Page 193 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

It was a memory, and an insecurity, that he couldn’t abide and he loathed Rae for stirring it up, for making him feel weak, especially when he had been a damn good husband to her.

As his wife she had wanted for nothing. She hadn’t needed to work. She’d had the freedom to travel with him in opulence and comfort to the most exciting cities the world had to offer and to enjoy them in a luxurious manner that most people could only dream of.

Her only responsibilities—if they could even be called that—had been to represent their family and business with poise and elegance. To attend the necessary social functions and work with certain charitable organisations and, every so often, coordinate with a team of event planners to set up a party on behalf of The Ricci Group.

What cause had she had to leave?

The life flying past on the other side of the window was the life Rae had left behind to be with him in the first place. And she had left it easily, happily. So why had she returned to it? It could only be that she’d stopped loving him.

That he hadn’t been enough.

The story of his life.

Butshe had been as close to capitulating to the swirling fire between them as he had, and didn’t that indicate that she felt something for him? That he continued to hold some mastery over her emotions?

In which case...

Basta!

Enough!

Vexed by that dangerous train of thought because it was contaminated with too much hope, Domenico ruthlessly shut down those thoughts. It didn’t matter why Rae had left, only that she had. Even if he was able to burrow inside her mind and understand her ultimate reasoning, what would it change? There was no going back for them. She had betrayed him. Broken his trust. Broken everything they had built together. So he resolved to give it no more thought, and focus only on the issues that could be resolved—like his inheritance.

Rae was beyond relieved when the car pulled up outside her family home on the tree-lined residential street in Wandsworth and she was able to escape the confines of the car and with it the intoxicating, darkly sweet scent of Domenico’s supremely male body and the feel of that body so close to her.

‘Do you want to come in?’ she offered out of politeness.

‘No. I’ll wait here for you. I have more emails that I need to respond to and you probably need some private time with your sisters.’

She tried not to show her relief. After the flight, which had seemed to take double the normal time, and crisscrossing the capital in midday traffic, Rae badly needed a reprieve, and not just from her bodily reactions to him, but the disapproval that had been radiating off him in violent waves ever since realising she’d taken a part-time job as a hostess and waitress at a local restaurant. Domenico had taken one look at the frontage of the bistro and his lips had instantly compressed together in that flat line that expressed his discontent. Senior executives at Ricci lived in fear of that compression of his mouth, but Rae had only ever been subjected to it on occasion, most memorably the once or twice that she had tried to express a preference that she did not accompany him to a particular event.

Using her key to let herself into the house, Rae hadn’t even shut the door before she was set upon by her sisters, demanding the answers she hadn’t been willing to give them during the brief call she had made from Venice. Sitting with them in the living room, she slowly explained all that had unfolded and what would happen next.

‘So you’re actually going back to Venice to live with him and pretend you are still together for the next six months?’ Maggie demanded in open-mouthed disbelief. ‘Have you completely lost your mind?’ she exploded.

‘Maggie!’ Imogen chided.

‘Don’t Maggie me!’ she fired at their youngest sister. ‘It’s absurd and if you’re being honest, you think it is too.’

‘I know it’s crazy,’ Rae admitted, looking between her sisters. ‘But helping him is the right thing to do. For him, and for me too.’ By their looks of scepticism, she knew she needed to explain further. ‘I want to draw a line underneath this whole chapter. I’ve got so many good things to look forward to, but Domenico is always lurking at the back of my mind. There’s no closure there and I know the only way I’m going to be able to get that is by going back and proving that I’ve learned something about myself. That I’ve changed and I’m not going to make the same mistakes again.’

‘Rae, how can you even think that? You’re so different from the person you were when you were married to Domenico. Both Imogen and I see it,’ Maggie reassured her urgently.

‘Totally,’ Imogen agreed quickly. ‘You’re more assertive, you have such a determined focus on your bridal collection, you’re chasing it with everything you’ve got. We’re so impressed by what you’re doing and we’re so proud of you.’

‘You saying that means a lot,’ she said, taking both her sisters’ hands in hers. ‘But this is just something I need to do. For myself.’

‘Then do it,’ Imogen said, squeezing her hand. ‘We’re here for you whatever.’

Content with the support of her sisters, Rae went upstairs to begin the task of packing her clothes. From the window of her bedroom that overlooked the street she could see Domenico’s car outside. She could make out his figure in the back seat, gesturing with his free hand as he spoke on the phone, and the movements were so familiar to her that her heart gave a kick and nervousness fluttered deep inside her chest.

Six months, she reminded herself.That’s all. You can do this. There’s nothing to be nervous about. You’ll prove exactly how much you’ve changed, that you’re capable of being around him and not sacrificing anything of yourself. That you don’t have to suffer the way Mum did. And then you can walk away with a clear conscience and an even bigger belief in yourself.

Buoyed by that pep talk, Rae spun away from the window and reached for her case, because the sooner she got the ordeal started, the sooner she’d be on the other side of it and that wonderful, exhilarating, heartbreaking, petrifying chapter of her life with Domenico would be over for good.

CHAPTER FIVE

RAEHADN’TBEENback in Venice a full three days when Domenico informed her that they would be attending a black-tie ball at the end of the week. He had given her fair warning it was what he expected and Rae knew she had agreed to it, but still the prospect of attending a function on his arm had her heart racing and chest constricting. It wasn’t just that there would be dozens of sets of eyes on them, all watching to be convinced of the continued validity of their union; it was that there would be no escape from Domenico.

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