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Her room was ready for her. Didn’t that tell her enough? He’d obviously instructed his housekeeper to put the few things she’d left behind back in the room Seb had once used, effectively removing her presence as a lover from his apartment. It was what she wanted, what she needed, so why did it hurt so much?
‘Under the circumstances, it would be best if I stayed in a hotel.’ She forced herself to believe her words. After all, she had little hope of him doing so if she didn’t.
‘No.’ The word snapped from him as he tossed his car keys onto the marble worktop of the kitchen in an irritated fashion. ‘The circumstances, as you so nicely put it, are that we are back after a weekend away. Our weekend of fun is over. It was not a for ever arrangement and nothing more than an affair.’
‘All the more reason I stay in a hotel, don’t you think?’
He looked at her sternly and the hard businessman he was showed through. ‘You said it wasn’t for ever, so why do you need to leave? The weekend affair we agreed on is over, now it is back to business.’
‘Very well,’ she relented, but knew she had to go back to England sooner than originally planned. Once their meeting at the test track was over tomorrow she would be on the next plane home. She’d walk out right now, if only she had the answers she needed.
Resigned to staying in his apartment one more night, she walked over to the windows, looking out at the Duomo. When she’d first arrived its magnificence had captured her imagination, now she just looked blankly at it. So much had changed in just two days, but each mile they’d driven on their way back to Milan had wiped out their weekend, kiss by kiss. They were back where they had started, but the simmer of sexual tension was now tinged with regret. At least for her it was; for Alessandro it had been replaced by indifference.
With a small sigh she turned and absently looked at the newspaper neatly placed on the ornate desk which occupied the corner of the living area. Already a photograph of her and Alessandro arriving at the launch party had a front-page position. The few words written beneath were incomprehensible and she turned the page. Maybe more of the launch would be on another page.
She froze.
The image which leapt to life from the page scorched her with hot memories. She and Alessandro were there, in the paper. Not the happy smiles of their arrival, but the passionate kiss against the car. The kiss that had happened after everyone had left.
She looked down at the picture, which sparked with passion, showing lovers locked in their own world, oblivious to everything, even the intrusion of the photographer. When and how had this been taken? Then her body chilled. Had Alessandro known of this? She recalled his intent as he’d taken her in his arms, the way he’d rendered all thought impossible as his lips had claimed hers.
He hadn’t kissed her because he’d wanted to, because he’d been unable to resist, but to set up the perfect photo opportunity. One that would show to the world he wasn’t in any way to blame for Seb’s accident, that she and her family had more than given their stamp of approval to a car which had taken the life of a young driver.
‘Did you know about this?’ She closed the paper, unable to look at the sizzling photograph a moment longer. He approached the table, a frown on his face, and she looked up at him, hostility masking her shock.
‘Sì. It is what I requested.’ His calm words did little to soothe her jangled nerves. So he had set her up, used her like a pawn in his game. Not only did her presence at the launch suggest she didn’t blame him or the Roselli company, it showed an intimate moment she had no wish for the world to see.
She blinked in surprise. ‘What you requested?’
‘Come, Charlotte—’ his accent lavished her full name as he looked down at her, having glanced briefly at the paper ‘—a front-page photograph of us together is exactly the sort of advertisement I’d hoped for. You brought glamour and style to the occasion and, of course, your family’s blessing.’
‘What about this?’ Furiously she dashed back the front page and watched as he looked down at the photo of their passionately hot kiss. ‘Did you request this?’
He scanned the words beneath the photo, words she didn’t understand. His silence was almost too much as he placed one palm on the desk, leaning down to read. The suspense of what it all meant was wrapping up with her initial anger until she thought she might explode. ‘Did you?’
‘No.’ He shook his head, continuing to study the piece. ‘Not this.’
