Dante's Honour-bound Husband

“Okay.” But instead of drinking, she set it aside. She could tell her actions didn’t please him and wasn’t quite certain if he objected to her contrariness or the fact that he’d gone to the trouble of bringing her a drink she hadn’t bothered to finish. She touched his hand to distract him. “But then you’ll explain about you and Constantine and whatever this old history is between you, right? His sister, Ariana, is married to my cousin Lazz, remember? And I flat-out adore her. I don’t want your disagreement with Constantine to interfere with my relationship with her.”

“Of course not.” He stood and held out his hand. “Why don’t we slip out the back way?”

“If it’ll avoid a confrontation, I’m all for it,” Gianna agreed.

“Why didn’t you tell me they were dating?” Constantine demanded of Gianna’s brothers.

Luc shrugged. “Didn’t know it had anything to do with you.”

Draco frowned. “And just out of curiosity, why does it have anything to do with you?”

Time to make one thing crystal clear to all the Dantes. Constantine folded his arms across his chest and eyed them one by one. “From now on everything about Gianna has to do with me,” he stated.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Rafe held up his hands. “I know you two met at Lazz’s wedding. But when the hell did it go from how-do-you-do to she’s-mine-let’s-kill-the-competition? Not that I mind, you understand. I’d just like you to fill in a few of the blanks.”

How could they even ask that question? They knew how The Inferno worked. They must know what Gianna had chosen to do to him. “It went from one to the other as soon as we shook hands.”

Luc’s brows shot upward. “The Inferno?”

“She Infernoed you?” Rafe burst out laughing. “Way to go, little sister.”

“This is not a laughing matter.” Constantine could hear his accent deepening and fought for control. “It might have been polite to ask before she…Infernoed me.”

Draco gave him a sympathetic slap on the back. “Yeah, sorry about that. Doesn’t really work that way, I’m afraid.”

Constantine’s eyes narrowed. “When we have more time, perhaps you would be so kind as to explain exactly how it does work.”

“Hell, if any of us knew that we wouldn’t all be standing here with a ball and chain manacled to our ankles,” Rafe said cheerfully. He shot out his hand and captured his wife’s wrist, reeling her in. “Isn’t that right, my sweet little chain?”

“You just said that because you knew I was standing there, didn’t you?” Larkin demanded crossly.

“If you can’t handle the truth, don’t eavesdrop.” Her mouth opened to give him a piece of her mind and he took immediate advantage. They both reemerged a moment later, a bit bewitched and bewildered. He cupped his wife’s face and gazed down at her with unmistakable adoration. “Just so you know, I’ve never been more grateful for that chain or the fact that it goes both ways…and I always will.”

A short time later, Gianna found herself in David’s car, pulling out of the Dantes’ garage. He gave the Jaguar its head, the powerful car eating up the hills of the city a little faster than she’d have liked. He was so different from Constantine. It was almost as though David had something to prove. As though he were trying to show her that he was the better man. Instead of being impressed, she found his actions vaguely sad.

She yawned. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular. I just thought we’d take a drive out of the city, then park and talk.”

He sped through a yellow light and she touched his arm. For some reason it took serious effort, almost as though her limbs had turned to lead. Preparing for the gala must have worn her out more than she realized. “Pull over for just a minute.”

“Wait until we’re out of the city.”

“No, seriously. Pull over. I want you to do something for me.”

He spared her a brief, impatient look, then braked a little harder than necessary and rolled to a stop in a red zone beside a fire hydrant. “Okay, I’ve pulled over. Now what?”