“Can you give me a hint?”
His face was remote, as if he was trying to distance himself from some unwanted emotion. “This is the statement for your credit card,” he offered, between clenched teeth.
She tried to remember any outrageous purchases but failed. The bills for the clothes she’d bought with Isabella had come through a month ago without the merest hint of a question from Luca. Aside from the reupholstered sofa for the sitting room, which Luca claimed to love, she hadn’t bought anything major for the house either. She hoped one day she and Luca could shop together for a new dining set. Something they chose together, a symbol of their unity. Not what they currently were—two disparate people who had amazing sex.
“Have I spent too much?”
Luca’s face was still blank, although a muscle throbbed in his jaw.
“There is a charge on here for a business license.”
“Oh right, I forgot about that. I didn’t have any cash the day I applied, so had to put the charge on the card. Don’t worry, once I get the finances sorted, I’ll put the expense through my new company.” The business license had only cost 100 euro. She still didn’t understand why Luca was upset.
“Do you not think you could have talked to me about starting a business?” His accent became more pronounced.
“You’ve been so preoccupied lately, I didn’t want to bother you with something so trivial. And I told you I was bored sitting at home. I finished my interior design course and got my certificate. And Jonathan was really happy with the work I did for him and gave me an amazing reference. So I put an advertisement in the local British ex-pat newspaper and quite a few people have contacted me. I thought getting a business license was the proper thing to do. It seems a lot of work is done here under the table, but I didn’t want to get involved in anything shady. I know how important your reputation is to you.” The frostiness in her tone surprised even her. He’d made it abundantly clear that his reputation was more important than her happiness.
“I assumed you would abide by our arrangement.” The chill in his voice matched hers.
She leapt to her feet, anger incinerating her normal passivity to white-hot fury in an instant. How dare Luca accuse her of breaking their agreement? Despite all their recent intimacy, did he still regard their marriage as a business deal?
“When I agreed to this marriage, I clearly recall you saying that I could continue my education, even get a degree.” The sound of her heart breaking temporarily drowned out the thudding of her pulse in her ears.
“An education, yes. Starting a business is different. If my wife is having to take work, the gossip will be that my company is failing. A rumor like that can do serious damage to my reputation.”
“Maybe you should worry more about me, and less about rumors,” she shot back.
“I do care about you. I do not want to see you stressed. You will not have time to work when the babies start to come.”
The crushing sensation in Sophia’s chest intensified. Clearly Luca only made love to her to get her pregnant. The lust she thought she saw in him wasn’t craving for her, but simply a desire to have a child.
“Your mother told me she was married to your father for four years before your birth, and that despite her wishes, you were an only child. Do you expect me to sit around for years twiddling my thumbs, waiting for a baby that may never even happen?”
The fury that entered Luca’s eyes at her words made her step back.
“My father was nearly fifty years old when he married my mother. I assure you, I will have no such difficulty in fathering a child.” With that pronouncement he turned on his heel and left the terrace, balling up the credit card bill and flinging it into the corner on his way out.
She fell back onto the chaise. The late-spring sunshine no longer warmed her. Anger ebbed away, leaving only pain. Once again her dreams had come crashing down. This time, though, there had been no warning. The past two weeks had been almost idyllic. Revealing her past to Luca had been liberating. She now saw herself as capable of being the wife he wanted. And it had given her the confidence to seize her dream and start her own business, knowing that even if she failed, she’d have Luca’s respect for trying. Or so she’d thought.
Since Giada and Thierry had returned to Corsica, Sophia’s days had slipped into a quiet routine. In the morning she would work in the garden with Vittore or do some baking in the kitchen with Maria. After siesta she often visited reclamation yards, antique markets, or second hand stores with Jonathan or Isabella. She needed something to keep her thoughts off her husband, before they became all-consuming and she lost herself. Even then, she had spent each hour waiting for Luca to come home from work.
Her evening and nights had also entered a routine, although not one she would describe as quiet. Much to Maria’s delight, and hers, Luca was often home for dinner. They would spend an enjoyable evening, often with her curled up in a chair in the study reading, while he caught up on some paperwork or answered email messages.
The nights, however, were a different matter. Passion flared easily and often, and she usually fell into an exhausted sleep, still wrapped in Luca’s arms. She’d been able to convince herself that her marriage was more than just a business arrangement—that Luca cared for her, or at least was starting to. Now, however, she knew it was all a complete sham.
The roar of the Maserati’s engine and the tires spinning on the gravel drive indicated that Luca had left. She picked up her book, but the heroine’s trials seemed paltry compared to her own. When the words blurred before her eyes for the fifth time and the tears began to fall on the page, she put the book away. She rang Olivia in the Caribbean and cried figuratively on her friend’s shoulder.
• • •
Luca held back a sigh as Sophia typed away on her computer at the desk he’d set up for her in his home office. He couldn’t deny she seemed happier. She’d found a purpose and was enjoying herself. When he’d discovered she was setting up her own business, he’d reacted in sheer frustration that she’d erected another wall in life without him—a life where he was only a peripheral part.
Now she was out at client meetings or site visits, scouring junkyards and meeting with artisans, often accompanied by Isabella. The two women had become close friends, and he was happy that Sophia was adjusting to life so well in Italy. He only wished he was a bigger part of the picture.
He’d thought that once they made love, he’d regain control of his life. Instead, he’d lost even more. He was obsessed, and it didn’t sit well with him. He was too distracted. What he needed was a challenge, something that would take all his business acumen and construction skills to pull off—the hotel project near Teramo. He’d been in negotiations with Chet Wilkins for weeks now and they were finally ready to proceed with a site visit. But he needed Sophia to come with him to stop Chet’s wife, Leslie, from swinging a wrecking ball through his plans.