The Duke's Willful Wife (9 page)

Turning to Dante, she clenched his hand.  “You’re a good man.  You love her deeply so you run scared.  Don’t be.  Let her love you and you’ll be happier for it,” she said, then closed her eyes.

Sasha glanced around the room,
panicking
when she thought that Rennata had just passed away.  But the heart monitor kept up its steady rhythm so she
realized
that
Rennata
had only fallen asleep and
hadn’t
died. 

“Come with me,” Dante ordered, placing
Rennata’s
hand gently
by her side as he motioned for Sasha to follow him into the hallway
. 

Sasha followed him out, her worried eyes straining to see the more vital woman she remembered.  But all she saw was a weakened
elderly lady struggling for life and Sasha had to stifle a cry of despair
and fear
that God would take this woman from her life. 

Out in the hallway, Dante turned and glared at her.  “If she thinks we’re back together, you’ll do nothing to disabuse her of that notion,
”
he commanded
sternly
.

He wouldn’t get any argument from Saha.  She’d do anything to make sure Rennata recovered, even if it meant lying about her relationship with Dante. 
“Of course not.  If it makes her feel better to
think that we’ve worked things, I’m all for it.”  She crossed her arms over her stomach and turned slightly away from him.  “I know you won’t believe this, because you don’t believe anything I say, but that woman means a great deal to me.  She was always there for me while I lived here.”

He looked at her curiously.  “Are you saying I wasn’t there for you?”

Startled, Sasha shook her head.  “You were very busy.  I know you enjoy your work,
”
she said and turned away, not wanting to argue with him right at the moment
, even though her resentment over his work and the long hours he’d spent at his office had made her lonely and angry that he’d preferred the company of his vice presidents over being at home with her
. 

He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair.  “Will you stay for a bit longer?”

“I always intended to stay until she either…” her voice cracked and she shook her head, “or she recovered.”

She saw his jaw clench before he nodded.  “Thank you.  It means a lot to me that you’re willing to do this.”

She stood up straighter, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.  “I’m her
e
for her.  Not for you, Dante.”

“Fair enough.  I’ll drive you back.”

“N
o
, I’ll stay here.  I just want to be with her for a little while longer.”  She could tell that he was going to argue and she stopped him with a gentle hand to the middle of his chest.  “I won’t disturb her.  I’ll just sit with her and hold her hand.  Maybe read something to her if she wakes up.  I promise I won’t be a bother.”

He reluctantly agreed.  “As long as you take a break and eat something a little later,” he compromised.

“Deal,” she sighed and smiled up at him,
then
looked away with a blush she hoped he didn’t see.  She quickly walked back into the private room and took up a silent vigil, taking Rennata’s hand in hers and trying to soothe the woman with her strength.  “You’re going to be okay,
Nonna,”
she said, taking back the title she’d used when she’d lived with Dante.  “Please get better so we can continue our e-mail arguments together.   I really look forward to each e-mail or text from you.  They’re the highlight of my week and you know it.  So if you can hear me, please know how
important
you are to me.  You’re my only link and I just don’t know how I’ll go on if you can’t pull through this.”

Dante listened at the door, confused by his wife’s words.  She
had been
e-mailing his grandmother?  That didn’t make any sense.  His grandmother didn’t even have a computer much less know how to e-mail someone.  She was an old fashioned lady who didn’t like technology. 

He let the door close softly behind him and made his way out of the hospital, intending to come back later this afternoon to check on both of them. 

Sasha sat beside the woman all day, reading a newspaper, and then a book she found at the bookstore when she went for some coffee around lunch time.  When Rennata woke up in the early afternoon, she turned to Sasha and smiled.  “You haven’t eaten anything today, have you child?” 

Sasha was so excited that the woman had woken up again, she gripped her hand lightly.  “Yes.  You can’t put that one on me today.”

Rennata
smiled
weakly but her eyes were twinkling with humor
.  “What have you eaten?” she
asked

That got her and Sasha grimaced.  “Okay, so just some juice and toast this
morning
.  But
if you promise to
get just marginally better this afternoon, I promise that I’ll eat an entire pizza all by myself tonight for dinner.  Is it a deal?”

Rennata shook her head slightly
, amused by Sasha’s attempt at negotiating
.  “You’re a horrible child,” she said teasingly.  “But you have a deal.”

“Good.  I’ll call in the doctor if you don’t mind.”

She sighed with resignation and let her hand fall back on the cotton blankets covering her legs. 
“
He won’t be able to do anything.”

“Even so, let’s let him check on you, okay?”

The doctor arrived moments later and while the nurse took Rennata’s blood pressure and temperature, the doctor looked at Rennata’s eyes and chart.  “It’s good that she’s woken up twice today.  And for longer periods.  That’s a good sign,” he smiled at Sasha and patted Rennata’s hand gently.  “I’m going to increase your medicine just slightly but let me know if you start to feel sick, okay?” he asked.

Rennata nodded her head and the nurse and doctor left, conferring outside the room.

“I win,”
Rennata
whispered a moment before she slipped back to sleep.

Sasha stared at the woman for a long moment, then laughed and hugged her gently before resuming her seat beside her bed.  “You’re a diabolical woman, Nonna,” she whispered. 

That
night
, she took a cab back to the palazzo, carrying a large box of pizza with extra cheese, sausage and pepperoni. 

“You missed dinner,” Riasa said and looked at Sasha up and down.  “You’ve been gone all day long and you finally come back with
takeout
food?  Is our food not good enough for you now?”

Sasha smiled brightly and shook her head.  “You have a fabulous cook.  I made a deal with Rennata though and I have to follow through with it.”  She left a speechless Riasa staring after her as she went out the back door to the patio.  Under the stars, she opened up the pizza box and sat b
ack on one of the chaise lounge
s.  Picking up a slice of the gooey, cheesy slice, she hungrily took the first, delicious bite, sitting back to truly enjoy a real, Italian pizza. 

“What are you doing out here?” Dante’s deep voice asked from the darkness.

Sasha jumped and looked around, the second bite of her pizza still in her mouth.  She swallowed quickly and looked around, finding him leaning against a tree to the left of the patio, a glass of wine in his hand. 

“I could ask you the same question.”

He strode out of the darkness, coming into a small circle of dim light streaming down from one of the second story rooms. 
“I went back to the hospital to get you for dinner but they said you’d already left.”

“I made a promise to Rennata,
”
she said, laughing and looking back at the light from the house.  “I’m following through, despite your mother’s horror at a commercial pizza being brought into the house.”

Dante chuckled and stepped forward.  “You promised her to eat a pizza if she got better, eh?”

“Yep.  And not five minutes later the doctor declared her better.  I swear that woman is more
fiendish
than you ever could be.  I think she missed her true calling.  She should have gone into business with you and between the two of you, you could have ruled the world by now.”

“
Y
ou sound like you enjoy her
company
.”

“I think
she’s very special.”

He sat down on the end of her chaise lounge and started to take a slice of her pizza but she slapped his hand away. “Not going to happen,” she said and took a bite of her slice, a challenging smile on her face. 

“You
obviously
don’t remember the last time you smacked my hand,” he replied ominously. 

Sasha was grateful for the darkness that hid her blush.  The last time she’d been so daring, they were in bed and she smacked his hand for tickling her.  In response, he took both her hands and his tie, looping the silk around her wrists and tying them together, latching them to the
bed and having his wicked way with her.  At the time, she’d initially been horrified at what he was doing but she quickly became a convert.  Even returning the favor although he only allowed her to tie his hands.  When he’d had enough of her teasing, he easily ripped her scarf off and grabbed her, again having his own way with her which she hadn’t minded in the least. 

Sasha cleared her head.  “We’re in a different world now,” she said as primly as possible, pushing that memory out of her mind.

“Are we?” he asked softly and took a piece of pizza.  “What have you been up
to
today?”

Sasha swallowed painfully and looked away, amazed that he could capture her mind so easily.  Hadn’t the last year taught her anything? 

She cleared her throat.  “Nothing special.  I went to the hospital.”

“Did you eat lunch?”

She
tossed
the pizza
crust
down on the cardboard box
before taking another slice
.  “What is it with you and my eating habits?”
  She knew it was heresy
in a culture that thrived on bread like the Italians
, but Sasha only liked the cheesy part of the pizza and left the
parts
without any sauce or cheese. 

“You’ve lost a great deal of weight.  You were always thin to begin with but now you’re….gaunt.  Why is that?  What’s happened over the past year that you’ve so lost yourself?”

She turned her head away slightly, angry that he would be so callous about how she’d felt after his accusations. 
“You have to ask?”

“Is it because of me
?
”

She considered how to answer him and thought it was best to just leave things unsaid.  “We hurt each other a great deal.  Let’s just figure out how to move on, okay?”

He was quiet as he contemplated her answer.  In the end, he nodded.  “Fine,” he said and wa
lked away, the pizza slice he’d stolen only half eaten.  It was odd, but she’d never know
n Dante to just give in on
an argument.  She’d been bracing for a fight so when he walked away, she was a bit stunned. 

She felt sad after that, and despite her promise to Rennata, she couldn’t eat another bite.  She closed the box of pizza and curled up on the chaise lounge, staring up at the stars.  “What am I to do?” she whispered to the stars.  She didn’t expect an answer and didn’t get one, but she felt better for trying to
figure things out.  She realized that
,
over the past year, she’d been walking around in a trance, fighting the feelings of hurt and anger, of betrayal, that she’d felt when Dante had accused her of something so vile. 

Sleeping with his brother made no sense, she thought. 
Before she’d met Dante, s
he’d resisted so many men because
they
weren’t what she was looking for.  Even he had been surprised that she hadn’t been with another man until he came along.  That first night together, he’d been so supportive when she’d been upset by their activities and yet at the first test of their relationship, he’d thought the worst, even though he had evidence that she wasn’t promiscuous, wasn’t the type of
person to jump in bed with men
just to scratch an itch. 

She fell asleep curled up like that and didn’t feel the strong arms that wrapped around her later that night.  When she felt the soft mattress underneath her, she stretched out like a kitten and pulled the pillow closer, almost purring when the warm blanket covered her, keeping her warm
despite
the cool night. 

Dante watched the woman he’d married in such a crazy fashion and wondered again why he hadn’t seen the signs that she was having an affair.  As she pulled the pillow closer, he remembered how she had curled into him every night when he’d come to bed, never pushing him away.