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She walked faster in an attempt to escape the conversation. ‘You don’t need to get into my skin and understand me. And I don’t need healing.’
‘Most people need healing from something, Alice. It’s—Dios, can you stop walking for a moment?’ Reaching out, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her, his fingers firm on her flesh as he held her still. ‘Stop running and have a conversation. Is that really so frightening?’
‘You want facts? All right, I’ll give you the facts. You and Edith obviously have lots of happy childhood memories. I don’t.’ Her heart thumped steadily against her chest as her past spilled into her present. ‘It’s as simple as that. Ice cream doesn’t remind me of happy holidays, Gio. It reminds me of bribes. A way of persuading me to like my mother’s latest boyfriend. A way of occupying me for ten minutes while my father spent romantic time with his latest girlfriend. Ice cream was a salve to the conscience while they told me I needed to live in a different place for a while because I was getting in the way of “love”.’ Her heart was beating, her palms were sweaty and feelings of panic bubbled up inside her. Feelings that she hadn’t had for a very long time.
Gio sucked in a breath. ‘This was your childhood?’
‘Sometimes I was a ping-pong ball, occasionally I was a pawn but mostly I was just a nuisance.’
‘And now?’ He frowned and his grip on her arms tightened. ‘Your parents are divorced?’
‘Oh, several times. Not just the once.’ She knew her tone was sarcastic and brittle but she couldn’t do anything about it. Couldn’t be bothered to hide it any more. Maybe if he understood the reasons for the way she was, he’d leave her alone. ‘You know what they say—practice makes perfect. My parents had plenty of practice. They are quite expert at divorce.’
His eyes were steady on her face. Searching. ‘And you?’
‘Me? I survived.’ She spread her hands. ‘Here I am. In one piece.’
He shook his head. ‘Not in one piece. Your belief in love has been shattered. They took that from you with their selfish behaviour.’ He lifted a hand and touched her cheek. ‘My beautiful Alice.’
Her breathing hitched in her throat and her shoulders stiffened. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me. I like my life. I don’t need fairy-tales to be happy.’ She tensed still further as he slid a hand over her cheek, his thumb stroking gently. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Offering you comfort. A hug goes a long way to making things better, don’t you think?’ His voice was soft. ‘Touch is important.’
‘I’m not used to being touched.’ She stood rigid, not moving a muscle. ‘I don’t like being touched.’
‘Then you need more practice. Everyone likes being touched, as long as it’s in the right way.’
He was too close and it made her feel strange. His voice made her feel strange.
‘Enough.’ Shaken and flustered, she took a step backwards. Broke the contact. ‘You just can’t help it, can you? I’ve only known you for a short time but during that time I’ve seen how you always have to dig and delve into a person’s life.’
‘Because the answers to questions often lie below the surface.’
She scraped her hair out of her eyes. ‘Well, I don’t need you to delve and I don’t want you to dig. There are no questions about my life that you need to answer. I’m not one of your patients with emotional needs.’
‘Everyone has emotional needs, Alice.’
‘Well, I don’t. And I don’t have to explain myself to you! And I don’t need you to understand me. I didn’t ask to take this walk and I didn’t ask for your company. If you don’t like the way I am then you can go back to the house.’
‘I like the way you are, cara mia.’ Without warning or hesitation, his hands cupped her face and he brought his mouth down on hers, his kiss warm and purposeful.
Alice stood there, frozen with shock while his mouth moved over hers, coaxing, tempting, growing more demanding, and suddenly a tiny, icy part of herself started to melt. The warmth started to spread and grew in intensity until she felt something explode inside her. Something delicious and exciting that she’d never felt before.
Feeling oddly disconnected, she tried to summon up logic and reason. Any minute now she was going to pull away. But his arms slid round her, his hold strong and powerful, and still his mouth plundered and stole the breath from her body. She was going to punch him somewhere painful. But his fingers stroked her cheek and his tongue teased and danced and coaxed a response that she’d never given to any man before.
In the end it was Gio who suspended the kiss. ‘My Alice.’ He lifted his head just enough to breathe the words against her mouth. ‘They hurt you badly, tesoro.’
She felt dazed. Drugged. Unable to speak or think. She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids felt heavy, and as for her knees—hadn’t David said something about knees?
‘Dr Anderson!’ A sharp young voice from directly behind her succeeded where logic had not. Her eyes opened and she pulled away, heart thumping, cheeks flaming.
‘Henry?’ Her voice cracked as she turned to acknowledge the ten-year-old boy behind her. Flustered and embarrassed, she stroked a hand over her cheeks in an attempt to calm herself down. ‘What’s the matter?’
Henry pointed, his expression frantic. ‘They’re cut off, Dr Anderson. The tide’s turning.’
Beside her, Gio ran a hand over the back of his neck and she had the satisfaction of seeing that he was no more composed than she was.
For a brief, intense moment their eyes held and then she turned her attention back to Henry, trying desperately to concentrate on what he was saying.
