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Inside the cab, Eloise closed her eyes. Her head was in a whirl—and not just from the wine she was no longer used to. From something much, much headier.
Vito! Oh, Vito! My desire for you is as strong as ever! But I cannot just yield to it headlong!
Yet for all her self-admonition she felt the blood surge in her body, quickening her hectic pulse, heating her cheeks. Her eyes went to the window, to the traffic beyond, the neon lights and illuminated street signs, and they all blurred into a whirl of colour. Anguish filled her face. This time yesterday things had seemed so simple, the future so straightforward. Rigid, unforgiving—solitary. But now...
Now there was turmoil in her heart—turning her upside down, inside out, round and round and round.
A smothered cry came from her lips.
CHAPTER EIGHT
VITO PACED RESTLESSLY across his bedroom. He could not sleep. His mind was wide awake, replaying every single moment he had spent with Eloise that evening. Emotion jangled within him—one moment soaring, the next crashing, tangling itself into intractable knots within him. He’d tried to make sense of them, but it was hopeless.
He ran his hands through his hair, striding out into the lounge of his suite, stopping by the windows, staring out over the street below, and beyond that to the darkened mass of Central Park. As if he could see across the city to where she was—he did not know where precisely—at her mother’s apartment.
Is she sleepless too? Is she thinking of me as I think of her? Unable to think of anything else at all?
It was a hope he kept on feeling, darting through him, keeping his heart-rate high. Longing filled him. For her to be so close—and yet so far!
Was it just desire that made him feel so? He knew desire was there—how could he not? It had leapt, fully formed, the moment he had set eyes on her, both that afternoon and then again that evening, as she walked into the bar.
Will I ever not feel desire for her?
The question hung in his head, and as he gazed unseeing at the cityscape beyond, seeing only the image that blazed like a jewel in his mind, he knew the question was unnecessary. The answer was foregone.
I will desire her all my life...
Even as he acknowledged it he felt another, deeper emotion well up beneath. His longing for her was not mere desire.
It is for her—for her herself! Everything about her—
He hauled himself away, feeling his heart pounding, hectic and strong. He did not know what name to give what he felt—knew only that it was an emotion that was the most powerful he had ever felt.
Resolved into a single word. A single name.
Eloise.
* * *
‘All set?’ Laura Carldon smiled at Eloise.
Eloise nodded, but a hollow feeling was emptying her insides. Her nerves were jangling.
Laura Carldon’s smile widened. ‘Great—you have a fantastic day with your gorgeous, gorgeous guy today! And, like I said, John and I are going to start looking for a replacement for you, now that—’
Consternation filled Eloise’s face, making her cut across urgently. ‘No—please—it’s not necessary! I mean—it’s too soon—I don’t know—I just don’t know!’
Laura Carldon looked at her straight. ‘Ellie, Vito Viscari is giving you time, but you know...’ and now her voice became pointed and her gaze penetrating ‘...there is only one outcome possible. You know that, Ellie—you know you do.’
Eloise’s face paled. She knew why her employer was saying that—but it wasn’t as straightforward as she thought it was. It wasn’t straightforward at all! How could it possibly be?
To her relief, Laura backed off. She’d gone into big sister mode when Eloise had got back from Manhattan and blurted out everything about Vito, and her employer had been far more sympathetic to her predicament than her mother had been.
Eloise could still hear her mother’s blunt advice ringing in her ears.
‘You must do what you want, Eloise—and take the consequences of your decision. Just as I did. But it’s your decision, not mine. What is it you want to do?’
But that was just it, wasn’t it? she thought now, wretchedly. What did she want? And what did Vito want?
