Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Dante
‘ G iovanna?’ I questioned quietly.
Somewhere deep down inside, I knew she’d heard me when she parted her lips as if to speak but nothing materialised. I understood from my army training that the allergic reaction she had been experiencing was beginning to abate, just by looking at the reactions on her skin. The hives looked less prominent and the flush in her cheeks was starting to recede. I cast a quick eye between her breasts to her sternum and found her chest was once again rising and falling with a more regular rhythm. Taking hold of her wrist in my hand, I turned it over and began to check her blood pressure. As I held it, the weakened beat began to feel stronger and I let out an audible exhale of relief. As I’d emptied the contents of her bag onto the wooden floor, I’d comprehended that we’d only had the one chance, as although we could if needed have administered another dose of adrenaline, there wasn’t another in her bag.
How could you be so fucking stupid?
If you were mine, I’d make your arse cheeks red.
I shook my head at myself. I was convinced she was still my wife, but was she still mine?
Shelving my sudden anger, I looked down at her. Giovanna. My wife. The missing part of me.
‘After all this time—how are you suddenly here?’ I wrenched my eyes away from her to take a quick look around the saloon, as though I couldn’t quite believe it was true. Reaching up, I trailed my index finger down her neck, needing to feel her skin against mine.
‘Are you for real?’ I whispered to her sleeping form, as it wasn’t unusual as the adrenaline began to wear off for a patient to fall asleep. Then, as I watched her eyelids flutter in response, I carefully let go of her hand that I’d been holding, placed it beside her and stood up. Checking myself against the feelings my body had instinctively allowed to take flight just as soon as I’d understood she was on the same island as me, I moved over to the window and after using the remote to clear the glass and lifting the blind, I looked out.
It was dark outside; the pier was quiet. The only noise I could hear was the footsteps of my guards on top of my boat.
‘Report,’ I demanded as I pressed the intercom next to me.
‘All clear, boss.’
‘Keep your eyes open.’
‘Boss.’
It appeared we would have a little more time together. Once again, I switched the glass to opaque. Unable to keep my eyes off Giovanna for any length of time, I turned back and looked up and down her. She was even more beautiful than the pictures my mind conjured up for me on an almost daily basis. Giovanna had always been tall as a girl, especially for one of Italian descent, but her body had matured over the years. Her hips were wider and her breasts heavier. At that thought, my eyes went back to the bare skin between her unconfined breasts, where the metallic dress she was wearing dipped. I clamped my teeth together fast, releasing an audible noise into the saloon, as my mind wandered to a day when I’d tasted her skin. I knew it would taste of the moisturiser she would have used before dressing, but also of her, an addictive taste that was all Giovanna, with added hues of the salt her body would have released in the heat of the day.
My mouth felt suddenly parched.
When she moved in her sleep, precariously towards the edge of the settee, I moved back to her. Gently I hoisted her up and into my arms. Instantly, I understood I’d made a mistake. The ridiculous excuse for a dress she had on, being backless, meant that far too much of her bare skin was against mine. My need for her travelled throughout my body, until each one of my senses was honed on her.
Get a fucking grip!
With my feet moving on instinct, I walked sideways down the corridor and finally into the large stateroom that was mine. I placed a gentle kiss to her forehead before positioning her down on the bed.
‘Dante?’ she whispered, as her eyes opened once again as her body connected with the cool of the cotton bedding beneath her.
‘Giovanna,’ I reciprocated, with a tone that let her know instantly how being this close to her affected me.
‘You’re here,’ she voiced her disbelief. ‘I thought maybe I’d dreamt it all.’
‘I’m here,’ I answered, in the small space between the two of us, with my arms still underneath her and, it appeared, unwilling to liberate her from my hold.
‘Thank you,’ she offered.
My eyes flicked between hers and the full lips of her mouth and feeling my cock stir with interest and comprehending that I was walking a very thin line, I pulled my arms out from underneath her abruptly, and stepped away from my bed. Looking around the space, I desperately looked for something else to occupy my thoughts and hands. Finding nothing on any of the wooden dressers, I pushed my hand into the back pocket of my trousers. Locating what I was looking for, I pulled out a slim, silver cigarette case and flicked open the lid with my thumbnail and took out what I needed. Placing the cigarette into my mouth, I slung the silver case onto a nearby chair, where it bounced just the once before clattering to the floor. Hearing her sharp intake of breath and knowing I’d made her jump, I turned back to face her and sought out her eyes with my own, before sparking up the old Zippo lighter that had once been my grandfather’s. Needing a sense of normality while I smoked, I flicked the Zippo open and closed a few times and subconsciously ran my thumb into the dent in the case. The dent that had apparently been caused when someone had taken a pot shot at my grandfather over fifty years previously, saving his life in the process.
‘How could you risk yourself?’ I asked angrily, preferring anger at this minute over the emotions I knew I was struggling with, before I pulled a long drag on the cigarette between my thumb and forefinger.
‘So, no “how are you feeling, Giovanna?”’ she retorted feistily. ‘You’re the one who told me you were sure I could come up with something to get here this evening and I did.’
Look at my girl, all grown up.
I suppressed a smirk, and raised an eyebrow at her in question, before sitting myself down on the chair the case had bounced off only a few minutes before. Sitting back, I widened the gap between my legs, and relaxed back into the pillows as I tried to give off an air of indifference. Knowing it probably wasn’t coming off that way, I placed my unoccupied hand onto my leg and begun to brush off invisible flecks.
‘I can see you’re feeling better, I don’t need to follow the social pleasantries by asking.’
She sat up suddenly, and one of the slender straps of her dress slipped off her shoulder, revealing more of her sun kissed olive skin than I needed to see.
‘I was willing to do anything to see you. I needed… no, that’s wrong—I wanted to work out what happened between us, before I can move on.’
Move on? Marry again?
I looked, not for the first time, at the obnoxious ruby on her wedding finger. Whereas before I’d seen it and chosen to ignore it. Instead of answering her, I took another drag of my cigarette and exhaled through my nose to try to cover up the fact I hadn’t the words to explain how that made me feel.
‘It seems like we were both tricked that day. But are we still married, Dante?’
‘I am, to you. Only you can answer from your side, but if the answer is yes, then how the fuck are you engaged to someone else?’ I pushed my tongue against my teeth, as I stopped myself from continuing.
Obviously feeling uncomfortable, I watched her tuck her long legs up underneath her, and right the strap I had been fixated on since it had fallen.
‘I wouldn’t be if I’d thought we were… Are we?’ She asked the question with so much emotion in her voice, my heart felt her pain and uncertainty.
Leaning forward, I stubbed out the cigarette on the floor beside me, instantly cursing the unnecessary damage I was making to the beautifully polished wooden floor.
‘Well, I never signed any divorce papers… did you?’
‘No,’ she whispered. I watched her swallow as realisation gripped her. ‘Salvatore told me our marriage would be annulled, if he found out it was real in the first place.’
‘Annulled by who?’ I questioned, twisting my head at her.
‘Salvatore explained the Pope would do it.’
I couldn’t contain the small laugh that left me as realisation sunk in. ‘Interesting.’
‘What’s interesting?’
Refusing to answer her directly and unable to sit any longer, I stood abruptly, causing her to move her torso back ever so slightly.
‘Do you honestly think you really know your brother?’
‘I do.’ She nodded vehemently.
I stared at her. The beautiful woman I had always held close by in my heart all the years we’d been apart. The same one that was now positioned perfectly in the middle of my large bed and once again my cock shifted, letting me know he was fully engaged with the sight I was taking in.
‘Salvatore lied to me, didn’t he?’ she added.
Like a tiger circling its prey, I began to move around the bed, as I put all the pieces together in my head.
‘Yes.’ I could have added more but didn’t want to intensify her hurt.
‘How could he.’ Her words weren’t a question, but more of a statement.
‘Has he ever even spoken of me again?’
‘No… no one speaks of you, or about you, not really. At least, not when I’m around.’ I watched as one tear fell down her cheek, and she wiped it quickly away. ‘Do you know how hard it’s been to live there without you, knowing that you had to be still alive somewhere, but not knowing where?’
I stopped walking and thrust my hands into the front pockets of my trousers, as I turned towards her and absorbed her honesty.
‘I have an idea of how that feels,’ I admitted.
‘Obviously, I saw you in uniform just the once and knew you’d enlisted… but that was all I had. It was only when I told Sera and Mia a few weeks ago that I needed to sort out my past, that Mia suggested I had to come to Malta, and for the first time in all these years, I understood with absolute certainty that I’d find you here.’
‘I remember lying on the floor of the church, not knowing where you were…by the time I was admitted to hospital with my injuries it just about broke me, not knowing where you’d been taken, nor how you were,’ I disclosed, no longer able to hold in how I felt about her.
‘Hospital?’ Her eyes widened as though she could feel my pain.
‘I told you I was sprawled on the floor of the church hoping you’d come back, and the longer I stayed the more punches and kicks I received. Finally, just before I lost consciousness, my uncle had seen to it that I was taken out of there and to hospital.’
‘Your uncle let Salvatore beat you?’ She shook her head in disbelief.
I pulled my hands from my pockets and opened them in front of her. ‘You know how our families work, Giovanna. Uncle Graham had pleaded our case, hoping for a resolution, but Salvatore demanded I made amends for the offence I had caused him and for what I’d done to you. I refused to walk away in case you came back, so Salvatore’s men laid into me until they were able to drag me out.’
Out of the blue, I comprehended that I’d closed the gap between us when Giovanna moved closer and getting up on her knees, she took my hand in hers. As soon as our skin connected, my body felt alive, more alive than I’d felt in years, living on the edge of my family and on the very edge of existence.
‘So, he couldn’t save you?’
‘My uncle being there probably saved my life… I can’t think of another reason a man like your brother would let me walk away, but that was as far as his reach went.’
‘Maybe Salvatore let you live because he knew I loved you? Or maybe he let you live because of Sera?’
‘Possibly.’ I shrugged; over the years it was something I’d thought about often. Especially since I’d left the army and was now working so closely with him.
‘He let me live, but I carry the scars, inside and out.’ I placed my empty hand over my heart, letting my guard down, no longer willing to hold anything back. If she left after tonight, she would leave in absolutely no doubt of exactly how I felt about her, and I would somehow live with the pain, and truth of that. ‘My face was black and blue, and I couldn’t see out of one eye for three weeks, because they’d detached a retina and I needed surgery. They also broke two of my ribs, my nose and snapped a bone in my wrist.’ I ran a finger down the bridge of my nose as if to show her and her fingers gently caressed mine in response. Just that simple touch sent an explosion of electricity through my body.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she offered.
‘Do you want to be married to me, Giovanna?’ I stilled, as I waited for her answer, knowing it was a pivotal moment in the rest of my life.
‘Yes.’ She answered without thinking, and my heart leapt.
‘Then why are you sorry?’
‘All those years ago, I should have had more faith in you.’ With her other hand she reached up to stroke the side of my face.
‘Maybe?’ I replied. ‘But… as much as I hate your brother, after working for him for a few years I can appreciate that he was right. He would have appeared weak and that, without a doubt, would have meant instability for our families.’
‘I suppose so,’ she conceded, her face appeared crestfallen, and her hand dropped away from my face.
‘But that was then, and this is now.’ I lifted one of her hands back up and held it to my face, relishing her touch.
Slowly, with her eyes on mine, I lowered my mouth to hers and gently kissed her lips a few times. Taking my time with each small connection to let her know how I once felt about her and still did.
‘What can we do?’ she questioned, as I lifted my mouth away from hers to look into her eyes.
‘The good news is our marriage was real and the Pope couldn’t have annulled it.’ I smiled at her as I spoke.
‘No? Why?’
‘You and I were married in a protestant church.’ I couldn’t help giving her a quick wink with the news I’d just imparted.
‘We were?’ Her voice sounded full of hope, and once again my heart soared.
‘Yep,’ I acknowledged. ‘Only the archbishop of the Church of England could have annulled it, as a protestant marriage isn’t under the Pope’s jurisdiction.’ I wasn’t sure if what I’d said was correct, but it sounded logical to me. It wasn’t that I wanted to trick her, I just wanted it to be true.
‘So, we’re still married?’
‘Almost.’ I released my hand from hers and placed a thumb and forefinger on her chin to secure her gaze.
‘Almost?’ she enquired, with her eyes opening wider.
‘Whether catholic or protestant, a marriage between a man and a woman is only considered legal after it’s been consummated.’
‘Oh.’ She spoke softly and I licked my lips, tasting her breath there.
‘Now, wife of mine. Take that other man’s ring off your finger.’ I couldn’t control the vehemence in my voice as I spoke.
‘It’s not his fault,’ she whispered as she started to do as she was instructed.
‘I don’t want to know, just get rid of him and his claim on you. You were made for me, and me only—now, tell me!’ I demanded.
‘I’m yours, and no one else’s.’ I felt her move, as she pulled the ring off her finger and heard as the gold hit the floor beside the bed.
Finally, I felt the shift of change.
Bending down towards her, I put my arm around her. Feeling her feverish skin against my forearm I pulled her up tight against my body. Her breathing instantly changed. Gone were the deep breaths she’d been taking previously. They’d been replaced with her inhaling short, shallow intakes of air that let me know she was as affected by me as she’d been years before. Spurred on, I threaded my fingers into the soft, silky hair at the back of her neck, and with my eyes focussed on hers, I wrapped the long hair around my hand with slow, calculated precision. Then I pulled sharply to tip her head back. A small gasp left her open mouth, and it travelled straight down to my groin.
‘Giovanna, do you want to be married to me?’
‘I do.’ Her eyelids fluttered as she spoke.
‘Do you give yourself to me body and soul.’
‘I do.’
‘To honour and obey .’ I over emphasised the last word, knowing how much I wanted her compliant and underneath me.
‘Yes.’
‘Mrs Giordano… remove your dress and get comfortable on our bed.’
I released my hold and took a step backwards. Without taking my eyes off her, I began to release the buttons on my shirt one by one. Giovanna moved away and crawled up the bed on her hands and knees. Once she was against the pillows, she turned to face me.
‘You’re still wearing too much.’ I pulled my shirt out of my trousers as I spoke.
With a blush hitting her cheeks she placed her hands at the hem of the short as fuck dress and lifted it clear over her head with one sweep. I caught the shiny, heavy material with one hand as she threw it in my direction.
‘Careful,’ I reprimanded her, with a smirk, as she covered up her bare breasts by wrapping an arm across her chest.
‘Or what?’ she cheekily responded.
‘Oh, the punishment I could happily give you, Giovanna.’
‘Punishment?’ she questioned apprehensively.
‘For my pleasure…’ I rocked my head from side to side, ‘and eventually for yours, of course.’
‘Okay, I think,’ she voiced, sounding more than a little intrigued.
‘You don’t need to think, just trust me.’ I smiled at her.
‘My shoes?’ she questioned, holding the back of one and beginning to slip her foot out.
‘Keep them on.’ A stronger blush consumed her face before she complied with my wishes. ‘Good girl… Now, let me see all of you.’
She dropped the arm she had covered her chest with as she’d earlier removed her dress and her breasts fell free.
‘You’re beautiful, amore mio, and you’re mine.’
‘Yours,’ she whispered, as she held her hand up towards me.