Swept Away!: Accidentally Expecting! / Salzano's Captive Bride / Hawaiian Sunset, Dream Proposal. Lucy Gordon

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СКАЧАТЬ of Sandor and the fierce jealousy that had stormed through Dante. Seeing them together on the beach, Sandor’s hands actually touching her body—the one he thought of as his own personal possession—he’d come close to committing murder.

      She’d tried to refuse the invitation to stay here, but why? A demon had whispered in his ear that she was afraid to be in Sandor’s company lest the old attraction overwhelm her. He’d insisted on accepting, driven by the need to see more of them together and know what he was up against.

      It had been no satisfaction that so many lures had been cast out to him last night. There were at least three bedrooms at which he could have presented himself, sure of a welcome. Instead he’d haunted her door until inevitably Sandor had appeared, bare-chested, for seduction, and entered without knocking.

      The moment when he’d heard her slap the man’s face had felt like the beginning of his life.

      It meant that in the game they were playing she’d won and he’d lost. Or possibly the other way around. Whatever! He couldn’t have been happier.

      He returned to the bed, sitting down carefully so as not to disturb her. He wanted to watch her like this, relaxed and content, breathing almost without making a sound. A wisp of hair had fallen over her face and he brushed it back softly. Somehow his hand stayed, stroking her face.

      Her lips moved in a smile, telling him that she was awake. The smile turned into a chuckle and she opened her eyes to find him looking directly into them.

      ‘Good morning,’ he whispered, settling beside her and drawing her close.

      No passion now, just her head on his shoulder in blissful content, body curled against body, and the sense of having come home to each other.

      ‘Good morning,’ she murmured.

      ‘Is everything all right?’

      ‘Mmm!’ She hid her face against him.

      ‘Me too,’ he agreed. ‘Very much all right.’

      After a while she opened her eyes again to find him sunk in thought.

      ‘What are we going to do now?’ he wondered.

      ‘Leave this place behind,’ she said at once. ‘Sandor will throw us out anyway.’

      ‘A pity. Part of me wants to stay around for a while just to poke him in the eye. He had his turn making me jealous. Now it’s my turn to pay him back.’

      ‘Jealous? You?’

      ‘Don’t play the innocent. You knew exactly what you were doing to me. You loved seeing me on hot coals.’

      ‘I’ll admit it had its entertaining moments,’ she mused. ‘But that was because you were trying to play hard to get. Not always successfully, mind you, but you tried.’

      ‘Of course,’ he said, sounding shocked. ‘Don’t forget that I promised “just friendly”, and a gentleman always keeps his word.’

      ‘Gentleman? Huh!’

      ‘Let’s have that discussion later,’ he said hastily. ‘The point is, I couldn’t break my word, so I had to get you to break it for me. You forced me into retreat, so I’m innocent.’

      ‘Oh, please!’ she jeered. ‘The one thing I can’t imagine is you being innocent. You are a scheming, manipulative, double-dealing, tricky—Oh, the hell with it! Who cares if you’re a bad character? What are you doing?’

      ‘What does it feel as if I’m doing? Hush now, while I prove what a bad character I am.’

      Laughing, he proceeded to do exactly that with such vigour that she was left breathless.

      ‘I suppose I ought to be grateful to Sandor,’ Ferne said when they had recovered. ‘He might be a clumsy oaf, but he did us a favour. Do you know, he actually wanted me to take some more pictures of him?’

      ‘What, after you…?’

      ‘Yes, apparently my photographs flattered him as nobody else’s did. Heavens, how did I ever fancy myself in love with that twerp?’

      He suspected another reason why Sandor had tried to seduce Ferne. Such was the man’s vanity that he wanted to believe that he could reclaim her whenever he liked. But about this Dante stayed tactfully silent.

      ‘I suppose we should get up,’ he said at last. ‘It’s a beautiful day.’

      Gino was waiting for them downstairs, clearly on hot coals.

      ‘Sandor had a restless night and he’s gone for a walk in the grounds. He says he doesn’t feel up to seeing anyone.’

      ‘I wonder what could have brought that on?’ Dante said sympathetically.

      ‘Artistic sensibility,’ Gino sighed.

      ‘I understand,’ Dante said solemnly. ‘A true artist sometimes needs to be alone to commune with the universe. Did you speak?’ This was to Ferne, who was displaying alarming symptoms of choking. She managed to shake her head and he continued. ‘We’ll leave at once. Give me a call when the filming has finished and I’ll come back then.’

      They didn’t even stay for breakfast. Tossing their things into bags, they fled the Palazzo Tirelli like children making a dash for freedom.

      As the car swung out of the gates Ferne caught a glimpse of a tragically noble figure standing on a hill, watching their departure with a look of passionate yearning. Not that she could see his expression at this distance, but she would have bet money on it.

      ‘It’s like your Shakespeare said,’ Dante observed. ‘Some men are born twerps, others achieve twerphood, and some have it thrust upon them. Well, something like that, anyway.’

      ‘You’ve really got your knife in to Sandor, haven’t you?’ she chuckled.

      Dante grinned. ‘I did once. Not any more.’

      Ferne leaned back in her seat, smiling. The jokey note of the conversation suited her exactly. This was a man to have fun with, nothing more. The gleam of danger was still far off on the horizon, but she knew it was there, throwing its harsh light over everything in anticipation. The only answer was to look away.

      ‘Where are we going?’ she asked after a while.

      ‘Anywhere away from here.’

      Safely out of Rome, he turned south and hugged the coast for about a hundred miles. There they found another beach, quiet, simple and delightfully unglamorous. The town was the same, a good place for strolling and buying toothpaste before retreating to their modest hotel and the room they shared.

      ‘Thank goodness Sandor wasn’t able to organise our accommodation this time,’ Dante chuckled as they lay together in a cosy embrace late that night. ‘It wasn’t an accident that we were put miles apart.’

      ‘Yes, I kind of worked that out. Low cunning.’

      ‘Fatal mistake. I’m the master of low cunning. СКАЧАТЬ