AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER FIVE
WHOWASHE?
For the first time Antonietta truly wanted to know more about a guest—or rather, she corrected herself, about a man.
Her no-gossip rule wasn’t serving her well now.
But the Internet service in her tiny cottage really wasterrible.
To her own slight bemusement, an hour after her shift had ended Antonietta found herself heading out of her cottage and standing on a cliff, typingRafeandTulanointo her laptop.
No service.
Agh!
She stomped back to her cottage and told herself she was being ridiculous. Whoever Rafe really was, it was irrelevant, given he’d be gone in a matter of days.
Yet, she wanted to know.
She was too embarrassed to ask Pino, who would generally be her main source of information, having shut down his conversation that first morning. And Chi-Chi, who usually daydreamed aloud about any male she saw as a potential suitor, was unusually quiet. Vincenzo was too discreet.
Oh, how she regretted refusing to let Francesca reveal his identify to her. She could hardly ask her for more information now—it would only raise suspicion. Nico, and in turn Francesca, were very strict about staff keeping a professional distance from their guests.
It was why she was doing so well.
A knock at the door startled her. No one ever came and visited her at the cottage. Well, except for Aurora, but usually she would text to say that she was on her way. Could it be her parents, feeling guilty about avoiding her earlier in the village? Was she finally going to get the Christmas she had craved?
There was a spark of hope as she pulled open the door. But that tiny ray of hope dimmed when she saw who it was.
Rafe!
Actually, it didn’t dim. That little spark shrank and regrouped and then reignited, hot, white and blue, as if the collar of a Bunsen burner had been altered.
‘Rafe!’
And it was a Rafe she had never seen before. He looked more like the man in the photo attached to his profile except in that he was scowling. In fact, he was smiling, making no attempt to hide his pleasure at her shock.
He wore a dinner suit, and he wore it so very well.
The first time she had seen him he had been rumpled and his hair matted with blood. Now it was black and glossy and brushed back from his elegant face.
There was still a deep bruise on his eyelid, but the swelling had gone, and he was so elegant and commanding, so unexpected and exquisite, that he was simply too much.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ Antonietta said immediately.
‘I didn’t see any signs warning me not to trespass.’
‘How did you know where I live?’
‘Thankfully there is only one cottage near the helipad.’ Rafe shrugged. ‘Or I might have ended up at Chi-Chi’s—I’d never have got out alive...’
Despite herself, Antonietta found that she was laughing at the vision his words created. The most stunning man stood at her door, and instead of being nervous she was laughing!
But she stopped herself. ‘I can’t invite you in.’
‘I’m not asking to be let in,’ Rafe responded smoothly. ‘I’m inviting you to come out.’
‘Out?’
