Page 185 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

She had watched it happen up close. She had lived it, powerless to do anything to stop the insidious spread of pain, though she had tried everything.

The thought of returning to that emotionally empty and destructive place terrified her, and with a husband who’d been entirely unwilling to help her make the space to build that fuller life she’d craved, Rae had feared it was a very real possibility.

Her stomach knotted with the strength of the remembered feeling, but Rae chased the discomfort away. The intention behind her return had not been to sift through the ashes of their marriage and she certainly wasn’t going to do so on the day of Elena’s burial and with a house full of mourners to overhear.

‘I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that point,’ Rae muttered tautly.

Domenico said nothing, and skewered her with a look that was part exasperation and part loathing. But there was something else lurking in the shadows too, something that added a flicker of excitement to her pulse, that same undefined thing she could feel humming just beneath her own skin—something too dangerous to be acknowledged for any longer than a nanosecond.

Taking a step back from it, and from him, Rae released the breath that she hadn’t realised had been building in her chest. ‘Downstairs is still full of guests, you know. You should be down there with them instead of up here alone.’

Her words were met with a stubborn silence, but then he exhaled a long breath. ‘I’d rather be up here,’ he said flatly. ‘All anyone wants to tell me is how wonderful Elena was and I’m too furious with her right now to want to ruminate on her excellence.’

‘Domenico...’ Rae breathed, the admission making her heart ache for him.

His relationship with Elena had been a treasured part of his life and the moment Rae had met the older woman she had instantly seen why. Elena had had a formidable mind, a generous heart and beautiful spirit. She had also been the constant in Domenico’s life and his only family, raising him from when he was a few days old and his biological mother, a young relation of Elena’s, couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. Rae wasn’t too sure. Whenever she had tried to dig deeper into Domenico’s family history, she had been firmly and unmistakably rebuffed.

In fact, whenever Rae had tried to engage him in any conversation about his emotions or his life, Domenico had shut her down. From the moment they’d met she’d sensed he was burdened by whatever had occurred in the past, but whilst he’d been happy to let her close physically, to even use their sexual chemistry as a way of silencing her questions, emotionally he had never let her in, always holding her at arm’s length.

At one point in time Rae had thought their respective trauma would be something to bind them even closer together. Something they could share with each other that they couldn’t with others. She had never imagined it would break them apart instead. But of all the matters that Domenico had refused to open himself up about, his unwillingness to trust her with any of the details about his family situation had cut deep. Because how could she live with someone who didn’t want her to know him? How could she keep giving up so much of her own life and self for a man who wouldn’t show her his heart?

However, in that moment his hurt was all too easy to see and, feeling that pain, Rae could no longer keep herself from moving towards him. It was the most natural thing to want to go to him, to slide her hands up his arms, across his shoulders and wind them around his neck and hold him tight. Let him know that he wasn’t alone. Domenico was a physical being and physical touch had always been the best way to reach him, to breach the weight and distraction of a long day or stressful negotiation. To encourage him to open up. And Rae couldn’t bear the thought of him isolating himself in his grief, in his understandable anger.

She remembered being furious in the aftermath of her father’s death. How was it fair that it was him who had been taken too soon, her father and not anybody else’s? Why did she and her sisters have to go on with their lives without their integral cog? She was certain Domenico would be feeling something similar. His spectacularly strong build made him look untouchable, but he had such capacity for feeling, experiencing every emotion sharply, deeply.

But she had only just reached out to him when the lift of his cold eyes halted her as if she’d been turned to stone.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m...’

‘Is this why you came?’ he demanded, his eyes still pools of darkness as they probed her face, as if the answers were writing themselves across her skin, when all she could feel was a tormented, scorching heat filling her cheeks. ‘Were you hoping the opportunity would arise for you to comfort me and I’d fall back into your arms?’ She was too stunned to speak. ‘Even grief-stricken I am not that stupid. You made it clear how little you care for me and that’s not something I’ll forget in a hurry, so I suggest you turn around and keep walking out of the door this time.’

He gestured towards the door with his hand, his eyes remaining fixed on her with a stoniness that turned her stomach inside out.

Rae had always known he’d be furious with her. Domenico, after all, was not used to others calling the shots. But with time she’d expected he would come to see that she had been right, that they wanted irreconcilable futures, and her leaving had been for the best. It had never crossed her mind that he’dstayso angry.

She hadn’t wanted to hurt him. She’d just been trying to keep herself from becoming any more overwhelmed. Since talking to him had never yielded any positive results before, there’d been no reason to believe that he wouldhearher had she tried to do so again, so it had been easier to not try. To just leave. And nothing about his unwilling stance before her was making her think she’d been wrong to believe that.

But still, her throat was thick as she slowly turned towards the door and instructed her numbed legs to move.

‘Actually, I think it might be a good idea for Rae to stay.’

The intrusion had both of their heads lifting sharply. Elena’s lawyer and the Riccis’ long-time family friend, Alessandra Donati, paused in the doorway, surveying them mildly.

‘Che cosa? Perché?’Domenico demanded of her hotly, surveying her with his hands planted on his hips and a look that threatened to carve her in two.

Alessandra appeared unconcerned. ‘I think Rae should stay for the reading of the will tomorrow. She is, after all, family and I’m sure Elena would have wanted her here.’

Rae tried to hide her surprise that Alessandra, of all people, was speaking in her defence. Having known her since arriving in Venice, she had never been given any indication that she could consider her any type of ally.

Unleashing a curse in fervent Italian, Domenico seemed to struggle with controlling his body. ‘Are you seriously telling me that my aunt included her in her will?’ A look of incredulity had cut itself into the beautiful planes of his face.

‘I’m not telling you anything,’ Alessandra parried calmly. ‘Elena’s final wishes will be revealed tomorrow, for everyone to hear at the same time. But my advice to both of you is that now that Rae is here, she should stay.’

Alessandra matched Domenico’s hard gaze, some kind of exchange passing between them, and Rae felt a pinch of jealousy that there seemed to be no problem withtheircommunication.

Overcoming his perplexed bewilderment, Domenico looked from Alessandra to Rae and then back again, his emotion building by the second if the shade of his face was anything to judge by.‘Bene.’He threw up his hands. ‘Fine. She will stay.’

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