Page 41 of My Fake Italian Marriage

She shook her head. “It’ll never work. Just think: your parents will expect us to sleep together.” She fixed him with a stern look. “And no way are we repeating this morning.”

“We will stay in my apartment in town, instead of here. I have a guest bedroom. No one will know we aren’t sharing a bed.”

She shook her head, but he sensed her resolve weakening, and went in for the kill. “You’ve already agreed to stay on for the next few weeks. How hard can it be to keep up a pretence for that time?” Then he pulled out his trump card, appealing to her soft heart. “Look at how much stronger my father is because of this news. We only need a few weeks more for him to regain his health and for him to accept the staff changes. Think how you’ll be helping a sick, old man.”

Cleo glanced up the stairs as if looking for an escape. Then she sighed. “I must be crazy to even consider this.”

Yes! This could work. He could feel it in his bones. They had everything to win, and nothing to lose.

“If this gets out, how am I ever going to explain this back home?” she asked.

Though she said it more to herself, he answered for her, full of confidence now. “It won’t get out.”

She sucked her lower lip between her teeth, and his cock stirred.Not now, he instructed it firmly.

She pinned him with a steely gaze. “That’s what you said about Evan. And Graziano. And everyone at the wine show. Now the whole of Montalcino will know… Where will it end?”

“Is that a no?”

“It’s not a yes.” She turned away. “Give me half an hour to think about it.”

He grinned. “You know, I somehow imagined that if I ever proposed to a woman, she’d jump at the chance to marry me.”

“And I somehow imagined that if a man ever proposed to me, he’d be on his knees, with a ring in his hands. Looks like neither of us is going to get what we imagined.”

ChapterSixteen

Ogni promessa è debito.

(Every promise is a debt.)

In the shower, with water that was just a little too hot stinging her skin, Cleo leaned her head against the cold, tiled wall. How could she even be considering Luca’s crazy scheme? Sure, it hadn’t been too hard to maintain the pretence at the wine show where no one knew them, but here, with his family and friends…

She should march downstairs and tell Giovanni Fioravanti what he needed to hear: that if he wanted the vineyard to be financially viable so he could buy back the shares he’d sold to the bank, he needed to hand over control to outsiders who could turn the place around. It was that or lose the vineyard.

But then she remembered the way he’d looked at Luca when he’d congratulated him—full of pride and joy. And she’d seen the look on Luca’s face. For a moment, she’d seen through all the layers of suave Italian charm to the boy he’d once been, desperate for his father’s approval. She closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply.

She remembered his resignation when he’d told her how his parents saw him as a perpetual disappointment. Would that change if they thought he had at least tried marriage and settling down?

She hated lying, but one little white lie had seen them upgraded to the best suite in the hotel, and enabled her to have sweet, petty revenge on Evan. A few more had gotten the distributor contracts signed. Maybe one more little white lie wouldn’t be so bad, if it didn’t hurt anyone … and England was very, very far away. Who would ever know?

Sarah. Oh my God, Sarah would know. Maybe she’d heard already? Montalcino was a small town. People in small towns talked… Cleo leapt out of the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and dug in her handbag for her phone. Three missed calls and one text from Sarah. Cleo groaned. Yes, she’d definitely heard the rumour.

She clicked open the text.

Is it true????

They’d been BFFs since they were nineteen. There was no way her friend could believe she’d fallen head over heels for Luca and married him on impulse after only knowing him a couple of weeks. Could she? Cleo texted back.

I have no idea what you’ve heard, but it’s definitely not true

The reply was instantaneous.

Whew. Not that I wouldn’t mind having you as a neighbour!

The three dots appeared that showed that Sarah was typing, and Cleo waited with bated breath for the next message to appear.

Luca’s mother was shopping up a storm this morning for your big welcome home party. Mrs. Rossi says she told everyone she met that Luca married “that sweet English girl.”

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