Million-Dollar Marriage Merger - By Charlene Sands Page 0,2

painfully tender when he caught her arm. “Let me help.”

A lump formed in her throat. He didn’t know what he was asking. She’d never accept his help. She glanced into dark, piercing, patient eyes. That was something for the record books—a patient Tony Carlino. He hadn’t become a national stock car champion from his ability to wait.

She shook her head briskly. “Please don’t touch me.”

Tony glanced at his hand lying gently on her arm, then stroked the length of it, sliding his hand freely up and down. “I mean it, Rena. You need me.”

“No, I’ll never need you.” She jerked her arm free. “You just want to ease your guilty conscience.”

Tony’s eyes grew hard and sharp.

Good.

She didn’t need his help or his pity. She’d done without him for twelve years and didn’t need anything he had to offer. All she wanted was to curl up in her bed and dream about the day when she’d hold her precious baby in her arms.

Tony rubbed his aching shoulder and stretched out his legs, closing the Carlino books for the day. His racing injuries had a way of coming back to haunt him whenever he sat at his father’s desk. Maybe it was because Santo never wanted him to leave Napa. He’d chosen racing over the family business and had left it all behind twelve years ago.

He’d wanted more than grapes and vines and worrying about the weather, crops and competition. Of course, Santo Carlino hadn’t taken it lightly. He’d cursed and complained and refused to speak to Tony when he’d left.

Tony pursued his dream despite his father’s tirades. Being the oldest of three sons Tony was expected to take over the business one day with his brothers by his side. But as it turned out none of the three sons had stayed home to run the Carlino empire.

Now with Santo gone, Tony had no choice but to return. His father’s last will and testament made sure that each of his sons spent some time together running the company. He’d stipulated that in order for any of them to claim their inheritance, the land, the company, the Carlino empire, one of them had to agree to become the new CEO within six months.

It was just another way for his father to manipulate them. But Tony hadn’t come back to Napa for the money. He had plenty of his own. He’d come back to lay his father to rest and to let his weary body recover from injuries garnered in a wreck at Bristol Raceway just months before.

He’d called his younger brothers home. Joe, the real brain in the family, had been living in New York, trying to develop the latest software phenomenon. And Nick, the youngest, had been creating havoc in Europe, earning a reputation as a gambler and ladies’ man.

Tony smiled at that. Little Nick had a wild streak that could lay shame to a young and virile Santo Carlino in his bachelor days. But if one thing could be said about his old man, it was that he was a loving and faithful husband. Tony’s mother, Josephina, had tempered him with love and adoration. Many thought her a saint for putting up with Santo, but only the family knew that Santo would have died for her.

“So when’s the wedding?” Joe entered the office at Carlino Wines with his hands on his hips, his studious dark brown eyes visible behind a pair of glasses.

When Tony glanced at him in question, Joe continued, “You told me you were getting married.”

Tony shoved the ledger books away and leaned back in his chair. “You need a willing bride for a wedding.”

“Wanna tell me why you chose Rena? Is it Purple Fields you’re after? Or something else?”

A sigh emerged from deep in Tony’s chest. He rubbed tension from his forehead. “Maybe I want it all.”

“Want or need?”

Tony narrowed his eyes and gave his brother a look.

Joe shrugged in an offhanded way. “You’ve never spoken of marriage before. And the last thing I thought I’d hear at David’s funeral was that you intended to marry his widow. Even if it is Rena. We all know she’s not exactly your biggest fan.”

Tony scoffed. How well he knew. “Hardly that.”

“So, what is it? Do you love her?”

Tony’s face crinkled up, despite his efforts to keep a blank expression. The truth was he had loved Rena when they’d been younger but he’d loved racing more. He wound up breaking her heart by leaving her behind to pursue his dreams.

Now he