Page 27 of The Convenient Cosentino Wife

She took the phone and placed it on her desk. “Where?”

“In Roma!” Adriano frowned at her. “Don’t you know?”

Laughing at his indignation she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. “Come on, let’s go get ready for your bath.”

After getting him ready for bed, tucking him in and kissing him good-night, she returned to her office and checked her phone for the text notification that had come in earlier while she’d been with Adriano in the nursery.

Don’t worry about anything, cara. Try to get some sleep.

Clare read the text a second time before closing out of text messages and turning off the phone and slipping it into her pocket.

What a crazy few days. Was it really only three days ago that Rocco’s helicopter landed on the lawn, turning her world upside down? How could Adriano have become so attached in such a short period of time? It didn’t make sense. But then, life rarely made sense.

Leaving her office, she switched off the light and then headed up another flight of stairs to the floor she shared with Adriano. Her suite was just off the stairs while Adriano’s spacious nursery was at the back. Adriano would be sleeping now, or almost asleep, and she wasn’t needed, not when Ava was there.

Feeling at loose ends Clare went into her suite and closed her door, leaning against it. Easy for Rocco to say, try to get some sleep. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep, not after a day like today, not when her emotions were all over the place.

She did go through the motions of getting ready for bed, though, a bath, pajamas, teeth brushed, but once between her covers, she couldn’t even close her eyes.

Marry Rocco?

He’d been her enemy for years. He’d made her life so difficult. He’d made her relationship with Marius beyond challenging.

Marius hadn’t understood the coldness between them. Rocco was Marius’s hero. How could Clare dislike him? What could she dislike about him?

She couldn’t articulate her dislike or mistrust, not to Marius, and so she and Marius had agreed it would be better to let Marius and Rocco meet without her. And Marius... Marius loved her so much he accepted this, spending time with Rocco when Clare was traveling for business. It was an arrangement that suited all of them. The brothers could enjoy each other without tension, and she could get her work done without feeling guilty that she’d deserted Marius.

Not that Marius needed constant companionship. He was far more extroverted than she was and had a large group of friends, fellow polo players and friends from his university days, even ex-girlfriends who had stayed on good terms with him despite the romance being over. Clare didn’t worry about him being with any of them. Marius was true to her. Their bond strong, deep. They were family to each other. Family was respected, protected.

Indeed, their friendship and commitment to each other was so strong that it held primary importance in their relationship, making everything easy. Effortless. Perhaps their lovemaking hadn’t been adventurous, but their connection had been deeply satisfying. He’d shown her more affection in their few years together than she’d known in her entire life. His hugs, the way his arms wrapped around her, the way he held her to his chest, and kissed her temple and said something sweet, his lips curving, a smile in his voice, had been everything. Truly. His hugs were the best thing she’d ever known. Those hugs meant more than the sexual act itself. An orgasm was fine when she had one, but what she craved was Marius’s warmth, and Marius’s affectionate nature.

Just remembering put a lump in her throat and a sting in her eyes. She missed him so much. She missed everything about him.

In life Marius radiated calm, acceptance, encouragement. His validation had changed the way she’d thought about herself. It had changed her. Love was so powerful, so transformative that she’d become graver, stronger, more hopeful because of Marius’s love.

But Marius was gone. She didn’t want to ever replace him. But what about Adriano? What about what he needed?

Two days passed since Rocco had left. Clare hadn’t spoken to Rocco since Adriano had wanted to call him. There had been no more texts.

She was glad as she needed the distance, as well as some calm. Clare was exhausted—mentally, emotionally, physically. At night she couldn’t quiet her thoughts enough to drift off and stay asleep. Instead she’d toss and turn and then finally fall asleep but would wake abruptly, heart pounding, mouth dry. She couldn’t do this.

Rocco wasn’t the right one for her. Rocco wasn’t her person at all. And yet she could picture his face, and his pewter eyes, glowing with heat and life.

On the third night after he’d left, she left her bed in the middle of the night, turned off the security alarm at her French doors and stepped out onto her balcony and looked up into the sky as if she could read the stars...

What would Marius want?

She searched the sky in case Marius was trying to send her a message. What would he say to her now?

Would he approve of her marrying Rocco, or would it upset him? That was the real question. Part of her thought he would sanction it, as he, like Rocco, was fiercely devoted to family. He’d be glad Rocco was there...taking care of her and his son.

It took four days before Clare had an answer for Rocco. He’d left her, giving her space, but after she’d texted him to say she wanted to discuss things with him, he replied with a message that he’d be there that evening after work.

Hearing a car approach she left her desk and went to her office window overlooking the front drive. It was a car she’d seen before, a pre–World War II Alfa Romeo, classic and rare, the exterior the palest butter yellow, and the interior a warmer caramel leather. Marius had given his brother the car for Rocco’s birthday—she couldn’t remember which—and Rocco had at first refused the gift, saying it was too expensive, too much, too extravagant for a man about to become a family man. But Marius insisted, and Rocco gave in and kept it, and watching Rocco now park and climb out, dressed in a dark smartly cut blazer over a white shirt, the shirt unbuttoned at the collar, Clare was glad. She was glad he had the gift from Marius, glad that they’d loved each other so much. Two brothers united against the world...at least, until she appeared. She’d nearly driven a wedge between them. Thank goodness they’d found a way around it. The last thing she wanted was to create pain for either of them.

Clare leaned closer to the glass watching Rocco approach the villa’s front door. Gio descended the steps, intercepting him. At the very same moment her watch buzzed with a security alert. She pressed the green clear, and Gio moved aside allowing Rocco to enter.

Clare left the window and walked into the marble bathroom adjacent to her office and smoothed her dark hair, combing it back behind her ears. She didn’t look herself in the eyes, not wanting to see what might be there. Instead she slicked on some dark pink lipstick, and dabbed a bit of the color on her cheeks, trying to hide her paleness. She hadn’t slept well in days. She hadn’t been eating very much, either. Both responses were typical for her, a natural response to stress, but still, she didn’t want to look like death as she met Rocco in the salon downstairs.

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