A Very Exclusive Engagement(58)

As much as she wanted to melt into him, she couldn’t let herself fall prey to him. She ignored the excited flutter of butterflies in her stomach and pulled back out of his grasp, watching him with wary eyes. “You didn’t love me Friday night. You could’ve told me then and you didn’t. You let me leave. And now you show up singing a different tune. What happened? Did your aunt find out? Trying a different tactic to keep the network?”

Liam swallowed hard, a flash of resignation in his eyes. “I thought you would say something like that. Which is why it took me so long to come see you today. I had some important business to take care of.”

Francesca crossed her arms defensively over her chest, but she didn’t think it would do much good. Her armor where Liam was concerned had been permanently breached. “It’s always business first with you.”

“You’re right. First, I had to go confess to your father.”

Francesca’s eyes grew wide with unexpected panic. “You told my father? Why? He’s going to kill me. How could you do that without asking me?”

“Because I needed his help. And his blessing to marry you.”

“It’s a little late for that.”

“It’s never too late where an overprotective father is concerned. Not only did he give his permission, but he and his associate have pledged their stock to support me at ANS, giving me a majority share without my aunt.”

Francesca tried to process what he was saying, but she kept getting hung up on what kind of conversation he’d had with her father when she wasn’t there. “You don’t need your aunt’s stock anymore?”

“No.”

That meant they didn’t have to be married. “But you don’t want an annulment?”

“Absolutely not.” Liam crowded back into her space, closing the gap she’d put between them. “I have no intention of letting you out of my sight, or my bed, for the next forty years.”

The butterflies in her gut went berserk. She brought her hand to her belly to calm them. “Wait. You love me. You want to stay married to me. And it has nothing to do with the network?”

Liam nodded. “Not a thing. I told my aunt this morning that I wasn’t going to play along anymore. I didn’t want you to think for a moment that I wasn’t one hundred percent sincere in my love for you. This isn’t about my aunt or the network or appearances. It’s about you and me and the rest of our lives.”

His arms snaked around her waist and this time, she didn’t pull away. She molded herself against him and let out a small sigh of contentment at the feel of being in his arms again.

“I am in love with you, Francesca Crowe. I want to stay married to you until the day I die.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the use of her married name. She hadn’t heard anyone use it since the wedding. “I love you, too.”

Liam dipped his head down to capture her lips with his own. This kiss—their first as two people in love—blew away all the others they’d shared before. Every nerve in her body lit up at his touch. She wrapped her arms around his neck to try and get closer to him, but it could never be close enough. She lost herself in the embrace, letting his strong arms keep her upright when her knees threatened to give way beneath her.

Pulling away after what felt like an eternity, he said breathlessly, “I want us to get married.”

Francesca wrinkled her nose and put her palm gently against the stubble of his jaw. “Mio caro, we’re already married.”

“I know,” he said with a devious smile. “But I want a do-over. With a tropical honeymoon. And this time, it will just be the two of us. No family, no pressure and especially no cake throwing.”





Epilogue

Antigua, One Week Later

Francesca had no idea a vacation could be so perfect. With Ariella’s televised reunion show coming up, they didn’t have the luxury of taking a long honeymoon, but they did manage to sneak away for a long weekend in the Caribbean.

So far, they had sunbathed, swum in the ocean, dined on the best seafood she’d ever tasted and renewed their vows in a private white gazebo hovering over the water.

Their previous ceremony had been legally binding but tainted by his aunt’s machinations and Angelica’s tantrum. Their vow renewal had been just for them. A chance to say the words again and wholeheartedly mean it. Afterward, they drank champagne in their private bungalow and shared a tiny cake for two that no one could ruin.