The Mills & Boon Christmas Wishes Collection. Maisey Yates
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to the thigh, while Jeremy’s wife, Celia, wore a short fitted scarlet dress that showed off her very shapely legs. Holly immediately felt frumpy and dumpy in her unexciting outfit, wishing that at the very least she had chosen to wear something that displayed a bit of cleavage.
While the men talked, Celia shot inquiries at Holly and it was no surprise to discover that the highly educated and inquisitive redhead was a criminal lawyer. Having her background and educational deficiencies winkled out and exposed made Holly feel very uncomfortable but her attempts to block Celia’s questions were unsuccessful and she was forced to half turn away and chat to Jenna to escape the interrogation. Jenna, however, talked only about spa days and exclusive resorts.
‘You’ve never been on a ski slope?’ she remarked in loud disbelief.
‘I’ll teach Holly to ski,’ Vito sliced in, smooth as glass.
Holly paled because the idea of racing down a snowy hill at breakneck speed made her feel more scared than exhilarated. As the entire conversation round the table turned to ski resorts and talk of everyone’s ‘best ever runs’, she was excluded by her unfamiliarity with the sport. Jenna’s chatter about hot yoga classes and meditation were matched by Celia’s talk about the benefits of an organic, natural diet, ensuring that Holly felt more and more out of her depth. She was also bored stiff.
‘How do you feel about yachting?’ Apollo asked smoothly across the table, his green eyes hard and mocking. ‘Do you get seasick?’
‘I’ve never been on a yacht, so I wouldn’t know. I’m fine on a fishing boat or a ferry, though,’ she added with sudden amusement at the amount of sheer privilege inherent in such a conversational topic.
‘Who took you fishing?’ Vito asked her abruptly.
‘Someone way before your time,’ Holly murmured, unwilling to admit in such exclusive company that it had been a rowing-boat experience with a teenaged boyfriend.
‘Way to go, Holly! Keep him wondering.’ Celia laughed appreciatively.
Her mobile phone vibrated in her bag and she pulled it out. ‘Excuse me. I have to take this,’ she said apologetically, and rose from the table to walk out to the foyer.
It was Lorenza phoning to tell her that Angelo had finally settled after a restless evening. Aware that her son was teething, Holly had asked the nanny to keep her posted. On the way back to the table she called into the cloakroom. She was in a cubicle when she heard Jenna and Celia come in.
‘What on earth does a guy like Vito see in a woman like her?’ Jenna was demanding thinly. ‘She’s like a little brown sparrow beside him.’
Angry resentment hurtled through Holly and in the strangest way it set her free to be herself.
‘Jeremy thinks Vito must have had a pre-nup written up by another lawyer,’ Celia commented. ‘There’s no way Vito hasn’t safeguarded himself.’
Emerging, Holly washed her hands and glanced at the aghast pair of women frozen by the sinks. ‘At least I’ve got a wedding ring on my finger,’ she pointed out to Jenna. ‘You have to be at least number one hundred in Apollo’s long line of companions.’
‘We had no idea you were in here,’ Celia began sharply, defensively.
‘Ah, Celia,’ Holly pronounced gently, flicking the tall redhead a calm appraisal in turn. ‘I can assure you that there is no pre-nup. My husband trusts me.’
And with that ringing assurance, Holly turned on her heel, head held high, and walked back out to the table. And she might resemble a little brown sparrow, she thought with spirit, but she was married to a guy who found little brown sparrows the ultimate in sex appeal. Amused by the level of her own annoyance, Holly returned to her seat and in a break in the conversation addressed Apollo. ‘So where’s the best place for me to learn to ski?’ she asked playfully.
Vito dealt her a bemused look and watched her begin to smile at Apollo’s very detailed response because Apollo took his sports very seriously.
A deep sense of calm had settled over Holly. She was still furious with Vito for subjecting her to such an evening with very little warning but, having stood up for herself and spoken up in her own defence, she felt much more comfortable. After all, she could be herself anywhere and in any company. The only person able to make her feel out of her depth was herself and she was determined not to let those insecurities control her reactions again. So, she was more accustomed to stacking shelves in a shop and occasional trips to the cinema but she could do spa days and skiing and yachting trips if she wanted to. It was Vito’s world but that wedding ring on her finger confirmed that now it was her world as well and she needed to remember that.
She would have to adapt. But Vito had to learn to adapt too, she reflected grimly. He had told her over the breakfast table that she had to trust him, but so far he had done little to earn that trust. And so far, Holly had been the one to make all the changes. She had given up her home, her country, her friends, and her entire life to come to Italy and make a family with Vito. True, it was a gilded life but that didn’t lessen the sacrifices she had made on her son’s behalf. When was Vito planning to become a family man, who put his wife and his child first?
* * *
‘You’ve been very quiet,’ Vito remarked as Holly started up the stairs.
‘I want to check on Angelo.’
‘There is no need.’
‘There is every need. I’m his mother,’ Holly declared shortly. ‘It’s immaterial how efficient or kind your staff are, Vito. At the end of the day they are only employees and none of them will ever love Angelo the way I do. Don’t ever try to come between me and my son!’
In silence, Holly went up to the nursery, tiptoeing across the floor to gaze down at the slumbering shape of her little boy lying snug in his cot. Smiling, she left the nursery again.
‘I wouldn’t try to come between you,’ Vito swore.
Holly ignored him and went down to their bedroom, kicking off her shoes before stalking into the bathroom.
‘Holly...’ Vito breathed warningly from the doorway.
‘I’m not speaking to you. You have a choice,’ Holly cautioned him thinly. ‘Either we have silence or we have it out. Choose.’
Vito groaned. ‘That’s not much of a choice.’
‘It’s the only one you’re going to get and probably more than you deserve.’ Holly dabbed impatiently at her eyes with a cotton pad and eye-make-up remover.
‘Have it out, I suppose,’ Vito pronounced very drily.
Holly tilted her chin. ‘You had no business forcing me out to that dinner tonight because I wasn’t ready for it. I was uncomfortable, of course I was. Two days ago I was living in an ordinary world with ordinary jobs and meeting ordinary people and now I’m in this weird new environment,’ she framed between compressed lips. ‘And I know everyone seems to think I’m in clover and it is wonderful not to have to worry about money any more, but it’s strange and it’s going to take me time to get used to it. You haven’t given me any time. You expect me to make all the changes...’
Vito had paled. ‘You’re making valid points. I’m not a patient man.’
‘And you don’t always live up to your promises either. You said you’d do everything within your power to make me happy,’ Holly reminded him doggedly. ‘Then you go back to work within a day of the wedding even though you have a son you barely know and a wife you don’t know much better. If you want me to trust you, you have to show me that you value me and Angelo, that we’re not just new possessions to be slotted into your busy life and expected not to make any waves. You have to give us your time, Vito, take us places, show us around our new home.’
Holly was challenging him and he hadn’t expected that from her. She had thrown his words about trust back at him. And she was also telling him