forged on ahead again, Tina hurried to catch up. “If you stay,” she reasoned, “you’ll upset us—and Beth’s parents, everyone who saw you that night, everyone who knew and loved Sue,” she said passionately.
“Possibly.”
Her mouth crimped with anger at his callousness. “Haven’t you the decency to stay away? Didn’t you learn anything from what happened?” she asked sadly.
“Yes,” he replied. “Never to trust women.” His beautiful, rich chocolate eyes were almost black with contempt, the long lush lashes spiking at her accusingly. “If you want to know what else I learned in prison, we’ll need several hours and you’ll need a strong stomach.”
“Oh, Gio!” she whispered brokenly. She’d have done anything not to be driving him away. In her heart of hearts, if he’d been different—penitent, changed, less vengeful—she would have loved to see him with Adriana and would have gladly prepared the ground for them to accept one another. The wounds would have healed. But sadly, it seemed he was no fit guardian for her precious Adriana. “Gio, if only you’d come back to apologize…” she began wistfully. And hesitated. Perhaps there was hope. “You could. It would make everything quite different.”
“I have nothing to apologize for,” he said flatly. “You know, if you keep running along beside me, people will think you’re chasing me. Amazing how people can get the wrong impression from an isolated event they witness, isn’t it?”
Tina flushed at the implication, the quickly rising color making her feel even hotter than before. She eased her T-shirt from her sticky body under Giovanni’s watchful dark eyes, then quickly smoothed her damp palms on her shorts and looked ahead as they strode on. Worryingly, a handful of students were still hanging around the derelict lot, discussing the car.
“I did see you in the driver’s seat that night of the accident,” she insisted. “You did hit my sister’s car during a row with Beth, and all I want now is to watch you drive away before you hurt the people I love again!” she said miserably.
“Save your breath, Tina. You won’t dissuade me from my intentions.”
Suddenly he stopped, allowing his gaze to roam over her. And her soft-fringed eyes mistakenly lingered on him. Lisa had been right about the body language. He spoke fluent sensuality from every pore. Plenty of guys had spectacular muscles that left her cold, but Giovanni knew how to stand and move and project his masculinity and make a woman feel feminine and desirable and hungry. His sex appeal was earthy and direct and irresistible because he adored women and all that came with them.
Gorgeous, she thought hazily. He was absolutely gorgeous and totally evil. Incredibly she caught herself wishing she didn’t look so scruffy and—
“Were you really so beautiful before?” he mused as if genuinely unsure. Her eyes must have shown the leap of surprised pleasure that had taken her unawares, because his mouth curved into a beguiling smile. “Tempting. Tantalizing. Mysterious.”
“M-mysterious?” she stuttered, unable to help herself from asking.
“Then there’s the distortion of time.”
“Time?” She could have kicked herself for falling into his trap. The say-something-kooky trap, to get a woman interested. “Look—”
“It makes fools of us all,” he said softly. “Because I can’t recall that your eyes were such a deep blue. I could swear they’re almost as clear as the lagoon. You know the way it sparkles and invites you to plunge right in.” He gave her a disarming smile, but the words were enough to shake her.
Tina tried to muster some reply, a sharp crack perhaps, but his gaze had drifted to her mouth and she hesitated, wondering what lavish claims he’d make, all thought of coaxing him back to his car temporarily forgotten while she waited, quivering in anticipation.
“I remember that softness,” he said huskily, his eyes caressing. “Know what they always reminded me of?” She shook her head wordlessly. “That silky texture of a petal. Poppies in the meadows,” he mused with such a drowsy murmur that her mouth flowered into an even lusher pout of scarlet invitation. He smiled, breathing out hard so that his breath filtered tantalizingly over her lips till they parted. “I’m afraid that kissing you would tempt a man to linger too long for his safety.”
Aware she was on the brink of sinking in shameful delight beneath the blatant flattery, she forced herself to remember that he was the last person she should allow to compliment her, a man convicted of manslaughter. Ex-convict. Ex-lover. Ex! Ex! she told herself fiercely.
“I said it wasn’t healthy for you around here,” she agreed huskily.
His mouth twitched. “You misunderstand. I’m staying. I’ve gone through too much to be scared off by townspeople,” he said dismissively. He gave an enigmatic smile. “I have schemes to protect me from being tarred and feathered. Be patient. You’ll learn about them soon enough.”
Leaving her openmouthed in dismay, he made straight for her apartment door at the side of the garage, and before she could find her brains he’d put his finger on the bell and was keeping it there.
Tina slipped quickly through the picket gate to his side. “What are you doing?” she asked warily.
“Waiting.”
She closed her eyes and offered up a brief thanks for deliverance. With her grandfather and Adriana on their way to Rockport—probably planning on exploring the delights of rock pools and the gift shops at Bearskin Neck, she thought fondly—she’d been saved an ugly scene.
“No one’s in,” she said.
“I’ll hang around.”
Alarmed, she ruthlessly calmed her nerves, wondering what he meant to do. Judging by the set of that smooth jaw, he had a purpose in mind and was going to see it through once his car was mended. But he was a mechanic! she thought, kicking herself for not remembering.
“If you can’t handle the trouble with your car and can’t wait for the part-timers,” she suggested brightly, “try the garage in Ipswich. There’s a pay phone nearby.”
He smiled faintly, his cynical mouth curling at the corners. “There’s nothing wrong with the car. I parked by the garage on purpose.”
“Oh!” Stunned, she remembered the neat patch of oil, the handy car trolley and his still-immaculate suit. A setup. “What…purpose?” she said, her voice wavering, her nerves crumbling.
“I arranged the car—and myself,” he said, ringing the bell impatiently again, “as a lure.”
Her eyes widened. It had worked. “To bring me out?” she asked.
“Heaven forbid,” he murmured, rolling eloquent eyes up to heaven. “I knew what your reaction would be when you saw me. I was hoping to lure out your grandfather.”
“He’s not about, and the garage is closed till the part-timers arrive,” she said stiffly, still not understanding why he needed her grandfather. Her black eyebrows arched and disappeared beneath her bangs. “Have you run out of gas?”
“No. Patience,” he answered dryly. “Where is Dan? He always started at seven.”
“Not
