with Gianna. He tried to convince himself it was because Rico didn’t know if he would be able to walk down the aisle with Chiara when the time came. He could very well still be in a wheelchair. But something ugly had shifted in him at the thought of Gianna married.
Was he such an egoist he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her innocent adoration? The thought did not sit well.
“Caro! You mustn’t glare like that. You’ll scare the nurses off and then who will bring you your lunch?” A trill of laughter accompanied Chiara into the room.
He watched his beautiful fiancée’s entrance. Any man would be proud to claim Chiara for his own, but she belonged to Rico. “Give me a kiss and I won’t feel like frowning any more.”
She made a moue with her mouth. “Naughty man. You’re sick.”
“So kiss me and make it better,” he taunted.
Something flickered in her eyes but she came forward and offered her lips for a brief salute. He wanted to demand more, but he allowed her to step back from the bed.
“You weren’t here last night,” he said.
Her eyes filled with tears and her expression was wounded. “That brother of yours and the little paragon,” she must have meant Gianna, “they kept me out of it. They didn’t call me for hours after you woke up.”
Why hadn’t his brother called Chiara right away? “They were here. You were not.”
The tears spilled over. “That horrible girl! She’s infatuated with you. She wouldn’t leave your side. There wasn’t even room for me next to the bed. Half the staff are convinced she’s your fiancée.”
He couldn’t imagine Gianna doing something so cruel. “You’re exaggerating.”
Chiara spun away and her shoulders shook with misery. “I’m not.”
“Come here, bella.”
She turned around and returned to stand by the bed, her face wet with tears. “She lied to get into your room the first night. She told them she was related to you. And she never left, just like some pathetic clinging vine.”
“Everyone was upset.”
“But I’m your fiancée. I want you to tell her to stop acting like she is and not to spend so much time here at the hospital. I don’t want to be tripping over her.”
“Are you jealous?” he asked, the thought not unpleasant considering the state of his body.
She pouted with expert effect. “Maybe, a little.”
“I’ll talk to her,” he promised.
Gianna walked into Rico’s room an hour after she’d woken from the first unbroken stretch of sleep she’d had in six nights. Andre had insisted she take the other bedroom in his suite, saying it was just going to waste until his parents could arrive. She’d been grateful as her budget did not stretch to Manhattan hotel prices or taxi fares from a less expensive part of the city. She hadn’t relished the thought of sleeping in her car or depleting her small savings account to nothing.
Rico looked up, his smile of greeting conspicuous in its shortness.
She stopped a few feet from the bed. “You look better.” And he did. His skin wasn’t so pale under the tan and his eyes were clearer.
“Gianna, we need to talk.”
He’d found out how she had refused to leave his side. He knew she loved him and he pitied her.
She swallowed the knot of pain her pride had lodged in her throat. “Yes?”
“You are like a sister to me.”
She hid the pain those words caused, but remained silent.
“You care about my health and this is understandable, but cara, you must not push Chiara aside in your concern for me.”
He thought she’d pushed his fiancée to the side? Gianna wanted to defend herself, but to do so would require telling him Chiara hadn’t wanted to be with Rico when he was so sick. She couldn’t do it. It would hurt him too much when he was vulnerable from his injuries.
“I didn’t mean to push her aside,” she said instead.
“I did not think you did. You are too tender-hearted to deliberately hurt someone like that, but you must be more considerate in future, no?”
She nodded, choking on the words she wanted to say. “I’ll try,” she promised.
“Chiara does not want you visiting so often,” Rico went on.
“What do you want, Rico?” she asked helplessly.
“I want my fiancée to be happy. This is a trying time for her. I do not want her upset further.”
It was a trying time for him too, but Rico never considered his own needs. He thought only of protecting those he loved. “Andre said you refuse to contact your parents.”
“There is no need for them to cut short their holiday.”
“Your mother would want to be here.”
“I do not want to be fussed over.” The impatience in his voice made her smile.
“I’m surprised you’re not working.”
“San celio. Andre refused to bring in the laptop and the doctor ordered the phone removed when he found me talking to our office in Milan last night.”
“What time last night?” she asked, pretty sure she knew the answer.
“What time do you think? When the office opened.”
Which would have been roughly 3:00 a.m. No wonder the doctor had the phone removed. She shook her head. “You are supposed to be resting. How can you get better if you won’t let your body recuperate?”
“What choice have I?” he demanded, indicating his still legs below the blanket.
She took several involuntary steps forward until she was next to the bed. She laid her small hand across his large one. “You don’t have any choice right now, but you will get better.”
His silver gaze caught hers and his hand turned until their fingers were entwined. “Cara, you always believe the best, no?”
She nodded, unable to speak. The feel of his hand holding hers was such a sweet torment she didn’t want words to intrude.
“I believe the best also. I will walk again.” He said it with such arrogance, how could she help believing him?
“When have you merely walked, Rico?” she asked with a husky voice she did not recognize.
His free hand came up and cupped her cheek and a look she did not understand passed across his face. She went completely still, allowing every fiber of her being to absorb the delicious feeling produced
