Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

N ick's first instinct to rush to Britt, sweep her into his arms, and forget the agony of the past month took a serious hit when he saw the stubborn set of her mouth and the angry sapphire glint as she fixed him with a haughty stare.

He'd flown around the world to be with the woman he loved and she was angry ?

Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he leaned against the window sill. 'What? No welcome kiss for your husband?'

She picked up her bags from the floor and placed them on a nearby table, too cool and controlled for his liking. He wanted her off guard, nervous, so he could bully the truth out of her as to why she bolted, why she'd given back his ring.

Instead, she smoothed a too-tight hound's-tooth skirt, tugged on the hem of a matching jacket, and perched on the table's edge. 'What are you doing here, Nick?'

'Business.'

'Of course.' Her indifferent nod annoyed him as much as her clipped response.

'Unfinished business.' Unable to control himself, he crossed the room in four strides, hauled her into his arms, and kissed her.

She struggled for a moment before melting into him, a perfect fit as always, and he growled, a possessive sound ripped from deep within.

'Don't.' She shoved him away and he stepped back, giving her space while the old familiar need to have her clawed at him, demanding as always.

'Don't what? Give you this?' He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out her wedding band, and, grasping her hand, held her fingers open before he dropped it into her palm. 'You left it behind, though for the life of me I can't figure out why.'

Her mouth opened and closed in a fair imitation of a goldfish, and he curled her fingers over the ring before releasing her, not trusting himself to touch her one moment longer without hauling her back into his arms.

'Last thing I knew, you wanted this marriage to work. Sure, you wanted to head back here, but I thought we'd figure out logistics.'

He ran a hand through his hair, rattled by her distant expression, as if she'd closed off emotionally. 'Instead, you bolt before we can say a proper goodbye, leaving your ring behind, which begs the question. Do you want out of this marriage?'

A taut silence stretched, grew, before she finally raised her gaze to his, and what he saw blew his mind: the glimmer of defeat reflected in the shimmer of tears.

'Hell, Red, I didn't mean to—'

'It's okay, I should've told you…' Her words hitched on a sob and he folded her into his arms, powerless to do anything but hold her while the woman he'd seen defiant, sassy, and brave, cried.

Even when he'd callously shoved her away ten years earlier she hadn't shed a single tear and he'd admired her for it. Now, as the floodgates opened and she clung to him, her tears drenching his shirt, the tiny crack in his heart that had opened the moment he'd found that wedding band lying forlornly on the table widened and he knew he could never repair it again.

Desperate to deflect her tears, he said, 'So are you going to help me transform this place into a FantaSea hotel or what?'

Her sobs petered out as she sniffled and swiped at her eyes before raising her head. 'You're really going to convert this place into a hotel?'

'Uh-huh. But I'll need the undivided attention of Sell's Managing Director to help me do it.'

'For how long?'

'A lifetime.'

Her eyes widened as she gnawed on her deliciously plump lower lip. 'Are you—?'

'I'm saying I love you and I want this marriage to work, Red. I would've been here sooner but I had to clear up urgent business so I can spend as long as it takes here in London. With you.'

He grabbed her hands and held them splayed against his chest, directly over his heart beating wildly for her, only her. 'It's what I wanted to say to you the morning you ran out. I'll do whatever it takes to make our marriage work, to show you how much I love you.'

Her lower lip wobbled and he shook his head. 'Oh, no, you don't.'

He kissed her, slowly, tenderly, infusing every ounce of his love for this incredible woman into it, hoping she could feel one-tenth of his love for her.

To his horror, she broke the kiss, wrenched out of his embrace, and backed away, her gaze firmly fixed on her shoes.

'Red?'

When she finally met his gaze, her anguish gutted him. 'There's so much I haven't told you.'

'Try me.'

Taking a step towards her before thinking better of it, he held his hands out to her, palm up. 'There's nothing you could tell me that would change how I feel about you.'

Britt swallowed a sob.

She couldn't comprehend Nick was here let alone absorb the impact of his words.

He loved her.

He was willing to spend however long it took to make their marriage work with her, here, in London.

He'd followed her across the globe, had made the effort he hadn't made before—had he really changed?

But rather than blurt the truth, her first instinct, she stalled, searching for the right words, humiliated at the thought of the man she loved seeing her anything less than capable.

'Why did you run and leave the ring behind?'

'Because this job is everything to me.'

Nick glared at her, his toffee eyes turning icy in the wan light filtering through the tattered velvet drapes. 'I see.'

From his rigid posture to his clenched hands, tension radiated off him and she knew she'd have to tell him the truth to salvage their relationship.

'Actually, you don't.' Weariness seeped through her as she slumped into a stuffy armchair, waving away the puff of dust that arose like a mushroom cloud. ‘This job is all important because I need the money. Desperately.'

Realisation dawned as he sat opposite and leaned forward by bracing his elbows on his knees. 'But if you need cash I could—'

'That's exactly why I left.' She shook her head, twisting her hair into a loose knot before releasing it. 'I need to do this on my own. It's my problem, I'll take care of it.'

'What problem?'

Wincing, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, a futile gesture to ward off the headache building between her eyes. 'My father.'

Nick stiffened as she knew he would. 'What's he done now?'

She sighed, toying with the frayed edge of the chair's arm before folding her fingers to stop fiddling. 'You know about him giving me money when I left Australia to start here a decade ago?'

'Yeah.'

She stood and started pacing. 'He knew I didn't want a cent of his money. He knew I wanted nothing to do with him, so he said the money I got was from my mother. He's all about the control, so thinking it came from her, my mum's legacy, meant everything to me. But when I tried to make peace with him recently, I learned the truth.'

Suspicion clouded his eyes. 'Why did you need to make peace? Haven't you kept in touch?'

She shook her head, hating the direction their conversation had taken, knowing it could only lead to one destination: full disclosure.

'When I left ten years ago, I severed all ties.'

'Why?'

'For freedom.'

Freedom from fear, from tyranny, from a father who'd morphed into a monster.

Nick frowned in confusion. 'You moved to London to be free of him and—'

'But I'm not free. I'll never be free until I've paid back every cent.'

Nick shook his head. 'You're not telling me everything.'

He stood, reaching out to her, but she stubbornly backed away. 'Tell me.'

'I can't.' Her whisper faded into silence, broken by his exasperated sigh.

'I'm your husband. I love you. I'm here for you, always. '

His concern and sincerity in that last word broke through her emotional barriers and she sagged against the window sill.

'He hit me.'

She didn't know what she'd expected when she finally told someone the grimy truth after all these years but seeing Nick furious, bristling with rage and ready to defend her, she knew she'd made a mistake bottling all this up.

'That bastard! I'll kill him.'

If they were to have a future, she needed to tell Nick everything.

'When I came to you ten years ago and asked you to leave, it wasn't out of some misguided romantic notion. I had to leave. His escalating violence left me no option.'

He swore, viciously and voraciously, clenching his hands as if he'd like to thump something, preferably Darby.

'He changed the moment Mum left. Then when we got the news that Mum died a year after she'd run off, the abuse escalated. A shove here, a bump there.' She swiped a hand over her eyes, determined not to shed one more wasted tear over her lousy father. 'Then he hit me. That's when I knew I had to get out, as far away as I could get.'

'You should've told me. I would've protected you.'

His cold-as-steel voice sent a shiver down her spine.

'How? You had a farm to run, your dad needed your help. Besides, I asked—"

'And I turned you down.' He swore again and thumped his fist on the table. 'If I'd known—'

'We'd already drifted apart, you'd pulled away from me emotionally, so I guess it came as no surprise when you said no.'

Another curse ripped through the air as he rubbed his neck.

'I'm sorry, sweetheart, I was an insecure jerk who pushed you away before you woke up one day and realised you were slumming it.'

Her mouth dropped open, his rueful expression annoying her more than his ludicrous assumption.

'Since when did I ever give you the impression I was slumming it ? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.'

She refrained from stamping her foot as he laid his hands out to her, palms up, in surrender.

'People talked, I foolishly listened. Not that I needed a reason to sabotage us.'

'What does that mean?'

Shaking his head, he thrust his hands into his pockets, but not before she'd seen them clench so hard the knuckles stood out.

'It means I was so devastated about my mother running out on me, I didn't want to allow another woman to get close, let alone love her. When we first got involved I thought you had the perfect family. Two parents, money, everything you could possibly want while I had nothing to offer you.'

She held up her hand, stopped him. 'It was never about the money. Surely you knew me better than that?'

'I guess I knew deep down, but I didn't want to trust. How could someone like you love a nobody like me?'

It was her turn to swear and he smiled. 'You can't reason with a young, proud male, especially one trying to hide his insecurities behind a black leather jacket and a motorbike. But I've grown up, wised up.'

He took a step towards her, another. 'I didn't come after you last time because I was too proud and too stupid to risk being hurt. But now is different, I'm different, and it hurts too damn much being without you so here I am.'

She'd wised up too, and if there was one thing she'd learned over the last decade it was to fight for what she wanted.

'It's good we've been honest if we're to—' She faltered, swallowed.

Was she really doing this? Giving them a chance? Ignoring her doubts, ignoring the sterile way their marriage started, ignoring the fear that screamed she'd imploded the first time she'd lost Nick, losing him again if this didn't work would finish her off?

'What?'

'Have a future,' she murmured, her eyes not leaving his, her heart's choice vindicated by the explosion of elation in his unwavering stare.

His exuberant whoop echoed in the cavernous room as he picked her up and twirled her around until she was breathless from laughing.

When he finally stopped, she slid down his body, savouring the delicious contact, the spark of heat arcing between them.

'Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?'

'Bet it's not half as much as I've missed you.' She caressed his cheek, her fingertips scraping stubble. 'I love London, but arriving back here and having to mend a broken heart for the second time sure as hell hasn't been fun.'

'Hey, you ran out on me.'

‘I'm such an idiot…' Her rueful grin had him chuckling as he pulled her flush against him, their hips moulding perfectly and exacerbating the slow build of heat as he traced lazy circles in the small of her back. 'You know I love you, right?'

He stopped tracing circles, his gaze locked on hers. 'What did you just say?'

'Don't make me say it again, Mancini. Once a day is more than enough. A girl's got her pride, you know.'

'You're in love with me? I mean, I'd hoped, but you've never actually said it, and—'

'Yeah, no accounting for taste.' She shrugged, unable to stop a goofy grin as he captured her hand and raised it to his lips.

'I.' He placed a soft kiss on her palm, his tongue lightly tracing her lifeline until she shivered.

'Love.' He nibbled along her knuckles, grazing them with his tongue.

'You.' He nipped at the fleshy base of her thumb, sucking it gently until she moaned.

'Good answer.' She gasped as his mouth covered hers, stealing her breath along with her heart.

His mind-blowing kiss ignited the hope and dreams she'd harboured for so long.

Nick Mancini loved her.

Her husband loved her.

She'd finally quashed her fears and she couldn't be happier.

'So you're serious about staying around?'

'Hell, yeah.'

He kissed her to prove it, a delicious, desperate, devastating kiss packed with emotion and feeling and love, so much love.

When they finally came up for air, he smiled, the slow, sexy smile that set her pulse tripping as he cupped her face in his hands.

'I thought starting the FantaSea hotel chain was the best thing I'd ever done, but I was wrong. You're my fantasy and there's no one I'd rather live my dreams with than you.'

'Keep that up and you'll have me blubbering again.'

'I love you, Red. Will you live the dream with me? Forever? As my wife?'

He kissed her, tenderly, softly, as if knowing she needed a moment to recover from the ecstasy of hearing the guy she'd loved forever pledge his life to her.

'You bet I will,' she whispered against the side of his mouth, filled with hope and excitement that they shared the same dream.