Page 85 of High Stakes and Soulmates
EZIO
Past
When I ride my horse back toward the barn, I see Arturo sitting outside. He’s leaning against the hitching post, book in hand, but his eyes are already on me.
“Does he ever do anything but read and stare at you with adoration?” Lorenzo teases.
“It sounds like you’re jealous.”
“Maybe I am. I haven’t been allowed to see my wife in nearly a year. Haven’t even met my daughter. She’s four months old now. Four months and I haven’t even seen her.”
“Join me in being done with this. After this, I’m requesting to leave.”
“You think they’ll let you go that easily?” Lorenzo asks, obviously not believing they would.
“I really don’t know,” I admit. “But it’s worth a try.”
I stop my horse in front of Arturo. “Well, hello there, stranger,” I say.
He looks up and grins at me and the smile is enough to make me beam at him. Even with Lorenzo giving me a look, I can’t stop it.
“Stranger?” he asks. “It’s been two days. And I told you it would be two days because we’re having a fancy party in a few days.”
“Yeah? Only rich men allowed, then?” I ask.
“The richest. They’ll come in and take a sip of the wine and go, ‘Just delectable’ before turning to their spouse and bitching the moment Louis is out of earshot. ‘Could he really not afford something finer? Look at this place. He could sell one of those gaudy chandeliers and import the finest wines, I say!’”
“I take it they’re obnoxious.”
“To the extreme,” he says. “So I wanted to sneak by and see you for a moment before I won’t be able to see you for a few more days.”
Arturo pokes my mare’s nose, and Valley wiggles her lip around to see if he has anything for her to eat.
“Want to go for a ride?” I ask.
“Sure,” he says, so I hold my hand down. The moment he takes it, I draw him onto the back of the horse so he can sit right behind the saddle. He wraps his arms around me while I turn Valley and direct her out into the trees. As soon as we’re out of sight of the townspeople, he sets his head against my back.
“I wish we could do this every day,” he murmurs when I slow Valley to a walk, wanting to enjoy every second of the ride and make it last as long as possible. I know I’ll have to get him back before dark, but until then, he’s all mine.
“We could,” I say, even though I know it’s not that simple.
“Hmm…”
“I could just keep going. Valley would take us quite far. We could run and run. I could find us a boat. We could go toanother country. We could run and hide, and no one would ever find us.”
Arturo is quiet as he squeezes me tighter. “Not now. Not yet.”
“Yet?” I ask. It’s the first time it hasn’t been a definite no. It’s the first time he’s allowed me the smallest sliver of hope.
“Not yet,” he repeats.
“But someday?”
“That’s my dream. Do you really want to risk it all? You could be risking your very life just for another moment with me.”
“I will,” I say. “I don’t like this life. The only joy I have in my existence is you. Before you, I didn’t even know how much longer I could stand the life I was caught in.”
“You have your brother.”
