so sorry, Dante.’
‘You are like her in many ways. Kind and honest.’ Another spasm of guilt ran up Alice’s spine. She had to tell him.
‘You are different from other women.’ There was a note of bitterness in his voice that puzzled Alice. ‘You don’t care about material things. Clothes. Money. What other people think of you.’
Alice’s heart felt as if it were slowly being encased in ice. When she told him the truth about herself, he would see that she wasn’t the woman he thought she was. She couldn’t bear that. Was there any point in telling him? In two days she would be gone.
Propping herself on her elbow, she gazed down at his beautiful face. He was smiling.
‘You don’t really know me, Dante,’ she said softly.
‘I know enough. But there is more to learn, I think.’ The look in his eyes as they travelled across her body set nerve endings she’d never even known she had on fire. He pushed her back down on the bed and nibbled her ear. ‘You could stay in Florence longer,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t you have more time before you have to go back to university?’
Alice felt her heart plummet down to her toes. Was that all he wanted from her? Just another few days of a holiday romance—and then what?
Almost as if reading her mind, Dante pushed himself up on his powerful arms and gazed down at her. ‘Or maybe longer than that. You could stay with me,’ he said softly.
It was as if someone had dropped ice cubes down the back of her neck. He couldn’t know how impossible it was for her to do what he was asking. When he found out who she truly was, he would feel differently about her and she couldn’t bear that. Already she knew she was falling in love with him and the longer she stayed the harder she would fall. The thought terrified her. She had to leave before she got in any deeper. No matter how much she wanted to stay with him—more than anything she had ever wanted—there could never be a future for them. Her father needed her. She had her life and shallow though it was, it was the only life she knew.
Not that Dante was suggesting anything more than a few more days together.
She ran her fingertips across his chest down towards the silky hair of his abdomen. He drew a sharp breath as she let her hands travel lower. With him she felt no shyness, only a sense of wonder at the power her touch had over him.
In response he brushed his hand along the inside of her thigh and her bones turned to mush. ‘Amore mio,’ he growled, ‘I can’t think when you do that.’ His hands travelled higher up her thigh and he groaned. ‘That’s enough talking for now. We’ll talk more tomorrow.’
But Alice already knew there would be no tomorrow for them. She knew with heart-breaking certainty that they only had a few hours. She would have to make the most of every second.
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