The Italian In Need Of An Heir (Mills & Boon Modern) (Cinderella Brides for Billionaires, Book 2) by Lynne Graham

Author:Lynne Graham [Graham, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Modern
Published: 2020-06-25T18:44:07+00:00

The launch carved a sure passage through the deep blue Mediterranean Sea to the small island that lay ahead. It was an exhilarating ride and all Maya could see of the island was a pale sand beach fringed by trees with a glimpse of a low roof somewhere behind them. Honeymoon, she mused uneasily—it hadn’t occurred to her that he would take such a conventional path to his objective.

Raffaele gazed stonily ahead, refusing to acknowledge the nightmare glimmers of his memories. He wasn’t a sensitive guy, he didn’t look back to the past and dwell unhealthily on it, no, he put it behind him, which was why he had chosen to bring Maya there to this superficially very beautiful little islet, which was both convenient and suitable for purpose.

Even so, when he swept a laughing Maya up into his arms and brought her down on the soft pale sand he had often played on as a child, his stomach still churned sickly when he too stepped out of the launch.

‘The path’s up here,’ he murmured, moving ahead of her as guide, refusing to surrender to that queasiness in his gut because only the frightened, traumatised child he had once been would react that way.

‘You’ve been here before?’

‘It’s one of my late mother’s many properties, like the villa where we held the wedding. I used the villa because Aldo isn’t able to travel far now and I’m using Aoussa—as it’s called—because...because it makes sense to use it.’

As they walked beneath the palm trees lining the walkway, something in that uncharacteristic hesitation in his dark deep drawl furrowed her brow and filled her with a sense of unease. ‘Did you grow up here?’

‘No, Julieta used it for summer breaks or simply when she was in the mood to be alone...aside of the staff,’ he told her curtly. ‘She brought all her new husbands here, her lovers. Aoussa was one of her favourite places.’

‘Did you lose your mother recently?’ Maya prompted, seeking an explanation for the tension he couldn’t hide. It was etched in the taut lines and hollows forming across his strong bone structure.

‘Julieta has been gone ten years. I was in my final year at boarding school when she died.’ Raffaele strode on, determined to overcome the reactions assailing him because he was not weak or vulnerable any longer, he was a man, a strong man.

‘You didn’t call her Mother?’

‘No. She didn’t like to be called that,’ Raffaele admitted gruffly.

An unexpectedly large building lay beyond the trees. It was all on one level, probably ultra-modern in its day with its many windows looking out over the ornamental gardens or towards the sea and shore exposed on the other side of the island. ‘It is beautiful and clearly well maintained,’ Maya commented. ‘How long is it since your last visit?’

Raffaele thrust open the front door. ‘Twenty-odd years,’ he admitted grudgingly. ‘Julieta went off it.’

In silence, Maya raised a brow, walking off on her own through big airy rooms, furnished in timeless style.

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