This was unexpected. Which meant…Julia.
Matchmaking again? This time not to save her from spinsterhood, but from depravity? But how could she have gotten him here this fast?
She sensed Leandro’s tension rising as his dash toward her was aborted by Paolo and the kids. Armando had already reached her, and Leandro stood there like a volcano about to erupt, letting the kids jump all over him with Paolo evidently talking his ear off.
Armando stopped before her, all male and beautiful with bronze hair, eyes and skin, radiating vitality and steady power. He bent, kissed her cheek, had her asking herself yet again why she couldn’t feel the tiniest twinge of desire for him. A question the answer to which was standing right there in the distance.
“You’re looking beautiful, as always.” The smile didn’t reach his eyes. They were serious, intent. “I asked Julia to let me know the moment you were back. She informed me only half an hour ago, and I’m thankful that I wrapped everything up and ran here, since I was just informed you’re flying out again immediately.”
And Julia hadn’t said where or with whom? Seems she hadn’t. Weird, but thanks anyway, Jules. “Yeah. How’ve you been, Armando?”
“I’ve been thinking about us…” Uh-oh “…regretting that I agreed to end our betrothal. I know you have to go, but just hear me out, think it over while you’re away. I might never love again as I once loved, and I don’t inspire your passion as you feel a husband should, but with your serene and steady temperament, our relationship could be powerful and enduring. Towering emotions—trust me—are distressing and addictive, and they bring little, if any, happiness.”
Yeah, tell her about it. This was heavy. And very untimely. But she respected Armando too much not to give him all due consideration. She exhaled. “You can have that kind of relationship, Armando…with anyone else. I’m not the one to build something powerful and enduring with you. I’m so much the opposite of steady and serene, it’s painfully funny hearing you call me that.”
“How can you underestimate yourself, when you’ve been such a stabilizing influence in so many lives since you first set foot on Castaldini? Without you, Castaldini would have gained many new enemies and wouldn’t have been able to prevent a few old ones from gaining ground. Without you, your sister’s and my cousin’s marriage wouldn’t have lasted one year, let alone ten.”
“Whoa. Don’t go overestimating me to counteract my alleged underestimation of myself. Paolo and Julia love each other.”
“And their love, like mine and Donatella’s, could have been total chaos, until one or both couldn’t bear it anymore.”
“You never told me it was like that with Donatella.”
“It was so intense, it sometimes left us gasping for breath. The good times were heaven, but the bad times were hell, and, regretfully, they lasted longer. Both of us were older and stronger than Paolo and Julia, and we weathered the hellish parts and would have done so forever had she lived. But I fully believe that without your support and counsel, the intensity of Paolo and Julia’s love, muddied by his impetuousness and her insecurity, would have pushed them apart in less than a year. They have a beautiful marriage, and Julia is that giving, nurturing wife and mother now because of you.”
“Oh, no, you’re not handing me all the credit here. Julia struggled long and hard, and Paolo did and still does everything in his power to do his part and more. Even though I may have helped, she would have done the same for me had the situation been reversed.”
“So you think your role isn’t to be admired or thanked?”
“I don’t care one way or another for admiration or thanks. But whatever my role, as you call it, was, it’s over.”
“Exactly. And you’re free now to start a new phase in your life. To live for yourself at last.”
Everyone must be fed up with her. They were all bringing it up. She huffed. “Yeah, now I’ve run out of excuses not to.”
“Causes, Phoebe. And you’ll never run out of those to champion. I ask only for the honor of sharing your life while you find more lives to enrich. You and I, we’re kindred spirits.”
“We may be, Armando, but I have nothing to offer you.”
Suddenly he winced, his eyes flashing gold. “Dio—how didn’t I see this before? It’s another man, isn’t it? A man you loved and lost, but not like I lost Donatella? This man hurt you, didn’t he? But you still can’t move on. You are still waiting for him.”
She gave denial a second’s consideration, especially since she wasn’t waiting for Leandro as he intimated. She just nodded.
The flare in his eyes and the step closer he took seethed with urgency. “Don’t let that man claim more of your life.”
She shook her head wryly. “I’m done letting people, or life, do things to me. I’m taking charge, as of now.”
“I’ll hold you to that. And Phoebe…” Her heart dropped a beat at the harshness that suddenly blazed on his face as he cast a look behind him. “It’s Leandro, isn’t it?”
This time she didn’t consider denying it. She even told him how things stood. She was done hiding things.
Armando digested this with a frown. “He might be the power Castaldini needs now, but he always was like a force of nature, unstoppable and indiscriminate on his quest for greatness. Now that he’s fulfilled his potential…” He suddenly caught her by the shoulders. “Stay away from him, Phoebe.”
Her eyes escaped his, clung to Leandro. “I can’t, Armando.”
“If he hurt you before, he will destroy you now.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not a silly twenty-year-old anymore.”
“It’s because you’re a mature and very sensible thirty-year-old that I am worried. What you felt when you were barely an adult will pale in comparison to what you’re capable of feeling now.”
She touched his hard cheek, loving him, but knowing she’d never be in love with him. She had terminal one-man-woman disease. “Here’s another possible outcome to all this. That I’ll put things in perspective, purge them and move on.”
He clearly wasn’t buying that. Then he gritted his teeth. “I may not be as powerful as he is—yet. But if he ever hurts you again, I’ll destroy him. Tell him.”
And with that he turned on his heel and strode away. She stared after him, stunned. Who knew Armando was capable of all that passion? Evidently it had taken his late wife—and Leandro—to rouse the sleeping tiger. Not her. Thank God.
Speaking of tigers, an even more impressive one, the one for her, had gotten rid of his human shackles and was stalking toward her with danger and desire blasting off him.
“That was quite a conversation,” he drawled.
She cocked her head at him. “Yes, it was.”
“Nothing more to say?”
She sighed. “You like to say that, don’t
