Free A Life Sublime by Billy London Page A

trouble before she had married and a good many times after. “You behave yourself. I told your son and I’ll tell you too. I am not afraid to beat you if you give me nonsense.”
    Massimo glanced down at his arms before looking up, a light in his eyes that should have sent her running for her passport and on the first plane back to London. “What makes you think I would not enjoy that?”
    “Because you’ve never had a proper beating from me,” she retorted, collecting her things and making her way back to the villa. There would be something to occupy herself with and take the goosebumps from her flesh that had nothing to do with being cold and everything to do with the husky laugh of the man still in the pool.
     

     
    Fitted with banners between each pillar, the night before the wedding was formally announced as The Last Supper . The loggia once again served all of them and just before they sat down to eat, a car came bounding up the drive way.
    “It’s Beppe and Rocky,” Nick informed them. “Brace yourselves.”
    “Who?” Belinda barked.
    “My friends. I’ve known them for so long, we practically share DNA.” He explained with a rueful smile.
    A ridiculous joke horn sounded, followed by a stream of Italian curses. The slam of a car door echoed across the grounds before they all heard the distinct sounds of someone retching.
    Belinda got to her feet and approached the car, hands on hips. “What’s the matter with you?”
    An enviably dressed, devilish-looking young man, straightened. “I am very sorry, Signora . But that idiot drives like he’s had a full frontal lobotomy. I thought we were going to end up off the cliffs.”
    A blond man popped his head out of the car. “What’s he saying about me? After I kindly picked him up from the airport?”
    “What kindness is there in trying to kill me?”
    “Rocky, I think you need a holiday.”
    “You speak to me for the rest of the time we’re here, you and your car will end up at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian. I swear to God.” He blinked dark eyes at Belinda who was watching the exchange in horror.
    “I apologise, Mrs. Afriyie. I’m Rocco Mamione. That fool is Giuseppe Nardiello.”
    Belinda shook her head at them, “If you were children, I’d put ginger on your bits to teach you a lesson.”
    Beppe got out of the car. “Mrs. Afriyie, that sounds like foreplay.”
    She clipped him around the back of the head. “It’s not enjoyable! Now if you don’t behave, you don’t want to know what I will do to you. It’s not even about your friend, it’s about Georgina. She hasn’t got family the same way Nicholas has, so this is the most important day in her life. You forget that, you will die. I am warning you. You interfere with the day in any way I do not like, you will die. Am I lying or standing?”
    Beppe opened and closed his mouth. “Standing?”
    “Good boy. Now get out of my sight. Rocco,” she turned to the other young man who seemed to have sucked his lips into his mouth, “are you all right? Do you need something for your stomach?”
    He sent her a grin, naughty enough to probably be banned in a church. “No thank you, Mrs. Afriyie. That just made me feel a whole lot better. Beppe, let’s go.”
    Belinda returned to the table and sat down to a rather raucous round of applause from everyone else. Massimo poured her some more wine. “I wonder if you would accept an honorary position within the Esercito Italiano ? The army.”
    “Stop teasing me,” she warned him.
    “Why? It makes you smile.” His eyes traced her face in a way that made her feel he was touching her. “Why are you not wearing your glasses?”
    “I don’t really need them,” she admitted quietly, not wanting anyone else to overhear. “I’ve been wearing them so long it’s just—” taking a deep breath, she started again. “It’s a habit. And I am long sighted, so sometimes I do need them to read, but other than that... I don’t know. I’m trying, as