it to reveal a single strand of glittering stones.
‘I knew when I saw it in the jeweller’s window that it would be perfect for you. It’s not ostentatious or fussy—just a beautifully uncluttered design which allows the stones to shine with simple purity.’
Just as Beth’s understated beauty shone from her, Cesario brooded, feeling a sharp tug of desire in his groin as he pushed her silky hair over one slender shoulder so that he could fasten the necklace around her throat.
‘It’s lovely.’ Beth glanced in the mirror and admired the way the stones sparkled as they caught the light. ‘They could almost be real diamonds.’
Cesario looked amused. ‘They are real. What did you think—that they are glass chips?’
She gave him a horrified look. ‘Real…! It must have cost a fortune. I can’t possibly accept it.’
He shrugged. ‘Everyone dresses up for first-night performances at the opera house, and I’m sure you don’t want to look out of place.’
Cesario could not rationalise to himself let alone to Beth why he had bought the necklace for her. There had been such sadness in her voice when she had spoken about the death of her friend Mel, and he guessed that her life in the children’s home had not been happy. He enjoyed making her smile, but now she knew the diamonds were real the look of pleasure in her eyes had been replaced with wariness.
‘Enjoy wearing the necklace tonight, cara, but do not worry that it means anything,’ he advised coolly. ‘It is expected that you will wear jewellery, and as you do not have any of your own I have provided you with some. That’s all.’
He watched the play of emotions in her eyes: relief followed by a faint disappointment that she quickly hid beneath the sweep of her lashes.
‘When you look at me like that the only place I want to take you is my bed,’ he rasped.
‘You shouldn’t say things like that.’ Beth began in an outraged tone, but the words died on her lips as he slid his hand beneath her chin and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that left her speechless.
‘Why not, when it’s the truth?’ he taunted her softly.
But instead of kissing her again, as Beth secretly longed for him to do, he opened the door and ushered her into the hall.
‘We’d better leave now, before my will-power is tested any further, mia bella.’
BETH was spellbound by the plush red velvet and opulent gold décor of Teatro dell’Opera. The auditorium was horseshoe shaped, with tiers of seating boxes rising up towards a magnificent frescoed dome, and suspended from the centre of the dome was a huge chandelier of breathtaking beauty.
With her eyes focused on the ceiling, she stumbled in her high heels and felt Cesario grip her arm to steady her.
‘Are you all right?’ he murmured in her ear.
‘Overawed,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve never been to a theatre before. This is amazing.’ She glanced around at the crowd filing in to take their seats and gave him a rueful look. ‘I understand now why you insisted that I should dress up. The only other people I’ve seen wearing so much bling are the drug dealers who trade on the estate where I live.’
He muttered something beneath his breath and slid his arm around her waist. ‘Why do you live there?’
‘Because it’s the only place where I can afford the rent.’
‘I don’t want you to go back there,’ Cesario said harshly. ‘Even if Sophie is not my child I’ll help you find somewhere safer to bring her up.’
Beth could not bear the idea of him viewing her and Sophie as a charity case. ‘If it turns out that she is not your responsibility why would you care what happens to her?’
He cared, Cesario realised with a frown. Little Sophie, with her button-round brown eyes and shock of dark hair, evoked a protective instinct in him. When he held her he did not consider whether or not she was his. One thing he was certain of was that, whatever the outcome of the DNA test, he would not allow Beth and the baby to return to a tower block in a crime-ridden area of East London.
They had a private box which offered a perfect view of the stage. From the moment the curtain rose Beth was transfixed by the tragic story of doomed young lovers told through the grace and beauty of ballet. But she was also desperately conscious of the man sitting beside her, she acknowledged ruefully as she darted a glance at his handsome profile. In the dark, hushed atmosphere of the theatre she was aware of the steady rise and fall of his chest, and when he moved position so that his thigh brushed against hers she felt as if an electric current had shot through her.
‘Are you enjoying the performance?’ Cesario asked her in the interval, when he escorted her to the bar and ordered champagne.
‘This is the most magical night of my life.’ Beth flushed when she realised how gauche she sounded, but nothing could diminish her pleasure in the ballet. ‘I’m sorry your PA missed tonight, but thank you for inviting me.’
She stared in surprise when streaks of colour flared along his cheekbones.
‘Okay, I wasn’t absolutely truthful when I said I had originally planned to bring Donata,’ he growled.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that I bought the tickets for you.’
Beth’s eyes widened and her heart suddenly beat faster. The bar was packed, but the sound of chattering voices and laughter, the clink of wineglasses, seemed strangely distant, and it was as if only she and Cesario existed, cocooned in their own private world.
‘Why did you do such a lovely thing?’ she whispered.
‘Because I hoped it would make you smile.’ He held her gaze, his grey eyes gleaming with an expression that made her blood fizz. ‘You have a beautiful smile, Beth Granger.’
As he watched the corners of her mouth lift in that shy smile that had such a profound effect on him Cesario felt his gut ache with desire and something else that he refused to define. He wanted to kiss her, wanted to so badly that he did not care that they were standing in a crowded bar, even though he usually abhorred making a public display. Beth had got under his skin, and at this moment he did not care who knew it. He wanted to taste her, to feel her soft lips part beneath his so that he could slide his tongue into the moist interior of her mouth.
She was watching him, waiting, and he knew from her absolute stillness that she shared his need. He bent his head, his heart hammering as he brushed his mouth across hers in a gossamer-light caress. He heard her swiftly indrawn breath and felt an unexpected flood of tenderness mingle with the fierce hunger that corkscrewed through him.
‘Cesario!’
A woman’s voice sounded from close by and continued in a stream of voluble Italian. Cesario snatched his mouth from Beth’s and cursed beneath his breath, before muttering, ‘I’m sorry, cara, but you’re about to meet Allegra Ricci—patron of numerous
