Her stomach twisted.
“I think you’re right about Carmen.”
The words were heavy, a frown on his face. She stared at him, her heart like a drum.
“Maybe it’s easier to live in isolation than it is to risk hurting someone again. Losing someone again,” he continued gruffly.
“I’m sure it is,” she said quietly, her emotions like a rollercoaster.
“I can’t lose you.” He lifted his hands, cupping her face.
Her lips parted. She tried to stay strong, to remember how he’d hurt her, to remember his rejection, but it was impossible when he was staring at her as though she was the beginning and end of his world.
“I fought this but I think it was inevitable from the minute you blew into Il Nido, like a lovely little iceblock I couldn’t ignore. You brought me back to life, cara.”
She expelled a wobbly breath.
“I didn’t mean to fall in love with you,” she whispered. “I told myself all along that I wouldn’t, but somehow…”
His eyes were gentle as they probed hers. “Yes, somehow,” he agreed. “The thing is, I fell in love with you too.”
She made a sound of surprise.
“That’s what I came here to say. I love you. And more than that, in the course of a week you became my family – my other half. When you left Italy and I didn’t even have your number, I felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world.”
“I couldn’t…I didn’t want you to call. It took all my courage to walk away once, I didn’t think I’d be brave enough again. I needed a completely clean break.”
“It almost killed me, watching you go,” he groaned. “I’m such a fool not to have understood. Everyone else saw what you meant to me. I just didn’t – wasn’t prepared – to realise.”
“But you finally did?”
He nodded. “Thank God.” He stared down at her, long and hard. “I love you. Completely. With all my heart. You make me want to grab life with both hands, to live it side by side with you.”
Her heart was twisting over and over.
“So I am here to ask if you’ll consider coming home with me. To Italy.” He frowned. “Or to wherever you want to be. Just…let me be a part of your life, to earn my way back into your heart.”
She groaned. “You never left my heart, you idiot. Love isn’t like that.” He closed the distance between them completely, his breath warm against her temple.
“This I can vouch for.” He caught her hand and lifted it to his chest. “You have filled my heart up; you’re the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing at night. I will love you with my dying breath, cara, if you’ll let me.”
What could she say? She’d been pushed away so many times but never drawn close, never promised the world as Gabe was promising it now. She lifted up onto the tips of her toes, knowing that she was exactly where she needed to be – and with whom.
Her lips brushed his, a silent acceptance.
“I suppose I’ll allow it,” she teased.
He grinned, then deepened the kiss, drawing her fully into her arms. A moment later, he broke away, pinning her with a look that was sheer determination. “And obviously you’ll marry me?”
It was so like Gabe, so arrogant and cocky, so detail orientated, that she burst out laughing.
“Yes, I’ll do that too.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I’m happy.”
He relaxed. “I intend to make you very happy,” he said conversationally, putting an arm around her waist and walking towards the table.
“You already have.”
“Can we go back to your hotel?”
“Yep. Just wait a second.”
She disappeared into the kitchen, smiling shyly at the staff who’d obviously witnessed some sort of romantic moment, though not the details. She assembled leftovers from the dinner into several takeaway containers, placed them in a plastic bag then rejoined Gabe.
“What’s this?”
“Your dinner. You did pay fifty thousand dollars for it, after all.”
“I paid for the opportunity to see you,” he said with a lopsided smile, opening the door for Isabella.
“You don’t want the food?”
“On the contrary, it smells amazing, but it’s not why I’m here.”
She laughed again. “I gathered.”
On the sidewalk outside the restaurant, he kissed the tip of her nose then lifted a hand in a silent gesture to his driver.
“Where are we going?” He asked, as Isabella slid in.
“Anywhere.” She blinked up at him, a smile crinkling the corners of her eyes.
He stared down at her, nodding once. “As long as it’s together.”
It was exactly as Isabella felt. In the depths of her soul, beyond any shadows that might allow doubt, she knew her life would be spent with this man, and more than that, just as she’d hoped when she’d set off on this trip, on a quest to discover her roots and heritage, she’d found her way to her home, and to family – and to everlasting happiness too.
“I told you it was for you.” Paula Montebello held out the recipe book, a knowing smile on her beautiful, lined face.
Isabella’s expression matched Yaya’s as she swept across the entranceway of Villa Fortune, Gabe at her side.
“And I knew you would be back,” she said with a wink at Gabe.
Gabe grimaced. “I wish I had shared your confidence. Until New York, I had no idea if Isabella would ever be able to forgive me for my stupidity.”
“We are all stupid when we are in love,” Yaya said with a grin.
“Even you?”
“Oh, the stupidest of them all,” she put a frail hand on Isabella’s forearm and leaned closer. “Come, let us have some lunch and I will tell you all about it.”
“I’d like that, Paula.”
“Please, you must call me Yaya. You’re family now.”
Family. The word buzzed in Isabella’s mind as the three of them made their way to the pool, where a table had been set for lunch. It was a clear day, and despite the season, the sun lent some warmth to the
