Page 43 of Forbidden Lord
He finished the last gulp as the bartender brought the next round. Tonight he’d really need a ride home then. He handed over his empty glass. “Then why did you?”
Stefano’s lips were pursed as he stirred his vodka tonic. “Sheena seemed determined to get away and frightened of him. I wanted to call the police. If someone did that to my wife, I’d want to know.”
Rossie loved Stefano. They’d married fast, but it was clear how they felt in the way they always snuck kisses or touches. He shrugged, as Sheena wasn’t anything like his friend’s bride. “Sheena came right home, but Charles was there first, telling me that Sheena admitted she loved him and asking me to divorce her.”
“That’s not what I saw.” Stefano nudged his whiskey neat closer to him. “So, what was the problem? She told you then she loved Charles?”
Matteo never talked about feelings and wasn’t about to start. He sipped his whiskey. “No. She thanked me for sending him away.”
Stefano popped an olive from the bar into his mouth. “Then what’s got you worked up?”
Her lack of love for him was an open, gaping wound, and he couldn’t talk about that. He stared into his amber-colored drink and chose his words carefully. “I opened up too quickly and realized I made a mistake.”
Stefano shrugged. “I believe it. You trust easily.”
“What?” Matteo leaned forward on the bar stool.
“All your life you’ve been charmed, Matteo, even when you make bad choices.” Stefano shook his head. “Typical you. You were going to marry Patrice even though you knew she was the wrong woman. But because you were desperate you were going to marry someone you’d never be happy with.”
Stefano had his blasted list of options and had gone down them, though luckily he’d steered away from Sheena. Matteo sipped again and asked, “What does that have to do with anything?”
Stefano’s brow rose in surprise. “You almost married her despite knowing you shouldn’t.”
Patrice was there when he’d needed a bride and she never once made his heart ache. And she wasn’t capable of this hurt in his soul. Honestly, Patrice didn’t matter. “That’s not true.”
Stefano gazed at him like he saw more than what Matteo wanted him to. “You think she’d have honored that prenuptial you had her sign?”
Patrice had never made him want to freeze in the winter rather than come home. She’d never made him feel anything. “Why wouldn’t she?”
Stefano leaned across the bar and clicked his glass to Matteo’s like he’d made a point. “Because she knew you’d eventually hand over the keys. You had a lucky break, like you always do in your blessed life, when Sheena stepped up.”
His father hadn’t made his life charmed or easy, but that wasn’t for this conversation. Matteo swirled the ice in his drink and ordered water from the bartender. “As I said, she’s a perfect countess.”
Stefano had a twinkle in his eye as he said, “She’s also grown up into a trustworthy, smart, independent woman. I’d have put her higher on my list if I’d have met her sooner.”
But then Stefano wouldn’t be happy now. Matteo’s tension eased from the whiskey. “What about Rossie?”
Stefano put his glass on the bar and waited for the bartender to leave the waters so they were alone. “I love my wife. She knows that, but I think you love your wife, too, and that’s why you’re here.”
Wow. His clothes felt too tight though his body was finally warm. “Stefano, sometimes I wish we’d decided to follow our fathers’ feud.”
A huge grin grew on Stephano’s face. “So that was a yes, you’re right, if I ever heard one.”
His cheeks burned as he thought of how clearly Stefano had seen his inner pain. He gulped his water and hoped it would cool him down. “She doesn’t feel the same so it doesn’t matter.”
Stefano swiveled in his bar stool. “It does. Instead of running away like this, what are you going to do to win her heart?”
Every cell in his body grew alive and alert. He hadn’t thought of that, at all. Winning her heart? His brain fired up. This started with trusting her. “What?”
Stefano put his unfinished vodka down. “Charles was the mistake of her past but he’s gone now. She doesn’t want him back. So instead of leaving, what are you going to do to win what you want?”
In sports, he worked harder when there was a game. He thrived on defeating whoever tried to race against him. And the only people better on skateboards were a few professionals.
Sheena was a prize worth earning. He sat straighter as he thought about what he could do to earn her heart. “Win what I want?”
Stefano waved for the check. “I know you haven’t ever had to try for much in your life, but this is your challenge. You either win her heart or you continue to run.”
A million ideas collided in his head. Flowers. Chocolates. Declaring his intentions. Buying her art. A honeymoon trip. All floated in his mind as possibilities. Perhaps he’d come home with flowers and start there. “Win her heart… Stefano, thanks for meeting me.”
