Her grandfather gave her a gentle push on the back. “So go listen. You like what he says, then fine. You don’t like, we get your brother to flatten him.”
Brenna didn’t think it was possible to move, but suddenly she found herself walking. Nic hurried toward her from across the field. In less time than she would have thought, they were standing in front of each other.
He looked awful. Dark shadows stained the skin under his eyes, and his face was gaunt. For the first time in her life she saw uncertainty in his eyes. Uncertainty and pain.
She understood both feelings. She was delighted to be close to him and terrified of being involved in another emotional hit-and-run. She loved him. She despised him. She wanted to throw him in the grape crusher and grind his bones to dust.
“I had this great speech I’ve been working on,” he said. “It was all logical and detailed. I explained why everything happened the way it did.”
“In it did you remember to call yourself a lying weasel dog?”
“No. I settled on a shit-for-brains bastard.”
“Close enough.”
“You hate me.” He sounded resigned.
“Are you surprised?”
“I’d sort of hoped…” He shrugged. “Maggie warned me that some acts are unforgivable.”
“She’s right. You used me, Nic. You took advantage of my dreams. You let me think you believed in me, when all the while you were looking for angles. You weren’t ever going to give me a chance to make Four Sisters a success. You led me on, and when the timing was right, you were going to rip it all out from under me.”
She glared at him. “You know what’s the worst of it? All the time you were planning to destroy my life, I was falling for you. I trusted you with my future and my heart, and you tried to screw with them both.”
She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and held her in place.
“You’re right,” he said loudly. “I did all that. You waltzed into my office, wanting a loan, and I saw it as a golden opportunity. I didn’t plan to use you, but when I got the chance, I took it. I gave you the money to get leverage with your grandfather and because I never thought you’d make Four Sisters work. I figured you’d fall on your ass.”
“What? You didn’t think I could do it?” Now he’d not only hurt her, he’d insulted her.
“Hell, no. You’d been away from the business for years. I gave you six months.” He narrowed his gaze. “But I was wrong. About all of it. I’d forgotten how good you were and how hard you were willing to work. I saw you there night after night, and I realized you had the guts and the skill to do it. You earned my respect.”
“Big fat hairy deal.” She ground her teeth together.
“You think I care about your respect?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re lying.”
She jerked her arm free. Damn him, she did care. Despite everything, Nic’s opinion mattered.
“So what?” She glared at him. “You respected me, but you still lied to me and made love with me knowing all the time you were trying to destroy everything that made my family special.”
She waited for Nic to yell something back at her, but instead he looked away.
“I told myself I wanted to be the biggest and the best, but it wasn’t about that at all,” he said quietly. “I wanted to be a part of what you had with them. If I couldn’t get it any other way, I would buy it. Maybe a little of it was to punish you for what you’d done.”
He turned back to her. “I offered you all I had, and it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”
Brenna’s anger crumbled. “It was never about you. It was about me. I was too afraid to follow my heart.”
“I get that now, but back then…” He shrugged. “I was a kid.”
“We both were.”
He reached up and touched the backs of his fingers to her cheek. The warm contact made her shiver.
“I’m not a kid anymore and there’s no excuse for what I’ve done,” he said. “I was wrong. If I wanted to buy the winery, I should have been up front about it. As for loaning you the money—you’re right. I took advantage of your dreams, and that’s the lowest thing I’ve ever done. I’m not proud of the man I’ve been.”
He dropped his hand. “I don’t blame you for hating me. I tell myself at least that’s better than you not caring at all.”
“Why did you give me the land?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.” His dark eyes flashed with pain. “Because I love you and I don’t know how else to tell you I’m sorry.” He pulled a leaf off a nearby plant and pressed it into her palm. “Because we’ve always had this in common. Maybe, with time, it can mend what’s been broken.”
Brenna realized that Nic was just as stupid as every other man on the planet. In the middle of the most life-changing conversation they were ever likely to have, he’d given her a leaf?
“You want to pass that middle part by me again?” she said.
He frowned as he tried to remember. “I love you.”
“And?”
His expression turned cautious. “And I’m sorry?”
“Sorry? I put myself on the line for you, Nic. I threw my heart at your feet, and you trampled over it. An ‘I’m sorry’ and a leaf aren’t going to cut it.”
He swallowed hard. “Brenna, when you told me you loved me, it was the best and worst moment of my life. I wanted to be with you more than I wanted my next breath, but I knew what I’d done was going to destroy us. You talk about going back in time and changing your answer to my proposal. If I could go back, I wouldn’t listen when you said no. Even then I knew it was your fear talking. But I was young and proud and you’d hurt me. Given the chance to do it over, I would tell you that your fears weren’t bigger than both of us. I would stand in the back of the church where you were marrying Jeff and tell the world you loved me and that I loved you.”
He took her hands in his. “If I could change time, even go back just a few months, I would still offer you that loan. But this time I would do it because I wanted you to have your heart’s desire. I would spend every moment I could with you, convincing you that the magic was still there. I love you. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you sneaking tastes from that damn barrel.”
She’d been hoping for a heartfelt confession. She hadn’t expected him to sweep her off her feet and set her soul free.
“Your whole family hates me,” he said. “You hate me. But I’m hoping you still love me, too. I want to win you back. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that we belong together. I want to marry you, have babies with you, and grow old with you. I want to talk about the old days until our grandchildren know the stories by heart. I want to make wine with you, make love with you, cherish you, and be the one safe haven you can always depend on. Just give me a chance. Please.”
No man had ever groveled to her before. Nic was unlikely to do it much in the future, so Brenna did her best to memorize everything about this moment so she could remember it later, when he was making her crazy. She knew that he would. They were both stubborn and creative and passionate about what they did. Clashes were inevitable. But there was no one else she wanted to disagree with, or hold long into the night. Or love.
She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his.
“How many babies?” she asked.
He grinned, then the grin turned into laughter. He swept her up in his arms and spun her around. “As many as you want.”
“If I marry you, I want some say in how you run Wild Sea. It’s way too mechanized. You need to start hand-picking more. And your barrel choices are really…”
He silenced her with a kiss. A deep, hungry, passionate kiss that spoke of too much time apart, of pain and missed chances. Tears filled her eyes, and she knew she wept for them both.
“I love you, Nic,” she whispered. “I always have.”
His dark gaze met hers and he smiled. “I love you, too.”
She rested her hands on his shoulders. “You know, I don’t think my parents have sent out the invitations for Katie’s and Francesca’s wedding yet. We still have time to make it a triple ceremony.”
“You think that’s a good idea? Won’t your grandfather glower at me through the whole ceremony?”
“Nope. He told me it’s time for the feud to be over.” She smiled.
“If it’s what you want, then I say go for it.”
She grinned. “My mother is going to absolutely have a fit.”
“Because of logistics, or because you’re marrying me?”
“Oh, the trauma of more guests, more food, that sort of thing. But don’t worry about it. With Katie helping her, the whole event will be organized with military-like precision. Oh, speaking of which, we’re going to have to call Joe and tell him he won’t be beating you up anytime soon.”
“There’s a relief.”
“You weren’t really worried, were you?”
“Not about anything but losing you.”
“Sorry. You’re stuck with me. And speaking of that, brace yourself. When we get back to the house, you’re going to be hugged and cheek-pinched until you’re whimpering. Wait until the Grands see Max. That dog is going to be so fat. And my dad will want to talk to you about marketing plans, and I think Grandpa Lorenzo is secretly envious of your new bottling facility, but don’t expect him to admit it. And I have no idea what my sisters are going to say about all this. I mean, they did fantasize about you for years. That could be embarrassing once you’re their brother-in-law.”
As they walked toward the Marcelli hacienda, Brenna talked about her relatives and all the ways they would make him crazy and welcome him and try to change his life.
“If we get married, you’re going to be a part of the family,” she said. “Think you can stand that for the next fifty or sixty years?”
“I can’t wait.”