can handle it,’ she’d retorted, which amused him because she’d been the one to get all worked up about the issue in the first place.
She’d been incredible tonight, though. Sparkling and funny and charming, and he’d seen how Andrew Tyson had come under her spell. He almost had. Luca had found his gaze continually moving towards her, ensnared by her tinkling laugh, her teasing smile, the way the light caught the honeyed highlights in her hair.
Several times he’d leaned forward to try to catch what she was saying, needing to know and not because of the pretence. Because he really wanted to hear.
Then he’d reminded himself that she was playing a part and so was he, and Andrew Tyson was falling for it. That was all that mattered. He had no sympathy for the man, no pity whatsoever. Watching Tyson, Luca had barely been able to sit across from him and keep a smile on his face. Hannah had at least provided a distraction from the rage that simmered beneath the surface, threatening to bubble over.
The door to the bathroom opened and Hannah stepped out. Her hair was loose about her face and she wore...
‘What the hell is that?’
Hannah glanced down at her roomy, faded T-shirt and shapeless boxer shorts. ‘My pyjamas.’
‘Didn’t you get pyjamas at the boutique?’
‘If you mean the scrap of lace that barely passes for a negligee, then yes. But I am not wearing that.’ She glowered at him, a flush firing her face. ‘There are limits, Luca.’
‘You can’t wear those. The staff come in to serve us breakfast in bed in the morning.’
Hannah didn’t look at him as she crossed the room and climbed into bed, dragging the duvet up to her chin. ‘So?’
‘So,’ Luca answered, ‘I want them thinking that we spent the night ravishing each other as any newly engaged couple on holiday would.’
The minute he said the words images emblazoned themselves on his brain. Heat flared inside him. And he felt Hannah stiffen next to him.
‘And they won’t think of that if I’m dressed like this?’ Hannah said after a moment. Her voice sounded suffocated. ‘Too bad.’
She turned away from him, her body radiating tension. Luca sighed and snapped off the lights. He’d pushed it far enough, he supposed, although in truth he wanted to see Hannah in a sexy nightgown for his own sake, never mind the staff who would come in the next morning.
‘You could have warned me about your friend,’ Hannah said after a tense silence when Luca had been willing the desire coursing through his body to fade.
‘My friend?’ he asked, nonplussed.
‘Daniela. She obviously knows you.’
‘We’ve met.’
‘You mean you’ve slept with her.’
Luca was silent, considering the assumption. He hadn’t slept with Daniela, although the Russian model had made it clear she’d wanted to. And considering what he was asking Hannah to do, he supposed she deserved to know the truth. ‘We went on a date,’ he said. ‘About a year ago. But nothing happened.’
‘I suppose she wished something did.’ Her voice was slightly muffled.
‘Maybe,’ Luca allowed.
‘Judging by the burning looks she was giving you over dinner, I’d say definitely. And she wasn’t impressed with me either. Not like that’s too surprising, though.’
Hannah’s words ended on a sigh and surprise flickered through him. ‘Why do you say that?’ he asked quietly.
Hannah didn’t answer for a moment. In the darkness he couldn’t see her features, only the taut shape of her body under the duvet. He heard the soft draw of her breath and it felt weirdly intimate. He realised he’d never actually slept in the same bed with a woman before. His assignations—he couldn’t even call them relationships—had always ended with a definitive post-coital farewell.
‘Well,’ Hannah said at last, ‘it’s obvious, isn’t it? A Plain Jane PA is hardly your type.’
‘You’re not a Plain Jane, Hannah.’
She laughed, a snort of genuine amusement that made him smile. ‘Come on, Luca. Your normal type is supermodels and socialites, right? I’m neither.’
‘That doesn’t mean you’re plain.’
‘I’m not glamorous or gorgeous,’ she returned. ‘I don’t mind.’ She shifted where she lay, so he felt the mattress dip beneath them. ‘Why do you date socialites and supermodels? I mean, why not a normal woman?’
‘Well.’ Luca cleared his throat, caught between amusement and a surprising embarrassment. ‘I’m not really interested in their personalities.’
Hannah was silent for a moment. ‘Well, that’s blunt,’ she said at last.
‘I try to be honest.’
‘Except when you’re duping a houseful of people into believing you’re about to be married.’ She rolled over so she was turned towards him, although Luca couldn’t actually see her face in the darkness. He had the alarming impulse to reach out to her, curve a hand around her neck and draw her closer. Kiss those lush lips he’d found himself sneaking looks at all evening. ‘Why do you go for shallow?’ she asked. ‘Why is it just sex for you? Because that’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?’
Luca was silent for a long moment, struggling to form an answer that was honest without being too revealing. ‘Because it isn’t worth it,’ he finally said. ‘To have more.’
He waited for Hannah’s response, his body tensing against the possible onslaught of questions. Her voice came out in a soft, sorrowful sigh.
‘Maybe it isn’t,’ she agreed quietly.
Luca waited for her to say more but she didn’t. He closed his eyes, telling himself it was better that way, because he didn’t want to explain his answer even if part of him wanted to know why Hannah agreed with him.
With his eyes closed, his other senses were heightened, so he could breathe in her light floral scent, feel the warmth of her body so close to his, hear the gentle draw and sigh of her breathing.
Desire flared through him again and more intensely this time, and ruefully Luca acknowledged that he might be the one in need of a pillow barrier. He rolled onto his other side, away from Hannah, and tried to will himself to sleep.
* * *
If this were a romcom, Hannah thought wryly, she and Luca would fall asleep and then somehow, in the night, they would wake tangled up in each other’s arms. They’d gaze into each other’s eyes, still caught in the throes of sleep, and then Luca would brush a kiss across her lips, slide his hand down her body, everything fogged with sleep...
Hannah realised her rueful imagination was fast turning into fantasy, and heat flooded her belly at just the thought of Luca looking at her that way. Touching her that way.
She
