Abby bounced for joy within his embrace. “Oh, Dominic, that’s perfect!” She rained kisses on his jaw. “You are one amazing man.”

“I know,” he said with a self satisfied smile that held a hint of something else. From the way he was beginning to shift against her, she knew that his mind was already wandering away from the evaluation of his character and back to the master bedroom he’d shown her just a few moments earlier.

She ran a finger lightly over his lower lip. “Have I told you how much fun being here is? Even if I’m technically no longer being held against my will.”

He pulled her tighter against him, lifting her slightly off her feet. “I’ll do my best to make it live up to your fantasy.” He swung her up and over his shoulder and announced in a poor pirate impression, “Yer mine, wench, to take back to my room and ravish as I wish. Arrh.”

Abby laughed against his back. “Thank God you went into computers and not theatre.”

Dominic spanked her playfully on top his shoulder. “Don’t mock yer captor, woman. There’ll be a price to pay for yer insubordination.”

Just before Dominic stepped through the large double doors and into the house’s interior, the mood was broken by the sound of two helicopters landing on the grass of the lawn on the opposite side of the house. Still hung upside down over Dominic’s shoulder, Abby watched in horror as, simultaneously, a military plane squealed to a halt on the airfield in the distance.

Dominic slid Abby down to her feet beside him. The two stood side by side in shocked silence for what seemed like an eternity before Dominic asked, his voice laced with humor, “Did you call Zhang back to tell her that we’d made up?”

Abby covered her mouth with one hand, “Crap.”

Dominic waved over one of his security guards to apprise him of the situation calmly. Dominic accepted the complication with surprising grace; simply handing Abby his cell phone and saying, “Well, you’d better call her now, because the men jumping off that plane have machine guns. I don’t think they are going to listen to me.”

Zhang’s laughter boomed through airwaves in response to Abby’s hasty explanation and apology. Instantly there was a reorganization of the men on the airfield, followed by a reboarding of the plane which efficiently headed back down the runway for takeoff. Abby let out a relieved breath and agreed to Zhang’s only request.

After closing the phone, Abby handed it back to Dominic.

“What did she say?” he asked.

“She wants to be invited to the wedding,” Abby said with a smile, but couldn’t shake off the uneasiness she’d felt at what else Zhang had said. “But, Dominic, she said that she didn’t send any helicopters. So, who is on the front lawn?”

Formerly invisible security filled the home and headed toward the unidentified intruders. Dominic and Abby rushed after them. The press wouldn’t be foolish enough to follow them here, would they? She doubted Dominic would deal lightly with any trespassing on his island. Security systems were lighting up throughout the house giving the glass fortress the kind of protection many of its medieval predecessors would have envied.

"The Cavalry has arrived," Abby said with irony when the first of the intruders stepped out of the helicopters. The ever efficient looking Mrs. Duhamel was quickly followed by Jake who had his arm protectively over the back of Lil and her baby.

Mimicking Dominic’s earlier tone, Abby teased, “Did you forget to tell Jake?”

Dominic’s lips pursed in humor at her well aimed jab.

The door of the second helicopter opened and Thomas Brogos, the family’s lawyer stepped out with an older woman Abby didn’t recognize. Dominic’s hand went stone cold within Abby’s.

"What is it, Dominic?" Abby asked, seeing his attention rivet to the older woman. "Who is she?"

"My mother," he said hoarsely.

Abby continued standing on her shaky knees only out of determination to stay calm for Dominic. His mother? Here? How was it possible?

Lil handed Colby to Jake and broke from the group in a run. She wrapped her arms around her sister, asking fervently, "Are you ok, Abby?"

Abby hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm fine, Lil."

Lil held her at arms’ length and searched her face for any signs of abuse. "The news said that Dominic practically forced you to come here. I called Jake right away and he arranged for Marie and I to take a jet to Alghero. Jake said you were fine, but I had to see for myself. Is this payback for all the years of grief I gave you?"

Abby smiled and reassured the sister who now seemed hellbent on hugging the life out of her. "It was just a misunderstanding."

Mrs. Duhamel stepped forward. "Dominic, you release Abby at once." She pointed to the security that was scattered across the perimeter of lawn. "You've probably got the girl scared half to death with this chauvinistic power play. In my day, a man showed more respect..."

Her lecture tapered off when Abby disentangled from her sister long enough to give the older woman a quick hug. "He’s asked me to marry him, Marie, and I said yes!”

Mrs. Duhamel coughed in surprise and hugged her back. "Well, that’s fine, then.”

In her excitement, Abby hadn't realized that Dominic was no longer beside her. She turned to check his reaction to her announcement and saw him standing off to the side, about ten feet away from the woman who shared many of his facial features.

"Mother," he said the word like an accusation.

The woman stepped toward him despite the closed expression on his face. "Dominic!" she exclaimed tearfully.

"I thought you were dead," his expression held little emotion. It was as cold and lifeless as his hand had become the moment he'd seen her.

"It was necessary for you to think that, Dominic." She wrung her hands, her eyes pleading for his understanding.

"Really?" he said as if it were something from long ago that held little interest for him now.

His mother rushed to explain. "If your father had known that I was still alive, nothing would have stopped him from coming after me. He would have made me pay for leaving him. I would have never been safe."

"You could have told me." His voice became ragged. "I looked for you for years. I paid countless agencies to scour the world for you. Money was no object. They all said you were dead."

She wiped a tear from her cheek and looked at the man beside her. "I returned to my home country, Dominic. To my old village. There is a loyalty there that no amount of money can shake."

"You dare speak of loyalty?" Dominic’s voice boomed. "You left us."

His mother bent over as if his words caused her actual pain. "I was weak, Dominic. Your father had crushed all of my confidence out of me. He would never have let me leave. And I couldn't take you with me. You were 17. Almost a man. Staying with him offered you a legacy of wealth I never could. Once in Italy, I faked my death and created a new identity for myself, but I had no idea if it would actually work. I chose a life on the run for many years -- living where I could on what money people were kind enough to give me. What kind of life would that have been for you?"

Dominic face whitened with anger. "I didn't want his legacy. I walked away from him after you left. You could have come to me then. You could have given a note to one of the investigators I sent looking for you. Why didn't you come to me? I could have protected you."

His mother paled also. Her thin shoulders shook with emotion. "At first you were too young, Dominic. Your father would have crushed you as he crushed me. He was a vengeful man. Then, later, when your company took off..."

"Yes?" he ground out. "Why didn't you come then?"

"You were on the news, taking over company after company..." her voice trailed away.

Dominic simply stood in silent accusation of her.

She continued in a tormented whisper, "…so much like your father. I was afraid to come to you. I didn't know if you could forgive me and I still feared what your father would do if he found out I was alive."

Dominic railed against this. His hands tightened into fists at his sides. "So now that he is dead you think you can simply jump up and announce that it was all a trick, a ruse? Why did you come here today?”

Abby moved to stand beside Dominic. She took one of his fisted hands in both of hers, simply holding onto him. Let me in, she thought fervently. Don’t block me out.

Dominic had said that he was ready to share his life with someone, to be a real partner. Abby felt the sting of uncertainty in the face of that declaration being tested so soon. What would she do if he announced that this was none of her business? Extreme circumstances didn’t often bring out the best in people and what could be more extreme than a mother Dominic had mourned the death of simply stepping off a helicopter?

What am I doing? He doesn’t need to prove anything to me. He loves me.

If he needed to handle this confrontation alone, she would support that decision. She loosened her hold on his hand in preparation of doing just that.

Instantly, Dominic’s fingers uncurled and wove with hers. He pulled her ever so slightly closer to him. She gave him a reassuring squeeze that was returned without hesitation. For just a second, he looked away from his mother to gaze gratefully down at her.

Abby fell in love with him all over again. This was the gentle man he didn’t like to admit he was and the reason she believed he really would have left his company and started over for her.

Dominic’s mother’s tearful voice drew their attention again. "I know what I did was wrong, Dominic. I was weak. I was scared. I wish I could go back and undo the whole thing. But when I heard about you and Abby, I knew I had to tell you why I left before you ended up repeating your father’s mistakes.”

"I don’t need your help. I’m not my father," Dominic growled, his anger increasing at the mention of Abby.

Jake stepped closer and interceded. "Dom, listen to what she’s saying. She came here for you. She’s knows that what she did was wrong, but she’s asking you to forgive her. Can you honestly look at her and say that you've never done anything that you were ashamed of? Are you living a life without regrets, Dom?"

Dominic's hand clenched Abby's painfully. He glared at Jake. "God, I hate that you know me so well." He looked across at his mother, seeing her as a person for the first time and grudgingly admitted, "The truth is that I’m no better than you, Mother. I left Nicole. For the same reasons that you left me -- except perhaps more out of anger than fear, but I honestly thought that she'd fare better in the gilded cage than fighting him from the gutter as I intended to."

Thomas put a supportive arm around Dominic’s mother’s waist. He clearly thought that Dominic could be handling the situation better, but was willing to let the scene play out as long as no intentional hurt was done to the woman beside him.

"Can you ever forgive me, Dominic?" Dominic’s mother asked softly.

Silence hung heavy in the warm Mediterranean air.