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So now she stood, curls snaking around her face and onto her shoulders—her eyes unrecognisable after the skilled attention of the makeup artist.
‘Uno o l’altro,’ the beautician had explained as she’d scrutinised her face, and Caitlyn had understood—she could play up either her eyes or her mouth, but not both.
The eyes had it!
Slate-grey eyeshadow and lashings of eyeliner and mascara brought out every last glimmer of blue in her eyes, soft blush accentuated her cheekbones, and her lips were full but teasingly neutral. As for the dress—black had never been less safe. A million hand-sewn black glass beads covered every inch of fabric, and the deep empress line showed off her bosom—and from the second she’d slipped it on, feeling guilty for being greedy, Caitlyn had been wanting to ask if it was hers or on loan.
Well, for tonight at least it was hers.
And for tonight at least she had enough confidence to deal with Lazzaro—was enough of a woman to walk away from the man of her dreams.
She’d always thought that he’d come back.
That the bitter man, so twisted by grief, would one day return to the man she had first met. She had been sure in her heart that the man she had fallen in love with was in there somewhere.
Only he wasn’t.
Tears glittered in her eyes as the door to her heart closed to him—closed to a man who could do such a thing to his friend. It was all she’d thought about all day, as she was primped and preened to within an inch of her life, to make her fit to grace the arm of Lazzaro Ranaldi when he attended his good friend’s birthday party. The friend whose wife he was having an affair with.
‘Are you ready?’
It was hardly an effusive greeting, but Caitlyn was relieved not to have to make small talk as she tried to squeeze lipstick, face powder and her key into the tiniest of bags—relieved because in all her efforts to look the part she’d forgotten to prepare herself for the sight of him. Always effortlessly stunning, tonight, when he had made an effort, he quite simply took her breath away. Black hair was smoothed back from his face, and his tuxedo was so superbly cut it accentuated his already broad shoulders. The white of his shirt and immaculate trousers highlighted the smooth planes of his stomach and the thick muscular legs that seemed to go on for ever.
‘Is that all you’re taking?’ Lazzaro frowned. ‘You know we’ll be staying there?’
‘Where?’
‘At the Mancini hotel—of course.’
She hadn’t known, of course—though now she thought about it, it seemed obvious. Someone with the wealth and resources of Alberto Mancini would ensure his guests were extremely well looked after.
‘It would be rude to decline…’ Lazzaro gave a pompous shrug as Caitlyn turned to race to pack an overnight bag. ‘Even if my hotel is better.’
‘How was your afternoon?’ Caitlyn asked as the elevator doors clanged behind them.
‘Long,’ came the single-word reply as he stared fixedly ahead.
Lazzaro was holding his breath—trying to block out her heady scent—trying not to look at her. Oh, he’d always known she was stunning—that with the right clothes, the right make-up, she could rival any of the A-list beauties who would be paraded tonight—but knowing what he knew, what he’d found out today, seeing her so sleek, so polished, instead of melting him it did the opposite. Tonight she turned him to stone.
He strode out of the lift and across the foyer and into the waiting car. Caitlyn struggled to keep up, tossing her bag to his driver and not offering a single word as the car sped through the wet Rome streets.
A blonde Medusa—bewitching, beguiling. Well, not tonight. Tonight he was impervious to her charms. Tonight he would hold onto the truth—the truth that was becoming clear, no matter how she, how he, tried to gloss over it. So many times he’d been tempted to trust her, to ignore the red flags—to just deny what he knew—see only the good…She bewitched him, just as Roxanne had Luca—one look at those eyes and he was gone.
Well, no more!
Tonight he would confront her.
‘Lazzaro!’
Alberto Mancini was, of course, the guest of honour at his own party, but Lazzaro clearly came a close second. Their host quickly excused himself from the gathered crowd and made his way over, talking in rapid Italian as he greeted his friend, but politely switching to English as soon as Caitlyn was introduced.
