VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE (The Vittorio Series) (6 page)

“We can work through this,” he told her.
 
“If entertaining and being hostess is too uncomfortable for you, I swear we never have to throw another party again.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that, it’s too important for your business.”

“I do not care,” Logan said vehemently.
 
“The only thing I care about is making you happy.
 
Cara mia
, I need you.”

Shelby closed her eyes, feeling herself weaken.
 
“You don’t need me.
 
You need a woman…”
 
Her eyelids snapped open when the blonde woman’s image swam before her, cruelly demolishing the small bud of hope that his words had planted in her heart.

“What I
need
is my wife,” he insisted.

“Please don’t do this Logan,” she pleaded wearily.
 
“I’ve made my decision and I…I want you to leave.”
 

His chest tightened.
 
“You do not mean that.
 
We will go inside and talk…”

“No.”
 
Shelby blocked out the pain that was constricting her heart.
 
“I’ll give you the car so you won’t have any reason not to sign the papers.”

“I have
every
reason not to sign it,” Logan argued.
 
“I do not want a divorce, now or ever.
 
We made vows to love and honor each other, until death do us part.  Or have you forgotten that?”

She gaped at him in disbelief.
 
“
Me?
 
I’m not the one who…”

She clamped her mouth shut, shaking her head.
 
No, she wasn’t emotionally equipped to discuss his affair…or affairs.
 
After all, how did she know for sure the woman she’d seen had been the only one he’d slept with?
 
All those times when Logan said he was working late or had to fly off somewhere on the spur of the moment to meet with a client could have been a cover up for what was really going on.
 
Despair rolled through her in unrelenting waves as her mind continued to torture her with images she wasn’t nearly strong enough to deal with.

“I can’t,” Shelby choked out.
 
“I’m sorry, Logan, but I just can’t stay married to you.”

She tore herself from his arms, desperate to get away before he could try to change her mind.
 
Just where she thought she was going when she bolted for the stairs, Shelby didn’t know.
 
It wasn’t as if there was any place to hide, and even if there had been, she didn’t have a prayer of outrunning Logan.
 
But none of that seemed to matter.
 
Wind whipped through her hair as she raced towards the beach, and though she was sure Logan had followed after her, she didn’t know how close he was because the soft sand muffled his footsteps.

Shelby had walked this beach countless times so she knew there were jagged boulders jutting out of the sand and just how dangerous it was to be running so fast.
 
It was doubly reckless considering the thin sandals she was wearing and the fact she could barely see where she was going through the blinding tears, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
 
She’d nearly made it to the shoreline and was frantically trying to work out an escape route that didn’t include plunging into the ocean when Logan’s fingers curled around her arm.

Instinctively, Shelby’s head turned towards him; a move she recognized as a huge mistake the moment she did it.
 
Her footsteps faltered and though she wasn’t in any danger of falling, the firm grip Logan had on her and the sudden lurch forward pulled him off balance.
 
Even that might not have caused them to fall if she hadn’t swerved to try and avoid one of the boulders buried in the sand because it placed her right in Logan’s path.
 
He was moving too fast to stop himself from slamming into her back and they both went down like a ton of bricks, with Shelby taking the worst of it when he landed on top of her.

It all happened so fast, she barely had time to register the agony of one injury before another was inflicted.
 
A sharp, stabbing pain shot through her ankle followed by a jarring pain in her knees as she hit the ground.
 
Shelby threw her arms out in front of her to break the fall and succeeded not only in tearing the skin off the balls of her hands but from her elbows as well.
 
Then she nearly lost consciousness when Logan’s body came down hard over hers and forced the air from her lungs with a loud whoosh.

Logan rolled off her, terrified that he’d crushed the life from her when she didn’t move.
 
His stomach twisted into a painful knot as he stretched out a shaky hand and gently turned her over.
 
He brushed the hair from her face, fighting back the wave of fear that rushed through him when Shelby’s beautiful green eyes stared up at him unblinkingly.
 
Her face had gone deathly pale, and for a moment Logan thought he really had killed his wife.
 

“
Tesoro
, my darling, talk to me,” he whispered hoarsely.

Shelby’s eyes flickered at the sound of his voice, her back arching as she dragged in much needed air.
 
Her lungs felt as if they were on fire.  In fact, there didn’t seem to be a spot on her body that didn’t burn, and for several minutes she was too stunned to do anything but lay there listening to Logan’s soft words of assurance that she would be okay.
 

As her breathing gradually returned to normal, Shelby’s mind began to clear.
 
Her gaze moved to Logan’s anxious face and she was instantly overcome with shame and remorse for how foolishly she’d behaved. Tears sprang to her eyes and slid down the sides of her cheeks.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” she managed to say before the dam broke and she burst into tears.

Logan’s throat constricted at the look of utter misery on Shelby’s face.
 
Rising to his knees, he scooped her up in his arms then got to his feet and stood there for a moment cradling her to his chest and trying to calm her down.
 
Only when the harsh sobs had subsided and she’d buried her face in his neck did Logan start back to the house.
 
Even through his concern for her injuries, he was conscious of the fact that she had lost weight she certainly couldn’t spare.
 

He hadn’t noticed it before because of the oversized t-shirt she was wearing, but holding her in his arms as he was now, Logan could tell she weighed next to nothing and obviously hadn’t been taking care of herself.
 
A dark scowl marred his face when he thought of all the incompetent fools he’d employed over the months to find her.
 
He was angry at them and even angrier at himself for not realizing something was wrong to begin with.
 
He was usually so in tune with Shelby’s feelings, but he’d been working so many long hours in the weeks leading up to her departure he must have missed all the signs.
 
Still, how could he have failed to notice that she was so unhappy?

Logan took the steps up to the deck and slipped in through the open French doors.
 
The place was decent sized but it didn’t take more than a cursory glance around to determine the hallway off to the left would lead to her bedroom.
 
He carried Shelby in and attempted to lay her down on the bed, but she was clinging to his neck as if her life depended on it and wouldn’t let go.
 
A tenderness like nothing he’d ever known before welled up inside him, melting away all the anger and pain and bitterness that had followed in the wake of Shelby’s desertion.
 
All he wanted to do now was take care of her and protect her from ever being hurt again.
 
Whatever he’d done, he was determined to atone for it so he could reclaim his wife.

Logan sat down on the edge of the bed with Shelby in his lap.
 
She was so still and silent he would have thought she’d fallen asleep if it hadn’t been for the delicate arms wound so tightly around his neck.
 
Pressing his cheek to hers, he stroked her hair, inhaling the familiar scent of her shampoo.
 
How had he survived all those months without her?
 
How had he gotten through the long, lonely nights when he’d tossed and turned, his stomach churning because he couldn’t get the image of his wife in another man’s arms out of his head?
 

Logan brushed a soft kiss to her temple.
 
He knew the answer to that now.
 
Even though his mind had tortured him with thoughts and images of her betrayal, his heart had never really believed it.

“I need to look at you,
cara mia
, to see for myself that you are not hurt.”

Shelby pressed herself even closer.
 
“Are…are you angry with me?”

“No,
tesoro
, but I
am
worried about you.”

“I h-hurt my hands and elbows,” she admitted shakily.
 
“I twisted my ankle too, and I…I think my knees got skinned up.”

“I will take care of you,” he promised, “but you must let loose of me first, my darling.”

She hesitated for a few minutes, lamenting the loss of his warmth once she let her hands slide away and he deposited her onto the bed.
 
Shelby’s eyes never left his face as he examined her injuries, the furrow between his brows growing more pronounced with each new discovery.
 
Foolishly, her heart leapt at the thought he genuinely cared for her, that the gentle way he slipped her sandals off and held her swollen ankle was an indication that his concern was borne out of love for her.
 
But that illusion was quickly shattered when he suddenly shot to his feet and towered over her with his lips pressed into a grim line and his dark eyes flashing with anger.

“What the hell were you thinking running off like that?”
 
Raking his fingers through his hair, Logan turned away from her and took a few halting steps before whirling on her again.
 
“Your injuries could have been much worse,” he rebuked sternly.
 
“
Madre di Dio
, you might have hit your head on one of those stones.
 
You could have suffered a concussion or fractured your skull.  You might even have been killed.”
 

Shelby’s lips trembled.
 
Never in all the time they’d been together had he spoken to her in such a harsh tone.
 
Oh, she knew that steely voice, she’d heard him use it when dealing with business and something wasn’t going exactly as he’d planned it.
 
She knew Logan could be ruthless, he had to be with so many people depending on him to keep the business operating smoothly.  But he had never been anything but gentle with her before and it sliced through her already fragile heart, bringing fresh tears to her eyes.

“I’m perfectly fine,” she lied, grinding her teeth against the painful task of sitting up and inching her legs over the side of the bed.

“You are not fine,” he snapped.
 
“You can barely move, your arms and hands are all scraped up, and your ankle has already swollen twice its normal size.
 
Perhaps now you will see that behaving so childishly and running away from me only causes pain.”

Shelby inhaled sharply.
 
“If I’m so much trouble, maybe you should go find yourself a wife who’s all grown up so you don’t have take time out of your busy schedule to go find her.”

“Maybe I should,” he said softly, his anger spent.
 
“Maybe it was a mistake to marry someone so young.”

“You’re not that much older than me, for Pete’s sake.”

“Eight years seems like a huge gap right now.
 
I am ready to settle down and have children while you have barely graduated into adulthood.”

Shelby’s shoulders slumped.
 
So that was why he’d sought the company of the blonde woman; Logan had decided he wanted someone closer to his own age.
 
How could she compete with that?
 
The painful truth was she couldn’t, but wasn’t that the reason she had taken off and filed for divorce in the first place?
 
She was his
wife;
she shouldn’t have to worry about competing with anyone.