have started this.’ Alessandro pulled back from her, his weight supported by his elbows as he looked down at her.
Rachel didn’t want to stop. She wanted it to continue. She wanted it all. She wanted to feel him take her to the place she knew existed but had never felt personally. She wanted to feel what it felt like to have two bodies totally in tune with each other, the chemistry just right, the need to be fulfilled overtaking any other caution. She didn’t want to think about why she was here and how it had been engineered. She didn’t want to think about the fact that he was intent on revenge. All she wanted to think about was how much she wanted him and he wanted her. That was all that counted. It was not something he could deny, no matter how much he said to the contrary. She had felt it. She could still feel it. She felt it in her own body. It was a raging inferno of need that refused to be damped down with a thimbleful of common sense, which was all she possessed right now.
‘I want you,’ she said, clutching at him. ‘I think I’ve always wanted you.’
He took her hands in one of his and removed them from his chest. ‘No, Rachel.’
She frowned at him. ‘But you want me. I know you do. You’re surely not going to deny it?’
‘No. Of course I am not going to deny it.’ ‘Then … why?’
He moved away from her, spreading the fingers of one hand to comb through his hair. His expression closed over but she could see a tiny nerve pulsing at the side of his mouth as if the control he was harnessing was not quite under his command.
‘Alessandro?’
‘Leave it, Rachel,’ he said.
‘Did I do something wrong?’ she asked.
He gave her a rueful movement of his lips and then reached out and touched her cheek with his fingertips. ‘No, you did nothing wrong.’
Rachel put her hand over his. ‘Is it your illness?’ she asked softly. ‘Are you worried you—?’
His brows snapped together and he pulled his hand out from under hers. ‘I said just leave it, Rachel,’ he said tightly.
Rachel swallowed. ‘I’m sorry.’
He let out a breath, which relaxed his tight expression. ‘Don’t apologise,’ he said. ‘You’ve only been here a couple of days. For now I would like simply to spend time getting to know you as a person. I have just invested a large sum of money into your business. I want to know everything there is to know about you.’
‘There’s not much to tell,’ Rachel said.
‘I am sure you are underselling yourself,’ Alessandro said. ‘For instance, I did not know you could cook. What other talents do you have now that you didn’t have before?’
‘They’re not really talents,’ Rachel said. ‘More like interests, I guess you would say.’
‘Such as?’
‘I love wandering around art galleries and museums,’ she said. ‘I once spent the whole day in The Victoria and Albert Museum in London.’
‘When did you visit London?’ Alessandro asked.
‘A couple of years ago,’ she said. ‘It was after my father lost everything. I wanted to escape for a while.’
‘How long were you abroad?’
‘Two months,’ Rachel said. ‘I went to Paris too. I spent days and days wandering around there. It’s such a beautiful city.’
‘It can be a very lonely city on your own,’ he said. ‘It is best to be there with a lover.’
‘I am sure you have been there many times with many lovers,’ Rachel said.
‘I know Paris very well,’ he answered with a ghost of a smile. ‘I will look forward to sharing it with you next week.’
Rachel tried not to think of all the beautiful women he had escorted all over Europe. She’d bet he had not rejected their advances the way he had hers just now. Her doubts and insecurities haunted her all over again. Craig had berated her so often on how she turned him off. It was hard to know if Alessandro was experiencing the same turn off or whether he was still struggling with the limitations from his illness. Either way she felt ashamed about admitting so openly how much she wanted him. It gave him so much more power over her.
‘You didn’t think of coming to Italy during that trip?’ Alessandro asked.
She looked at his expression but couldn’t read it. ‘I did think of it. I had heard you had become successful over here. But I didn’t think you would want to see me after what I did.’
‘So you think I should have forgiven you by now, do you, Rachel?’ he asked, still with that unfathomable look on his face.
‘I think being bitter doesn’t help anyone in the long run,’ she said. ‘I have many regrets over the past. But I like to think I have put in place steps that will stop me making the same mistakes I did back then.’
His dark eyes held hers for a lengthy moment. ‘I guess the next two and a half weeks will prove that one way or the other, will they not?’
‘I want to make amends, Alessandro,’ she said. ‘I really do.’
He didn’t answer immediately. She watched as he rose from the sofa and reached for his crutches. ‘Goodnight, Rachel,’ he said. ‘I will see you in the morning.’
Rachel got to her feet, her hands going to a twisted knot in front of her body. He was dismissing her again, showing her he was not the lovesick young man of the past. He was all sophistication and control now. He had kissed her but he had so easily pulled away while her body still hummed and throbbed like a tuning fork struck too hard.
‘Goodnight,’ she said, her voice coming out soft and husky, but he had already turned and left the room.
WHEN Rachel came downstairs the next morning Lucia was bustling about in the kitchen. She looked up from her task of brewing coffee and smiled. ‘Signor Vallini told me you are staying on for the rest of the month,’ she said. ‘That is very good. It will be good for him to have company. He needs to be distracted from work. He works too hard. No wonder he got sick. I tell him all the time. All work no play makes for a very out-of-balance life.’
‘He’s certainly very driven,’ Rachel said.
‘You knew him before, sì?’ Lucia asked.
‘Yes, did he tell you?’
Lucia chuckled. ‘He didn’t need to tell me. I am not blind. I see the sparks that fly.’
‘He hates me,’ Rachel said with a slump of her shoulders. ‘We were dating for a short time five years ago but I ended up engaged to someone else.’
‘Ah, now it all makes sense,’ Lucia said.
‘There
