Kidnapping His Bride Read Online Free PDF

young wife waiting for you at home while you’re out doing whatever you want. Me, cleaning your house and warming your bed, making your meals and chasing your children, tied to this…lonely, unfulfilled life. And you’ll get everything you could ever want.” The bitterness in her voice was unmistakable. She didn’t want this sort of life or want him.
    But he didn’t want that sort of life either. Yes, he’d spoken to Matteo of the submissive little woman waiting at home for him, but did he really mean it?
    After spending just a few minutes with Catalina and seeing how she so desperately didn’t want a marriage like that, neither did he.
    He couldn’t believe how quickly she could change his mind.
    “You’re sorely mistaken if you think that’s all I want from you,” he started, but the withering stare she shot in his direction silenced him.
    “Please. You’ll say all the right things now because you want me to believe you, but be honest with yourself. You don’t know me, don’t love me or feel absolutely anything for me. Why would that change when we’re married? It wouldn’t. It absolutely wouldn’t, and you know it. In fact, our relationship would probably take a turn for the worse because we’ll slowly start to resent each other. Resent our businesslike marriage and how we let it happen.” She paused, pressing her lips together. Had she revealed too much? He was thankful for her candor even though it hurt.
    “You don’t want a relationship based on nothing,” he said, his voice flat.
    “Who would?”
    She had a valid point, one he couldn’t argue. Quite frankly, he’d grown weary of the argument for marriage in general. With Catalina, he got a sense that he couldn’t win. She would trump him every single time.
    Rafe knew the right move would be to back down and walk away. He didn’t want to—it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn’t want to be trapped forever with a resentful wife either.
    “You’re right,” he agreed, earning a shocked gasp in reply. “Our marriage would be based on nothing but an outlandish agreement made years ago between two men whose children didn’t know each other and never really would. I can’t ask you to marry me, Catalina. It wouldn’t be right.”
    She was quiet for a moment, staring at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he just said that.
    “It’s Cat,” she finally whispered, her voice trembling.
    Frowning, he met her troubled gaze. “What did you say?”
    “My friends and family, they call me Cat,” she explained, confusing him further. Certainly she didn’t think of him as a friend or a member of her family.
    So why mention the nickname now?
    “It just sounds so formal when you call me Catalina,” she explained further when he didn’t reply.
    “And isn’t that what you called our agreement? Too formal?” She had, hadn’t she? He couldn’t remember. The endless words they’d spoken to each other this evening were all starting to run together.
    She shrugged. “Yes, but…I got tired of hearing you call me Catalina.”
    “Well, Cat , I appreciate the sudden informality, but I suppose this is the end.” He liked the sound of it. Cat. The nickname fit her. Made him think of a gorgeous, sleek feline, slinking into his life, turning his head. This woman constantly aroused him to an almost painful state only to turn around and leave him in the dust.
    Exactly what she’d done to him tonight.
    “I guess so,” she agreed, her voice hollow, her gaze…sad? No, it couldn’t be. He was reading her wrong. He must’ve read her wrong for years.
    What an idiot he was.
    “This is what you want.”
    “Absolutely.” She nodded. “Freedom. I’m dying for a taste of freedom. I want to see the world before I settle down, you know? We used to spread our time evenly between Chicago and here, but the last few years, we’ve rarely left Italy.”
    Chicago was the U.S. base for Campioni, where many of their relatives lived and also