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So why did that sound a little hollow to his ears now? He took in her rigid profile as they descended in the lift and reached for her hand. She looked up at him warily and he had a sudden picture of her about to walk out of the door in bare feet. The expression in her eyes now and that made him feel very strange. The bell pinged and they walked out.
The few wives and partners and children had also arrived today but when they emerged out to the dining area—on a decked platform which was somehow amazingly suspended over the beach—Alicia was still taken aback. There now seemed to be way more people and children running around in between legs and feet. It was a far cry from the cosy, protected intimacy of Lake Como.
And, almost immediately, she caught Serena’s eye in the distance. The woman gave her another cold once-over and took in the man who still held her hand. Alicia’s tightened on his instinctively, as if to protect herself from harm. Dante looked down. ‘What is it?’
She looked up and shook her head. ‘Nothing … nothing.’
The dinner itself was somewhat chaotic but quite pleasant. Patricia came and found her and sat down as they had their coffee as people were breaking away from the table. ‘Well, my dear, quite a difference from last week, isn’t it?’
Alicia smiled and nodded. Some of the crowd had gone into the bar behind them, which was open at one end to the warm night air. With dim lighting and soft jazz playing, it was all very seductive. Alicia sighed deeply and, bizarrely, felt a little relaxed.
‘So, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you two meet?’ Patricia looked at Alicia with her intelligent and kind gaze.
Alicia felt such a fraud. She searched for some way to fudge the truth. ‘Well, it wasn’t exactly conventional.’
Patricia smiled a conspiratorial smile. ‘With a man like Dante I’m not surprised, my dear. He’s not exactly the conventional type, is he?’
Alicia’s eyes snagged on the man with deadly inevitability. He stood in the bar in a throng of people, proud and resplendent in dark trousers and a light shirt. No, he wasn’t. He was complex and hard, yet in bed, or when he kissed her. Her heart clenched so tight for a moment that she had to close her eyes briefly. She finally regained control and looked back at Patricia and shook her head. ‘No, he’s not.’
‘I’d like to tell you something, Alicia, and I’m sure Derek won’t mind …’
Alicia looked at her curiously, glad to have the focus taken off her and Dante.
‘If it wasn’t for this merger, Derek’s company might have folded.’
Alicia frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Patricia shuddered slightly. ‘I mean that he almost went bankrupt. His company took a big hit in recent years with the downturn in the property market and he was too proud to accept help …’
She looked at Alicia and couldn’t hide the glimmer of moisture in her eyes. Alicia’s heart went out to her as she touched her arm. She automatically thought of their four daughters, the joviality that Derek obviously hid behind.
‘Derek helped Dante once a long time ago, gave him his first big contract, because he was too busy himself to take it on. And Dante’s never forgotten. Derek isn’t investing half of what Dante and Buchanen are in this merger, but Dante doesn’t care. He’s carrying the deficit. And, with this merger, he’s going to be able to give Derek back his company …’
Alicia reeled with that knowledge. ‘I had no idea.’
The older woman smiled a watery smile. ‘Oh, I’m not surprised, my dear. Dante would want to protect Derek’s reputation at all costs.’
Patricia laughed then. ‘Listen to me! Let’s go and join the men; some of those women are looking far too interested in Dante’s considerable charms and, while I don’t doubt he’s only got eyes for you, let’s not give them a chance to knock you off your pedestal.’
Alicia stood up, still reeling and thought hysterically, Knock her off her pedestal? She’d started out from near enough the gutter as far as Dante was concerned, so where would she have to fall to?
In love …
That stopped her in her tracks. And she only moved forward after a second—jerkily. No way. It couldn’t be possible.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘I’M GOING to go up to bed.’
Dante’s jaw clenched and for a moment he looked as if he was going to order her to stay. But then he just nodded.
‘Thank you.’
The fact that she’d thanked him, as if he were some kind of gaoler, rankled with him. She turned to go making her way through the crush, and Dante only registered then how pale her face had been, her features tight. He remembered her deep, heavy sleep that first night in the villa, the fact that she’d been shot … and a whole host of unwelcome feelings started to flood through him.
Alicia opened the door to the suite with unchecked relief. Her head throbbed mercilessly and she kicked off her shoes, gasping in pain as she did. Her heels were bleeding. She winced as she looked down. Haste made her clumsy; she wanted to be in bed and asleep by the time Dante came in. She couldn’t bear it if he touched her tonight, not after what had just sprung to life in her mind, her heart. Patricia’s words resounded in her head—the truth revealed of the depth of Dante’s loyalty to a friend in need.
Could she possibly, fatalistically, be falling in love with the man? And if she was, had none of the pain she’d endured with Raul Carro taught her anything?
