AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Dendritic agate. Most people don’t appreciate its beauty. But the pattern is made in nature and it would have taken years to put together the complementing pieces. Far harder than matching other gemstones.’
‘It looks old.’ Her voice was a breathy whisper. The kind you wanted in your ear when making love. The whole of him tensed.
‘About two hundred years or so. Everyone seeks out the sparkle of new gemstones, the brilliant cuts, but I prefer this. And the greens match your dress.’
‘I can’t. It’s—’
‘Try it on.’ It seemed imperative now that she wear it. A drive he couldn’t ignore. ‘Come here.’
She edged to where he stood, near a gilt mirror. He took the cool, heavy necklace from its box. Reached over Hannah’s head and draped it round her neck, settling the gems at her throat and securing the clasp. His breath disturbed fine hairs curling at her nape as they escaped her hairstyle. Goosebumps peppered her skin. He craved to run his hands over them. Feel the evidence of her pleasure under his fingertips.
Alessio looked up at her in the mirror, the moment so profoundly intimate and domestic it zapped through him like an electric shock. Instead of giving in to the desire threatening to overwhelm him, he stepped back.
‘Do you like it?’
She reached her hand up, and tentatively touched the central stone. She smelled of the final days of autumn, like apples and the last of the season’s roses. Rich and intoxicating.
‘It’s almost like an underwater scene.’
‘It’s perfect.’
‘I can’t wear this.’ She shook her head. The diamonds twinkled as she moved. ‘They’re crown jewels.’
‘They’re not officially in the royal collection. They’re mine to do with what I wish, and my wish is that you leave them on. Every woman should have the opportunity to wear something like this, at least once in her life. To feel like a princess.’
‘That might have been Mum’s nickname for me, but I’m no princess.’
Alessio wondered whether they had talked of Hannah marrying a prince, and whether her dream had died in the accident. He wasn’t sure why it mattered, if it had.
‘You look like one.’
It was as though the moment froze, with them standing so close in the room, as if time had paused and was giving them this small slice to cherish before wrenching them back into reality. But Alessio knew reality always intruded.
An alert chimed and here the world caught up with them like some spell had been broken. Then a knock sounded at the door.
‘Enter.’
Stefano walked in, gave a brief bow.
‘Your car has arrived.’ He turned to Hannah. His gaze held at her neck for a heartbeat, that hesitation saying more than words could. Her hand fluttered to touch the necklace again, as if afraid someone would take it away. Stefano gave her a brief smile. ‘Signorina Barrington.’
To Alessio, he raised an eyebrow.
‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ The words were spoken in Italian, so Hannah couldn’t understand.
Alessio checked the time on his watch. Straightened his bow tie. It was the first time in alongtime that his friend had questioned him. From the moment he had received the call to say his mother was unwell, he’d known. His course unwelcome but set. Ignoring his needs and desires for the good of the country. He straightened his spine like the prince he was.
‘Ovviamente.’Of course.
Stefano responded with nothing more than a curt nod as they left for the cars. And all the while on the journey to the dinner, Alessio’s lie stuck like a fishbone in his throat.
They stood outside the doorway of a ballroom in a magnificent villa on the outskirts of the capital. Hannah had been told on the way here that this would be a more intimate function, but it didn’t sound like it from the cacophony of voices drifting from the ballroom ahead. She touched the central stone of the magnificent necklace, sitting warm and heavy round her throat in a way that seemed comforting, the piece so beautiful she had almost wept when Alessio had shown it to her.
She’d loved the way he had looked at her tonight, after clasping the gems round her neck. As if she was someone precious. Special. Someone to be revered. The intensity of his gaze had left her tight and shivery, hot and cold all at once. It was how she felt about him, watching Alessio now in his black dinner suit, snowy white waistcoat and bow tie. Dressed so formally he looked...more. In control, in charge, masterful. For the tiniest of moments she allowed temptation to whisper that she’d love him to master her.
Hannah’s cheeks heated with the illicit thought, but at least the lights were lower out here in the hall. She wouldn’t look so much like a vividly toned root vegetable. No one paid her any attention anyway. Right now, Alessio and Stefano were in discussion with what appeared to be a master of ceremonies, who alternated between wringing his hands and bowing as if in apology as Stefano gesticulated.
Alessio stood back a little, his disapproval obvious in the way he held himself, his jaw hard as he checked his watch. Stiff, as if he were retreating into himself and rebuilding another persona by degrees. He glanced over at her, and she decided not to hang back as if this weren’t her place. She’d been invited here. She had the dress, the heels, the jewels, and for one night she could be the princess in a story of her own making.
