When they were ensconced in the back of the sedan again, headed toward the affluent, beachside suburb of Mondello where her solicitor lived, Mina rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Relived that kiss. How her knees had literally melted beneath her.
“Are you okay?”
Deep and velvety soft, Nate’s sinful voice interrupted her recap.
She opened her eyes. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“The kiss. That kiss.”
Amusement darkened his gaze. “That wasn’t a kiss, Mina. That was a peck on the mouth to satisfy the registrar’s expectations.”
She wondered what a real kiss from him would be like. Unforgettable, she imagined.
“I will concede,” he drawled, his eyes on the hot color flooding her face, “that we have some kind of chemistry, wife. Too bad it’s a marriage in name only.”
She laced her hands together in her lap and glued her eyes to them.
“Surely you’ve kissed Silvio,” he prodded. “Perhaps even bedded him? I looked him up, Mina. He has quite a reputation.”
She lifted her chin. “Silvio has always been a gentleman.”
His brows lifted.
“Well, until that...incidente.”
Nate sat back in the seat, arms crossed over his chest after that, watching her with an enigmatic look. Likely glad he was getting rid of her shortly...
They made the reasonably short trip to her solicitor’s home quickly in the quiet Sunday traffic.
Pasquale Tomei smiled as he opened the door of his Liberty-style villa. His smile faded as his gaze moved over Mina in her wedding dress and then to Nate. “Where is Silvio?”
“She married me, not him,” Nate said matter-of-factly. “True love and all that.”
Pasquale’s eyes widened. Mina pushed a stray chunk of hair out of her face and straightened her spine. “We are in a bit of a hurry, Pasquale. If you could give us the ring, we can be on our way.”
“I’ll need to see the paperwork.” The solicitor waved them into the house. “There are terms I need to explain.”
Terms? Mina frowned as they followed the lawyer down a hallway and into his office. Sitting down beside Nate on the opposite side of the desk, she handed Pasquale their paperwork. He looked it over and handed it back. “This is quite a change in plans. Your mother was very excited about your and Silvio’s union.”
The color drained from her face. “Mina is free to marry whom she chooses,” Nate interceded, a blunt edge to his voice. “So if we could have the ring...”
Pasquale took a box out of the drawer and handed it to Mina. She opened the navy blue velvet jeweler’s box and there it was. The Fountain Ring. A stunning square-cut sapphire of the deepest blue surrounded by diamonds set in a platinum band. A beautiful piece to be sure, but it was its extensive history and the mystery that surrounded the ring’s origins that made it so valuable.
She closed the box and looked at Pasquale. “What were the terms you spoke of?”
The lawyer set forth a sheaf of papers that had been sitting on his desk, moving to a page he had marked with a colored tab. “There is one condition I must make you aware of. You must remain married for one year for me to grant you full title of the ring.”
If there was any color left in her face, it fled now. Nate’s jaw dropped open. “Why?”
“Mina’s father wanted to see her happily married before the ring was made hers.”
Mina shook her head. “That condition was never mentioned to me.”
“I’m sorry,” the lawyer said. “But as you can see, it’s there in black and white.”
She turned to absorb the silent tension in the man beside her. His usual even expression was firmly in place, but in his eyes she could read fury. Barely leashed fury.
He directed a look at the lawyer. “Mina can keep the ring in her possession during this time?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.” Nate closed his fingers around her shoulder as he stood up, propelling her with him. “We should go.”
They thanked the lawyer. Nate hurried her down the steps and into the waiting car, giving the driver a curt instruction to take them to the airport. To step on it.
Her stomach dropped. She waited until the privacy screen had come up between them and the driver before she said quietly, “You are worried he will tip off Silvio.”
“Or your mother.”
Right. That would be just as bad because her mother would go straight to Silvio and... She took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm. A tense silence stretched between them. “Nate—” she said haltingly. “I didn’t know.”
He turned his dark, blazing gaze on her. “It’s a pretty big detail to not know about, Mina, given your desire to get your hands on the ring and sell it.”
She pressed her lips together. “I was never told about this condition. I swear, I did not know.”
His gaze raked her face. She squared her shoulders under its hard, cold weight. “What are the terms in the document?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do we have to live together? Are there any other stipulations attached to the marriage?”
She shook her head. “That’s all the document said.”
He lapsed into silence. She curled up in her corner of the seat, blood pounding against her temples. What if he abandoned their agreement? Left her here for Silvio to punish? She had no money, no possessions, nothing to get away.
Long moments passed. When she was teetering on the edge of complete and irreversible panic, he turned to her, icy control back in his face. “What was your plan after we left? Where were you intending on having me take you?”
She shook her head, her mouth trembling. “I—I don’t have one. I just left my fiancé at the altar, Nate. I—I’m—”
In shock.
“Okay,” he said finally after a long moment. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get on my jet, we’re going to fly to Capri where I have business to attend to, and we will sort this out on the way.”
“Capri?”
His mouth tightened. “That’s the destination on offer.”
She closed her eyes. What choice did she have? Her first course of action had to be to get out of here. Then she could regroup.
The miles flew by and then they were at the airport, an expedited process seeing them quickly through security. The official asked for her passport. Mina handed it to him and smiled when he gave it back. Nate gripped her elbow in a tight hold and started walking her through the doors toward the tarmac. Fast.
“Keep your head down,” he muttered. “And keep walking.”
Her reflexive action, of course, was to turn her head. Two men in dark suits stood arguing with the guards covering the security checkpoint. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Dio mio. Nate—”
“Put your head down,” he barked, “and walk. He isn’t going to touch you. I promise.”