style="font-size:15px;"> The evening felt expectant, although for what Rafael couldn’t say. Despite their near-kiss over a week ago, he didn’t actually expect anything physical to happen between them. He didn’t want it, not if he forced himself to think rationally. If he let his libido lead the way, he’d peel that slippery dress from her creamy skin and have her in the back of this limo.
Yet far more unsettling than his desire for her was his desire to please her. He’d found himself arranging small treats and pleasures for her all week, simply to see her reaction. He told himself it was part of his duty, his responsibility to take care of her. The feeling inside him, as if his heart was a balloon floating higher and higher, was just a fringe benefit.
In any case, he wasn’t going to start feeling things for Allegra Wells. After losing everyone he cared about, he was hardly going to let someone else get under his skin. Into his heart. No matter what happened with their child.
The Lincoln Center was glowing with lights as the limo pulled in front of the concert hall where the Philharmonic was playing. Rafael saw more than one man steal a speculative or even lascivious look at Allegra as she moved through the crowd, a stunning goddess with her red-gold curls tumbling artfully onto her bare, creamy shoulders.
She turned to glance back at him, grey eyes sparkling like silver stars. ‘This is amazing, Rafael. Thank you.’
Every time she said his name he felt an arrow of satisfaction pierce him sweetly. He told himself it didn’t matter.
They took their seats, Allegra excitedly perusing her programme like a child on her first trip to the circus.
Her enthusiasm made Rafael smile as he leaned forward to ask her, ‘Haven’t you been to concerts before?’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh, dear. Is my newbie status showing?’
‘It’s charming,’ Rafael replied, ‘but I would have thought, as a seasoned New Yorker, as well as a music-lover, this would be old hat to you.’
She shook her head, curls bouncing. ‘No, not really. Not at all. I’ve been to concerts, but they’ve been free ones in churches and things like that. I’ve never heard the Philharmonic play live.’
‘Never?’ He was surprised.
She gave him a laughing look. ‘Not everyone’s a millionaire.’
Billionaire, actually, but he wasn’t going to debate the point. He sat back in his seat, legs stretched out in front of him. ‘Your father had plenty of money.’ Not that he remotely wanted to talk about her father.
‘My father did,’ Allegra agreed quietly, some of the sparkle gone from her eyes, ‘but we didn’t. My mother didn’t get anything from the divorce.’
Rafael frowned. ‘She must have had some financial settlement.’
‘Nope, not a penny.’ Allegra shrugged. ‘I don’t know why.’
‘She didn’t sue for alimony?’ It didn’t make any sense.
‘I was only twelve, I didn’t ask. And I haven’t asked since then because, to be honest, it just gets her going. She’s always been bitter about it. All I know is my father managed to arrange things so we were left with nothing.’
Rafael supposed he shouldn’t be shocked; he knew how heartless Mancini had been. But he was surprised, on Allegra’s behalf. Why did she still care about him when he’d treated her so badly? ‘So how did you survive?’
‘My mother sold some jewellery to start, and she also had various boyfriends who helped.’ Allegra made a face. ‘That sounds awful, doesn’t it? But my mother was used to living in a certain style, and it still makes her furious that she can’t.’
‘And what about you? Does it make you furious?’
Allegra shrugged, her gaze sliding away as her fingers touched the sapphire nestled at her throat as if it was a talisman. ‘I don’t care so much about things. And I’ve supported myself since I was eighteen.’
‘Eighteen.’ Another surprise. ‘Did you go to university?’ He realised that, despite having spent the last week and a half in her company, he didn’t know that much about her or her life. Not that he’d actually spent much time with her. He’d intentionally stayed away, not wanting to complicate matters. Not wanting to get close. Now, however, he realised he wanted to know more about her... even if it unwise.
‘No, I didn’t.’ Allegra pursed her lips, her gaze shadowed. ‘I decided it wasn’t for me.’
Rafael felt sure there was something she wasn’t saying, but he had no idea what it was. ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Did you go to university?’
‘No, I went to work when I was sixteen.’ He felt his chest go tight, his jaw hard, just because of the memories. His fist bunched on his thigh and he forced himself to relax. ‘We needed the money.’
‘Then we have something in common.’ Allegra gazed at him in sorrowful compassion, and Rafael knew she was keeping herself from asking about their fathers on purpose. Neither of them wanted to prise open that Pandora’s box right now.
‘Yes, I suppose we do,’ he said, and smiled. She smiled back and he felt the tension in him ease.
Then the lights dimmed, and they both settled back in their seats as the music began. Rafael wasn’t that much of a connoisseur of music, but he loved seeing the look of rapt attention on Allegra’s face. She was utterly arrested, a pearly sheen in her eyes, her hands clasped to her chest. He’d never seen someone look so thoroughly enthralled, and it touched a place deep inside him, a place he hadn’t accessed in a long time. It made him yearn and mourn, just as he had when they’d listened to Shostakovich. Watching Allegra, he wanted to feel as much as she did. He wanted to let himself.
The concert came to an end, the last notes of music fading away into an aching stillness, and Allegra rose from her seat, dashing the tears from her face with an embarrassed laugh. ‘Sorry, music always affects me like that.’
In the space of a second he was catapulted back to that night in Rome when she’d said the same thing. When he’d felt as powerfully as he did now, wanting this woman with an intensity that both thrilled and terrified him.
He’d wiped away her tears then, and she’d let him, and then they’d made love. It had been the most incredible sexual experience of his life, and he could remember every exquisite detail of that evening, of Allegra’s response, of the way she’d felt under his hands and mouth.
He watched a rosy blush sweep across Allegra’s skin and knew she remembered it all too. They stared at each other for a prolonged moment, eyes wide, hearts beating hard, the moment spinning on and growing in strength. The desire was still there, and more powerful than ever. More dangerous too. Would they act on it as they had before?
Neither of them spoke in the limo on the way back to the hotel. Rafael couldn’t keep from imagining himself reaching out one hand to tangle in Allegra’s hair, drawing the diamond-tipped pins out one by one and then anchoring his lips to hers. He pictured sliding his hands under her gown, hauling her onto his lap so she was straddling him. With a suppressed groan he shifted on his seat, trying to ease the now persistent ache in his groin. He was torturing himself with these kinds of thoughts.
Allegra
