Page 24 of Fiancée for the Cameras

He cursed. “Tell me,per piacere.”

Even his “please” was apparently not enough. Her gaze searched his, looking for reassurance, he thought. Finally, she sighed and gave in. “I asked Romeo what you might appreciate for your birthday last year and he told me about your hobby. That dark African wood...” Her words came out rushed now. “I found a dealer online and had it shipped. But it was so expensive that I could only afford a small piece. For weeks after,I was curious to see if you’d worked on it. Even then, I didn’t snoop on purpose. I... You gave me the locker combination one night eight months ago in the middle of the Japanese buyout and it was there. Not fully formed and yet already incredibly beautiful in the promise emerging. I couldn’t help going back to check on its progress.”

“Why?” he asked, floored by her admission. He had assumed the gift had been Romeo’s doing.

“Why what?”

“Why did you ask Romeo?”

“Am I not allowed to gift you a small thing, Andrea?” Her tone was soft, whisper-thin, but the thrust of her question so deep and precise that he found himself floundering.

“Why didn’t you just contribute to the staff pool?” he said, sounding churlish to his own ears.

“I... I wanted to give you something meaningful. Do you remember how Flora had been sick for weeks with that cough and we worried it might be pneumonia?”

“Si.You stayed with her and nursed her through four nights. Through the worst. Romeo said you slept in that armchair.”

She shook her head. “That was nothing. You... You were so worried about her and I wanted to—” she licked her lips again “—make you feel better, I guess. Obviously, I couldn’t afford any of the good stuff like your favorite liquor or cuff links or a tie. But when Romeo told me you used to woodwork quite a bit... I was surprised and went researching.”

“Graziefor the gift,” he said, staring at her in spiraling consternation. “It distracted me from...everything.”

Resentful bastard that he was, he didn’t tell her that it had done so much more. It had brought him back to his hobby again. To the thing he had shared with his father and loved. Even to a part of himself that he had lost. He had worked on two more pieces since then and even commissioned a woodworking shedto be built on his property. Something that had remained only a dream for his father.

Her throat moved on a swallow as she nodded. “I’m glad. When I saw the finished piece, I realized Romeo hadn’t been exaggerating out of brotherly love.”

He laughed at that, as she intended him to. And he wondered how much she must have managed his moods, his uneven temper in the throes of a project or his demands and his criticism, without his noticing it for so many months. “As you probably know by now, he is the very opposite. More along the lines of my critic and my mirror,” he said, meeting her eyes again.

Her teeth dug into her lower lip, her eyes flaring with understanding. “I appreciate that he looks out for me. But he also knows I need to make my own decisions, right or wrong. Even the stupid ones.”

Luckily for them both, his watch beeped before he could pick up the gauntlet she threw down and pounce on her right there in what had been his father’s study. “We will be late. Take a look and pick what you want,” he said gruffly.

Dutifully, she sauntered toward the dark mahogany desk where everything from necklaces to diamond studs were lying open in dark green velvet cases. She gasped. “I... These are real diamonds and sapphires and...emeralds. I can’t pick one out of these. If you really think I need jewelry, I have some costume jewelry pieces in my—”

“That won’t do for my fiancée,” he said, taking her wrist in his hand and tugging her forward when she staggered back. “And you promised to accept a gift or two from Mama, remember?”

“Yes. But these aren’t from your mother. These are from you. And way too expensive.”

He sighed. “Do not turn this into a fight.”

“Do not order me around, then.”

When he turned to face her, she gripped the desk and stayed where she was. Her beauty hit him with the force of a tsunami. “This will never work if you won’t accept gifts from me. Or if you jump every time I touch you.”

“I didn’t jump. I just... I’ve never been so aware of another person’s...nearness. I’m trying, Andrea.”

As if to prove her point, she covered the distance between them until a flying lock of her hair hit his chest. This close, he could see the yellow-amber flecks in her big eyes. Could see the tiny beads of moisture over her upper lip.

“Let’s make a deal. If you grant me what I ask for,” she said sweetly, “I’ll pick a piece and be the most obedient fiancée you could ever want.”

Every muscle turned flint-hard in his body. “What do you want,bella?”

“One of your sculptures.”

“What?” he repeated, as if he was hard of hearing.

“If you promise me one of your sculptures, then I’ll accept one piece of jewelry tonight. I won’t even try to return it.”

“That’s the most ridiculous negotiation I’ve ever witnessed.”

---