Mia Dolce (8 page)

He climbed down from his perch and wrapped her stiff body in
his arms. “You love me too. I know you do.”

She could not move. She was so shocked, so slow to
understand his words. She shook her head. “And this is the reason too that you
asked me if my husband had ever asked something of me I could not give?”

“
Si
. I feared that what I asked of you, I could never
untangle from how we had met and the speed of how we loved each other. Say you
love me,” he hugged her close. “I need to hear that.”

She kissed him quickly. “I adore you.”

Sergio grinned ear to ear. “I adore you,
bella
.”

The crowd went wild with glee. Their cheers permeated her
cold despair as the papparazzi’s cameras clicked and she clutched Sergio to
her, welcoming his warm hard body against hers once more.

“I want you to marry me,” he whispered against her mouth. “Today.
Soon so that we are never parted for all the rest of our days.”

She blinked away her tears, her fears. Was she dreaming that
this man could be hers? Forever? “Where will we live?”

“Wherever you want.”

“Just…like that?”

“
Si
, my love.”

“But your businesses. Your
castello
. Your staff.”

“Wherever I am, is where my businesses are.” He pressed her
to his hot, lithe body. “But wherever you are, is where my love is.”

She threw her arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on
his smiling mouth. “In that case,
Signore
Avanti, I have one more
question.”

He hugged her close. “
Si, mia dolce
, what?”

“What would you like for dinner?”

“You, my sweet. Only you.”

An award-winning author of more than two dozen romances and
mysteries, Cerise DeLand creates heroes readers crave. Cerise has met many men
in her worldwide travels and created the best of the best from all the
wonderful places she’s lived and visited. Today, she lives—and writes—in wild
west Texas, where a never-ending stream of cowboys, vaqueros, para-military
types and diplomats stroll into town and fuel her imagination for red hot
affairs.

Cerise welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and e-mail address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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