A Life Sublime (8 page)

Frederick nodded hastily. “I’m happy you think so. Let me say sorry to Georgina.”

“I would not worry her. Because you would have to explain why you upset her aunt, and that may in turn upset her, and then my son will be most unhappy. He is never particularly understanding when people upset his fiancée.”

Frederick looked ashen. Massimo gave him a short pat on the shoulder. “Get yourself something to drink. Leave Mrs. Afriyie free to enjoy herself without concern.”

The other man disappeared into the throng of the party. Massimo’s eyes gently rested on Belinda who was leaning on the far pillar of the
loggia
, a hand to her forehead. Paul approached her with two near overflowing piles of food and coaxed her into joining him. With a huge smile, Belinda followed and the two sat down and started chatting away in between forkfuls.

He was even more intrigued now. What was in the look she had given him that caused such blind panic in Frederick? Those who were unaware of the subtleties of the woman would think she only had two expressions, given her heavily lashed, almond shaped eyes. Mad. And really mad. Since she had both his sons eating out of the palm of her hand, he doubted it was either one of those two.

For the first time, he was looking forward to getting the wedding out of the way and leaving all the various distractions to the side. He had a strong feeling that Belinda was a full time job all by herself. Good thing he enjoyed that sort of work.

Gina heard the tapping of stones against the window. If Belinda heard that too, she and Stone Boy were in serious trouble. She padded to the windows and saw Nick with a cheeky grin on his face. “Let’s play!” She read the words on his lips more than she heard them. She pointed to her left as warning.

“Woman, get out here.”

“Ho, didst thou just address me as ‘woman’?”

He laughed, “Georgina of the Robinson, I beg you to please get your sweet little arse outside for some private time.”

“What’s in the basket?”

“Goodies. Come on.”

She’d have to sneak past her aunt’s room to get out. “I’ll be down in a second.”

She slipped on flip flops, tied her hair from her face and snuck out of the room, gently closing the door. In one step, her flip flop sounded like a firework exploding on the marble. Hastily, she removed them and tip-toed down the stairs to the gardens. Nick held out a hand toward her and the moment their fingers touched, he hoisted her over his shoulder and hurried away from the house. “Oi, we’re not eloping!”

“I’m just taking you somewhere I won’t get told off for laying hands on you.”

Giggling, they eventually came to a quiet garden, intense with the rich scent of roses and gardenias at night. A fountain sat in the centre of a rich green lawn, still damp from the midnight sprinkler. “This is beautiful,” Gina murmured as Nick placed her carefully on the grass. “Not Mary Alice’s design?”

“Nope. Dad commissioned it.”

He spread out a blanket from the magical basket and asked her to sit. With such a sweet smile there was no resisting the request. She gave a shriek as he popped a bottle of ice cold champagne. “Kidnapping? Really?”

He rolled his eyes. “I tried to ask you, but your aunt smacked my head. Twice. She said I should be able to wait a few days.”

Gina sort of agreed with her. “We’ve only got the rehearsal dinner tomorrow and then the wedding.”

“Eloping’s looking pretty good now,” he reminded her with a lift of his dark brows.

“I’m going to tell my aunt you’re a bad influence.” He handed her a glass of the champagne.

“I think she knows that already,” he teased.

“Because she took one look at you,” Gina retorted, taking a sip of champagne. “That is divine. Who knew non-alcoholic was the way to go?” She sent him a cheeky glance. “Aww dude, you are off your game now. Can’t get me drunk.”

“I don’t need alcohol.”

When he was stroking her skin underneath her tank top and staring into her eyes like that, he was right. “What else have you got?”

“Chicken. Cream crackers. Cake.”

She leaned up and kissed him hard. “And now I’m wet.”

“See, isn’t this more fun than listening to your aunt snore?”

She laughed as he put together a plate for her. “I can’t hear jack from my room. This villa is amazing.” He handed her a glass and she saw something spark in his eyes. “How is it being here? For you?”

“Weird,” he admitted. “But right. It’s better than what we planned.”

“I know, Pads worked overtime. It’s ridiculous here.”

“Let’s do a deal,” he offered, his voice husky.

“Ooh, I like those. I usually end up rather happy.”

“I’ll tell you about the honeymoon destination and we forgo the whole enforced celibacy thing.”

That wouldn’t at all do. She carefully removed his wandering hand from her hip. “How about I let you touch nipple and you tell me about the honeymoon?”

“What? All I get is nipple? That’s not right.”

She shrugged, putting down her glass, “Depends what you want more. Touch of nipple could lead to something you really enjoy.” She eased herself onto his lap, locking her feet at the ankles around his waist. “Look how much more fun this is. Caribbean?”

“I thought we were cutting down on carbon emissions because of our progeny?” he muttered. Gina rolled her hips and wiggled against him. “Ah, all right, Sicily! Rocky’s lending us his flat in Palermo.”

“See that wasn’t so hard. Not as hard as what I’m sitting on all of a sudden,” she laughed. “Damn, maybe I should listen to Auntie more often.”

“That wasn’t the purpose of the enforced celibacy,” he frowned. “I had a good chat with her.”

“Thought so. She’s really smart. Even if she forgets words, she’s very kind.” He watched her for a moment. “What?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“The devil do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that,
Soprano, I have no idea what you’re talking about
face.” He mimicked her accurately, much to her amused annoyance.

“I can still say no to the priest,” she threatened.

“I know what you’re doing,” he repeated. She knew him far too well to even be the slightest bit ruffled by his tone.

“What’s that then?”

“You dangling your scary arse aunt under my dad’s nose.”

“And what an arse she has,” she murmured admiringly.

“Gina,” he said, shaking his head.

“Dude, he’s lonely.”

He sighed looking into the distance. “Being back here is weird for him too. Weirder probably.”

“He’s lonely!”

“He’s nice to everyone. It’s not flirting if he’s being polite.”

“He is lonely, you know he is.”

Nick breathed out heavily. “Jesus. She’ll break him in two!”

“He’s not a delicate little flower. He’ll cope with all that she can throw at him.”

He gave an exaggerated shudder, lifted her from his lap and put her down on the blanket. “You’ve got me talking about my dad doing the nasty. I’m never getting a hard on again. Don’t know what I did to deserve it.”

“Be serious a minute,” she insisted.

“Are you sure you don’t want her to be distracted so you can have a quiet life?”

“We,” she pointed between them, “as in you and me, we can have a quiet life.”

“You’ve been arguing with her for years, I thought you were used to it.”

“She pushes my moralistic buttons but she only does it because she cares about me.”

“G...”

“Trust me, I’m not just doing this for peace and quiet. I love your dad.” She felt her throat thicken to say it out loud. If she could avoid telling people she loved them, she’d do it to side step the Claire Danes ugly cry. “To death. You know that don’t you?”

He cupped her face before bringing her into the circle of his arms. “Of course I do.”

“And I don’t want him to feel sad any more. I look at him sometimes and it breaks my heart.”

Nick nodded. “Me too.” He released a deep sigh. “But... Belinda?”

She pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips, then lifted her breasts before tapping a tattoo on the side of her bottom. “All about those. I know you had the decency to wait until I stood up at uni...”

“Actually, I wasn’t listening to the lecture because I was staring at your tits.”

She elbowed him and continued. “But I know Pads has already had a good look at my aunt.”

“No, I can’t do it. You’re stifling my libido.”

“Nothing short of the moon crashing into the earth would stifle your libido.”

He glanced morosely toward his groin. “I don’t know, woman, you’re giving it a damn good go.”

“Listen all I’m saying is let’s just make it easy for them to...be happy.”

“What do you want?” He frowned at her.

“You’re so suspicious!”

“I know you!”

“All right! All right, fine! Your car.”

He laughed, “You sneaky cow. Because you think dad will go for it or you think I don’t?”

“I think that
you
think your dad couldn’t possibly be an old school player who’d get my aunt naked in about twenty-four hours.”

“Woman,” he growled. “Stop it.”

“Then give me your car.”

“They’ll take twelve months.”

“What? Two months at the most. I told you Pads is lonely. The minute he catches on to my aunt being very aware that he’s a man, it is on. He won’t hang around.” She coughed. “Unlike some people.”

“You’re so out of order for that.” His bright blue eyes lowered for a moment before he met her gaze. “Can we promise each other some things since we’re on the subject of you and me?”

“We’re going to do that in front of a priest,” she reminded him gently.

“I mean just between us.” He looked so anxious she nodded.

“What have you got?”

“I need for you to always talk to me if you’re angry, or scared, or fuck it, just bored.”

“Boredom’s not going to be a problem,” she laughed, then pulled herself back to seriousness. It was coming from somewhere quite dark and for once, he needed her reassurance. “I promise,” she said with complete sincerity. “And we can’t argue over paint.”

Her fiancé’s eyes narrowed immediately, “Peach is a bullshit colour.”

Dammit, she thought that would work. Sex hadn’t convinced him to let her paint a wall in the living room a more feminine colour. She thought this might. “It’s a nice shade!”

“It’s gay,” he snorted.

“You’re gay.”

He made a sound of disapproval in his throat. “We’re arguing over paint...”

“No DIY related arguments at all then. By the way, we’re not moving from South.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

“I’m dead serious. Even a mile east or God forgive you, North and I won’t marry you. Me and Bullet 2 will be off.”

He dipped his head with laughter. “I get it. We have to cancel that Financial Times subscription.”

“Fair dos. Fuck anything Rupert Murdoch related.”

Nick lifted an eyebrow. “Didn’t you swear your love for me on him?”

“No, I swore you could act normal with me. Which I maintain on his dark lordliness.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Rocky,” he said suspiciously.

She laughed, loosely hanging her arms about his neck. “I promise I will not spend any extended time alone with either Rocco, Giuseppe or Anthony without chaperones.” She sent him a knowing look. “It’s not me, it’s them.”

“They’re sneaky fuckers who keep telling me that I’m lucky.”

“But you are,” she grinned.

“I’m very lucky.” He looked up at the sky, clear and starlit. “You have to promise that all lingerie purchases will be approved by me.”

“Approved how?” she demanded with affront.

“Show and tell.”

“Show and take off you mean.”

“See it’s like we’ve been married for years Mrs. Da Canaveze.”

Gina winced. “Yeah about that.”

“You’re not changing your name?”

“I love Da Canaveze don’t get me wrong. I’m not at ease with the whole Mrs.” With good reason given the late one.

He thought for a minute. “What if you were Mrs. Soprano?”

“I’d so put that on my Nectar and Clubcard card, because that is a serious commitment,” she giggled, tightening her arms around him. She felt his lips on her neck as his hands warmly began to delve under the top. “Er ‘ho, didn’t we promise we’d wait?”