Page 4 of Urgent Vows
CATALINA
I don't believe him about the humiliation.
Being stood up at the altar will make him look weak and a don cannot tolerate appearing anything but fully in control. Especially the most powerful don in New York, the head of the Five Families.
I believe him implicitly about my sister paying the highest price, however.
My fatherwillkill her, especially now that his plan to foist me off as Don De Luca's unknowing surrogate bride has failed.
If I marry the don, my plans to run away will be ruined. But marriage to him will get me out of my father's house and away from his abuse, with no risk of being caught and dragged back into my own personal hell.
As the don's wife, I will be untouchable by anyone but him.
Unlike Carlotta, who has fantasies about living anormallife, away fromla famiglia, I only ever wanted to be safe.
I never wanted to leave her, or our aunt and uncle, behind. Only our father. Marriage to the don will make it possible for me to keep my family in my life while putting me off limits to my father's fists.
I would also be marrying the only man who has ever starred in the kind of dreams that have me waking with my lady parts pulsing. Once his engagement to my sister was made official, my need to run away became even more imperative.
How could I stay, knowing I wanted the man she would call husband?
"Promise me you will never raise your hand to me. Not in anger, not as cold, calculated punishment. Never." I know what the rumors say, but if they were true, then my father would not be Severu De Luca's consigliere.
And he wouldn't have kept his position as the former don's consigliere all those years either.
The don's expression turns dark and forbidding. "The De Luca's do not beat their wives."
"I'm not concerned about your whole family. I want your personal vow."
"You have it," he grits out, obviously offended I need the assurance.
Too bad. This is the only thing I will ask for myself. Because I will not jump from the frying pan directly into the fire, not even for Carlotta's sake.
"Any other conditions?" he asks, his tone implying there had better not be.
I shake my head.
He frowns. "Are you sure?"
I am shocked he asks and even more so that he seems to want me to think about it before answering.
"Nothing else."
"Then you agree to become my wife." It's not a question.
I nod anyway.
"Say it."
"Yes, I will marry you." My ovaries sing the Hallelujah Chorus while my nerves jangle to an acid techno beat.
No matter how stressed I am, my ovaries are winning. I can only hope I'll get a chance to change my panties before we consummate the marriage. If he discovers how soaked they have become just from being this close to him and talking about getting married, I'll die of shame.
"I will find your sister and stop your father from punishing her," he promises in return, reminding me and my unruly body why I'm supposed to have agreed to this in the first place.
"Thank you."
"Where are the necklace and earrings I sent for Carlotta to wear? Did she take them with her?"
