VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE (The Vittorio Series) (15 page)

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Vittorio, but I…I just have to say something.
 
I know I couldn’t possibly compare to any of the women Logan has brought to meet you, and I’m not even going to pretend to understand what he sees in me.
 
All I know is that when he looks at me like I’m the most beautiful, fascinating woman in the world, he makes me believe I truly am.”

Tears misted her eyes and she made a valiant effort to blink them back.
 
“I love him with all my heart, Mrs. Vittorio, and I just…I want to make him happy.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Ravenna exclaimed, “you really have no idea how much influence I have with my son, do you?”

The color leeched from Shelby’s face.
 
“I’m sure you have a tremendous amount of influence,” she said thinly.

Ravenna’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
 
“Quite the opposite, my dear girl.
 
Logan is respectful enough to listen when I voice my opinion, but his mind is very much his own.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

“That is because I have explained it so poorly.
 
What I am trying to tell you is that Logan has never been interested in any woman enough to even mention her name to me, let alone bring her home to meet me.
 
It says a great deal that you are here.
 
My son must care deeply for you, Shelby, and I am elated that he has finally found someone who loves him for the wonderful man he is and not for the power and wealth he possesses.”

Shelby’s eyes widened in genuine astonishment.
 
“How could they be impressed by those things when Logan is so kind and loving and just about everything a woman could ever dream of?”

Ravenna beamed at her.
 
“I believe you have just given the best explanation possible as to why Logan finds you so different from any of those other woman.
 
You love him simply for who he is inside, and despite your own misguided notion that you are not pretty or sophisticated enough, I think you will grace his arm as no woman ever could.”

“Thank you,” Shelby murmured because she didn’t know what else to say.

“You still wonder why Logan chose you when he could have had his pick of women,” Ravenna said, more as a statement than a question.
 
“Perhaps it would help you to know that I suffered through those same doubts and insecurities when I fell in love with his father.”

“It’s not the same,” Shelby replied.
 
“You’re everything I’m not; beautiful, elegant in a way I could never hope to be.  I can’t imagine you ever getting tongue tied in a social setting or turning ten shades of red because of it.”

“Maybe it is difficult to imagine now, but when I first met Cesare, I was as naïve and uncultured as a young woman could be.
 
What Cesare saw when he first looked at me couldn’t have been much.
 
I was working for a catering company that was hired for a party he attended and was I wearing the most unflattering uniform ever stitched together.”

Ravenna sighed wistfully.
 
“I was tall and thin with hair as wild as a gypsy’s, and I was painfully aware of just how plain I was compared to the women who had been throwing themselves at him all night.
 
So when Cesare began paying attention to me, I was so flustered I could not have strung together an intelligent sentence to save my life.”

“That’s how it was with Logan too.
 
It must be that Vittorio charm,” Shelby laughed, “because I couldn’t think of anything but how incredibly handsome he was, and I was so shocked that he even noticed me, I could barely speak.”

“They are a lot alike, my boys and my husband.
 
They guard their hearts tenaciously, but when the right woman comes along, it is as if a floodgate has been opened up and they hold nothing back.”
 
She smiled warmly at Shelby.
 
“Overcome your self-doubts, my dear, they serve no purpose.
 
Logan is his father’s son; he will love only one woman in his lifetime.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                          ***

He will love only one woman in his lifetime.
 
Shelby had found a great deal of comfort from those words and had been grateful to Ravenna for being so kind.
 
Now, as her gaze moved around the table from Logan’s parents to each of his siblings, she was overwhelmed by how warmly they’d all welcomed her back home.
 
Even Simon, who knew she had filed for a divorce, had given her a hug and said how happy he was that she was back.

She should have been relieved at how easy they made it for her tonight.  Instead, the shame she felt for what she’d put Logan and his family through only gnawed at her even more.
 
She’d been so unfair to Logan, so distrusting of the man she’d promised to love and honor for the rest of her life.
 
Tears stung her eyes as she shuffled food around on her plate, desperately trying to pull herself together.
 

Logan wasn’t oblivious to the shimmer of tears Shelby was trying to hide, or the way she had been studying each member of his family only moments before.
 
Maybe he should have insisted that his mother hold the dinner party until tomorrow, but at the time she suggested it, he’d been so happy Shelby was coming home with him, he’d wanted to share that with his family.
 
He hadn’t considered how it would make her feel to face them all at once, especially now that she knew she’d been totally unjustified in her reasons for leaving him.
 

He’d known, of course, that none of them harbored any ill feelings toward her, but Shelby didn’t know that.
 
He should have told her that when she left him, he’d concocted a story for his family that placed the blame for her desertion totally on his own shoulders.
 
At the time, Logan wasn’t quite sure why he’d done it but, now he understood it was his instinctive way of protecting her.

He couldn’t tolerate the idea anyone would think poorly of Shelby, even when his own bitterness had been so venomous it threatened to consume him.
 
He’d been hurt and angry when she ran off with no explanation, but his love for her had overridden the harsher emotions and his family had been told he’d lost his temper and said something cruel to her during an argument.
 
Only Simon had seen through his story, or maybe the others had too and just hadn’t confronted him with it.

He glanced over at his mother, whose own gaze shifted to Shelby for a moment before returning to him.
 
As he’d hoped, her usual perceptiveness alerted her to the emotional turmoil Shelby was going through, as well as Logan’s need to get his wife alone for a few minutes so he could comfort her.
 
His mother nodded almost imperceptivity before coming to the rescue.

“It is such a beautiful night, I think it would be nice to have dessert served outside.
 
Logan, be a dear and take Shelby upstairs to freshen up then meet us out by the pool in a few minutes.
 
I am sure she could use the respite after the drive home and it will give me time to prepare the little surprise I have for her.”

Shelby shot Ravenna a grateful smile and somehow managed to maintain her composure as everyone rose from the table and began migrating towards the French doors that led out to the pool area.
 
Slipping her hand into Logan’s, she let him take her upstairs.  Once they reached the bedroom, the memories of all the passionate nights they’d spent together assaulted her already overwrought emotions, and the puddle of tears spilled over in a salty stream.

“
Mia bello
, do not cry,” Logan whispered as he gathered her in his arms.

Shelby lifted her eyes to his, the ache in her heart so strong it wrenched a painful sob from her throat.
 
“Oh, Logan, how can you still look at me as if I mean the world to you when I’ve hurt you so badly?”

“Because you
do
mean the world to me,
mia moglie
.”

The tenderness in his voice only made her feel worse.
 
“I don’t deserve you, Logan.
 
I don’t deserve your forgiveness or your love or…”

Logan silenced her with a long, very thorough kiss.
 
“Never say that again,” he growled softly, then devoured her lips hungrily until she was soft and pliant in his arms and making the most delicious sounds in the back of her throat.
 
“
Io vogtio te
…
I want you,” he rasped hoarsely.
 
“I want to lay you back across our bed and spread your lovely thighs…”

“Logan, stop,” she pleaded.
 

“Why, my darling, when you so obviously want it too?”

Shelby let out a soft sigh as his lips trailed down the side of her throat.
 
“I do want you,” she said breathlessly, “but we have a house full of guests waiting for us.”

Logan lifted his head, locking his eyes to hers.
 
“
Family
, Shelby.
 
They are your family as well as mine and they love you.”
 
He pressed a kiss to her lips.
 
“They were worried about you,
cara
.
 
Yes, they were concerned for me, but only because they knew how much I missed you.  I promise you, if there was any anger on their part it was only because they didn’t understand why you left any more than I did.”

“Did you tell them?”

“Shelby, I…” his voice faltered for a moment.
 

He had never lied to her before, at least not until his omission about Alicia’s sexual advances, but he’d already decided to address that issue with her later.
 
He’d felt guilty enough telling his family the little white lie about why Shelby left him, but that one he could live with.
 
If he and Shelby were ever going to regain the trust they’d once had in each other, he would have to confess what he’d done.

“Shelby,” he started again, “I think there is something you should know…about what I told my family when you left.
 
I may have…no, I purposely led them to believe it was my fault.”

Shelby’s eyes widened.
 
“Why would you do that?”

“Do not be angry with me,
cara mia
, I only meant to protect you.”

“Angry?
 
Logan Vittorio, you are the most honorable man I have ever known.  Going against your own principles so your family wouldn’t be resentful towards me is just about the sweetest thing you have ever done.”
 

“Does this mean you are ready to go back downstairs and join the family?”

“Not quite,” she said with a sexy smile.

“
Madre Di Dio
, have mercy,” he muttered when Shelby slowly unzipped her dress and let it drop to the floor.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                        ***

If there had ever been a time when she looked more beautiful, Logan couldn’t remember it.
 
Sitting at the one of the round tables that were perched close to the pool, laughing at something Milana had said, she looked truly happy.
 
Her cheeks were still flushed with color from their very abbreviated, albeit extremely ardent love-making session, and her lips were slightly swollen from the passionate kisses they’d shared.
 

Her eyes kept wandering back to him, making promises he fully intended to make her
 
keep later when they were alone.
 
And every time her elegant fingers closed around the glass of wine, Logan had to bite back a groan at the memory of them curling around his heated flesh as she guided him into her moist opening.

“It does not fade with time,” his brother Simon said as he followed Logan’s gaze.

“The love I have for my wife?”

“No, that will only continue to grow stronger.”
 
Simon smiled warmly at his own wife, Lilly.
 
“I was talking about that helpless feeling you get when you look at her, as if you are drowning and have forgotten how to swim.”

“It is not a feeling I am at ease with,” Logan admitted.
 
“It scares me sometimes, loving her so much that I am lost without her.”