find a way for us to be married. A few days ago I asked you to be my wife because there’d be no barrier between us. But there is one. It goes so much deeper than I realized.”
His words caused her to flinch, alarming him.
“When you said you and I weren’t the same people growing up, I didn’t understand how fully you meant it.” His chest felt tight. “It’s clear you don’t love me the same way I love you, no matter what I do. I can tell you would rather I keep the title, the very thing you think prevents us from ever getting married.”
He started pacing in frustration, then stopped. “Is this because of what my nonno said? It’s no wonder you don’t think you can marry me.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought if I told you about that experience, you would begin to see.”
“I see, all right,” he muttered. “Mirella deliberately interpreted it so you would only worship me from afar. She didn’t want you getting any ideas about a real relationship with the future duca. After all this time, it’s still working.”
“You can scoff about this all you want, Vincenzo, but it was very serious to me. He was a prayerful man. I saw him go to Mass in the private castello chapel every day before I left for school.”
“He wasn’t a priest destined to be cardinal one day, Gemma. Who do you think administered the Mass to him every morning?”
“You don’t have to be a priest to be a godly person. Everyone felt that way about the old duca. I know you loved him.”
“That’s beside the point. He knew he was dying. All he was doing that day was expressing his sentiment about me to a sweet girl who’d brought him his favorite dessert baked by the best cook around. But to see that as a sign from above...” He shook his head.
Gemma slid off the bed. “My mother was raised in a good Catholic family.”
He raked a hand through his midnight-black hair. “Heaven help me, so were you.”
“That’s why she honored the traditions here.”
“You’re right, but she went too far. Without giving me any voice at all, she made me out as the untouchable one, the future duca whose word was law. It’s that old divine right of kings business and it disgusts me.”
No one could confuse her like he could with his logic.
“It’s time to put the past in the past, where it belongs. There’s no room in the modern world for it. I’m a normal guy, Gemma. Warts and all.”
“You don’t have any.”
Vincenzo leaned against the door with his strong arms folded. “Of course I have flaws and imperfections, like every other man. Think about it—until I called my friends together about buying the castello, they didn’t know my last name or the fact that I inherited a title. Do you see them treating me any differently? Have they once shown me a special kind of deference?”
“Actually, no,” she said with her innate honesty.
“Good. Maybe that will convince you. Please hear me out. We need to be spending time together as adults, not as those teenagers from the past having to live by ridiculous rules that constantly divided us in your mind. It’s important—in fact, it’s vital—that you throw away the blinders while we explore the world we’re living in now as equals in all things and ways.”
* * *
Gemma could hear what he was saying, but it was so hard to silence her mother’s warnings after all these years. It meant throwing off old fears and conceptions that had dominated her thoughts forever.
“I’m in love with you. Isn’t it worth it to you to find out if you can see me as a typical man you’ve met and want to get to know better?”
Vincenzo was the most atypical man she’d ever known, but he couldn’t see it. He wasn’t a woman. She hugged her arms to her waist. “You already know what’s in my heart.”
“I do?” he quipped, making her smile. “Then prove it. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
She recognized that no-nonsense tone in his voice. When he went after something, he was impossible to stop. Gemma knew she had to get away from him. “There’s nothing to do, Vincenzo. I have to leave.”
With a few long strides, he stood in the front of the doorway so she couldn’t walk out. He was such a breathtaking male, her legs turned to mush.
“The second I learned you didn’t have a husband, I planned for us to take a vacation together. That’s why I left that night for New York. There were loose ends I needed to tie up first so we wouldn’t have anything standing in our way.”
“That’s a fantasy you need to let go of. For one thing, you just employed me. I can’t take a vacation.”
“There’s still enough time before the grand opening for us to be gone a couple of weeks. My partners will handle everything, and you’ve already done the most important work with Maurice. When was the last time you went off on a real trip anywhere? Be honest.”
Her eyes closed tightly. “I don’t remember.”
“That’s what I thought. I need a holiday badly, too, but I never felt like taking one because the woman I wanted with me wasn’t available. My fear that you were happily married and living somewhere in Italy with your husband and children tortured me more nights than you’ll ever know.”
Gemma had battled the same fears about him and had suffered endlessly for years.
“We’ll leave in the morning. Go home and get packed. I’ll come by the pensione at eight. We’ll drive to the airport and have breakfast on the plane.”
He was serious. It frightened and thrilled her at the same time. She moistened her lips. “Aren’t you too tired to go anywhere after coming back from New York?”
“When we get to the beach, we’ll sleep, relax and play in the water to our hearts’ content.”
It did sound out of this world.
“If—if we go,” she stammered, “I don’t want us to sleep together. When we’re in each other’s arms we communicate as a man and woman, but—”
“We certainly do.”
Heat filled her cheeks. “You know what I mean. I didn’t think of you as the duca while we were on the bed, but at other times—”
“I get where you’re going with this,” he broke in. “You want to see us as that man and woman no matter what else we’re doing.”
She nodded.
“So do I, so I’ll try to keep my hands off you. But I’ll warn you now, it’s not going to be easy.” He walked over to the massive dresser and pulled out a knit shirt he put on. “I thought I’d better cover up before I walk you out to your car. Fortino’s a man and would understand, but I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about you.”
“Thank you.”
His
