Chapter 4
ALLEGRA THOUGHT SHE KNEW beauty, thought she’d seen it before, but as Luca’s helicopter circled over the Tyrrhenian sea, the afternoon sun making the water sparkle and glisten as though a thousand diamonds danced on its surface, she recognised that she was wrong.
Nothing in her life had prepared her for this. Nothing in her life compared.
“This is your home?” she asked, staring through the tinted window, towards the ancient, magical looking castle.
“When I’m in Italy, si.”
She wanted to look at him, but it was truly impossible to draw her gaze from the mesmerising view of this place.
They’d flown for about twenty minutes, north of Rome, along the coastline.
The view had gradually changed until suddenly there were white cliffs with colourful little homes balanced across them and now, one enormous sprawling home that started atop the cliff and then seemed carved down into it.
The walls and roof were orange terracotta, but there were bursts of vibrant colours—purples and pinks, and splashes of reds—courtesy of the flowers that grew almost wild throughout the property.
Where the house met the sea, there were two pontoons, one with an enormous boat moored at the end, the other with two jetskis, and there were steps carved into the cliff that looked to have been there for as long as time itself.
“Luca,” she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief.
“You like it?”
For a second, something panged in her heart—a feeling of un-reality. She did look away then, reminding herself forcibly of their situation. “Whether I like it or not doesn’t really matter, does it?”
He regarded her through shuttered eyes. “It is to be your home for the next year,” he pointed out. “I would prefer to think you would be happy here.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” she said, simply. “It’s like an oasis. A perfect, beautiful oasis.”
He arched a single brow. “I never really thought about it.”
She balked. “How could you not?”
“It is, simply, home.”
“Have you lived here long?”
“It’s been in the family hundreds of years.”
Her lips parted. That was the Di Santis family though.
Their generational wealth was another thing she had no experience with and could hardly conceptualise.
She was dead broke, starting from scratch in life.
What meagre savings her father had accumulated had been chewed through pretty quickly, once he got sick.
She toyed with the fine chain she wore, the one piece of jewellery she possessed, and had not been able to bear to part with. It wasn’t valuable, anyway. Made of silver, her mother had worn it on her wedding day, and every day afterwards—there had been far too few of those.
Ally blinked, not wanting to think of that. Not wanting to imagine the woman she’d never gotten the chance to know.
The helicopter dipped lower, pitching slightly, towards the top of the cliffs. Ally held her breath as it flew over the terracotta roofs—now she saw a tennis court, a swimming pool, and another swimming pool, before the helicopter began to descend properly, onto a concrete clearing.
The second it touched down, Luca was unfastening his seatbelt and removing the headset that made conversation possible, but Ally sat where she was, the enormity of the moment overwhelming her.
This was it. The beginning of her new life. The start of a year-long marriage to a man she barely knew. And probably wouldn’t even get to know. That was the plan, wasn’t it? To keep this as hands-off and professional as possible.
Well, at least that wouldn’t be difficult in this mansion. She could probably move herself into the pool house she’d spied as they’d flown low over the estate. Or the little building near the tennis court. There were any number of options that would mean she barely saw the man she’d married.
“I have an office in the house,” he said, as the door to the helicopter was opened by the pilot.
“I work either from here, or from Rome, depending on the requirements. I have a housekeeper, who can organise anything you require, at any point. Whether that’s shopping trips, galleries, museums, weekends away, whatever you’d like. ”
It felt as though he was giving her the power to wave her own magic wand.
She couldn’t imagine the freedom she was about to enjoy.
A whole year without work, without having to worry about money.
She’d come through the worst time of her life—caring for and then losing her beloved dad—and somehow, it felt as though fate had transpired to give her the one thing she most desperately needed now. A break.
An actual, bonafide break from responsibility and reality, and in this absolute paradise.
He stepped out of the helicopter first, then turned and held his hand up, offering support. As though she couldn’t navigate the small two steps down on her own.
And even though she could—she really could—she put her hand in his, as though some greater force were pulling her to him. They’d touched before. They’d kissed. But she was still completely unprepared for the sudden surge of voltage that exploded through her, totally raw and unchecked.
As soon as her feet were on the concrete, she withdrew her hand as though burned, wiping it surreptitiously down her side, keeping her gaze focused on the house in the distance, assiduously avoiding looking in his direction because she didn’t want to know if he’d noticed the tell-tale gesture.
Even when she’d noticed the way he was looking at her on the plane, the way his gaze had clung to her body as though he couldn’t help it, staring at her as though she were the first woman he’d ever seen.
Her throat felt thick and dry, making swallowing hard; she told herself it was because of the mid-morning heat.
The helipad was quite large, but at its edges, there were low, spiky shrubs, and in one direction, a pathway, lined on either side by pencil pines that were a deep, verdant green.
They offered shade, so as they stepped onto the pathway, the temperature dropped noticeably.
Ally breathed deep, tasting the different flowers, the air, the beauty of this part of the world.
She’d always wanted to come to Italy but had never truly imagined it would be possible.
Now, to be here, and living in such luxury, was incredible.
She didn’t even feel apprehensive about the deal she’d made, because in marrying Luca Di Santis, she’d bought herself so much freedom, and escape from the lenders who’d really terrified her.
The letter she’d received only the day before was burned into her mind, a memory of a threat that still felt real.
“My staff live here,” he said, gesturing to a small mansion at the back of the property.
The ground underfoot changed from paving to gravel, so now it crunched as they walked.
The pencil pines also disappeared, as they stepped into another clearing, this one, so incredible that Ally had to stop walking.
On instinct, she reached out and put her hand around Luca’s arm, squeezing a bicep that was as hard as a rock.
“Oh my,” she said, shaking her head, as spontaneous tears filmed her eyes.
“It’s…so beautiful.” She stared out at the turquoise water, the boats bobbing on the surface, the azure sky, and then, in the foreground, the most incredibly sculptured garden she could imagine.
The formal shaping of the bushes, combined with the marble furniture, created the impression of an outdoor room—the perfect vantage point to sit and watch the sun’s journey over the ocean.
“I can’t believe it,” she said, unnecessarily, for her disbelief was etched on her features, clearly visible.
She glanced at Luca and found him watching her, frowning, his features almost as mesmerising as the view.
Belatedly, she realised how close she was standing, that she was gripping his arm as though she needed it for support, and she quickly dropped her hand and stepped away, pushing a tight, self-conscious smile to her face. “Which way?”
But his eyes stayed on her face a beat longer, and the background hum of bees, the gentle rustle of leaves, was drowned out completely by the engulfing awareness that was making her blood rush through her veins like an unleashed tsunami.
“You look as though you’ve never seen the water.”
She grimaced. How could he know that he was almost right?
“I’ve never seen it like this,” she said, simply, forcing her gaze back to the view.
But she was conscious of him the entire time.
How close he stood, even when she’d stepped away.
How big and strong he was, how like something out of a fantasy, just like this whole place. “I can’t imagine growing up here.”
“I did not grow up on this property.”
She flicked a glance at him. “I thought you said…” Her voice tapered off at the expression on his face. It was dark and forbidding, but not with her. No, it was clear that she’d touched a nerve, something he didn’t like to think of.
“Come inside, cara. You are welcome to explore later.”
She nodded jerkily, wondering why it was so hard to breathe normally, as he put a hand on the small of her back, and propelled her across the courtyard, down a set of brick steps with garden on either side, towards a glossy black timber pair of doors.
He lifted his hand to open it, as the door pulled inwards, revealing a tall, silver haired man just inside.
“Ah, here you are, then. I heard the helicopter,” the man said with a smile that lined his face but didn’t reach his deep brown eyes.
Eyes that were almost as dark as the man to her left, with his hand still in the small of her back.
A hand that somehow felt firmer now, loaded with tension.
Ally glanced up at Luca, scanning his face for some clue as to what the problem is.
“Valentino,” he said. The housekeeper?