The Sicilian's Surprise Love-Child / Claiming My Bride Of Convenience. Кейт Хьюит

he agreed.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘I would like to know what happened at The Wedding that Never Was.’

      ‘You heard about that?’ Aurora checked.

      ‘Everyone who has a drop of Sicilian blood probably did!’

      Aurora gave a small smile and took a sip of her drink, but she didn’t lean forward in glee and share the details with him. He knew Aurora hurt for her friend.

      ‘We just sat there in the church…waiting,’ she told him. ‘Waiting and waiting for the bride to arrive.’

      ‘Did you have any clue that Antonietta wasn’t going to show up?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Aurora…?’ he checked.

      ‘It’s the truth, Nico. I guessed she wasn’t happy, but I knew no more than I told you that night—’

      Whoops! They were trying not to refer to that.

      ‘I was surprised and a bit hurt that she didn’t ask me to be her bridesmaid. And I knew she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of marrying Sylvester, but her father is so forceful. Both families are.’

      ‘And so you sat in the church and you waited…?’ Nico prompted.

      ‘Yes. A car arrived, and then word spread that it was not the bride—just Antonietta’s father. The priest spoke to him outside.’

      ‘And…?’

      ‘A fight broke out in the church. It was terrible, Nico. As soon as I worked out what was happening I left and got a ride up to her parents’ house, but Antonietta was already on the cuccette to France.’

      ‘She took the train out?’

      Aurora nodded. ‘I miss her very much, but she will never be back. She wrote and told me, but I knew it already—for how can she come back? Her name is mud all through the village and beyond. Not with her friends, but she has a very large family.’

      Nico would have liked to tell her that time would heal things, but he knew only too well how people could hold a grudge.

      ‘Anyway,’ Aurora said, ‘I’ve decided that I’m going to go and see her.’

      ‘In France?’

      She nodded. ‘As soon as I’ve saved up enough and have some leave owing I’m going to book my flight.’

      He wanted to point out that she’d already have enough money if she would just let him pay her for his father’s care. Nico really wanted her to have that holiday with her friend in France, but he’d have to work out a way to give it to her. Without offending her, of course. Or misleading her.

      ‘Do you want another drink?’ Nico offered. ‘Or perhaps we could get dinner.’

      ‘You told me to step out of your shadow, Nico,’ Aurora said. ‘You told me that I was here for work. We’ve caught up on family and friends, so let’s just keep it about business.’ Aurora was proud of herself for that, at least.

      ‘Okay. Tell me about this idea you have.’

      ‘I thought you didn’t deal with assistants?’ Aurora sneered, reminding herself of how appalling his treatment of her today had been. ‘I’m going to speak with Vincenzo tomorrow. I will give him my idea and watch as he gets promoted.’

      He smiled.

      It was the most dangerous thing, for she could feel her resolve melting like the ice cubes at the bottom of her glass.

      ‘Tell me, Aurora.’

      ‘No.’ But she was so excited that she couldn’t not share it. ‘Okay—I think we should offer a very exclusive package for weddings at the temple ruins.’

      ‘I don’t own that land.’

      ‘But you own the land that surrounds it, and without that access it’s very difficult to get to.’

      ‘Yes, but there might be tourists about, or—’

      ‘Nico, it will be the same as a beach wedding. Of course there might be tourists or people walking there. And,’ she went on, ‘I know that whatever we come up with it might have to change later—there might one day be ten hotels in Silibri—’

      ‘Not like mine.’ Nico gave an adamant shake of his head.

      The monastery had been a hellish restoration, and no developer in their right mind would have gone to the lengths he had. That aside, there was nowhere else with the views from the old monastery, nowhere with such access.

      ‘Aurora, it would be…’ He was about to put up obstacles, and there were many, but she was right. He knew that, for of course he had considered it. ‘It would be brilliant—’

      ‘But only in the right hands,’ Aurora said. ‘Only with the right manager.’

      ‘We have a functions manager.’

      ‘I’d want to make weddings at the temple separate. Exclusive,’ Aurora said. ‘And I want that role.’

      ‘You have no experience,’ Nico pointed out. ‘You have been in the hospitality industry for four weeks. Before that—’

      ‘I was a cleaner—and a very good one,’ Aurora said. ‘Is your father’s house not spotless?’

      ‘It is.’

      Aurora had just combined three of his least favourite topics—his father, the fact that she was his father’s unpaid help, and weddings.

      ‘And I have contacts,’ she said. ‘I know everyone…’

      ‘Aurora…’ He kept his voice even. ‘It’s a good idea—an excellent one. But let’s get the hotel up and running first.’

      She could not wait, though. ‘Nico, we could have wedding gowns for hire, for couples who want to be spontaneous. I want this to happen. I want that role and I will tell you why. I know what the temple looks like in the early morning, and in summer and in winter. I know how it looks when the moon is low at night…’ To prove it she took out her phone and moved her chair round the table so she sat next to him. ‘Look!’

      With the scent of her close, with her bare arm next to his suited one, with her voice so close he could feel its vibration, Nico decided it was safer indeed to look at the images on her phone.

      And they really were breathtaking.

      ‘Since I could walk I have explored those ruins almost daily. For years I have—’

      It was she who halted now, for she could not reveal to Nico that it was there she had envisaged their wedding. Not in the tiny little village church, but there at the temple ruins.

      It had been a pointless dream—she had known even then—for her parents would never have agreed to her marrying anywhere other than in church.

      She felt his arm against hers and the heat from his thigh—or was it from hers? They were sitting so close to each other, and it had happened so naturally, but she felt terribly aware of that fact.

      She moved herself and her chair to a far safer location.

      Opposite him.

      ‘At least think about it,’ Aurora said. ‘And think of me…’ She paused and their eyes met across the table. ‘I mean, consider me for the role.’

      ‘Of course,’ Nico said, and still his eyes held hers. ‘And I do think of you, Aurora.’

      She did not know what to say to that. She felt the pull of him, but it was all too late, she decided. She had put him behind her.

      She tore her eyes from his gaze and looked down to her glass, which