Harlequin Presents July 2013 - Bundle 2 of 2: His Brand of Passion\A Shadow of Guilt\The Return of Her Past\Proof of Their Sin by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Three weeks later...

Valentina looked at herself in the cracked mirror of her tiny bathroom in Palermo. She was pale and wan, dark shadows under her eyes. And her eyes...they looked dead. Valiantly she pinched her cheeks as if that could restore some colour but it faded again just as quickly.

She felt empty and her body was one big ache of loss. She sighed deeply. This wasn’t meant to be so painful. The choice she’d made when she’d stood in front of Gio three weeks before... Her mouth twisted at herself. It hadn’t been a choice. It had been a deeply ingrained reflex action to protect herself. She was a coward. The worst kind of coward.

Gio. Valentina’s hands tightened on the sink—just his name was causing a physical pain in her belly. She’d been terrified she’d see him yesterday when her parents had been brought to a private clinic in Palermo, so that her father could continue his convalescence closer to home.

But it hadn’t been Gio who’d come to make sure everything was OK; it had been an assistant, the same assistant who had taken over informing Valentina what was happening. When Gio hadn’t shown up, the mixture of relief and pain had been almost crippling.

Her mother had taken one look at her and pulled her aside. ‘Valentina—’

And Valentina had cut her off, afraid that the maternal concern would undo her completely. ‘Mama, please...don’t.’

But her mother had ignored her and said gently, ‘Valentina, talk to him. He deserves that much at least.’

Valentina stood up straight. Did Gio deserve that? Did he deserve to hear what she had to say? To hear the awful shameful secret she’d kept secret for so long? The secret her mother knew because she’d witnessed the moment when— Valentina bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood.

For the first time in weeks, Valentina felt a sense of purpose. She would tell Gio...everything. And then if he still wanted her to leave, she would go and perhaps one day this awful yawning ache in her heart would ease.

A couple of hours later Valentina pulled up in the staff car park of the Corretti racetrack. When she got out she asked someone if they knew where Gio was and they directed her to the training ground.

When she got there she could see Gio in the training enclosure. One or two people were gathered around, watching him at work.

The horse pranced skittishly but Gio held the reins firm and murmured low soothing words. Valentina felt weak, her eyes automatically devouring his tall broad form. He looked thinner, leaner. His hair looked messier, as if he hadn’t cut it. The lines of his face were unbearably stark and she recalled his bleakness when Misfit had been dying. She recalled the flare of hope dying in his eyes.

She stopped a few feet away from the railing and as if sensing her presence he looked right at her and the air flew out of Valentina’s lungs. It was like a punch to

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