Page 53 of Bound By The Italian’s 'I Do'

‘Had,’he corrected, kissing her again. ‘But not any more. You love me and you’ll never let me go.’

‘And you love me and will never letmego.’

‘Never.’

‘Never.’

And they never did.

Issy stretched luxuriously within the silk sheets of Gianni’s bed...herbed...and yawned widely. She loved this room. This bed. This penthouse. She’d only spent two nights in it but already she felt at home. Gianni had made it feel like home for her.

The only thing that stopped Issy feeling like she could spring to the clouds in a single leap was dread about what was to come when Amelia finally arrived back home. Gianni had given her phone back to her and when she’d checked it, there hadn’t been a single message or voice mail from her sister. Just a wall of silence. In a way, that had made it easier for her to maintain her own silence too, especially when Gianni’s contacts had quickly confirmed she was still abroad with Alessandro.

When the bedroom door opened, she sat up, a smile already on her face at the joy that fizzed through her at the mere anticipation of seeing her husband—it was taking some getting used to, actually thinking of him as her husband—after being separated from him for fifteen whole minutes while he made them eggs for breakfast. One look at his face and empty hands wiped the smile away.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked.

He shook his head and sat next to her to stroke her hair. ‘Alessandro has sent me a message.’

Issy’s heart thumped. Like her, Gianni had been waiting for his cousin’s return to London before telling him about their marriage. ‘He knows about us?’

‘I’m not sure but that isn’t why he messaged me. He’s asked me to bring you to the airfield.’

‘Why?’

Sympathy lined his face. ‘Amelia’s flying back to the UK. Alessandro says...he says she needs you.’

It was like ice had been injected into her veins. As sisters, they’d pulled together and always been there for one another emotionally, but Amelia had neverneededher.

Gazing into the steadfast eyes of the man she still couldn’t quite get her head around was her husband, bone-deep certainty grew that her sister was in great distress.

‘You’ll come with me?’ she whispered.

Strong arms wrapped around her and held her close. ‘Mia amore, I would follow you to the ends of the earth.’ He kissed her gently. ‘I’ll call our driver. We can leave in ten minutes.’

Ourdriver.We. Simple words but words infused with meaning.

It was the two of them. Together. For always.

EPILOGUE

GIANNICLOSEDHISeyes contentedly as he swayed gently on the hammock under the rising early sun. Snuggled on him, his chubby cheek pressed against his chest, his youngest son, Matteo, slept. At only eighteen months, the little ratbag—an affectionate term Gianni’s beautiful wife called him—had recently mastered the art of escaping his cot. That morning he had toddled into his parents’ bedroom and woken Gianni by prodding his nose. With the rest of his family sleeping, Gianni had taken him outside to watch the sunrise.

He tried not to sigh to think that soon they would have to return to Europe. Mia, their eldest child, was a couple of weeks away from starting school. They’d debated whether to employ a tutor so they could continue spending six months of each year in their Caribbean hideaway but decided that would be selfish of them. As far as they were both concerned, children needed playmates. St Lovells would be there for all the school holidays and then, when their brood had all flown the nest, they would make it their permanent home. At least, that was the plan. How long it would take for that to happen was anyone’s guess, a thought reinforced when a sound made him peer through one eye and spot his heavily pregnant wife sneaking towards him, carrying a huge, elaborately wrapped box, Mia bringing up the rear with carefully balanced, much smaller boxes in her own tiny hands.

His family. God, he loved them. Sometimes he would look at his children’s happy faces and his heart would squeeze so tightly it left a bruise. Sometimes he would look at his wife and take in her flowing dark chestnut hair and curvy body and those beautiful blue eyes that always shone with such love, and thank every deity he could think of for bringing them together. Six years of marriage and their devotion to each other had only grown. She was his entire world. Their children were their universe.

‘Happy birthday, Daddy!’ Mia suddenly yelled.

He opened his eyes fully and feigned surprise.

Matteo lifted his head and grinned at him. ‘’Ap Birfday.’

Pressing his son’s button nose, Gianni then held him tightly and swung himself off the hammock. Issy was beaming at him. The box was practically as tall as she was.

‘Happy birthday, you gorgeous man. Bet you can’t guess what your present is...don’ttell him, Mia!’

Watching his daughter carefully place the other boxes on the table, he pretended to ponder. ‘Hmm. Whatever can it be?’

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