Harlequin Presents January 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Sheikh's Desert Duty\Nine Months to Redeem Him\Fonseca's Fury\The Russian's Ultimatum (49 page)

Serena had told him she loved him
.

As soon as she'd said the words, Luca had been transported back to that room, closing in on himself, waiting for the moment when she'd turn around and show him that she didn't mean it. Not really. She was only saying it because that was what women did, wasn't it? They had no idea of the devastation they could cause when the emptiness of their words was revealed.

But she hadn't looked blasé. Nor as if she hadn't meant it. She'd been pale. Her blue eyes had looked wounded when he'd said, ‘I'm sorry.'

He thought of her words:
You've made me see how strong I am
.

Luca felt disgusted. And how strong was
he
? Had he ever gone toe-to-toe with his own demons? No, because he'd told himself building up trust in the Fonseca name again was more important.

He heard a sound and looked up to see a plane lifting into the sky from the airport. He knew it couldn't be her plane, but he had a sudden image of her on it, leaving, and panic gripped him so acutely that he almost called out.

It was as clear as day to him now—what lay between him and his brother. He should have ranted and railed that day when their parents had so cruelly split them up. He should have let it out—not buried it so deep that he'd behaved like a robot since then, afraid to feel anything. Afraid to face the guilt of knowing that he could have done more to protect them both.

If he'd let out the depth of his anger and pain, as Max had, then maybe they wouldn't have been split apart. Two halves of a whole, torn asunder. Maybe their parents would have been forced to acknowledge the shallow depths of their actions, their intent of scoring points off each other.

It all bubbled up now—and also the sick realisation that he was letting it happen all over again. That while he'd had an excuse of sorts before, because he'd only been a child, he was an adult now—and if he couldn't shout and scream for what he wanted then he and Max had been pawns for nothing.

And, worse, he'd face a life devoid of any meaning or any prospect of happiness. Happiness had never concerned him before now. He'd been content to focus on loftier concerns, telling himself it was enough. And it wasn't. Not any more.

* * *

Serena stood in line for the gate in the first-class lounge. She was grateful for it, because there was enough space there for her to feel numb and not to have to deal with a crush of people around her.

She couldn't let herself think of Luca, even though her circling thoughts kept coming back to him and that stark look on his face.
I'm sorry
.

She was sorry too. Now she knew how he'd felt when he'd told her that he wished he'd never set eyes on her.

She wanted to feel that way too—she actively encouraged it to come up. But it wouldn't. Because she couldn't regret knowing him. Or loving him. Even if he couldn't love her back.

For a wild moment Serena thought of turning around and going back, telling him she'd settle for whatever he could give her... And then she saw herself in a few years...months...? Her soul shrivelled up from not being loved in return.

The man ahead of her moved forward and the airline steward was reaching for her boarding pass.

She was about to take it back and go through when she heard a sort of commotion, and then a familiar voice shouting, ‘I need to see her!'

She whirled around to see Luca being restrained by two staff members a few feet away, dishevelled and wild-looking in shirt and trousers.

‘What are you
doing
?' she gasped in shock, stepping out of the way so that people could continue boarding.

She wouldn't let her heart beat fast. She couldn't. It didn't mean anything.

His eyes were fierce. ‘Please don't go. I need you to stay.'

A feeling of euphoria mixed with pain surged through her. ‘Why do you want me to stay, Luca?'

The men holding him kept a tight grip. Luca didn't even seem to notice, though. He looked feverish, as if he was burning up.

His voice was rough with emotion. ‘When you told me you loved me...I couldn't believe it. I was too afraid to believe. My mother said that to me right before she swapped me for my brother...as if we were nothing.'

Serena's belly clenched. ‘Oh, Luca...' She looked at the security men, beseeching, ‘Please let him go.'

They finally did, but stayed close by, ready to move in again. Serena didn't care. She was oblivious.

He took her hand and held it to his chest, dragging her closer. She could feel his heart thudding against his chest.

‘You say you love me...but a part of me can't trust it...can't believe it. I'm terrified that you'll turn around one day and walk away—confirm all my twisted suspicions that when people say they love you, they'll annihilate you anyway.'

Serena felt an incredible welling of love and reached out her other hand to touch Luca's face. She knew he was scared.

‘Do you love me?'

After a long moment—long enough for her to see how hard this was for him to admit—he said, ‘The thought of you leaving, of life without you...is more than I can bear. If that's love then, yes, I love you more than I've loved anyone else.'

Serena's heart overflowed. ‘Are you willing to let me prove how much I love you?'

Luca nodded. ‘The pain of letting you go is worse than the pain of facing my own pathetic fears. You've humbled me with your strength and grace.'

She shook her head, tears making her vision blurry. ‘They're not pathetic fears, Luca. I'm just as scared as you are.'

He smiled, and it was shaky, all that arrogant bravado replaced by raw emotion. He joked, ‘You? Scared? Not possible. You're the bravest person I know. And I have no intention of ever letting you out of my sight again.'

Serena smiled and fought back tears as Luca pulled her in to him and covered her mouth with his, kissing her with unrestrained passion.

When they separated, the crowd around them clapped and cheered. Giddy, Serena blushed and ducked her head against Luca's neck.

He looked at her. ‘Will you come home with me?'

Home
. Her own place—with him.

The ferocity and speed with which they'd found each other terrified her for a moment.
Could she trust it?
But she saw everything she felt mirrored in Luca's eyes, and she reached out and snatched the dream before it could disappear.

‘Yes.'

* * *

The next day when Serena woke up she pulled on a big T-shirt and went looking for Luca in his house in Alto Gavea. She still felt a little dizzy from everything that had happened. She and Luca had come back here from the airport, and after making love they'd talked until dawn had broken. He'd promised to go to Athens with her to start the lengthy process of telling her family everything and pursuing her father.

She heard a noise as she passed his study and went in to see him sitting behind his desk in only jeans. Stubbled jaw. He looked up and smiled, and Serena couldn't help smiling back goofily.

He held out a hand. ‘Come here.'

She went over and let him catch her, pulling her onto his lap. After some breathless kisses she moved back. ‘What are you doing?'

A glint of something came into his eyes and he said, ‘Catching up on local news.'

He indicated with his head to the computer and Serena turned to look. When she realised what she was seeing, she tensed in his arms. The internet was filled with photos of them kissing passionately in the airport—obviously taken by people's mobile phones. One headline screamed:
Has Fonseca tamed wild-child DePiero at last
? Another one:
Fonseca and DePiero rekindle their scandalous romance!

She felt sick and turned to Luca, who was watching her carefully. ‘I'm sorry. This is exactly what you were afraid of.'

But he just shrugged, eyes bright and clear. No shadows. ‘I couldn't care less what they say. And they have it wrong—you tamed
me
.'

Serena let the past fall away and caressed Luca's jaw, love rising to make her throat tight. ‘I love you just as you are.'

Luca said gruffly, ‘I want to take you to every beach in South America to watch the sunset—starting with the ones here in Rio.'

Serena felt breathless. ‘That could take some time.'

Luca kissed her and said, ‘At least a lifetime, I'm hoping.'

He deliberately lifted up her left hand then, and pressed a kiss to her ring finger, a question in his eyes and a new tension in his body. Serena's heart ached that he might still doubt her love.

She nodded her head and said simply, ‘Yes. The answer will always be yes, my love.'

Three years later.

The wide-eyed American reporter was standing in front of Rome's supreme court and saying breathlessly, ‘This is the trial of the decade—if not the century. Lorenzo DePiero has finally been judged and condemned for his brutality and corruption, but no one could have foreseen the extent to which his own children and his wife suffered. His landmark sentencing will almost certainly guarantee that he lives out the rest of his days in jail.'

The press were still stunned to have discovered that the privileged life they'd assumed the DePiero heiresses to have lived had all been a lie.

Behind the reporter there was a flurry of activity as people streamed out of the majestic building. First was Rocco De Marco, the illegitimate son of Lorenzo DePiero, with his petite red-haired wife Gracie. Quickly on their heels were Siena Xenakis and her husband Andreas.

But the press waited with hushed reverence for the person they wanted to see most: Serena Fonseca. She had taken the stand for four long days in a row and had listed a litany of charges against her father. Not least of which had been the manslaughter of his wife, their mother, witnessed by her when she was just five years old.

If anyone had been in doubt about the reliability of a witness who had been only five at the time, the further evidence of her father's systematic bullying and collusion with a corrupt doctor to get her hooked on medication had killed those doubts.

Her composed beauty had been all the more poignant for the fact that she hadn't let her very advanced pregnancy stop her from taking on such an arduous task: facing down her father every day. But then, everyone agreed that the constant presence by her side of her husband, Luca Fonseca, had undoubtedly given her strength.

They finally emerged now—a striking couple. Luca Fonseca had an arm curved protectively around his wife and the press captured their visible smiles of relief.

Lawyers for the respective parties gave statements as the family got into their various vehicles and were whisked away with a police escort to a secret location, where they were all due to celebrate and unwind after the previous taxing months.

Luca looked at Serena in the back of the Land Rover, their hands entwined. He lifted them up and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. ‘Okay?'

Serena smiled. She felt as if a weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders for the first time in her life. She nodded. ‘Tired...but happy it's finally done and over.'

Luca pressed a long, lingering kiss to her mouth, but when he pulled back, Serena frowned and looked down. Immediately concerned, Luca said, ‘What is it?'

Serena looked at him, a dawning expression of shock and wonder on her face. ‘My waters have just broken...all over the back seat.'

The driver's eyes widened in the rearview mirror and he discreetly took out a mobile phone to make a call.

Serena giggled at the comic look of shock and pure fear on Luca's face. He'd been on high alert for weeks now, overreacting to every twinge Serena felt. And then it hit her—along with a very definite cramping of pain.

Her hand tightened on his. ‘Oh, my God, we're in labour.'

Luca went into overdrive, instructing the driver to go to the nearest hospital.

Their police escort was already peeling away from the rest of the convoy and the driver reassured him in Italian, ‘I'm on it—we'll be there in ten minutes.'

Luca sat back, heart pumping with adrenalin, a huge ball of love and emotion making his chest full. He drank in his beloved wife, her beautiful face, and those eyes that never failed to suck him in and make him feel as if he were drowning.

‘I love you,' he whispered huskily, the words flowing easily from his heart.

‘I love you too.'

Serena smiled, but it was wobbly. He could see the emotion in her eyes mirrored his own. He spread his hand over her distended belly, hard with their child who was now starting the journey to meet them.

His wife, his family...
his life
. He was enriched beyond anything he might have believed possible.

And eight hours later, when he held his newborn baby daughter in his arms, her tiny face scrunched up and more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen in his life—after his wife—Luca knew that trusting in love was the most amazing revelation of all.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from INHERITED BY HER ENEMY by Sara Craven.

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