to show a united front.”
His mouth twitched but he held back the smile. “But you’re seeking her help for this party?”
Nyra leaned in, smiling conspiratorially. “I actually have no interest in all the small details. She thrives on them. So I thought why not take advantage of the resources I do have.”
“All this because…”