there,’ Luka interrupted. ‘I need to think about what I’m prepared to agree to but before we go any further there is something that you need to know.’ They were face to face as he said it. ‘I will never marry you.’
‘You’ll do whatever it takes.’ The spitfire he had known was returning and she jabbed a finger into his chest to make her point. ‘Whatever. It. Takes.’
‘No,’ he calmly interrupted. Despite the cool facade she had attempted, he knew that she was as Sicilian as the volcanic soil they were from, and as he watched her struggle to hold in her temper, he didn’t suppress his slight triumphant smile. She was just as volatile and passionate as he remembered. Those traits in Sophie were everything he both loved and loathed.
‘After what you did, after what you said about me in court...’
‘Lose the drama, Sophie,’ His voice was completely calm. ‘I accept that I have a moral debt to you, given all that happened, but, even with several years’ interest added, I do not owe you that much. I will agree to be your fake fiancé, but never your fake husband. Know that now, or get the hell out.’
He hoped for the latter. Get the hell out of my life, my head, my heart.
Just get out!
Instead, Sophie must have accepted his terms for she sat back down.
It was time to talk business.
Finally, together, they would face the mistakes of their past.
‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW!’
Sophie smiled as Bella went into her bag and bought out a neatly wrapped package.
‘Can I open it now?’ Sophie asked. She already knew what it was—a dress for her engagement party next week. Even though they worked as chambermaids, Bella was a talented dressmaker and Sophie had spent the last few weeks having sheets of paper pinned to her. She couldn’t wait to see the real thing. Bella had kept it a complete surprise and Sophie didn’t even know what colour the dress was.
‘Don’t open it here.’ Bella shook her head. ‘Wait till you get home. You don’t want to get sand on it.’
Though tired from the shifts as chambermaids at the Brezza Oceana hotel, just as they always did they had come to their secret cove. It wasn’t really a secret cove but it was tucked behind jagged cliffs and could not be seen from the hotel. The tourists didn’t really know about it as the small beach was accessible by a path that the locals of Bordo Del Cielo kept to themselves. When the hotel had first been built, much to the locals’ disgust, it was here that Sophie and Bella would come after school. Now, even though they worked together most days, still the tradition remained.
Here, where no one might overhear them, they came and sat, their legs dangling in the azure water, chatting about their hopes and dreams and voicing some of their fears...
Not all of their fears, though.
Bordo Del Cielo was a town of secrets and some things were too dangerous for even the closest of friends to discuss.
‘Now I can get on with making my own dress,’ Bella said.
‘What is yours like?’
‘Grey,’ Bella replied. ‘Very simple, very sophisticated. Maybe then Matteo might notice me...’
Sophie laughed. Matteo was Luka’s best friend and had been Bella’s crush for years, but he had never given her so much as a glance.
‘You must be getting excited,’ Bella said, and Sophie was about to smile and nod.
In fact, she did so.
‘Of course I am,’ she said, but her smile, the one she had worn so determinedly whenever her upcoming engagement was discussed, suddenly wavered and rare tears started to fill her expressive brown eyes.
‘Sophie?’ Bella checked when she saw that her friend was struggling. ‘Tell me.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Are you worried about...?’ Bella hesitated. ‘Sleeping with him? I know he might expect you to once you are engaged but you could tell Luka that you are a good girl and want to wait for your wedding night.’
Sophie actually managed a small laugh. ‘That’s the only part I’m not worried about.’
It was the truth.
Oh, she hadn’t seen Luka in years but she had grown up nursing a crush on him. Luka’s widowed father was rich; Malvolio owned the hotel and most of the businesses and homes in town. Those Malvolio didn’t own he took payments from for their protection. When Luka’s mother had died, instead of struggling to raise his child, in the way Sophie’s father had, Malvolio had sent Luka away. He had attended boarding school on the mainland but, every summer when he’d returned, to Sophie he’d looked more beautiful. She had no doubt that the years he had spent in London wouldn’t have dimmed that.
‘I’m actually looking forward to seeing Luka again.’
‘Remember how you cried when he left?’
‘I was fourteen then,’ Sophie said. ‘Tomorrow I’ll be nineteen...’
‘Do you remember when you tried to kiss him?’ Bella laughed and Sophie cringed in recall.
‘He told me I was too young. I guess he would have been twenty then.’ She smiled at the embarrassing memory of Luka dropping her from his lap. ‘He told me to wait.’
‘And you have.’
‘He hasn’t, though,’ Sophie said, her voice bitter. Luka’s reputation was as undeniable as the waves that pulled at their calves. ‘He didn’t back then, he was already screwing around.’
‘Does it make you angry?’
‘Yes, but more...’ She felt a familiar burn rise in her chest—little bubbles of jealousy at the thought of Luka with other women that did not ease when they popped, for it felt like shards of glass were being released in her throat. ‘I want what he has had.’
‘You want to date other men?’
‘No, I want my freedom,’ Sophie said. ‘I want to have experiences and chase my own dreams. I’ve spent my life taking care of my father’s home, cooking his meals, doing his washing. I don’t know if I want to be someone’s wife yet. I want to work on the cruise liners...’ She looked out to the sparkling ocean. Travelling, sailing on the seas had always been her dream. ‘I wouldn’t mind making beds for a living if I could do it on a ship. It’s like you with your dressmaking...’
‘That’s just a dream, though,’ Bella said.
‘Perhaps not. Your application might be accepted. You might be off to Milan soon.’
‘I got rejected,’ Bella said. ‘My drawings weren’t enough for them and I’ll never be able to afford models
