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ALICIA sipped from her glass of vintage champagne and tried not to let a bemused smile show on her face. The scene around her was so far removed from where she’d spent the last year—or anywhere, if she was honest—that it was almost funny. But then she looked at Dante’s impressive back and any thoughts of smiling fled as heat unfurled in her belly.
Dante had been sucked into a round of greetings and Alicia was hanging back feeling shy, a little bewildered at the sight of new people, all bedecked in their finery. Apart from Buchanen and O’Brien, there were about five men and two women, the various assistants and advisers attached to each man. They all looked fearsomely important and the room reeked of wealth—the kind of wealth that would make your head spin.
The man at the bottom of the stairs had been Derek O’Brien, Dante’s fellow construction entrepreneur from Dublin and obviously his close friend. Derek had said he was accompanied by his wife, one of the few, it seemed, who was allowed the honour of attending this week. Just as Alicia was wondering about this, a nice-looking woman approached her.
‘Hello, you must be Alicia.’
Alicia nodded and shook the woman’s hand, smiling shyly. ‘Yes … I’m sorry and you are?’
‘I’m Patricia O’Brien, Derek’s wife. I believe you just met. He told me to come and make sure you were all right.’
Alicia felt a dart of something as she realized that Dante obviously hadn’t been concerned about her. They’d walked in and he’d been surrounded in seconds by a crush of people, barely looking back to see if she was still there.
Alicia was glad of the friendly greeting. ‘You’re very good.’
‘I see that even though she was invited too, Buchanen’s wife hasn’t come for the first week; probably knew she’d be sidelined …’ The older woman shook her head wryly. ‘My husband, however, is incapable of doing anything without me.’
Patricia was looking fondly at her husband across the room and Alicia felt envious. She took a hurried sip of the sparkling wine. What was wrong with her? She’d never felt that lack before.
She felt a prickling on the back of her neck and looked up. Dante was reaching out a hand through the throng and, like the Red Sea parting, people stood back and let her through. She sent a quick smile back to Patricia, who motioned with her hands for Alicia to go.
Dante pulled her in to his side and Alicia felt as if she’d have preferred to stay on the periphery and not in the centre of this man’s orbit. Everyone was looking at her like a specimen under a microscope. Especially Buchanen, a rotund man with penetrating eyes.
‘Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to Alicia Parker …’
Alicia nodded and smiled hello as people came forward and were introduced. She hadn’t imagined some of the funny looks Dante had received, as if indeed people were somewhat surprised that he’d turned up with someone on his arm. And for a treacherous split second she felt a kinship, as if they were in this together. His hand stayed on or near the middle of her back, sending little electric shocks up and down her spine.
When they sat down for dinner Dante had to let Alicia go and he didn’t want to. That moment when he’d pulled her in to his side in the drawing room, she’d looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but after a few minutes she’d relaxed into the situation and had chatted easily. In fact, she’d been so at ease that it had distracted him from his own conversation. They’d got separated as soon as they’d walked in and never before had he had the sensation of wanting to keep a woman close—foolish thoughts again, he’d reasoned to himself. He had to keep tabs on her; wasn’t that why she was here in the first place … and to sate his libido?
And then, on the way into dinner, Patricia O’Brien had come and squeezed his hand, saying sotto voce, ‘She seems like a lovely girl.’
He hadn’t expected this. He didn’t know what he’d really expected but it hadn’t been this. She was sitting away from him by a few seats, beside Derek, who was obviously smitten. And, even though Derek was a good twenty years his se
nior, Dante felt like plucking Alicia bodily from her chair and placing her next to him. He wouldn’t put it past her to try and seduce his old friend, and the thought made him sick. He forced himself to look away.
Dante’s English right-hand man hadn’t been able to come this week so had sent his assistant instead; Jeremy Gore-Black. He was seated next to Dante now and while he had been looking forward to catching up on some vital information, the man’s monotone voice was rapidly making Dante more and more irritable.
Alicia sent up silent thanks that she was seated next to someone as gregarious as Derek O’Brien, who was regaling the small audience with hilarious stories. It wasn’t hard to smile and look happy, at ease. But she was very aware of Dante a few seats away, aware of his movements, his hands, his head as it inclined towards the person he was talking to.
‘Hey … Alicia, wasn’t it?’
Alicia nodded and turned to the American on her other side. He was a young man called Brown, if she remembered correctly from the brief recent introduction, Buchanen’s assistant. She was immediately aware of trying to make a good impression, even though his eyes weren’t meeting hers and he was obviously looking for her pretty much non-existent cleavage. She almost felt like apologizing. Until he looked up, smiled slimily and said, ‘So what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?’
‘I …’ Suddenly Alicia was very aware that his question had dropped into a temporary lull in the conversation and everyone seemed to be listening.
‘Well … I’m here on the kind invitation of Dante.’ She sent what she hoped was a suitably loving smile to him, but it felt forced and he looked dark and unreadable. The man was oblivious to the silence.
‘And what exactly do you do, then? Do you have a career?’
All Alicia’s hackles rose. His arrogant tone said that he expected she did anything but work. ‘Yes—’ she just managed to sound civil ‘—I’m a qualified nurse and midwife actually.’
Dante cut in then, surprising her, and surprising himself for feeling that he wanted to defend her. ‘She’s recently returned from a year spent in Africa.’
An audible gasp went up when she answered some questions as to where she’d been. Even Dante had to admit surprise. The place she mentioned was notoriously volatile and Dante wondered what her experiences had been.
After a moment’s hush, suddenly the conversation resumed at breakneck speed and Alicia found herself answering questions all around her. She caught Patricia’s eye at one stage and she winked at her conspiratorially, as if to say, Well done. And Alicia did feel a little dart of something like triumph, as if she’d passed some kind of test.
That night, when the after dinner drinks had broken up, Alicia and Dante climbed the stairs to their bedrooms, which were slightly separate from everyone else’s. Alicia stopped at her door and couldn’t stop a tremor from starting in her legs. What if he—?
