Alex slid his arm around Olivia, pulling her close to smile down at her. “Can you blame me for wanting to tie the knot with this beauty?”
She felt herself flush, but drew her gaze away from Alex and found both Nick and Matt considering her with piercing eyes.
“No,” Matt drawled. “I can’t say I blame you at all.”
Olivia stared at all three men. Handsome was too tame a word for them. Yet it was more than just looks. It was an innate quality. They were men who knew who they were and what they wanted. Nothing would stop them.
She wondered if they suspected the sacrifice their older brother had made for them. Alex had told her they didn’t know about his father’s demand, but she wasn’t so sure they didn’t suspect something. It was there in the way both men looked at her, as if they didn’t trust any woman or her motives, and especially when that woman had hooked one of them in marriage.
Thankfully, Isabel came up to them with Cesare, sniffing back tears in an elegant manner. “Cesare, I can’t believe our eldest boy is now married.”
Olivia knew that Isabel was Alex’s stepmother, not his real mother, who had died when he was small, but by all accounts he considered Isabel his “true” mother.
Cesare glanced at Alex then away again. “Izzie, he’s a grown man, not a boy,” he said, a hint of gruffness in his voice that made Olivia look at him and wonder if he regretted forcing his son into this marriage. A moment later she came up against a new, determined look in the older man’s eyes that said his moment of regret had passed.
“Oh, Cesare,” Isabel lightly scolded. “I’m allowed to be sentimental today. I’m the mother of the groom.” She hugged Olivia. “And I have a beautiful daughter now, too,” she said, sending a warmth through Olivia that made her suddenly want to cry.
“Pity I didn’t see her first,” Nick joked, giving Olivia a slow wink.
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Alex said, pulling her in even closer against his hip, his voice totally serious. “She was mine from the moment I saw her.”
She gasped, even as Nick stared at Alex and held his gaze. Then whatever he saw had the middle brother nodding in agreement. “I believe you’re right.”
Olivia’s moment of warmth disappeared but before she could take them to task for their comment, Isabel said, “Stop it, you two. You’re embarrassing Olivia.”
But Olivia wasn’t embarrassed.
She was angry.
It was bad enough knowing she’d walked into this marriage with her eyes open, but making her sound as if she was something to be tossed back and forth between the brothers didn’t make her feel exactly civil toward them.
As if Isabel knew, she clicked her tongue and slipped her arm through Olivia’s, drawing her away from Alex. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go see your mother. She’ll be missing you.”
Olivia gladly let herself be taken away, but a few steps on, Isabel squeezed her arm. “Take no notice of them, Olivia. They’re fine men who get a bit carried away with their own self-importance at times.” She laughed lightly. “Their father’s the same.”
Olivia found herself smiling back. It was good to know Isabel understood. This Valente woman knew how to keep her man in line.
Then she realized she was one of the Valente women now. Would she be able to keep Alex in line? Unlikely. She’d probably go mad in the attempt.
Hours later Olivia had changed out of her wedding finery into a soft-pink suit. Alex had also changed out of his tuxedo into dark trousers and a sports jacket. Then they said their goodbyes, hopped in a limousine and headed for the airport, where a private jet would fly them up along the coast far north of Sydney to the Valente holiday home near Ballina.
“So,” Alex said, once they were in the air and comfortable on the luxurious leather chairs opposite each other. “You enjoyed our wedding?”
She gave a polite smile. “The venue was perfect. Thank you.”
“You were wrong about not being able to act. You did well.”
Her smile widened with self-derision. “Perhaps I should become an actress after all?”
His face closed up, his jaw clenching. “After our marriage is over. Not before.”
“I’m not sure your brothers were fooled.”
“Even if they suspected something, I won’t be telling.” Tension suddenly filled the air. “I suggest you stay away from them as much as possible.”
If they’d been a normal married couple she’d think he was a little jealous of her spending time with his brothers. As it was, it sounded as if he was just being possessive of her. She was his now.
Her lips tightened. “I don’t plan on spending any more time with your brothers than necessary.”
“Good.”
Their gazes held for a brief moment before she turned to look out the window. All at once she felt tired. The last thing she remembered was how exhausted she felt by everything.
She woke to find Alex leaning forward, his warm hand clasping her knee, gently shaking her awake. “We’re almost there,” he murmured, his eyes a dark smoky gray, his touch a caress that radiated upward along her thigh.
Quickly she pretended he wasn’t having an effect on her, but that was like pretending he didn’t exist. He did exist, and so did his touch. And knowing he’d been watching her sleep…
She shifted and he dropped his hand. “I hope I wasn’t sleeping with my mouth open,” she said, trying to keep things light.
He leaned back in his chair with a masculine smile that smoldered with awareness. “I’ll let you know tomorrow if you snore,” he drawled, his gaze dropping to the white camisole she wore beneath her jacket.
She could feel her nipples tighten and her cheeks heat up. “I’ve been told I don’t.” There!
His smile disappeared. His eyes flicked out the plane’s window then back. “We’ll be landing soon. Do you want to freshen up? There’s bound to be a photographer or two at the airport.” He sounded detached now.
She groaned inwardly, not wanting to be on show anymore today. “Didn’t they get enough pictures at the wedding?”
He shrugged.
She gave a nod of acceptance then stood, unnecessarily smoothing her skirt. “I’d better go make myself presentable.”
“You’re more than presentable,” he said, a throaty quality to his voice that made her want to break into a run.
Make that a sprint, she decided, ignoring Alex’s gaze down the length of her back as she calmly made her way to the bathroom. Once inside she collapsed back against the door. Whoever said love made the world go round hadn’t got it right. It was more sexual attraction that did that.
The sunset was beautiful as they departed the jet, but Olivia barely had time to notice as they walked through some camera flashes to another waiting limousine. She usually wasn’t unnerved by the media, but right now she was. At the wedding it had been different.
Less personal.
Now she suddenly felt off-balance and—dare she think it—out of her depth with everything. It was bad enough that Alex probably guessed how she was feeling, but she didn’t want the world to know it, too.
Twenty minutes later they drove along a winding road to a floodlit mansion. Set in a lush sub-tropical garden, the two-story house had wide verandas surrounding both top and bottom levels. Palms swayed in the light breeze off the crystal waters and tapped against the louvered-glass windows that covered most of the house.
An