She wouldn’t.
When Matt arrived home later that day, she hid her love from him and prayed to God she could keep doing it until the year was up. Their physical relationship would have to be enough.
So why hadn’t he kissed her hello?
And why didn’t he pull her into his arms and hold her close? she wondered throughout dinner. Was this the way it was going to be? Were they just going to be lovers in the bedroom and nothing else?
Her heart slumped against her rib cage as she realized something. He hadn’t asked Ruth to move his things into the master bedroom. Or was he going to do it himself? Were they even going to share a bed now?
Oh God.
Was Matt having second thoughts?
She was tempted to come right out and ask him, once they’d put Megan to bed and were sitting in the living room watching television. At least they could talk without any interruption, Ruth having left a short while ago to spend the night at her sister’s place.
She was working up the courage to speak when without warning he grabbed the remote and turned the television off.
“I had a phone call today,” he said. “From Dan Moore.”
Her eyes went wide. “Uncle Dan?”
He nodded. “He received your letter but he didn’t know the phone number for the house, so he called you at work. Irene put him through to me.”
“And?”
“He’d just gotten back from South Africa. He wanted you to know he was delighted about your marriage and he sent his love.” He watched her carefully. “He also said to tell you that Aimee and Julien send their love.”
She blinked, then quickly pretended to brush some lint off her dress. “How nice.”
Silence.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Lana?”
She looked up. “What?”
“That your uncle is bisexual.”
She gave a soft gasp. “How do you know that?”
“Dan told me Julien was his lover.” He grimaced. “Did you expect me to be shocked? His sexual preferences don’t matter to me.”
“They do to the press. I owe Dan so much. I’d hate to repay him by having his private life dragged out in the open.”
“I wouldn’t tell the press. They’d be the last I’d tell anything.”
She shook her head. “Matt, just being related to a Valente is enough to send them into a media feeding frenzy. We were lucky that they romanticized our wedding because of Megan, but Dan’s reputation wouldn’t escape so easily.”
He studied her. “He’s the reason you let me believe you’d bought the apartment with the stolen money?”
Her eyes widened. “You know about that too?”
“Dan said he wanted to deed the apartment he bought you over to Megan.”
“Oh, he’s such a lovely man.” Then she remembered something. “I’m surprised you didn’t find all this when you did a background check on me. And I know you would have done one, Matt. I’m not naïve. It’s a necessary evil for people with money.”
“My father ordered the report on you. I didn’t read it, but he gave me a brief rundown and that was all.” He frowned. “I should have read it. It might have saved a lot of arguments between us.”
“But it might not have said anything about Dan and Julien. I was just fearful in case that did come to light and someone somewhere leaked it to the papers.”
He considered her for a long moment.
“Tell me about your parents, Lana.”
She started in surprise, then groaned inwardly. If Matt had loved her she would have no hesitation in telling him about her background. People in love did that sort of thing, sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings.
But there was only one of them in love here.
Her.
Then she looked at him and saw a determined look in his eyes that said he wouldn’t let her hold back.
“My parents’ marriage was…abusive to say the least,” she began, her throat croaky with words that had never been said before. “My father used to drink and he’d hit my mother, and my mother used to blame him for all her ills, and that in turn gave my father reason to drink. It was a vicious circle and I was caught in the middle.” She drew a calming breath. “Thankfully Dan paid for me to go to boarding school when I turned twelve. Things were much better for me then.”
A muscle knotted in his jaw. “I’m sorry.”
She gave a strained smile. “Thank you, but there’s no need.”
Dear God, she hated thinking about those days. As a little girl her father had been remote and her mother had been loving and caring, but as the years passed it seemed that her mother had forgotten she had a daughter and had been hell-bent on making her husband’s life a misery. Dan had tried to get his sister and brother-in-law some help, but they hadn’t wanted it.
“From police reports they’d been arguing hours before the family home had burned to the ground with them in it.”
“Bloody hell! I know they were dead but not how it happened.”
“I know. It gives me nightmares sometimes.”
There was a lengthy pause.
“Then I’m here to hold you.” He held her eyes captive. “Come to me, Lana.”
“Wh…what? There?” she said, looking at where he patted his lap. She was suddenly aware that they were alone.
“Yes, right here.”
He waited.
She got to her feet and closed the gap between them, sinking down to sit on his lap. It felt strange sitting here like this with him.
“Look at me.”
She lifted her head to look him in the eye.
He ran his palm up and down her shoulder in a comforting gesture. “I don’t want you to feel alone anymore, Lana.”
“I don’t. I have Megan.”
“You have me, too. Even after all this is over, I’ll still be here for you.”
Her heart rolled over. He didn’t love her but he was showing her he cared about her. Oh, how she wished things could be different.
“Thank you, Matt,” she said huskily.
He put his fingers under her chin. “Come here.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Closer,” he murmured, tugging her chin toward him. “I want your lips against mine. I want my body against yours. I want to be inside you.”