VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE (The Vittorio Series) (9 page)

Shelby’s throat constricted.
 
“If only you had,” she choked out.

“Would it have changed anything, or would you have left me eventually anyway?”

“I don’t know,” she replied despondently, “I honestly don’t know.”

Tears filled her eyes when he nodded slowly then turned and walked away.

Logan poured the coffee then added a dab of cream to Shelby’s cup of the steaming brew.  “There will be no divorce,” he said in a voice meant to deter any further discussion.

“A separation then,” Shelby braved a reply.

He speared a piece of omelet, chewing it thoroughly before shaking his head.
 
“No.
 
We have been separated for six months and it did not work out for either of us.”

“Maybe it didn’t work out for you, but I was doing just fine,” she lied.

Logan’s expression remained impassive.
 
“I think not,
cara
mia
.
 
You have lost weight, a sure sign of depression, and you spend your days staring out at the ocean or not bothering to get out of bed at all.”

Shelby’s fork slipped from her fingers and clattered onto her plate.
 
“How…how could you know that?”
 
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
 
“You had someone watching me?”

“Only for the past week.
 
Until last Monday, I did not know where you were.”

“So you sent someone to spy on me instead of coming here yourself?  Why would you do that?”

Logan polished off his omelet then leaned back in his chair, eyeing her over his cup of coffee.
 
“I wanted to make certain you did not have a…visitor staying with you.”

“A lover you mean.”

“Yes, a lover.”

“And are you convinced I don’t have one?”

“I would not be here if I thought otherwise.”

Shelby picked up her fork and concentrated on finishing her omelet.
 
So it was okay for him to have an affair but not the other way around?
 
Obviously, he thought she was clueless as far as his blonde bimbo went or it would have dawned on him why she’d run off and filed for divorce.
 
Being unfaithful was the one unforgiveable sin she’d once told him, and fool that she was, Shelby had soaked it up like a sponge when Logan pulled her into his arms and swore on his life that she was the only woman he ever wanted to make love to.
 
But that was right after they’d married so maybe he just hadn’t gotten bored with her yet and honestly believed what he was saying.

And yet…she couldn’t dismiss the way Logan looked her when he let his guard down long enough for her to see his heart in his eyes.
 
There was a tenderness there that couldn’t be denied, but was it love?
 
Shelby rewound all the intimate moments they’d shared and was numbed by the realization that Logan had never once said he loved her.
 
Oh, he’d shown her in a million different ways how much he cared for her, but he had never actually said the words.
 

He’d told her he wanted her and needed her, that he loved being with her and even that she was sexually desirable, but she couldn’t recall a single time he’d come right out and said I love you.
 
Did that mean he didn’t love her or only that he was incapable of saying it?
 
Surely it was more than pride or pressure from his family that had kept Logan from signing the divorce papers.

Shelby wanted so badly to believe he loved her so she could put an end to the lonely, barren life she’d endured over the past six months.  She wanted to be the insanely happy woman she’d once been, but how could she when there were so many doubts crowding her mind?
 
She pushed her plate away, surprised to find she’d eaten every last bite.
 
She reached for her coffee and took a few sips before stealing a quick glance at Logan then nearly dropped the cup when she caught the intensity of his gaze.
 

It was the same calculating look he wore when that sharp edged mind of his was figuring out the best way to manipulate a business deal and insure everything worked to his advantage.
 
It was unnerving to have that shrewd intellect directed at her, especially knowing that failure was not a word in Logan’s vocabulary.
 
Shelby carefully set her cup down and forced herself to look him in the eyes, determined to find out what he was plotting.

“I won’t be bullied into going back with you Logan.”

“I have no intention of bullying you,” he said smoothly.

“Then what
are
your intentions?”

“To find out why you left, and to convince you that we belong together.”

“I already told you why I left.”

“No,
cara
, you only told me part of the story.”

“What about your story,” she steered the conversation in a different direction, “why did you really come after me?”

Logan’s calm demeanor faltered.
 
“What kind of question is that?
 
You are my wife.”

“Only because you refused to sign the papers.”

“Papers that should never have been filed in the first place,” he said heatedly.

Shelby rubbed her temple.
 
“This is getting us nowhere, Logan.”

“You are right, neither of us is ready to talk yet.”
 

He rose from his chair and scooped her up in his arms then strode purposefully back into the cottage.
 
Shelby’s insides trembled when he headed down the hallway towards her bedroom.
 

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“What I should have done on the day you left me, taking you back to bed.”

“Logan, this won’t solve anything,” she said in a shaky voice.

He lowered her onto the mattress and tugged at the tie on her robe then drew the material away, letting his eyes feast on the perfection of her nakedness.
 

“On the contrary,
carissima
, it will solve a very big problem.”

Shelby’s breath caught in her throat when he reached for the zipper on his jeans and slowly dragged it down, the soft scraping of the metal as tantalizing as a seductive caress.
 
Somewhere in the back of her mind a protest was uttered, but it was feeble at best and easily ignored; the little voice of reason gradually fading and growing silent altogether as Logan removed each article of clothing then lowered his gloriously naked body down onto hers.
 
A soft moan escaped her lips as he eased himself inside of her, submerging Shelby in the same passionate heat they’d shared the night before.

It wasn’t until much later she as lay in his arms listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing that she realized Logan’s sudden desire to take her to bed hadn’t exactly been spontaneous.
 
He’d deliberately set out to weaken her defenses against him, which would have upset her if she wasn’t already perfectly aware she had been completely at Logan’s mercy from the moment he’d stepped out of his car and back into her life.
 
And she realized something else too.
 
No matter what he’d done in the past, she had no choice but to forgive him.  Because a life without Logan was no life at all.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                         ***

Logan slowly scanned the room.
 
If there had ever been any doubt in his mind that Shelby loved him, there was none now.
 
Grady told him sometimes the lights didn’t go out until the wee hours of the morning, and now Logan knew what she’d been doing to fill the time.
 
He stepped closer, scrutinizing the paintings and admiring how well she captured his likeness in each one of them.
 
They were beautifully done, but there was a sadness about them, a loneliness that made his heart ache and rejoice at the same time.
 
Grady was right; Shelby had been just as miserable without him as he’d been without her.

Logan closed the door behind him when he left, glancing down the hallway towards the bedroom where Shelby was still sleeping and considered waking her up.
 
Not knowing why she’d run away was eating him up inside, made him feel frustratingly helpless.
 
He was a powerful man in the business world, making and breaking multi-million dollar deals with every confidence that he would always come out on top and that no one,
no one
, could beat him at his own game.
 
And yet Shelby, his sweet, unassuming little wife, had brought him to his knees and left him as weak and vulnerable as a newborn kitten.

He headed for the kitchen to get the coffee started then changed his mind and turned around.
 
Whatever was wrong between them had to be hashed out and dealt with so he could stop feeling as if his world was going to come crashing down around his shoulders any minute.
 
Logan didn’t even make to the hallway before his cell phone went off.
 
He hurried into the living room, cursing under his breath when he couldn’t find the blasted thing and finally located it on the fireplace mantel where he must have left it after talking to Grady earlier that morning.
 
He checked the caller I.D., cursing again before answering it.

Shelby was just pulling on her robe when she heard the incessant ringing of Logan’s phone.
 
Heaving a sigh, she hobbled into the bathroom to relieve herself and run a brush through her hair.
 
She knew what an enormous responsibility it was to run a corporation the size of Vittorio Enterprises, but sometimes she really had to fight the urge to take that obnoxious phone and flush it down the toilet.
 
It didn’t seem to matter what time of day or night it was; Logan always made himself available to calm whatever storm was brewing.
 

She couldn’t even begin to count how many romantic dinners or nights at the theatre had been cut short because he had to take a call.
 
For the most part, she really hadn’t minded the interruptions because she was proud that her husband was such an important man.  She also genuinely enjoyed listening to his strong, authoritative voice as he worked out how to avert the most recent crisis.
 
Still, there were times when she wished she had him all to herself without having to worry when the inevitable phone call would come.

Shelby shuffled down the hallway, careful not to put too much weight on the injured ankle.
 
She’d done some serious thinking before she nodded off to sleep and had come to the conclusion she needed to scrape up the courage to come right out and confront Logan about his affair.
 
It wasn’t going to be easy to hear him confirm it, but if everything was out in the open they would at least have a chance of repairing the damage that had been done.
 
She felt good about her decision and was anxious to get it over with, but the sound of Logan’s deep voice coming from the living room told her he was still on the phone.
 

She started for the kitchen to put the coffee on and decided to peek her head into the living room first just to let him know she was awake.
 
Considering she’d eaten the entire omelet he made for her earlier, she was surprised to find that she ravenous.
 
Shelby smiled to herself.
 
No doubt the amorous love making had something to do with the sudden increase in appetite.
 

She stood just inside doorway, admiring the sleek muscles in his bare back as Logan stared out the window and continued his conversation, unaware that he was being watched. Her heart fluttered, and for a moment she was so overwhelmed by the enormous rush of love she felt for him, she could barely breathe.
 
Shelby lingered for a few more seconds then started to back out of the room.
 

She hadn’t really been paying attention to what Logan was saying, but she could tell by the way he was talking that it wasn’t business.
 
It had to be his mother or his sister, Milana, because his voice always took on a calmer, gentler tone whenever he spoke to the female members of his family.
 
She’d always found it endearing the way the Vittorio men treated their women, as if they were made of glass and needed to be handled with the greatest of care.
 

Not wanting to intrude on a private conversation, Shelby turned to go when something he said caught her attention.
 
With a sinking heart, she inched close enough to hear and immediately wished she hadn’t.
 
It wasn’t his mother or sister Logan was talking to, but some woman named Alicia.  By the sound of it, the woman was upset with him for breaking off a date.
 
That same agonizing pain she’d felt when she saw Logan and his mistress leaving the hotel viciously ripped at her heart, and though her mind screamed at her to leave so she didn’t have to hear anymore, her legs stubbornly refused to move.