more or less true. Her mother had still been married to her father on the day he had taken her life and ruined Jayden’s for ever.
‘You are lucky to have come from such a loving and stable background,’ Massimo said as he refilled the glasses. ‘My parents divorced when I was sixteen.’
Lucky? Nikki almost laughed out loud. The last word she would ever use to describe her background was ‘lucky’. Each day had been a fight for survival, each night an agonising wait for disaster to unfold as soon as her father had walked through the door.
‘Losing the business was bad enough, but losing my mother tipped him over.’ He paused, as if searching for the words to continue, the flash of pain in his dark eyes all the more evident.
‘What happened?’ Nikki prompted gently.
His gaze meshed with hers. ‘He took his life a few months later,’ he said. ‘I came out to the garage and found him unconscious. He had killed himself—the fumes had poisoned him, and he was unable to be revived.’
Nikki felt tears burn in her eyes for what he must have suffered. ‘I am so sorry,’ she said, reaching for his hand, her fingers curling around his. ‘No wonder you are after revenge. This ghastly man took everything away from you.’
Massimo gave her another grim look. ‘But I am going to get it all back, every single cent of it. I do not have the money to do it yet, but I will do it eventually. I know I will.’
‘Do you know something, Massimo?’ she said with an encouraging smile. ‘I believe you will, too.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘I have never met anyone like you before,’ he said, his dark eyes melting as they held hers. ‘I feel this amazing connection with you. Our backgrounds are very different, but I feel as if I have known you for a very long time—and yet we have only just met.’
Nikki felt her belly start to quiver as his long fingers stroked the underside of her wrist, the slow, sensual movement stirring her body into a whirlpool of feeling. Her breasts tightened, her nipples pressing against the lace of her bra as she held his dark-as-night gaze. ‘I feel it too,’ she said, her voice coming out low and husky.
A shadow of regret passed over his features. ‘I am only here for a week,’ he said. ‘I have to go back to Italy first thing on Sunday. But, when I return, can I see you again?’
Nikki hoped he couldn’t see the panic in her eyes as they came back to his. ‘I’m sure you will have forgotten all about me by the time you return,’ she said with a weak smile.
‘No, Nikki,’ he said, his fingers strong and determined around hers. ‘I will not forget you.’
She moistened her lips with her tongue. ‘I—I should have told you earlier,’ she said, dropping her gaze as she hastily composed her lie. ‘I don’t come from Melbourne. I’m just here on a little holiday. I won’t be here when you get back.’
‘Where will you be?’
‘Umm…Cairns.’ She said the first place that came to mind.
‘Then I will come and see you in Cairns,’ he said. ‘We can go to the Great Barrier Reef together, eh?’
‘Massimo…’ She forced her eyes to meet his. ‘I’m not sure I’m the person you—’
‘Do you believe in love at first sight?’ he asked before she could finish her sentence.
A few hours ago Nikki would have answered a resounding ‘no’, but after spending the evening in Massimo’s company she was now not so sure. She was attracted to him in a way she had never been attracted to anyone before, but it wasn’t just a physical thing—although that in itself was as overwhelming as it could ever be. It was more a sense of being in the company of a man who stood up for what he believed in. His loyalty to his father’s memory was truly admirable. It was so far removed from what she had experienced in her childhood she couldn’t help but be impressed, and indeed incredibly moved.
She thought then what a wonderful husband and father he would make. His sense of family was so strong that no one would be hurt, while under his protection. He was quite simply the most amazing man she had ever met.
‘You are taking a long time to answer.’ Massimo sent her a rueful look. ‘I have made a fool of myself, yes?’
‘No,’ she said, shivering all over again as he brought her hand up to his mouth. ‘I’m not sure about love at first sight, but I definitely feel something I’ve never felt before.’
He pulled her to her feet, bringing her to stand in front of him. ‘We have the next six days to explore and get to know each other,’ he said. ‘I do not want to rush you, but I cannot bear the thought of finding someone so special and wasting time in case we do not get this chance again.’
Nikki drew in a wobbly breath and did her best to smile. ‘If it’s meant to be, then we will get our chance,’ she said as his mouth came down to hers.
CHAPTER THREE
NIKKI spent the happiest six days of her life in Massimo’s company. She stalwartly refused to think about her wedding on Saturday. It was as if by not thinking about it she could really be the person Massimo believed her to be. She was a young carefree woman in love for the first time, relishing every moment of being truly adored and treated like a princess.
She knew it would have to end when the week was up, but she tried not to dwell on it too much. She comforted herself that Massimo was a man of the world. He would forget about her as soon as he boarded the plane back to Italy; his brief fling with the tall, blonde Australian girl would no doubt be a distant memory as soon as the first drink was served on the flight back home.
They explored the sights of Melbourne together, walking through the Bourke Street Mall to window shop, dining at some of the restaurants along the Southbank complex, and even spending some time at the world-famous Crown Casino where Nikki watched in awe as Massimo won a small fortune at one of the black-jack tables.
Later in the week they hired a car and visited the beautiful Yarra Valley, notorious for its picturesque vineyards, where the rolling green hills and valleys they passed prompted Massimo to say how much it reminded him of Sicily.
‘I would love to show you my homeland,’ he said as they drove back after spending a wonderful afternoon at Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. ‘We do not have koalas and kangaroos and wombats, of course, but there are many wonderful historic buildings and artifacts.’
‘I would love to travel the world one day,’ Nikki said dreamily, looking out of the window as the verdant fields went by. ‘I’ve only ever been to…’ She stopped, her heart thumping at how close she had been to revealing how she had lied about where she had originally come from.
‘You were saying?’
‘Er…I’ve only ever lived in Australia,’ she said. ‘I know it’s a big and diverse continent, but I haven’t seen much of it really…’
He sent her a smile. ‘You have no need to be ashamed, cara,’ he said. ‘You are young. You have plenty of time to see the world.’
On the last day Massimo arranged to meet her after he had his meeting in the city. As soon as she saw
