Too Cold To Love (21 page)

Elise made herself smile. Alex and Kitty's
obvious affection settled in her stomach like lead. The fierce stab of longing
and envy made her realize just how much was missing from her own marriage. As
if she needed a reminder.
Damn it, I'm not going to cry.

"Hey, Elise, sorry is that a sore point? I
never thought, and I didn't mean to pry. Noah,
No
!"
 
Kitty dashed off, and Elise had to smile
through the threatening tears when little Noah stuffed the last two cakes in
his mouth whole in an effort to hide them from his mother.

"Great, he will be bouncing around all
night now."

Alex's amused chuckle made her look up at him.
"Count yourself lucky Mimi is so easy-going. There is never a dull moment
in my house, not that I'd have it any other way.
 
Are you sure you're okay, Elise? You look a
little peaky, probably why everyone has been pulling your leg about
babies."

Before Elise could respond Marco's tense voice
behind her made her spin round.

"Who's been talking about babies? I told
you before I'll leave that up to you and your sisters. Someone else announced
they're pregnant by any chance?"

Marco's arms went round Elise's waist, and made
her even more aware of how tense he was. He kissed her shoulder and murmured
something in Italian that made Alex smile.

"No, just poor Elise here getting the brunt
of the pregnancy jokes. It's your own fault, Marco. She looks as though she
hasn't had a decent night's sleep in ages. I know you're newlyweds, but take it
easy, eh."

He laughed and dodged the punch Marco aimed at
him with ease. With a wink to Elise he joined Kitty, swinging little Noah on
his shoulders, to keep him away from the cakes.

Marco's furious voice in her ear made her jump.

"What the hell has been going on, wife?
Where's Mimi? I want to get out of here."

"You can't. This is your birthday party, and
damn it, Marco, you will bloody well stay here and at least pretend to be
enjoying yourself. Mimi has a surprise planned for you, and God help me, Marco
Giovanni, you will not spoil this for her. Heaven only knows why, your family
loves you, and you will smile and let them celebrate."

Elise was too aware of him. He looked sexier
than any man had a right, with that stubble and the brooding look he did so
well. His eyes raked her up and down, a small smile on his lips.

"There is no need to shout at me, woman,
but if you insist on this charade, I guess I ought to greet you properly."
He pulled her flush against him. His mouth branded hers in a bruising kiss
which sent all of Elise's senses into meltdown mode and left her hanging onto
him for support.

Three hours later Elise's nerves were shot.
Marco had kept her by his side the entire time, using her as a buffer between
him and his family. He'd drunk far too much for Elise's liking. Something was
very wrong with him. Even Mimi's heartfelt rendition of Happy Birthday, sung in
English and Italian, had done little to improve his mood. He picked his
daughter up with shaking hands, and held her for such a long time Mimi had been
squealing to get down. The tension had been radiating off him in waves, and the
look he threw across at her made Elise take an involuntary step back. He'd
grabbed her round the waist and raised his glass up to the room.

"A toast to my beautiful wife, without whom
my life would be so different right now. A woman of so many talents, I couldn't
possibly name them all."

He downed his glass in one angry swallow and
claimed her in another harsh kiss, his hands digging painfully into her arms.

She'd hissed at him to let go of her, and her
gaze had fallen on Mamma G across the room. Stella had looked absolutely
furious with both of them.

Thankfully the party was now coming to an end.
Tired children were being bundled into their cars, and Elise shut the door on
Alex and Kitty, who were the last to leave.

Marco cradled a sleeping Mimi on his lap.

"We should get her home. Mamma G, can you
call us a taxi?"

"Nonsense, you can stay here.Let me show
you where. Marco, bring her up, you're not in any fit state to drive, and Elise
looks exhausted. God knows there are enough empty rooms in this place. Follow me,
both of you."

Stella guided them to one of the upstairs
bedrooms and ordered Marco to put Mimi down on the toddler size bed. She
gestured for them to go through the connecting doors into the next room.

"There you are. You'll be able to hear her
if she wakes up. Make yourself at home." In the blink of an eye she
slammed those doors shut, the loud click of the lock like a slap to the face.

Her angry voice could be heard clearly through
the heavy doors.

"Right, you two. Now I have no idea what's
been going on, but you'll stay in there until you have sorted yourselves out.
I'm taking Mimi back to your place, Marco. There is food and water in the en
suite. Talk to each other for pity's sake, and if I'm not satisfied you have it
sorted by morning, so help me, you'll stay in there another day. No one will
hear you, so don't even think about screaming, and those are fire doors, Marco,
so none of your macho bullshit will work on them.
Ciao
."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Elise looked at the shut doors in complete
disbelief. This couldn't be happening. Mamma G had lost the plot, clearly; that
was the only explanation. Risking a quick peek at Marco did little to help
alleviate the legions of disbelieving butterflies in her tummy.

He looked furious, every muscle in his body tensed,
his fists balled at his sides as though he was going to attempt to punch
himself through those doors. Fire doors no less, Stella had said. Oh that was
just fine and dandy then.

I am locked in with a man who looks as though
he'd rather commit murder than be in the same room as
I.
Great. Fanbloodytastic.

What the hell was he doing now? As if the
strings of Italian swear words weren't bad enough, he was now eyeing that door
as though...

"Marco, don't be a complete idiot. She said
they were fire doors."

"Do they look like fire doors to you?
They're clearly not; any fool can see that."

Oh for
pity's sakes, you'd think he just turned three instead of thirty.

"Do excuse me, Mr. High and Mighty,
arrogant male wotsit. I know no such thing. As I'm not superwoman I couldn't
possibly tell you. But, silly me, I forgot the amount of wine you consumed
tonight gives you x-ray vision of course."

"Now you're being ridiculous, woman."

"I'm being ridiculous? Says the half-drunk
idiot about to dislocate his shoulder because he won't believe Mamma G. Why
else would she have said they were, for her own amusement?"

Elise took a step back from all the glittering
fury in those blue eyes when Marco advanced towards her, and her heart rate
went into overdrive.
Get a grip woman; you're in control of your hormones,
not the other way round. So, he looks sexy as hell when he glares like that. He
is still being a complete plonk head!

"Mamma G is an incurable romantic busybody
who thinks that by locking us in here we're simply going to fall into each
other's arms. And as appealing as the thought of having you under me may be, we
both know it's not that easy."

He threw her such a heated look, her body warmed
all the way down to her toes. Oh damn the man and her treacherous body's
response.

"No, you couldn't possibly have to talk to
me or be in the same room for more than five minutes, could you? She said we
need to
talk
, Marco, not be at it like rabbits. Or has your hearing left
you at the same time your reasoning fled, with your wine-soaked brain
cells."

Another step brought him so close, his body heat
consumed her. He shook his head at her and stalked back to the door.

Bleeding hell
,
being so casually dismissed by him, yet again, really hurt, but she was damned
if she let him see that. It would give him far too much power over her, and
their relationship was one sided enough as it was.
Hah, relationship, that
was a joke.

Elise watched in stunned disbelief as Marco
sized up the door, took a run at it with his shoulder and bounced clean off it.
She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing at the
expression on his face, when Mr. Macho idiot picked himself up off the floor
awkwardly holding his shoulder. The blessed door, she noticed, hadn't even
wobbled.

She couldn't stop her mouth from twitching when
he put his hand up to stop her and muttered,"Stand back, this is clearly
going to take more force than I thought. I don't want you getting hurt."

However, the sight of him taking a longer run at
it, before shoulder charging it like some enraged rhino, only to once again
bounce off it and end up in crumpled heap, had her erupt into uncontrollable
fits of laughter. Slightly hysterical laughter, granted, but once she
started,she didn't seem able to stop.

Marco, in the meantime, sat on the floor
swearing in Italian, before he clambered to his knees and slowly straightened
up. The boyish look of hurt pride he threw in her direction brought another fit
of the giggles. However, when he picked up one of Mamma G's prized possessions,
a rather hideous antique chair, Elise finally sobered up.

"Marco, you can't. You know that was her
mother's, and she wants Mimi to have that one day."

Marco visibly shuddered sizing the chair up. He
winked at her. "Well, in that case it is a father's duty to protect his
only daughter from a monstrosity such as this."

"Marco, if you break that chair trying to
get through those doors, Mamma G will never forgive you. Besides, knowing her
she will find something even more hideous to replace it. You really cannot do
that to Mimi, and that is after she breaks your head with what's left of this,
this, what the hell is this anyway?"

"Hmm, a chair designed for hunchback
midgets, perhaps? A medieval torture chamber, disguised as art work? A bidet,
gone horribly wrong?"

Marco's slightly amused voice made Elise's lips
twitch again.

"Well, whatever it is, the cushion was hand
stitched by her grandmother, don't you know. Granted she must have been blind,
but…"

 
"It
was my nonna's, and it will stay in this family even if we all have to wear
sunglasses!" They finished in unison, mimicking Mamma G's often heard
comment.

Marco's amused drawl changed to a full belly
laugh, and Elise had to join in. Every time they looked at each other they set
each other off again. Elise laughed so much tears streamed down her face. She
only sobered when Marco used his thumb to swipe the tears off her cheek. He
looked lost in thought.

"I guess chair breaking is off the menu
then,
pasticcino
, more’s the pity. I could do with breaking something."

"You made a good attempt of breaking your
shoulder with your chauvinistic stunt."

Elise couldn't help the slight catch in her
voice, brought on by his nearness and the way he studied her. She was rewarded
with a wicked smile.

"I wasn't being chauvinistic. I was being
manly. You're supposed to be impressed and swooning at my feet."

"Oh, excuse me, I must have missed the bit
where you're Tarzan and I'm Jane."

Another amused chuckle which turned Elise's
insides into complete mush. Oh hell, he was irresistible in this mood, and
judging by that smile he knew it.

Elise scrambled away from him with a muttered,
"There must be some ice in the en suite. Let me get it for your
shoulder." She breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't follow her.

A look into the bathroom mirror showed her
relief to be short-lived as Marco advanced towards her. Her heart gave a small
pang at the tense way he held himself. He'd hurt himself, the silly fool.

"What are you doing?"

"Absolutely nothing,
pasticcino
.
Just thought I'd come and see what Mamma G has put in here for us."

He glanced around the assortment of pastries,
cheeses, soft drinks, and fruit, and Elise's poor heart forgot to beat
completely at the devilish glint in his eyes when he looked at her.

"Shame, no pineapples, nor half the Ann
Summer's shop I was expecting. Guess we'll have to improvise."

Elise cursed the heat creeping into her cheeks
at his suggestive drawl and wished the bag of ice she was holding to her chest
so tightly her fingers cramped, would help to put out the liquid heat in her
veins.
Oh shit
.
What are you complaining about, girl? At least he's
paying you some attention now. Stop analyzing everything, and just go with it!

"You're hurt; let me look at that
shoulder."

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Marco shrugged to make his point but couldn't
hide the slight wince.