Maisey Yates - Luxury Escapes

When they got back to the castillo Maximo was pacing in the vast entryway, his expression thunderous. “That was incredibly foolish and immature of you, Isabella,” he ground out. “You could have both been hurt.”

“I didn’t know it would be like that!” Isabella protested. “How would I? I’m never allowed out anywhere!”

The fierceness in his expression diminished slightly and he blew out a hard breath. “Did you see any press badges?” he demanded, the moment they walked into the room. “If you have names I will see that the people responsible for this are thrown in jail.”

Isabella shook her head. “I don’t think any of them had ID on display.”

“They were just doing their jobs, Max,” Alison said. “There’s no need to throw anyone in jail. We’re fine. It was scary but they weren’t trying to hurt us or anything.”

“I don’t tolerate that kind of gutter press in my country,” he bit out. “If a reporter wants to take pictures that’s fine, but there is no excuse for chasing down a couple of innocent women. Whether they intended to hurt you or not isn’t the issue. They could have hurt you.”

Alison put a hand on his arm, the need to touch him, to offer some kind of balm for his rage, was too strong for her to fight against. “We’re fine. The baby is fine.”

“We’re leaving,” he said curtly. “Until the media firestorm is over we’re not staying in Turan.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in a number, then barked orders in Italian to whoever was unfortunate enough to be on the other end.

He hung up and turned to face Alison. “Go and pack, cara mia. We’re going to start our honeymoon early.”

THE flight to the island of Maris was short. The small plane touched down in a field of moss-colored grass only ten minutes after takeoff. The island itself was less mountainous than Turan, with white sand beaches that bled into expansive fields and thick olive groves.

There was no car waiting for them when they disembarked from the plane.

Maximo had spent most of the half-hour flight on his phone making arrangements for any work he needed to do to be finished remotely from the island. She’d spent the whole flight feeling shaky and … excited? No. Just shaky about the prospect of being almost alone with him in such a beautiful, isolated, romantic place.

“You were joking about the honeymoon thing, right?” she asked, surveying the vast expanse of green around them.

He turned to face her, the expression in his dark eyes so hot it burned her down to her toes. “I promised I wouldn’t force you, Alison, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t seduce you.”

Her stomach flipped, and as her nausea was starting to fade already there was no way she could place the blame on her pregnancy. “Well, that isn’t … it’s not … you won’t be able to.”

He leaned in, his lips just a breath away from hers. “What did I tell you about issuing challenges?”

“I …” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his mouth, couldn’t stop herself from leaning in just slightly …

He withdrew suddenly and began to walk, as though nothing had just passed between them. As though she wasn’t about to melt into a puddle of satisfied longing in the grassy field. “It’s just a short walk through the grass. The villa is just through the grove.” He pointed to the knot of olive trees that were directly in front of them.

They came through the brush and into a landscaped clearing with stone paths and beautifully kept gardens. A large circular fountain was at the center of the courtyard, and beyond it was the three-story villa with cream stucco walls and Spanish-tile roofing.

“It’s gorgeous!” She couldn’t help but think that Selena must have loved it here. It was idyllic. There were no roads, no city noises of any kind; just broad expanses of azure sky and acres of virgin land. It was the perfect escape for a couple who were desperately in love and wanted nothing more than to spend all of their time devoted only to each other. Talking, laughing, exploring, making love.

“Selena never came here.”

It was as if he could read her mind sometimes, and given the recent tenor of her thoughts, that was a disquieting notion indeed.

She turned her head sharply and he laughed. “You wear your thoughts pretty openly. You looked sad. Although I can never understand why you feel so much for my late wife.”

A deep sadness filled her and she felt tears sting her eyes. “It’s just that … I have all that she wanted. It feels wrong somehow that I’m here with you. With the baby you both wanted. I’m the wrong woman.”

He took her hand and led her to a stone bench. He sat and pulled her down gently, bringing her close to the heat of his body, her thigh touching his. “ Cara , I don’t know what the future would have held for Selena and me if she had lived. None of us can know that. But I don’t think of this baby as belonging to Selena. This is our baby. Yours and mine.”

She gave him a watery smile. “I appreciate that.”

“I cannot regret it, Alison. I can’t regret that you’re carrying my baby, our baby. It is a dream I never thought to see realized, a child of my own. You have given that hope back to me and I can only be grateful for the mix-up at the lab now. Without it, I would not have this chance.”

He put his hand over her stomach. He did that a lot now, and she had come to enjoy the gentle pressure of his touch, the tingling warmth that the contact always brought. She couldn’t regret it, either. There was no way she could. She cared for Maximo, respected him. She was very glad that her baby would have him for a father.

He turned his focus from her and onto the house. “I started building the villa before her death. She was very unhappy with the location and refused to visit it. I had hoped it would be our family home. But she preferred the city.”

“I’m sorry you lost her.”

He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand. “I lost her long before she died.”

Again she caught that glimmer of sadness in his otherwise composed expression. And she wanted to fix it with a ferocity that shocked and scared her. “I know you were going through a hard time, but I’m sure she loved you, Max.”

“She was unhappy. Being a princess demanded much more of her than she’d anticipated it would.”

“But she had you.”

“Sometimes. My position has always demanded that I travel a lot. Selena didn’t want to be dragged around on business trips. She wanted someone to entertain her. Someone to be with her. Take care of her. She did not suffer from that same independent streak that you do,” he said, the ghost of a smile touching his lips. “I can’t fault her for that. I can’t fault her for being unhappy.”

Alison couldn’t understand how Selena could have been unhappy with Maximo. There was something about him that just made her want to be with him. She liked his smell, the comforting heat of his body as he sat next to her on the bench. The way he touched her belly, so gently, reverently. Being with him made her feel secure. Happy. Cared for in a way she couldn’t remember ever being cared for.

The realization was enough to shock her into standing from the bench. She was starting to need him too much. Even without sex and romance he was burrowing under her skin. Yes, Maximo was a good man, but he was also an arrogant autocrat who expected her to just fall in line and do exactly as he said. When he said marriage was the only option he expected her to see it his way, and when he said they were going on an early honeymoon she’d found herself on a plane within five minutes of his edict.