The Reluctant Wife Read Free

silence spoke volumes. Abby couldn’t remember Dante ever saying those three little words that hold such power. All she’d wanted was to become like any other member of his family. Loved. By him. Her husband.
    “As for love and cherish…how do you think I felt when I saw you coming out of the hotel with Elena? You knew how much I wanted that job, yet you gave it to her. You wanted a child more than my happiness. You never once considered my feelings.”
    “I couldn’t be seen to be doing you favors. Elena was the right person for the position.”
    “But you couldn’t tell me that?”
    “Would you have listened?”
    “It doesn’t matter. Our marriage is over. Since we applied for our formal separation last year, even the powerful Dante Lombardi can’t stop me from divorcing a man who does not love me. Once the three uninterrupted years from now have passed, we’ve satisfied Italian law and you can find another, more suitable wife. One far less reluctant than I.”
    “What was wrong in wanting my wife to have my child? To start a new family? Most woman long for children.” The way he said the words made her feel abnormal, unfeminine.
    “I want a family, someday, but I had only just turned twenty when we actually married into your illustrious family. I was still finding my feet. I was nervous and scared and alone in a strange country with a new extended family.” She raised her eyes to glare at him. “You’ll never understand. You’re always so sure of yourself.”
    “At least I was honest about what I wanted. You stooped to deception. Where’s the honesty in that?”
    “You weren’t honest, were you? You stood in a church and swore to love me.”
    His face paled under his olive skin.
    She let out her breath. What had she been waiting for? For Dante to declare he did love her and wanted her back? Fool . “It doesn’t matter now. I need money. A lot of money. Well, a lot of money in my book.”
    He gave a short, harsh laugh. “Women are so predictable. What do you want this money for?”
    This time she looked fully into his eyes, refusing to plead for his sympathy and understanding. “For my grandmother. She needs a heart operation, but the hospital in Liverpool refuses to give her the surgery, saying due to her age she is not a priority patient. She is on a waiting list but I don’t think she has enough time.” Her eyes filled with tears. “She’s the only family I have left. I would like enough money for her to have the operation done privately, by the best surgeons.”
    The doctor in her hometown of Southport, on the northwest coast of England, had been sympathetic to her grandmother’s plight, but his hands were tied. He’d advised her to get the operation done as quickly as possible and that meant privately. She held herself straight and proud. “I returned the money you sent me when I left. I’d hoped you would allow me to now accept your generous settlement.”
    His voice was softer, kinder when he finally spoke. “Your grandmother must mean a lot to you, to risk the humiliation of having to come to me for this favor.”
    “I owe her everything. She raised me, gave me love when I had no one else.”
    “I gave you a home, a family. Yet you could walk away from that without a second glance.” His voice was cold and flat.
    She closed her eyes. Fleeing home to England and walking away from him and his family was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. Her throat constricted and she gulped back a sob. No, she thought, coming back and seeing what she had given up was harder.
    Before she could get a grip on her emotions, her eyes flashed open. “It would appear you have not been short of someone to fill my bed since I left.”
    He remained silent, but something like guilt flickered deep in his eyes.
    “Carla is only a friend. I pretended she was more to see your reaction.”
    She met the silent challenge in his gaze. “I don’t think you were in any doubt that I used to love