Page 25 of Seduced by Her Fake Husband (The Martinelli Wedding #2)

W hen Luisa had first arrived at the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre, she’d soaked in every little thing, spending hours studying the Illustrators Wall – which really should be called the Illustrators Maze – and squealing to find her own illustrations on it.

Now she left it without any awareness of her surroundings or of her legs or feet moving.

She felt like she was floating. Jules Chambers, a children’s author whose books Luisa provided the illustrations for, seemed to be in as big a daze, and they wordlessly embraced their goodbyes.

In the distance, a tall, imposing man unfolded himself from the back of a large black SUV.

The soles of Luisa’s feet regained their substance but the disconnect between them and her brain remained until she was gazing into her husband’s black eyes.

“Well?” he asked expectantly.

No one had more faith in Luisa’s career and talent than Gennaro.

He’d insisted on coming with her to the conference centre so they could go straight out afterwards and celebrate what he had absolute certainty was a done deal with a children’s publisher for Jules and Luisa’s magical adventure book for small children.

She burst into tears.

Swearing, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “I’m so sorry, my angel. They are fools. I will buy the publishing house and sack the whole idiot team. They wouldn’t know talent and exciting storylines if –”

“No,” she choked out, wriggling out of his hold and cupping his bristly cheeks. “They didn’t turn it down. They want four of them.”

“Four?”

“With the option of more.”

She watched his clever brain process this before a huge smile transformed his face from gorgeous to heartbreakingly gorgeous, and then she was being swung in the air much in the same way he swung their young daughters, except the kisses he always gave their daughters when he finally put them down was nothing like the kiss he gave Luisa when he finally put her down.

“See, didn’t I tell you,” he grinned before devouring her with another deep kiss. “I knew they’d bite your hands off for it. You just needed faith.”

She burst into laughter and threw herself back into his embrace.

In the six years since the renewal of their wedding vows, the one thing her husband had been unswerving in was his faith in her.

Gennaro was her biggest champion. Where he was still aloof and inscrutable with the outside world, in the privacy of their home he was a loving husband and father, and when he accompanied Luisa to parties connected with her work, he was charm personified and promoted her talents with a greater zeal than even her agent managed.

Cuddled into him on the drive back to their hotel, she thought back to the shy little girl who’d been so morbidly fascinated with him that she’d quailed just to hear Gennaro’s name mentioned.

When under the same roof as him, that little girl had followed him around like a moon orbiting its sun, always positioning herself as close to wherever he happened to be as she dared.

Gennaro was still her sun; would always be her sun.

And she would always be his too.

THE END