“I have a housekeeper, Angelina, who lives in the city. When I asked her to do some shopping for me because I was bringing my bride to the chalet for our honeymoon, she told me to leave it to her.”
“You found yourself a real treasure.”
“She’s been with me for five years.”
“I hope you give her a big bonus for supplying us with so much food. She couldn’t have known about the avalanche.”
“She goes overboard when she finds out I’m coming with my friends. This time she wanted to make it special for you.”
“We’ve been blessed.”
His eyes held hers for a moment. “I’ll tell her what you said. It will mean the world to her.” That brought a lump to her throat.
He started inhaling his dinner. “This fondue is divine.”
“At the rate you’re going, I’ll have to make another pot.”
She waited for him to say, “Would you?” But to her surprise he said, “I’ll make the next batch. It won’t be as good as yours.”
Unbelievably, he did get up after he’d finished off the food and started making another meal.
“While you do that, I’ll go downstairs and see if Fausto is ready to come in.”
“He was gone all day, but I’m sure he’s back now. It’s dark out and the temperature dropped this afternoon. There might be another storm, but not like the last one.”
With the cozy atmosphere inside the chalet, Lanza hoped it was a big blizzard. She went down and turned on the light. To test if the electricity had come on, she turned off the generator. Sure enough there was a flicker, but the lights stayed on. Stefano would be pleased.
Next, she went over to the door and opened it. “Fausto?” He must have been waiting because he bounded inside and crawled inside his box. What a change from the day they’d found him barely alive.
“Wherever he’s been, he was ready to come home,” she announced at the top of the stairs. “And guess what? The electricity did come on, so I turned off the generator.”
“That’s good news. Enzo and his wife will be pleased, because they’ve had to use their generator, too. But if I know my friend, he’s made the best of it and they’re enjoying it.”
Lanza imagined they did since they’d only been married a few months. Her stomach clenched. Because Stefano had been forced to marry her, it meant he wouldn’t be able to see Enzo or his other friends nearly as often as before. Besides the royal duties that would infringe on his business interests, he would now be living in Domodossola and forced to give up an enormous part of his former life.
Life hadn’t been fair to either of them.
Lanza had been forced to marry another man. After Alberto had died, she’d assumed she’d be free to make a new life for herself, but her parents had insisted that the New Year Wedding would take place. She knew her father’s health wasn’t good, but they could have insisted that one of her sisters get married to one of the available princes on their short list. It didn’t have to be Stefano.
No one except her aunt had ever considered how she’d really felt about her betrothal to Alberto, or how close she’d come to running away and never returning. Only Ottavia’s promise that one day she’d find a man she could love had helped her to survive this long.
Ironically, her words had been prophetic and Lanza found herself deeply in love with the man she’d married. Her eyes watered. If he could never return her love...
Lanza started doing the dishes, but she was all stirred up inside. So much for living out her fantasy with Stefano while they were alone. If she went on playing that delusional game, it would be to her detriment.
“Stefano?” Lanza walked into the dining room. “I’m going to say good-night so I can finish my book. See you in the morning.”
His head shot up. “You can’t go yet. I’ve got Scrabble all set up for us.”
Her spirits lifted immediately. He wanted to be with her. “Then watch out. I’m a good speller.”
They played until late. He walked around the table and squeezed her shoulders. “I love being with you no matter what we do.” She got up from the chair and turned into his arms. His kiss didn’t last long enough. He’d said he wanted to go slowly, but that was ridiculous when she was on fire for him. Somehow she needed to find a way to speed things up.
Taking the initiative, she cupped his face. “Get a good sleep, Stefano.” She said it with a smile before heading to her bedroom. From here on out she would do what she could to entice him until he realized she was so comfortable, she wanted to climb into his bed and stay there.
For the next three days they kept Fausto fed and cooked breakfast together. She’d done a wash of her clothes and the fox’s blanket. Lanza adored going cross-country skiing and got quite good at it. She relished every minute with him.
They did three different exciting trails where they saw all kinds of wildlife, including a moose. Their strenuous ski adventures wore her out. Sometimes they raced each other, but he always won and they ended up kissing each other beneath a glorious sun. His sensuous smile melted her bones, leaving her limp with longing.