Page 54 of An Unlikely Debutante

‘I would never let you get hurt, Lina,’ Alex said quietly.

The pain and longing in her eyes was almost enough to prompt him to kiss her right there and then, but he managed to hold back. He wished he could embrace her, fold her in his arms and protect her from everything the world could throw at her.

‘I wish I could believe that.’

‘We’re in our own little world here, Lina. No one would ever know.’ He bent forward and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger on her neck. ‘A few weeks of pleasure, of enjoying each other’s company to the full, and when you return home no one would be any the wiser.’

He could see his words were persuasive, not because they were new or revolutionary, but because she wanted him almost as much as he wanted her.

‘Answer me one question, Lina,’ he said, taking her hand in his own and raising her knuckles to his lips. Slowly he kissed them, watching to see if she pulled away. ‘If all the complications and the possible repercussions were taken away, would you want this?’

For the longest moment Lina looked at him, the dappled sunlight dancing across her face. Almost imperceptibly she nodded her head and Alex’s heart soared. Her eyes, her lips, her body, every part of her hinted at her attraction to him, but now he had the confirmation that he craved, now he had the permission to pursue her.

‘I believe we’ve been looking at this all wrong,’ Alex said, invigorated. ‘We’ve been thinking about the negatives. I am going to focus on the positives.’

‘P-positives?’ Lina managed to stutter, looking completely overwhelmed when he plucked a pretty purple flower and handed it to her with a flourish.

‘Positives. Like the time we would spend together, the fun we would have.’

‘We spend time together already.’

‘Not like this.’

Already Alex’s mind was racing. He would bombard Lina with attention, show her exactly what they could be enjoying together. If his predictions were right, he didn’t think it would be more than a week before they were falling into bed together.