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‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘That’s just because you’re not used to talking about it. A bit like kissing. You’ll be fine once you’ve had more practice.’
The mere mention of kissing made her body heat. ‘I don’t want more practice! I hate talking about it!’
‘Because it stirs up emotions and you’re afraid of emotions. Plenty of people have problems in their past, but it doesn’t have to affect the future. Only if you let it. Family is perhaps the most important thing in the world, after good health.’ His voice was calm as he started making the coffee, his movements steady and methodical. It seemed to her as she watched that making coffee was almost a form of relaxation for him.
‘Is that how it happens in Italy? I mean Sicily?’ She corrected herself quickly and saw him smile.
‘In Sicily, family is sacred.’ He watched as coffee trickled into the cup, dark and fragrant. ‘We believe in love, Alice. We believe in a love that is special, unique and lasts for a lifetime. I’m surrounded by generations of my family and extended family who have been in love for ever. Come with me to Sicily and I will prove it to you.’
He was teasing, of course. He had to be teasing. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘You have been to Sicily?’ She shook her head and took the coffee he handed to her.
‘No.’
His smile was lazy and impossibly attractive. ‘It is a land designed to make people believe in romance and passion. We have the glittering sea to seduce, and the fires of Etna to flame the coldest heart.’ He spoke in a soft, accented drawl and she rolled her eyes to hide how strongly his words affected her.
‘Drop the sweet talk. It’s wasted on me, Dr Moretti. Romance is just a seduction tool.’
And she’d had three long hours to think about seduction.
Three long hours to think about the kiss on the beach.
And the way he’d plunged into the water after two small children in trouble.
And now she also had to think about the way he’d spent his evening with a vulnerable, lonely mother with postnatal depression.
Bother.
She was really starting to like the man. And notice things about him. Things that other women probably noticed immediately. Like his easy, slightly teasing smile and the thick, dark lashes that gave his eyes a sleepy look. A dangerous look. The way, when he talked to a woman, he gave her his whole attention. His rich, sexy accent and the smooth, confident way that he dealt with every problem. And the way he shouldered those problems without walking away.
It was just the kiss, she told herself crossly as she drank her coffee. The kiss had made her loopy. Up until then she really hadn’t looked at him in that way.
‘Did you pick up my clothes?’ He strolled over to her and she found herself staring at his shoulders. He had good shoulders.
‘Sorry?’
‘My clothes.’ He lifted an eyebrow, his eyes scanning her face. ‘Did you pick them up from the beach?’
‘Oh.’ She pulled herself together and dragged her eyes away from the tangle of dark hairs at the base of his throat. ‘Yes. Yes, I did. I put them on the chair in your room.’
Heat curled low in her pelvis and spread through her limbs. Sexual awareness, she told herself. The attraction of female to male. Without it, the human race would have died out. It was a perfectly normal chemical reaction. It’s just that it wasn’t normal for her. She tried to shut the feeling down. Tried to control it. But it was on the loose.
‘Thanks.’ He was watching her. ‘It would have been hard to explain that to Mary if some helpful bystander had delivered them to the surgery tomorrow.’
She folded her arms across her chest in a defensive gesture. ‘It would have made Mary’s day.’
‘So would this, I suspect.’ He lowered his head and kissed her again, his mouth lingering on hers.
This time she didn’t even think about resisting. She just closed her eyes and let herself feel. Allowed the heat to spread through her starving body. Her nerves sang and hummed and when he finally lifted his head she felt only disappointment.
It was amazing how quickly a person could adapt to being touched, she thought dizzily.
‘I—We…’ She lifted a hand to her lips and then let it drop back to her side, suddenly self-conscious. ‘You’ve got to stop doing that.’ But even she knew the words were a lie and he gave a smile as he walked towards the door.
‘I’m going to keep doing it, cara mia.’ He turned in the doorway. Paused. His eyes burned into hers. ‘So you’re just going to have to get used to it.’
