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‘Uh-uh.’
‘Why?’
Lucy shrugged. ‘I can see his obvious appeal; men like Calverri don’t come along more than once in a lifetime—if you’re lucky.’
‘Lucky?’ echoed Kate, with hollow sarcasm.
‘And you’ve been as miserable as sin since he went away—’
‘I haven’t—’
‘Oh, I know you’ve tried not to be. You’ve been almost ridiculously cheerful at times—throwing yourself into your work even more than you usually do, which is saying something! But you’ve had an air of sadness about you which hurts me to see. So if you’re going for a chance of lasting happiness with him—then go for it wholeheartedly.’
But Kate shook her head. ‘Not lasting happiness, no—it will be purely temporary. I know that. I’m realistic enough to see that there’s no future in it.’
‘Then you might ask yourself whether you’re just setting yourself up for an even bigger hurt by going. You might be better trying to wean yourself off him for good.’
But she couldn’t not go—that was the trouble. The thought of seeing him again was making her feel half-mad with the sense of being really and truly alive once more. Just the thought of flying to meet him in Barcelona was like landing in bright sunlight after three months of existing in some kind of shadowland.
She blew a small fortune on new clothes for the trip, telling herself that a shopping expedition was long overdue—she hadn’t had the enthusiasm for new clothes since he had gone away. She phoned up the travel agent who told her that the weather would be very warm, but not oppressive.
The flight was smooth and uneventful, but Kate’s heart was in her mouth as she walked towards Arrivals, a sudden and debilitating insecurity making her wonder what she would do if Giovanni hadn’t bothered to turn up…
She needn’t have worried. He was there—of course he was—eclipsing every other person in the vicinity with his presence. Tall and striking, leaning lazily against the barrier. Blue eyes were trained on her like blazing guns, though his expression was as dark and as shuttered as she remembered it.
Kate tried to keep her face calm as she walked towards him, but it wasn’t easy—not when she wanted to run at full speed and hurl herself into his arms and tell him how much she had missed him…wanted him…
He was wearing a dark coat of the softest leather imaginable, and it made him look very, very European. More as a distraction from the fact that she didn’t know what to say, or how to greet him—for where was the rule-book in a situation like this?—Kate ran her finger along the cuff of the expensive coat.
‘This is new,’ she observed.
He shimmered his fingertip along the lapel of a sage-green silk jacket, thinking that he had not been expecting such a cool reunion. ‘So is this,’ he said softly.
His words drew her eyes to his, and once they were locked there she seemed unable to break the gaze.
‘Hi,’ he murmured.
‘Hello,’ she said breathlessly.
Her big green eyes drove all conventional greetings clean out of his mind. Oh, what the hell? he thought savagely, and bent his head to kiss her.
‘G-Giovanni!’ The suitcase fell uselessly from her hand and her fingertips went straight up to his shoulders, biting into the sensually scented leather with an abandon which gathered momentum with each thrust of his tongue as he kissed her with shameless abandon.
‘Kate,’ he murmured into her mouth, his hand straying irresistibly to the firm swell of her breast, and briefly cupping it in his palm. Until he remembered that they were in a public place, and with an effort he tore his mouth and his hand away.
‘Matri di Diu!’ he swore softly, staring down into the hectic glitter of her eyes. ‘I think that we had better go straight to the hotel, don’t you, cara? Before we are arrested for indecent exposure,’ he added, with a low, slightly incredulous laugh.
She supposed that she should be relieved that he wasn’t being hypocritical. Not bothering to dress up the true reason for this weekend together. Straight back to the hotel for two whole nights and very probably two whole days of sensational sex, then back on the plane to London.
And if she had wanted more than what he was offering her she should never have come.
‘Sounds wonderful,’ she agreed evenly.
Outside the air was warm and soft, and the sky a canopy of indigo velvet, punctured by starlight. He glanced at her as they walked out towards the car. ‘You’ve lost a little weight,’ he noticed.
‘I needed to.’
‘No, you didn’t.’ He had thought her quite perfect before, but now there was an angular edge to her appearance which made her look like some high-profile model. He saw the side-looks she was getting from the taxi drivers who stood waiting for fares, and instead of feeling a swagger of masculine pride in her beauty he found himself wanting to go and verbally threaten them.
