Her Dark Dragon (21 page)

He'd already bought the Cirillo cellars, tasting rooms, and all the equipment that went with them. During the meeting, he bought the Cirillo barns and their stock, knowing Danni would be heartbroken if a stranger wound up with her horses at auction. That was exactly where the rest of the netsukes would go. To the auction block to pay off the rest of the loans Robert and Felice had accumulated.

Danni literally walked away with only her clothes and personal items. She'd had no say about the auctioning of the Cirillo furnishings, either. But neither would Robert or Felice. Her finding their safety deposit box had hit them below the belt. There were several lengthy arguments about the properties they'd purchased and the cash they'd hoarded. They'd get none of it. In the end, Cirillo would be sold off, piece by piece, to pay back the banks. Danni's only consolation was that as penniless as she now was, so were Robert and Felice Hanson. And it seemed their marriage wasn't going to last, if their fighting was any example of their future.

He'd been amazed how calm Danni was through the whole mess. She sat tall, quietly listening and alternately talking with Sam Parkins. At the end, he'd let her go, the old pickup her one victory, if you could call the old Ford a victory, considering its age and need of reconditioning. Nico had started to go after her, but Maria had held him back, telling him she needed some space. So he'd let her go and hope that she'd come back to Casa Maria before disappearing from his life.

Back home, he didn't want food, only a drink, which he denied himself for general purposes. His father had been a drunk, and he wouldn't use alcohol as a crutch. Maria and Carmen gave him a wide berth, both knowing he needed to be left alone. The yard could do without him for a day. That was why he employed all the help he did. So he sat behind his desk, watching out the window, waiting for her to arrive. This wasn't the first time Nico had second-, third-, and fourth-guessed decisions about his past purchases, but each time he thought the situation through, he knew the land would only have been sold to someone else.

He had no idea how Danni was feeling about the information she'd received. Finding out she was adopted was a subject he'd attempted to talk with her about several times, only to be told it was too much to think about at the moment. After the turnover, she'd deal with it. But he knew it weighed heavily on her mind. Had she been told as a child, her life would have been different. Matteo had never wanted her to feel out of place, Maria had told him privately one evening. But to Felice, it was one final blow to the child she felt ruined her life, so she'd ruin Danni's.

As to losing everything she'd grown up thinking was her legacy, including her heritage, he had no way to determine what that made her feel like. Maybe she'd try to find her biological mother, maybe she wouldn't. The worst maybe that he'd never see her again. While all this jumbled inside him, the sun set. Only seeing the truck lights in his driveway made him pull himself together. He knew she went to the kitchen door, could hear her and Carmen talking. Nico didn't want to interrupt their moment together. He could hear Maria's voice in the mix, some laughing, and then she lightly knocked on his office door.

"I hear you've been brooding all day."

He turned to find her in the doorway, wearing old, washed-out jeans and work boots. The soft beige of her T-shirt made her brown eyes look darker. Her hair was braided down her back, so different from how she'd looked the last time he'd seen her, with her hair twisted up off her neck and the business suit she'd worn. It passed through him earlier that he'd rarely seen her in a skirt, let alone in heels, looking so professional. Now she was back to herself. Her eyes were red, her face puffy from one last round of tears with Carmen and Maria. But her smile hit directly in his gut.

"Come in. I assume you've seen Maria?"

"And Carmen. I've said all my good-byes. To the land and the horses, to the people I've loved all my life."

Nico felt his throat constrict and he had to turn away. From the desk drawer he pulled her bank statement, placing it on the cleared desk top. He strode to the wall safe, removed the netsukes, and gently placed them on the desk beside the papers.

Danni looked at him carefully, choosing her words just as prudently. "These are all yours, Nico. I only want this one."

With long, slim, graceful fingers, she lifted the Worship netsuke from its velvet-lined box, turned it over several times, and studied it carefully before she placed it back in the box. She put it to the side, slowly moving the rest of them back to his safe, dropping the bank statement along with them. Turning, he'd be hard-pressed not to notice she was waiting for him to confront her. Instead, he changed the dynamic.

"I'll keep them safe until you're ready to collect them one day."

She laughed aloud, breaking the tension. "I'm going to miss you most of all, Nico. I'm resigned about the land and the rest of this whole mess. I'm even complacent at this point with finding out I'm adopted. I'll miss the horses and the land, but you most of all. I realized in the last weeks that you are truly my best friend. Beyond being lovers, I've never had a better friend. Thank you for that."

"Danni," he said, feeling himself start to tear up. He couldn't say anything else. His throat closed, and he let the tears roll down his cheeks. She moved to him quickly, throwing her arms around him, holding him tight.

"Damn it, Danielle. I don't cry!" he told her as she pulled back and wiped his cheeks with the tips of her index fingers.

"I seem to be doing a lot of it lately. Sometimes it's very cleansing in a strange way."

She buried her head against his shoulder, and he pulled her closer. "Where will you go?"

"I'm not sure. Just away from here."

"You'll always have a home here, bella," he managed to whisper.

Her hands moved his face toward hers. In her kiss, he felt her want, her need. He strove to make her feel safe, loved. "I do love you, Nico. If things had been different…"

"Things are what we make them. We can have a future together, Danni. Stay here, and live with me for a while if marriage scares you," he said, hoping to change her mind. "Bella, I love you. I've never said those words to another woman. That's got to stand for something."

She only nodded against his shoulder. He felt his shirt getting damp and raised his left hand along her back, his strong fingers rubbing the back of her neck, holding her to him. They stayed locked in each other's arms for what seemed like an eternity. For a while he thought she might change her mind, but when she pulled back, he knew she wouldn't.

"I have to go," she whispered, rising up to kiss each cheek.

"No, you don't. You're choosing to leave."

"I have no other choice right now," she said, pulling a tissue from her pocket, and managed to pull herself together. Turning with a rueful smile, her eyes were still glassy, as were his.

"Keep in touch?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't punish him for what he now saw as his sins. "Don't make me worry about you. Maria and Carmen will want to know you're safe." Again she only nodded. "Severino in Italy is still an option, don't forget that. Vito would love to have you. He'll pick your brain, and you'll both probably come up with a new blend."

She smiled, but bit her lip to keep from crying again. Slowly she moved toward the desk, hesitating to take the small box. When she lifted it in her hand, he knew it was all over. She wiped the rest of her tears away, forcing herself to stand tall. "I've got to go," she whispered.

"All right, Danielle, but it's late, it's dark. Stay the night and leave in the morning."

"I'd never leave, and we both know it. I have to go, Niccolo. It's the right thing to do."

"Bella…I'll walk you out," he said, stopping himself from begging her to stay.

"No, don't." Danni moved back into his arms for one last moment, and then pulled from him. "I'll let you know I'm safe," she said, but didn't turn around. Nico watched from the window as she walked to the truck. Watching her hesitate one last time made him want to run out and stop her, or call her back. He did neither. He watched her take one more last long look at Casa Maria, then drive slowly away.

* * * *

Danielle Cirillo drove slowly off Severino land and paused at the main road. She turned left, heading south. On the seat beside her lay her
laptop, the globe Nico had given her, and the small box holding the netsuke. One battered leather bag was tossed on the floor of the passenger side, all she took with her. She had a few thousand dollars in her wallet, stuffed in the side pocket, money she'd earned growing up and put in an old bank account. She had options, she kept telling herself, now she had to pick one.

* * * *

Nico had known sorrow in his life. But nothing had ever left him feeling this helpless and useless. He'd offered her all he had, but it wasn't enough. All he could do was wait and hope that with a bit of time and perspective, she'd realize she belonged with him.

The next months were hell for Niccolo Severino. He knew he was a bear to live with and work for. He had a bad attitude with everyone, so much so that Maria actually went back to Italy for a month after the pruning was complete. She'd tried to talk to him several times, only to be rebuffed. The rest of his employees were keeping their distance. Even his damn horse seemed to shy away when he entered the stable, reluctantly taking his saddle and bit.

Since Danni had left, he'd gotten two e-mails. One about a week after she'd left, telling him she was safe but not where she was. Then there were two postcards, one with a postmark from Los Angeles, a second from Long Island, New York. The second e-mail was in late summer, a brief, carefully worded note telling him she was sorting things out.

She had really pissed him off just two weeks after she'd left. In the morning mail, he'd received papers from her bank. She'd transferred the balance of her trust into his name. When he called Ray Jansen at the bank, he'd been told she hadn't left forwarding address, only strict instructions about the change. Sam Parkins wasn't giving out any information. Nico knew she'd been in touch. There were documents that had to be handled with the sale of the house and the auctions.

He'd had no social life since she left, and he'd stormed out of the house when Maria received a beautiful oyster plate on her birthday. For his birthday he received a case of wine from North Carolina, made from Muscadine grapes. A short note told him she was "okay, and to enjoy the wine." He hadn't opened a bottle yet. The case sat on the floor in the corner of his office, a constant reminder of her.

Only one project held his interest. The hillside acreage he'd promised her if she married him was carefully planted with the best olive trees he could find. He'd spent many hours learning about the process of making olive oil, ordering the best cold presses his money could buy, all neatly waiting in the new building constructed for that sole purpose. He knew it would be several years before the trees would mature to bear fruit. Their first pressing was seasons away.

He'd refrained from sending e-mails. In the beginning, he'd sent one every week. After two months, he stopped. It was obvious she wasn't going to talk to him that way either. So he turned all his energy into the olives. In the evenings, he'd play around with options for what the label would look like, as well as the shape and color of the bottle. When he'd finally decided on both, he sent her an e-mail with the samples, hoping he'd hear from her. If she hated the design, it might prompt her to get in touch. She hadn't, even though he'd drafted the label with the Cirillo name.

Her money was still sitting in the bank, earning interest, her name on the account, too. He'd told her that in an earlier e-mail, hoping she'd access the money if she needed it. So far, she hadn't touched it. Nico toyed with the idea of hiring a private investigator to find her, but held back. What he did hire one for was to try to find Danielle's birth mother. So far, there had been a lot of red tape and money spent with a lot of closed doors. Frustration was his general mode of life these days. There were cards for everyone at Christmas, the postmark from Canada.

He had no address to send her flowers for her birthday. Again, his only recourse was to use her e-mail to send her a birthday message. He'd thought over long and hard what to say and in the end, kept it simple. She was loved, and missed, and he hoped to see her soon.

As spring neared, he still had no enthusiasm for his vines. Pruning was due to start in a few weeks; he didn't care. Yet, every day he rode out and checked the olive grove. Not much was happening, only he felt at peace there. One change he did notice was Maria. Since her second return from Italy, she was being seen in public with Coy Addams. They made an interesting couple. Most importantly, they seemed to make each other happy. Surprisingly, he didn't begrudge her this happiness, rather took solace in the knowledge love could happen at any time in his life.

She had been acting strangely the last few days, much happier. She gave no reason, and he didn't bother to inquire further. Even Carmen seemed to take on a different attitude. He heard them laughing in the kitchen a few times but they would always quiet down when he approached. He was beginning to feel like an outsider in his own home.

That was when he finally realized what an ass he was. If Danni didn't want him, he couldn't change her mind. But he wouldn't throw away his life, too. Resigned, he decided that after the pruning was done, he'd take a vacation. It had been years since he'd been to Severino in Italy. Making the decision took some of the weight off his shoulders, but he knew deep inside, just because he changed his location for a short time, it wouldn't change his heart.