Lessons Learned

her.”
    Muttering something nasty, he stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’ll write to her myself.”
    “That might be just the right touch—if you let legal take a look at it first.”
    He scowled, then looked at her carefully from head to foot. She hadn’t changed. He’d known she wouldn’t. Somehow that fact comforted and distressed all at once. “You came to Rome to discuss lawsuits with me?”
    She took her life in her hands. “I came to Rome,” she said simply.
    He wasn’t sure he could go any closer without having to touch, and touching, take. The hurt hadn’t faded. He wasn’t certain it ever would. “Why?”
    “Because I didn’t forget.” Since he wouldn’t come to her, she went to him. “Because I couldn’t forget, Carlo. You asked me to come and I was afraid. You said you loved me and I didn’t believe you.”
    He curled his fingers to keep them still. “And now?”
    “Now I’m still afraid. The moment I was alone, the moment I knew you’d gone, I had to stop pretending. Even when I had to admit I was in love with you, I thought I could work around it. I thought I had to work around it.”
    “Juliet.” He reached for her, but she stepped back quickly.
    “I think you’d better wait until I finish. Please,” she added when he only came closer.
    “Then finish quickly. I need to hold you.”
    “Oh, Carlo.” She closed her eyes and tried to hang on. “I want to believe I can have a life with you without giving up what I am, what I need to be. But you see, I love you so much I’m afraid I’d give up everything the moment you asked me.”
    “ Dio, what a woman!” Because she wasn’t certain if it was a compliment or an insult, Juliet remained silent as he took a quick turn around the room. “Don’t you understand that I love you too much to ask? If you weren’t who you are, I wouldn’t be in love with you? If I love Juliet Trent, why would I want to change her into that Juliet Trent?”
    “I don’t know, Carlo. I just—”
    “I was clumsy.” When she lifted her hands, he caught them in his to quiet her. “The night I asked you to marry me, I was clumsy. There were things I wanted to say, ways I’d wanted to say them, but it was too important. What comes easily with every woman becomes impossible with the only woman.”
    “I didn’t think you’d meant—”
    “No.” Before she could resist, he’d brought her hands to his lips. “I’ve thought back on what I said to you. You thought I was asking you to give up your job, your home, and come to Rome to live with me. I was asking less, and much more. I should have said—Juliet, you’ve become my life and without you, I’m only half of what I was. Share with me.”
    “Carlo, I want to.” She shook her head and went into his arms. “I want to. I can start over, learn Italian. There must be a publisher in Rome who could use an American.”
    Drawing her back by the shoulders, he stared at her. “What are you talking about, starting over? You’re starting your own firm. You told me.”
    “It doesn’t matter. I can—”
    “No.” He took her more firmly. “It matters a great deal, to both of us. So you’ll have your own firm one day in New York. Who knows better than I how successful you’ll be? I can have a wife to brag about as much as I brag about myself.”
    “But you have your restaurant here.”
    “Yes. I think perhaps you’d consider having a branch of your public relations company in Rome. Learning Italian is an excellent decision. I’ll teach you myself. Who better?”
    “I don’t understand you. How can we share our lives if I’m in New York and you’re in Rome?”
    He kissed her because it had been much too long. He drew her closer because she was willing to give something he’d never have asked. “I never told you my plans that night. I’ve been considering opening another restaurant. Franconi’s in Rome is, of course, the best. Incomparable.”
    She found his mouth again, dismissing any plans but that. “Of course.”
    “So, a Franconi’s in New York would be twice the best.”
    “In New York?” She tilted her head back just enough to see him. “You’re thinking of opening a restaurant in New York?”
    “My lawyers are already looking for the right property. You see, Juliet, you wouldn’t have escaped me for long.”
    “You were coming back.”
    “Once I could be certain I wouldn’t murder you. We have our roots in two countries. We have our business in two