The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife (Mackenna and Alessandro) novel Chapter 34

Mackenna came out of her room sporting a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and her hiking sneakers and her hair in a ponytail. She had a backpack dangling off her fingertips and threw it on the counter. She kicked her foot up, "it's the only splurge I allowed myself for so long." She gave a look to Romeo who jumped up on the counter only to be gently lifted by Alessandro. "He peed in them the first week I had them."

"It's definitely because you took his manhood," Alessandro stroked the cat in his arms as the beast purred wildly.

Nuncio laughed at Mackenna's scowl. "l take it you are good at this hiking?"

"Try to keep up," she grinned as she took her canteen and filled it with tap water and then grabbed a couple more from the closet. She rinsed them out and filled them as well and shoved them in her backpack. She turned to see Alessandro eyeing her curiously. "l don't see either of you with a canteen and I can't imagine Carlos has one and I'm pretty sure they're going to have to follow us on the trail."

He smiled. "l haven't seen you so excited for something in a long time."

She didn't want to ruin it by telling him he usually was the one raining on her parade, so she just clapped her hands at him, "let's go, let's go. There's a little coffee shop on the way and we can get croissants and coffee. I'd rather be working my way back when the sun is high than trying to hike in the noonday sun."

"I'll need to stop at the hotel and get changed," at her expression he continued, " you can wait in the car if you like. There's no need to come up. I can't hike in these," he looked down at his dress shoes and pants.

"Of course," she hoped her smile hid the trepidation of going back to his hotel.

The last time she had been there they'd had a huge fight and she had fled the country.

"It won't take me five minutes." He promised as he set the cat down gently on the floor and promised to bring him treats next time. He heard Mackenna mumble about the fat cat being on a diet, "he has certainly lost at least two pounds since in the last month."

Nuncio held his hand up as they approached the door, he took her bags and put them against her chest. "They are relentless and will be more so since Alessandro is here. Keep your hand on my shoulder, bury your face in your bag if you must and ignore anything they say to you. It is their job to try to get you to look at them and make a comment. Just stay focused on me. Understand?"

She realized how serious he was and gave a nod, "l understand."

"Alessandro and Carlos will be right behind you. Carlos is in the hall keeping them out of the building."

Nuncio tossed the keys to the apartment at Carlos as soon as they stepped into the hall, instantly the sound of a reporter shouting "here they come" echoed into the hall and she felt an involuntary shudder ripple down her back.

"Head down Signora," Nuncio instructed, his game face on and all business.

Mackenna put her hand on his shoulder as he instructed, mounted the stairs right behind him and tried her best to ignore the questions being peppered at her. As they reached the car waiting at the curb, the door pulled open, and she was shoved unceremoniously inside.

She scooted over as far as she could, aware Alessandro's team were pushing back against the throng of reporters. Alessandro slid in beside her followed by

Nuncio, Carlos, and another man she didn't recognize. The sound of another security agent getting into the passenger seat before the driver started to pull slowly away from the car to avoid striking the reporters blocking the road.

She made the mistake of looking at Alessandro and his face was white with rage. She had never seen him so furious. Her heart thudded fearfully. "Did I do something wrong?"

Nuncio patted her knee reassuringly from across the seat. "You did very well

Mackenna. You did exactly as I instructed."

Alessandro bit out a word in Italian she had never heard him utter, almost always the consummate gentleman and she gasped. "Alessandro!"

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and held his hand up as if

She whispered to Nuncio, "it will be like this at the hotel too, won't it? Maybe we shouldn't go hiking."

Alessandro exhaled slowly and looked to her. "Mackenna, we are most assuredly going for our hike. This is my mess, and I will wade through it. You are simply an innocent bystander in all of this. When we get to the hotel, you and Nuncio are to stay behind in the car. If you don't mind however, I'll call the hotel and ask them to pack us a breakfast to bring with us instead of going to your coffee shop." "It would be fine," she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry, Alessandro," she whispered as she turned her head to look out the window.

"Mackenna, it is not for you to be sorry. You have done nothing wrong. Nuncio is correct, you did exactly as you were instructed." His smile was tight at best.

Mackenna felt the morning was ruined before it had even begun, and she sat quietly with her hands wrapped around her backpack on her lap. Everyone in the car was silent as she stared out the window and she felt a tear slide down her cheek. She felt Nuncio reach across again and pat her knee and she reached out and took his hand and squeezed it. "Thank you," she mouthed to him.

Once they reached the hotel, Alessandro and his team exited the vehicle leaving only Nuncio and the driver. Alessandro had instructed the driver to circle the block a few times and so as soon as they stepped into the cacophony of the reporters outside the hotel, the car pulled away from the curb.

"He seems so angry," Mackenna whispered suddenly as they paused at a traffic light before taking a turn around the block.

"He is angry," Nuncio agreed, "but not at you. He is angry at himself Mackenna. He has put you in danger by not taking you seriously five years ago. This whole situation with the private investigator and Dulce has put you at risk more than once.

He has already lost people very important to him, to lose you as well to this dangerous situation would be his undoing."

She didn't quite know what to say to Nuncio's quiet words and so she nodded and looked out the window. Suddenly she spoke, "when I first returned from Milan,

have been more than five or ten of them. There had to be fifty of them out there this morning. I dotft understand people's fascination."

•It would help if Dulce would shut her mouth and stop talking to the press,"

Nuncio made a face. •The woman is a menace."

•Menace isn't the word I'd use," she mimicked the face he pulled, and they shared a bitter laugh.

Several minutes later they pulled back up to the hotel and Alessandro, Carlos, and the other man she didn't recognize got back into the car and again someone got into the passenger seat. He had four men with him for protection plus his driver. It was a small army. Carlos tossed a paper bag at her which she assumed was breakfast and she folded it into her backpack, but she was no longer hungry at all.

She took in Alessandro, dressed now in khaki shorts, a pair of hiking boots and perfectly fitted t-shirt, showing off his muscular arms. He caught her checking out his biceps and he curled them for her in a flex.

•Like what you see? I work out a lot." fool," she giggled at his comment, grateful to see his smile back on his face.

Nice boots."

"Thanks, I've been walking a few times." He winked. "l forgot to ask you where we are going. Poor Ignacio is probably going to start circling the hotel again until we tell him where you want to go hiking."

"I was thinking Camelback Mountain and the Echo trail. It's a bit of a hike but if the paparazzi follow us, they'll drop like flies after the first twenty minutes." She grinned mischievously. "Might be a way to thin their numbers."

His loud laugh at her comment made her smile spread wide.

"You are devious, and I like how you think," he tapped the window and told Ignacio where to take them.

Three hours later Alessandro and Mackenna were preparing to scale the rocks to reach the next level. Nuncio and Carlos and the man named Rio had easily kept up. One guard had stayed back with the driver to keep him safe in the event "You're expecting me to climb the rocks? There is a handrail," Alessandro looked at her in amazement as she reached up and started her ascent.

"People get in the way on the handrail," she tossed over her shoulder, brushing her forearm across her forehead to wipe sweat.

He shook his head as Nuncio joined her and began clambering up behind her. Alessandro gave a look to Carlos as Nuncio gave a shove to Mackenna and they both laughed at something he said at her.

"Should I be worried?" he asked Carlos suddenly.

Carlos laughed lowly. "No, my younger brother is very much enamoured with her roommate. He has however developed a very brotherly affection for your wife. I feel if he were pressed to know which of you to protect, you would die."

"Good," he said suddenly, "she needs a champion in her corner. God knows I have failed her."

"Hey," Mackenna called down to them. "You ladies gonna chirp all day down there or are you actually going to do this?"

"Did she just call us ladies?" Rio asked incredulously as he moved past his bosses.

Mackenna turned from where she was resting to turn back up the hill to continue her ascent. The park ranger had warned them it would be an arduous climb. She had done it multiple times in the last five years and while it got easier, it never got easy. This was her first time doing anything remotely strenuous since the car accident and her body was tired, but she refused to divulge the information to the group. She was panting hard when she reached the top, grateful Nuncio had passed her to take her hand and pull her to the top. They jumped and clapped hands in a high-five before pulling their canteens for a long drink.

"It's so beautiful up here," she said as she turned to take in the view.

"You can see," Carlos asked groaning as he reached the top and crawling on all fours behind them. "l feel I may be blinded by pain and blisters on my hands."

Mackenna laughed as Nuncio pulled the man to his feet.

Carlos. There was a time you would have raced the pair of them to the top."

"You came in fourth out of fifth," Carlos quipped back, "l am not the only one showing his age-old man."

•I'm glad I gave up the cigarettes. I think you would have found my body at the last plateau if not."

Rio reached the top and flipped onto his back and said a loud prayer. "Leave my body here for the vultures."

Mackenna chortled with glee at their reactions. "It was not that bad." The look on her face was pure devilry as she reminded them, "the hike back won't be near as bad going back."

As the collective groan of the three men echoed around them, she and Nuncio rolled their eyes and turned back to the view. "Come on, it's worth it. Look at this view."

"It is a lovely view," Alessandro dropped his arm over her shoulder, smelling entirely too masculine and feeling wet against her.

"Ugh, Alessandro, you're all sweaty." She pushed away laughing as he reached for her as she pulled away, rubbing his face all over her arm. He took the canteen she tossed at him and drank deeply. She watched as he tilted his head back, sweat streaming down his forehead, his Adam's apple bobbing with each gulp of the water.

He truly was a beautiful man, she thought to herself as she studied him.

"What?" he felt her staring, "do I have dirt on my face?"

"No," she gave a laugh. "Even sweaty and gross you look good. You damn supermodels are annoying as hell, I know I'm red-faced and look like the after picture of a marathon. You look like you're being photographed for some mountain climber's monthly magazine."

He gave a chuckle and an exaggerated toss of his hair before striking a pose.

Don't hate on me because I am stunning to look at it."

Their entire group groaned as Mackenna made a gagging sound. The atmosphere was lighthearted and teasing as Rio threw a rock at Alessandro's feet

and Carlos mentioned tossing his body off the cliff and they slowly began their descent back down the trail.

Mackenna took Alessandro's hand as she stepped down off one of the last plateaus towards the final leg of the trail and when he held onto it, she didn't pull away. The easy feeling in her chest and the exhaustion from the hike encouraging her to enjoy the moment. Who knew how long it would last?