Merl was so flustered she spilled the tea she was pouring. Gasping out an apology, she mopped it up with a wad of napkins.

“I’ll take care of it.” Luca’s hand closed over hers. “Thank you for all your extra help this weekend. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

“I couldn’t possibly, sir.” She stood and smoothed her hands down her perfectly ironed apron. “There’s this week’s meals to plan yet and—”

“I insist,” he said firmly. “Go rest or go on one of your famous nature walks, whatever you like. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”

“But, sir!”

They engaged in a dual of gazes until Merl turned away with a sigh of defeat. “I suppose I could start working on your wedding quilt.” Shaking her head, she left the room.

“Wow. An employee who actually enjoys being employed by you. Did you have her hypnotized or what?” Jacey wanted to bite her tongue as soon as the words left her mouth.

But Luca didn’t seem to take offense. He gave a low chuckle that made her knees tingle and cupped her face with both hands. “It’s because I’m irresistible.” He brushed a thumb across her lower lip. “The same reason you agreed to marry me.”

Jacey shivered, resting her hands on his shoulders and wondering if she’d ever be able to resist the man.

“Cold,” he asked, running his warm hands up and down her arms.

“More famished than cold,” she countered, making a fist and tapping him on the chest. “I’m going to wither away if you don’t hurry up and feed me.”

For an answer, he reached for the food tray and set it on his lap. They faced each other taking each other’s measure.

“Really? I was sort of kidding about the feeding part,” she confessed dryly.

“Really.” He mimicked her tone, swooped up one of slivered cucumbers, and stuffed a bite heaped with Tarragon egg salad in her mouth.

The melody of flavors burst over her hungry tastebuds like sunshine. She moaned and briefly closed her eyes while she chewed. It had been a long time since she tasted anything so well prepared. She’d been eating way too much fast and frozen food lately.

“You like?”

Her eyelids fluttered open in time to watch him lick a drop of the egg salad off his thumb.

“It’s divine,” she admitted. “More, please.”

He fed her another bite, watching her between half-closed lids.

The thought struck her that Easton had never been so focused on her. The few times they’d snatched a meal together, he immediately launched into talk of cars or races or something else related to his career and personal ambitions. Not Luca. He was absorbed in the moment. In her. Studying her with pure male interest. There was an uncharacteristically gentle set to his normally curled lips.

He didn’t seem to feel the need to fill every moment with conversation either. He fed her in leisure silence, punctuating the bites he offered her with nipping little kisses on the corner of her mouth and against her fingertips.

“Thirsty?” He reached for the mug of hot tea Merl had poured for her minutes earlier.

“Yes.” It was swimming with autumn spices and cooled down just enough to sip on. Luca played with the seam of her jeans while she drank, tugging idly at a loose thread.

Jacey took a larger gulp that she intended of her tea and coughed.

Eyes tinted with knowing humor, he took the mug from her and returned it to the breakfast tray.

“You okay there, cara?” His arms came around her.

Maybe. She hoped. No, not even close.

“How would you like to get married outside?” she asked desperately, needing a little more time to adjust to the change in their status. We’re engaged. I’m actually engaged to Luca Calcagni! It was still sinking in.

“It’s November,” he reminded mildly, hitching her closer. “It’s starting to get pretty chilly out there.”

“I don’t mind,” she assured breathlessly. She wanted everything about her second wedding to be different from her drive-by first one at a small chapel in Vegas. She’d not had flowers or a wedding dress the first time. Or a cake.

“If that’s what you truly want? Consider it done.” He held her gaze steadily. “We should probably get married before the snowy season sets in. How soon can you be ready?”

Her laugh bubbled up like sparkling cider and spilled into the solarium. “I’m between jobs, remember? My schedule is wide open.”

He treated her to one of his beautiful, rare smiles. “Then there’s no reason to wait. We’ll get married right away. I’ll show you Mother’s wedding ring after breakfast. If you like it, it’s yours. If you don’t like it, we’ll go ring shopping.”

He wanted her to wear his mother’s ring? Jacey twined her arms around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder. She was too moved for words. It made their eighteen-year wedding seem more like a real one.

“Mi princesa,” he muttered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

He held her to their agreement to marry quickly, giving her just enough time to purchase a dress, have it altered, and order a small wedding cake.

Two weeks later, they stood beneath a tall, white hexagonal tent in the rear courtyard of his estate. Though Luca had agreed to her wishes for an outdoor wedding, he’d insisted on the tent and an array of outdoor space heaters. The officiating minister awaited them beneath an arched rose trellis, handwoven with hundreds of hothouse blooms that would have otherwise been out of season. Roses of fire, gold, and ruby hues.

It seemed wrong to wear white so soon after Easton’s funeral, and there was not enough time to order and be fitted for a proper wedding dress. So Jacey wore a multi-hued silk fabric that was part pink and part gold depending on how the light caught it. It was a stunning gown of lace and silk from a local evening wear shop. When they’d learned about her rapid-fire wedding, they were happy to escalate the needed adjustments.

She lifted the skirt a few inches to make sure her shoes weren’t snagged on the hem and let it settle again. It was a strapless gown that showed off her slender form to perfection. She knew Luca considered her to be too thin, so she’d chosen a high-waisted gown that de-emphasized her recent loss of weight.

Luca wore a charcoal tuxedo with a dark wine cumber bun and matching tie over a snowy white shirt. He bent to speak in her ear. “You look stunning, mi princesa.” His minty breath stirred the tendrils of hair dancing against her cheek in the crisp breeze.

She didn’t require compliments. The look in his eyes always made her feel beautiful, but it was nice to receive one from him. “You look pretty incredible yourself.”

“Thank you.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it lingeringly before tucking it over his arm. “Ready?”

Was she ready to become Luca Calcagni’s wife? It was a heady question. She nodded, lost in the surreality of the moment. She pressed her bouquet of roses and star-gazer lilies to her belly. This is for you, little one. She prayed she was doing the right thing.

The tent was positioned over the central garden pathway leading from his terrace. Edric, Waverly, Rhys, and Knox lined one side of the path. Alora and Greyson stood on the other. Her remaining two siblings, Bailey and Kellan, weren’t present. Neither were her parents or grandparents.

Her thoughts turned dark at how thoroughly they had cut her out of their lives. As if divining the direction her mind had wandered, Luca placed his free hand over the one she had resting on his arm and squeezed.

The diamond choker, which he’d claimed had been worn by every Calcagni bride (other than Easton’s), warmed her neck. Her breathing suddenly constricted beneath it.

Her fingers tightened on his arm. “It’s not too late to back out, Luca,” she declared quietly but firmly. “We haven’t said our vows yet.”

He glanced down at her, his expression going blank. “Have you changed your mind, carina?”

“Me? No. There’s just something about this whole thing that doesn’t seem fair to you.”

He flicked a finger beneath her chin, scowling and tipping her face up to search her features. “What’s not fair about it?”

Out of habit, she nearly bit her lower lip but stopped just in time. Red lipstick. White teeth. She wanted to keep them that way. “For one thing, I’m widowed and pregnant, while this is your first trip to the alter.”

His scowl deepened. “So? Back in ancient times, it was common practice for a surviving brother to marry his brother’s widow. Taking care of one’s own is a longstanding and very honorable tradition.”

A beautiful thought, yet it scared her to think that Luca was sacrificing himself on the alter of duty. Ancient tradition or not, a modern man like himself was in no way obligated to fix everything his brother had messed up. Like her. She started to step away from him, but his hand settled on her shoulders, holding her in place.

“If you’re only marrying me out of your enormous sense of family duty, Luca, please don’t. Someday you’ll regret it. I know all about regrets.”

He silenced her with a kiss on the edge of her mouth. Tender and sweet. One that didn’t muss her lipstick. “Believe me, mi querida. I am marrying you because I want you, and I will prove it to you. Soon.”

She was grateful he’d insisted she didn’t wear stilettos, because his words unbalanced her.

The stringed quartet he’d hired played the opening stanzas of the wedding march.

He placed his hand over her gloved hand on his arm. “It’s time, cara.” He guided her between their assembled family members. A cameraman followed them to snap pictures, bulbs flashing wildly.

The minister smiled benignly when they took their places beneath the trellis and waited for the music to end. “Dearly beloved,” He launched straight into the simple ceremony they’d planned.

Luca slid an enormous blue square diamond on her ring finger. It was at least five carats and probably worth more than any single item of jewelry she’d ever worn, with possibly the exception of the choker around her neck. It was surrounded by a cluster of smaller round white diamonds set in a white gold band. They winked and flashed like fire.

The heirloom beauty of it was so breathtaking it made her hand tremble.

Luca bent to speak softly in her ear. “It matches your eyes, mi angel.” He drew a white gold band from his pocket for her to slide on his hand.

He didn’t wait for the minister’s permission. He sealed their vows with a gentle, possessive kiss.

When they turned to face their families again, they were married. A sense of finality swelled in Jacey’s chest. And enormity. And lightheadedness. She wished someone would assure her she hadn’t made yet another horrible mistake.

Luca’s grip tightened on her arm as their families closed in on them. Waverly and Edric reached them first.

“Congratulations.” Waverly kissed Jacey’s cheek. “For your marriage and for conceiving my first great-grandchild.” With a firm nod and glistening eyes, she took a step back to stand by her beaming husband’s side.

They knew about the baby.

Rhys leaned in for the next kiss, brushing his lips against her cheek and stepping back to survey her gravely.

“Thank you, Rhys,” she whispered. “For everything.”

He nodded, still searching her face. Knox stepped up to her next and shook her hand. He didn’t say anything, but he regarded her with a gentler expression than the hard look she was accustomed to receiving from him.

Jacey was confused. It was as if Easton’s baby had changed the way they viewed her in an instant. Did her unborn child really mean that much to them? It was both humbling and unsettling to know her womb was carrying something so treasured by the entire Calcagni clan.

The legal paperwork Luca had drawn up required her to take on his surname. He’d moved Maddox to her middle name. No hyphen. It looked right somehow. He wasn’t asking her to give up her identity entirely, but he was claiming her as a Calcagni. As his.

A few weeks ago, she would have balked against such a change but no longer. Not after her family had so thoroughly betrayed her. She signed the marriage license and prenuptial agreement without questioning them and became Jacey Maddox Calcagni.

Mrs. Jacey Calcagni. Mrs. Jacey Maddox Calcagni. She rolled every variation of it over in her mind. Her new name was going to take some getting used to.

Then again, change was in the air. The most important change, however, was taking place inside her body. Why shouldn’t her name reflect the wonder and miracle of all that was happening to her? Plus it meant she, Luca, and her son would bear the same surname. Things would be easier that way.

When she laid down the pen after signing the last signature field, Alora was there to envelope her in a hug while Greyson patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. “You better keep calling,” her sister threatened with a fierce hitch to her voice. “Even if you don’t need any more favors from me now that you’ve married a sinfully rich man.”

“I will,” Jacey promised, grateful she’d come. “Ah, how are the others?”

“They’re doing well. Bailey wanted to come, but she and Mother are really tight. Awkward, you know?”

It meant their mother, Nora, had refused to come.

“As for Kellan?” Alora fluttered her hands. “You know him. Always traveling. This time he’s on business in Rome. He sends his regrets and says to expect a big, expensive wedding gift from him when he returns. Dad is furious, of course. Not going to lie. He can’t believe you’re hitching yourself to another Calcagni, and our grandparents refuse to acknowledge the union at all.”

Jacey wasn’t surprised. She just wished she could finally reach the place where she didn’t care. “Do they know about the baby?”

Alora drew back, shaking her head. “Not yet. Greyson and I decided it was your news to share whenever you’re ready.” She spared a glance at Luca who was engaged in a stilted conversation with the unsmiling Greyson and lowered her voice. “Not that you asked for my opinion, but I think you made a better choice this time around. Luca Calcagni is exactly the kind of man you need.”

“A fire-breathing dragon to keep your wayward younger sibling in check, eh?”

Alora belted out a laugh that made all heads turn their way. “True, but that’s not what I meant. This one’s all grown up, love. Now go be happy with him.”

Go be happy with him. Alora’s words swam through Jacey’s chaotic thoughts as she removed her wedding dress and hung it in her vast new walk-in closet. Her designer shoe collection was already on display, accentuated by clever recessed lighting. Luca had wasted no time moving her things from her tiny apartment and terminating her rental agreement.

He’d made it clear from the beginning he wanted her to share his master suite, though he’d promised she could use the guest room next door until she was ready for…other things.

She shivered and tugged on a white silk robe, another one of his many gifts. This is it. She drew a deep and bracing breath. Time to face the complicated and unpredictable man she’d married.

He was waiting her at the side bar of his suite in a navy silk robe. At the sight of her, he stilled for a moment to drink in her approach. She loved the way he did that, the way he made her feel like she was the most important thing in his world.

He held out a glass of sparkling white grape juice.

She accepted it and cupped the glass with both hands. She faced him, acutely aware of every move he made, every breath he took, every brush of silk fabric. She was a mass of thrumming, ultra-sensitive nerve endings.

Luca took her glass when she finished sipping and set it down. “Mrs. Calcagni, you make a lovely bride.”

“Thank you.” She was unsure what to say next. Compliments always made her uncomfortable.

He swooped in on her, backing her against the paneling. He laced their fingers together and pressed her hands to the wall on either side of her head. “I can’t believe you’re finally mine. Ever since I first laid eyes on you nine years ago, I’ve wanted you to be mine.” His amber gaze glinted with tender exultation.

Nine years, huh? All the way back to that silly, teenage stunt she’d pulled in full view of him on the beach.

“Could have fooled me.” Was that thin, breathless voice really hers? “You were pretty crabby during our first encounter and even more venomous during my job interview.” All those verbal slaps they’d exchanged and the way he’d tossed her resume in the wastebasket seemed like eons ago.

“Only because I was trying to keep it professional when what I really wanted to do was this.” He claimed her mouth at last.