Donetta could tell he meant it. “You know I want to help you any way I can. What has changed?”
He hugged her to him. “I’ll tell you everything, but not while we’re on our honeymoon. This time for us is so precious. I don’t want to spend one moment on anything but our love. Now that we’ve eaten, what would you like to do?”
“I’m afraid to tell you.” She slid off his lap to clean up their breakfast dishes.
Enrico got up and slid his arms around her waist from behind. “Don’t ever be afraid to tell me you want to go back to bed. I’ve been waiting for our breakfast to be over so I could ravage you.”
She wheeled around. “Is that the truth?”
He put her over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and took her to bed. After he covered her body possessively, he kissed her neck. “Do you need any more proof?”
Over the next week Enrico showed her what it meant to be loved while he took her to his favorite parts of the island, and they hiked and slept out under the stars.
The next day they drove to the Ionian Sea to swim and dive. But as they left a grotto for a morning snack, Enrico’s phone rang. The sound filled Donetta with dread.
She sat frozen on the sand while he answere
d it. By the lines that appeared around his compelling mouth, she knew he’d received bad news.
“That was Giovanni,” he explained after hanging up. “He says my father fell and is in bed with a broken arm. The doctor has been there and he’s doing fine, but my mother is beside herself.”
“Of course she is.”
He nodded gravely. “My parents need me, so I’m afraid we have to go back when it’s the last thing I want to do.”
Their honeymoon had been cut short, but she didn’t dare complain. The pain of knowing they had to leave was excruciating. Donetta was an ungrateful wretch when she knew her husband had taken off more time than he should have.
They drove back to the waterfall to pack up and leave the tent that had become their love nest. But while she was looking for a pair of shorts, he pulled her down on the bed.
“You’re not going anywhere yet,” he said in a fierce tone.
* * *
After kissing her with abandon, Enrico made love to her one more time. But she knew they needed to leave. Donetta draped her arms around his neck. “You know the only reason I can bear to leave here is because I’m going home to live with you.”
“Tell me about it.”
They carried their belongings to the car. His black eyes impaled her. “Being able to have you in my life forever is all I ever wanted. Loving you as I do, to wake up every day in your arms from now on makes me feel reborn.”
The Land Rover reached the road that led to Saracene. Donetta looked back at the waterfall one more time. One memory after another swamped her with emotions that made it hard to breathe. By the way Enrico grasped her hand and never let go, she knew he was experiencing them, too.
It was strange coming back to civilization. They’d been in a world of inexpressible pleasure. Entering the suburbs of the city seemed an intrusion on her whole psyche.
“It’s hard for me, too.” They were so in tune with each other’s thoughts that Enrico had no trouble reading hers. “I promise we’re going to get away often, amore mio.”
The lake shimmered in the afternoon sun. Rising above it was the palace, with a commanding view of the water and the landscape. After they reached the estate, he drove them to his private entrance.
Enrico parked the Land Rover and walked around to open her door. He leaned in and gave her a long, sensuous kiss. “Welcome home, squisita.”
Donetta felt his eagerness to take her to his apartment. Their apartment now. She was excited, too, never having seen it before.
He reached for their bags and escorted her inside the doors. A guard nodded to both of them. “Welcome home, Your Highness.”
“Grazie.”
They walked up the staircase to the second floor, where another guard nodded. Donetta stayed close to Enrico as they walked down the hallway to a set of double doors. After he opened them, he put the bags down and turned to her. She knew what he was going to do before he picked her up and carried her over the threshold.
“You need to go to your parents.”