Free The Marriage He Must Keep by Dani Collins Page A

shock.”
    The twist of Alessandro’s mouth told Octavia that Ysabelle wasn’t overstating her reaction, not that she wasn’t entitled to some histrionics. Octavia was still reeling.
    “Are you up to this?” Alessandro asked Octavia, jerking his head at the multitude of presents. “Or would you rather rest and open these later?”
    “I can do it now. This is very nice,” she told her mother-in-law. “Thank you.”
    “I’ve ordered lunch. We’ll fetch you when it’s ready. You can go work,” Ysabelle told her son with a clasp of his hand and a kiss on the back of it. “I know that’s where you’d rather be,” she added with a vague scold in her tone. “Since you’ve already heard about my count. We’re in love ,” she leaned forward to confide to Octavia. “I thought I’d never make love again and now... It’s like we’re nineteen!”
    Alessandro sucked in a long patience-seeking breath, gaze going to the ceiling. “I will work,” he said flatly. “You’ll tell me if you need anything,” he added with a stern look at Octavia.
    She nodded, disappointed that he left, even though there was still this rock of tension sitting between them. It didn’t disappear when he did, either, just gave her enough breathing room to relax and chat with her mother-in-law as she began unwrapping Lorenzo’s gifts.
    * * *
    Octavia rose from a nap before dinner, showered and fed Lorenzo, then used her new baby monitor to listen for him as she went back to the sitting room. She was folding a little vest and placing it on the pile in the bassinet when Alessandro came in.
    “The nanny can clean this up, can’t she?” he said.
    “I asked her to leave it out so I could look at everything again.” Octavia wasn’t sure why she wanted to, but it made her feel good to touch all the tiny outfits. Everything was so handsome and sweet. She held up the tuxedo on its hanger, complete with ruffled shirt, cummerbund, bow tie and black socks. “Your mother said it’s for your grandfather’s eightieth.”
    The event had been planned a year ago and until a few days ago, Octavia had had every intention of attending. Now...
    She frowned, amusement falling away into a kind of despair.
    Alessandro came farther into the room, bypassing the sofa to turn on the fireplace. The gas gave a low hiss and the flames leaped up, brightening the room that had turned gloomy as dusk dimmed the gray light coming through the filmy curtains.
    For a moment the room seemed cheery, the mood between them intimate. Alessandro stood with one hand deep in his pocket, the other braced on the edge of the mantel, head hanging as he regarded the flames.
    He was so beautiful. Like a sculpture of a Roman god come to life. And he had that gorgeous way of pursing his mouth when he was thinking, exactly as he did when he was ready to kiss her.
    She swallowed.
    “The police have requested we stay in London until they finalize their investigation,” he said. “That will likely take us to the end of the month. I’ll hold video conferences with the New York and Paris offices while I’m here, and reassign all of Primo’s duties. That will give Mother plenty of time with Lorenzo and still get us home in time for my grandfather’s birthday.” He straightened and turned, his tone brooking no argument. “I wish we could go home sooner, but at least the staff in Naples are mine. It’s the office I’m least worried about right now.”
    Octavia looked away, tempted to let his implacable personality roll right over her. That was the crux of the problem right there. He was such a force, so smooth in his handling of everything, she had fallen in with whatever he had suggested from minute one. Of course I’ll marry you. Anything you want. Lie down on the bed? Here?
    She’d given him her virginity, not her spine, she reminded herself, and made herself stand taller.
    “I really would rather keep Lorenzo here,” she managed to say with calm assertion. Away from him,