AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But which might prove her salvation, she thought, recklessly downing her first glass.
‘Have a care, mia cara,’ Zac cautioned softly as she embarked on the second. ‘This is an exquisite vintage, not an anaesthetic.’
She bit her lip. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I am relieved to hear it.’ He paused. ‘I heard today there is another name to add to the guest list for the wedding. My cousin Serafina has decided to attend. As you know, she has a great fondness for Nicola.’
But not for me, thought Dana, replacing her glass carefully on the table. ‘Is she well enough for the journey?’
‘She is now walking with a stick and expects to be fully recovered by the wedding. Your aunt will, of course, be accompanying her,’ he added. ‘And their rooms should be adjacent, if that is possible.’
Dana looked down at the table. She said quietly, ‘I’ll see to it.’
It occurred to her that it could be an awkward reunion on both fronts, and she sighed inwardly.
‘Would you like coffee?’ Zac asked when the meal was over.
‘No, thank you,’ she said, just managing to stop herself saying, ‘It keeps me awake.’
He watched her meditatively. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. ‘Will you believe me if I tell you there is nothing to fear?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘How can I?’
Because what really frightens me is what might happen when you touch me. When you discover that seven years ago you taught me to want you in return. And that, heaven help me, I haven’t forgotten...
‘But it makes no difference,’ she went on, her voice husky, hurried. ‘We made a bargain, and I’ll keep my side of it. You—you can do what you want and I won’t stop you.’
‘Carissima.’ His voice was oddly gentle. Even coaxing. ‘I have had more enticing offers.’
‘And will again, I’m sure,’ she said stonily, as pain, swift and surprising, lanced through her. ‘But not from me. Never from me. Whatever you said earlier, you—you can’t really expect that.’
‘I anticipated I would need patience,’ he said. ‘It seems I was right.’
He pushed back his chair. ‘I, however, will have coffee and then complete some work for my trip. I will join you in three-quarters of an hour. Is that acceptable?’
She seemed suddenly unable to frame the word ‘Yes’ so she merely nodded as she rose from the table.
Leaving the room, she seemed to feel his gaze following her—touching her like a hand on her shoulder as she climbed the stairs to the room and the bed she was about to share with him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE BED HAD been turned down, she saw, and one of her new nightgowns, a demure white lawn affair, had been arranged on the coverlet.
She ran herself a warm bath, testing the array of expensive toiletries awaiting her, and eventually scenting the water with rose geranium.
When she was dry, she slipped the nightgown over her head and went back to the bedroom, sitting at the dressing table to brush her hair.
As she put the brush down, she heard his dressing room door open and rose, turning to face him, her hands clenched at her sides, her body, in its opaque veiling unyielding as a statue and as still.
Zac halted and, for a long moment, they stared at each other across the room.
Then, with a harsh sigh, he walked across to the bed, discarding the white towelling robe which proved to be his only garment, offering her an unwanted reminder of how magnificent he looked naked, and slid under the covers.
‘If you wish to stand there all night, like some virgin martyr at the stake, that is your choice,’ he said. ‘I, however, intend to get some sleep.’
He turned on to his side, presenting her this time with an inimical view of his back, as he rearranged his pillows and extinguished the lamp on his night table.
At first Dana stayed where she was, torn by confusion as she gazed down at the floor, waiting for the blush that had consumed every inch of her skin to subside and her heartbeat to return to something like normality.
But eventually she decided that maintaining her present stance was simply making her look ridiculous, so she reluctantly crossed the room, switched off her own lamp and climbed into bed, lying tensely on her back as far away from Zac as it was possible to get without ending up on the floor, and staring at the ceiling while she waited, with a mixture of longing and dread, for him to reach for her.
