Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) (18 page)

“Well said,” Dante commented laughingly. “I’d take
voluptuous over vain any day. Natural curves are
belissimo
.”

Antonia’s gaze flew to Dante, her eye blazing with
contempt, but Dante just stared at her with a smile.

“Were you sick?” Mr. Torino asked as his glaring eyes
settled on his daughter.

Riana chuckled, patting Allan’s cheek. “This man has
many talents, cooking just isn’t one of them.”

The table erupted in laughter except for the two
snakes Mr. Torino had for children. The best thing for Allan to do, if he was
to control his temper, was to ignore them completely.

He shrugged. “What can I say? I was making a romantic
effort.”

“Yeah, putting her in the hospital with food poisoning
is as romantic as it gets!” Dante laughed.

Riana kissed Allan. “It’s the thought that counts, and
I appreciate it, sweetheart.”

Anthony cleared his throat. “
Tony?
Papa, are we already on friendly footing with the people who
are trying to steal our business?”

Riana sighed, facing him for the first time since he
walked in. “No one’s trying to steal anything. All Allan wants to do is make
the business profitable again and preserve your parents’ dreams for many years
to come.”

Allan pushed his hand under her hair to stroke the
back of her neck. Taking the business and gifting it to Melody had been his
main agenda, of course with the goal of making it profitable again. But the
whole persevering Mr. and Mrs. Torino’s dream only became important after he
met Riana.

He would keep the décor and all Mrs. Torino’s work as
agreed, not because he was sentimental about their love, but because Riana was.

“Are you saying I’m incompetent?” Anthony demanded
with a raised voice.

Riana shrugged. “No offense, but we wouldn’t be here
if you were doing something right.”

Antonia leaned forward and for the first time Allan
noticed her tight, red dress—only because her fake boobs looked like they were
going to pop out of it.

“You are only here to—”

“If you dare say it Antonia, I will make sure you
regret it!” Mr. Torino bellowed, silencing her.

“But Papa—”

“Enough! I came here to have a peaceful dinner with my
guests. If you do not wish to do so, you can leave!”

Antonia slouched in her seat with a pout and Anthony
glared at Allan and it reminded him of their conversation earlier. Now more
than ever, he needed to keep Riana very close to him until he could get her
back safely to the States.

Chapter Ten

After the tense dinner the night before, Riana was
looking forward to a day of relaxing with Allan—and Von.

She still didn’t like having a bodyguard, a third
wheel, but Allan was adamant about Von following them around. She only wished
Von wouldn’t be so obvious and that he would blend in with the crowd like all
the other bodyguards had done in the other cities.

She wanted to keep up the delusion that she and Allan
were on their honeymoon, and no one went on their honeymoon with a third
person.

She was glad, finally, when she got her wish. The
moment they stepped out of the hotel, Von was nowhere to be seen. She looked
around, searching for him, and spotted him a few feet away. He was dressed in a
white linen shirt, blue jeans, and a white, woven hat—unlike the black suit he
had on the night before. He looked like a tourist, completely blending in with
the crowd.

Riana’s attention was pulled back to Allan when he tugged
her hand. He smiled down at her and leaned down to steal a kiss. He looked
relaxed, unlike when he first introduced her to Von. But she still wondered why
Allan had assigned Von to her in the first place. He was the high-risk target,
she was a nobody, so why hire Von for her and not for himself?

Riana held on to the hope that Allan might just have
stronger feelings for her than what he’d admitted to at this point. More than
what he felt for just a girlfriend. She felt her chest tickle with hope as she
discretely stroked her belly. Oh, how she hoped. Not for her but for their baby
as well. The prospects of being a happy family like the one he obviously came
from, a family so unlike her own, was like a dream she didn’t mind staying up
all night every night, watching the sky and looking out for a shooting star to
wish on.

She loved her family—well, what it used to be before
her mother died and her brother went back home—but most of her life she’d
always wondered if things would have been better if they’d had a father who had
loved them and their mother.

But she wasn’t going to wallow in self-pity now. She
was going to enjoy Venice with Allan and pray the trip ended exactly as she
hoped—in a complete family.

Allan, calling Venice his most favorite place in the
world, proved himself an indispensable tour guide. First they walked the Rialto
Bridge past
San Croce
and
San Polo
. The ‘tour guide’, who
adamantly insisted he knew where he was going, took them through narrow alleys
that opened up to little squares where they would find restaurants and shops.
Of course he’d say that was where he intended on taking Riana. She believed him
until she saw Von pointing out directions to Allan when they thought she was
busy chatting with the shop owners.

Allan then led them across the Academia Bridge to get
to
Piazza San Marco—
the place he had
intended to take her before he’d gotten them lost. They saw the bell tower
Campanile
, the church
Basilica San Marco,
and the
Palazzo
Ducale
,
better
known as Doge’s Palace. They took the lift up the
Campanile
. It had such a great view, but it also wreaked havoc on
Riana’s insides. Looking down from such a great height made her feel nauseated,
so after a few quick pictures Allan quickly took her down.

She felt bad for making them leave the bell tower soon,
but Allan was so understanding and tender that Riana had almost, almost, told
him about the baby. The Basilica San Marco did seem like the best place to give
him the news—no one curses in a church—but she forgot completely about that
when she saw the magnificent mosaics around the church. Not for the first time,
the no-taking-pictures rule really depressed her. She couldn’t believe she
couldn’t leave with this memory documented on her camera.

Allan began kissing her in front of each mosaic to
cheer her up. She believed his intentions until she noticed Von. The delinquent
had her bodyguard discreetly taking pictures of them in front of the mosaics.
Riana was even more amused by the fact that the two of them were having fun
breaking the rules. She was worried they would get caught and thrown out before
she saw the
Pala
d’Oro
and the horse of St. Mark, but they didn’t, and managed to get pictures of
those, too.

They stopped at a
trattorio
when the weather was too
hot for Riana. She needed to stay hydrated and rested for the baby’s sake. She
knew Allan found that weird considering he was always the one who would insist
on stopping to rest because Riana was like an energizer bunny. She knew he also
found it weird that Riana, for the first time since they stepped in Italy,
didn’t finish all the food on her plate.

Riana wasn’t sure what she was going to say as an
explanation until he asked if she had recovered from the food poisoning. She
quickly said no and felt horrible when she saw the guilty look on Allan’s face.
He then disappeared for a while, announcing he had a surprise for her to make
up for poisoning her, which only made her feel worse. Von sat with her for the
hour he was gone and from the looks he gave her and the questions he kept
asking, Riana knew he knew her little secret. But there was no way in hell she
was going to confirm it.

He’d ordered several bottles of water and bought her a
straw hat just in time for Allan’s return. He had that silly boyish smile on
his face that made Riana suspicious of him and his plans but she didn’t ask
because as much as she begged, it was clear he was never going to tell what he
was up to.

Her favorite part of the tour was when they got onto
the gondolas. Riana hoped the ride would be like those in the movies where the
gondolier would sing a romantic tune and every time they would pass under a
bridge someone would shower them with roses as they kissed. As soon as she had
the thought, she sighed disappointedly, knowing that only happened in movies.

The gondolier helped them in and handed her a bouquet
of red roses. Once they were settled, he pushed off the wall and turned on his
little radio. A sweet and romantic tune played, which the gondolier accompanied
with his beautiful, tenor voice that deserved to be on an opera stage and not
on a river. Riana was so touch by Allan’s surprise she began to tear up.

Allan just laughed and began to kiss her in between
his short, off key performance of lyrics she didn’t understand but knew what
they meant by the look in Allan’s eyes as he sang them to her. That was the
moment she knew Allan felt more for her than he would a girlfriend. He loved
her, and like the good doctor said, he just didn’t want to admit it yet.

He held her close as they rode the gondola down the
river, enjoying their private performance by the gondolier, and Riana thought
it couldn’t get better than this. She was proved wrong when they passed under a
bridge and a rain of roses greeted them on the other side.

She fell asleep in his arms trying to remember if she
ever felt as happy as she was in that moment in Allan’s arms.

* * * *

Allan leaned against the doorframe and watched Riana
as she cooked in their hotel kitchen. She was humming and swaying to a tune he
recognized. It was the same one the gondolier sang.

Being with her in the gondola, made him feel…he wasn’t
sure the emotion had a name because he’d never felt it before. All he knew was
it was pure magic.

It put a kink in his plans when she fell asleep but he
understood. She was still feeling sick. Carrying her weightless body back to
the hotel did make him worry, though…just until she woke up hungry and she
devoured a plate of chicken saltimbocca and an entire pizza. He was glad she
was getting her appetite back.

He continued to watch her, and eventually joined in,
as she spun on her heels, curtsied, and did a few steps of the waltz and began
humming another tune, reminding him of their dinner with Mr. Torino.

He had loved holding her in his arms as they moved to
the gentle music, lost in their own little bubble. Everyone and everything else
just seemed to fade away. That happened often when he was holding her, having
her body pressed against him, feeling her in him and around him, completely
consuming him, taking all focus from his surroundings and keeping it on her.

She was a drug and he was he was dangerously addicted
to her.

He smiled. She’d actually driven him to drinking every
time she would smile and laugh while she danced with Dante and
Tony
. He rolled his eyes at the name Mr.
Torino had insisted Riana refer to him by when they were taking a turn around the
dining room. The old man was right to tell him to stay on his toes.
Tony
had flirted with Riana all night.

It was a good thing she found it
cute
.

That reminded him. She had refused to drink the wine
Mr. Torino had offered her. Early on during dinner, he noticed she randomly
touched her glass, lifting it to her lips only to set it down without drinking.
She was putting up a pretense. He hadn’t understood why. Until Dante had
pointed out that Allan had poisoned her.

Riana had given Dante ammunition to tease him with
that confession.

Allan and Dante’s relationship had begun as a business
one but had quickly grown into a friendship he had every intention of
maintaining, even when Allan went back to the States.

He had noticed she was relieved to have someone save
her from his questioning, but Allan knew that reaction was for some other
reason. He had tried to get her to tell him but Riana was tight lipped about
it, just like she was about her other secrets.

But, as Allan watched Riana sing and sway in the kitchen,
he knew it didn’t matter. Allan could already feel the dread settling in at
what he was about to do.

“Riana, I need to talk to you,” he started, his hands
getting clammy all of a sudden. He’d never been nervous about anything, not
even when billions were at stake.

“About what?” she responded distractedly, lifting the
skillet off the cooker for a moment before placing it back over the heat.

Allan eyed the potential weapon warily.
Maybe doing this while she is holding a hot
skillet isn’t such a good idea
. He should just spit it out and get it over
with.

“Tomorrow will be your last day in Venice.”

She stilled, her back going ramrod rigid. Allan took a
cautious step back before the significance of the action hit him. He had never
stepped back from a confrontation, ever. After doing this so many times before—sending
women home after the fun was over and enduring their emotions with fleeting
attention—he was now wary of the ramifications with Riana. She was the sweetest
person he had ever met and he didn’t want to hurt her.

He watched her turn off the burner and then she turned
around to face him. She watched him, with her brows drawn together in silence
for a long while.

“Why?”

Why?
Allan wanted to laugh from the frustration. There
were a number of reasons why.

One reason was that Junior had threatened to kill her,
but Allan wasn’t about to tell her that and frighten her. Second, her time with
him was over and she needed to get back to her life, but that sounded like he
was dismissing her like she was nothing more than his mistress who’d began to
bore him. And though he’d done it countless of times, Riana meant too much to
him for him to insult her that way.

But the most important reason as to why he needed her
gone was because he’d changed his mind. He didn’t want to admit feeling
that
for her, especially after the death
threats against her. He wouldn’t allow her to get hurt because of him. So he
was letting her go.

“Does it have anything to do with Von?” she pushed.

She was finally going to question him about Von. He
wasn’t willing to answer her.

“Riana, you have to get back to school.”

She shrugged turning her head down and spoke softly.
“I’m not ready to leave yet.”

Allan sighed. “Riana…”

She stepped around him and walked past him to the
stairs leading to the deck. “Could we please talk about this some other time?”

Allan followed close behind her until she stopped at
the coffee table with her back to him. “Riana…”

She turned around to face him. “You asked me to stay
two months more than the agreed two weeks. Why do you want me to leave now?”
she yelled in accusation.

Damn!
This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen. “Your
school has already begun—”

She cut him off. “It started two weeks ago and you
didn’t mind then!”

Allan brushed his hand over his face and exhaled
loudly. “You are not making this easy, Riana.”

A horrified expression claimed her face. He groaned,
knowing already what she was imagining. “Riana, I didn’t mean—”

“I’ll go pack.”

When she tried to rush past him, he wrapped his arm
around her waist to prevent her escape and pulled her back against his chest.
She tried to struggle out of his hold, so he held her tighter.