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Sooner rather than later.
‘No, Renata, I didn’t plan it. I may be capable of many things but even I don’t have the power to command snowstorms.’ Sarcasm was rife in her voice but then so was the throb of pain and distress behind it.
‘Why do you even want me there? All we’re going to do is disagree...no, I’m incapable of predicting the future, but it’s a reasonable assumption when the same pattern repeats...’ She paused and took a breath as a torrent of English-laced Italian ranted down the phone.
‘Well, you’re just proving my point. I’m already aware I’m a disappointment to you. Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t make it for Christmas. You can enjoy yourself without my disappointing presence to spoil the holidays.’
Another deluge shot through the handset, making her flinch.
The growl Alessio couldn’t quite halt caused her to turn, stiffen, then pale as she saw him in the doorway.
‘I... I have to go. Goodbye, Renata.’ A look he couldn’t quite decipher shot across her face as she glanced frantically around, as if searching for...or hiding...something. Then she speared him with furious smoky-grey eyes. ‘Does the word privacy mean nothing to you?’
‘Who’s Renata?’ he bit out before he could stop himself, ignoring the return of the tingling that insisted that he was missing something.
More shadows drifted across her face, and he gritted his teeth at her momentary look of desolation. ‘She’s no one I wish to talk to you about,’ she answered, her beautiful chin raised in a challenge that made his blood hotter.
Santo cielo, did anything about this woman not fire him up?
‘You’re close enough that she’s expecting you for Christmas.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘A relative, perhaps?’
She swallowed, her eyes shadowing darker as she turned from him. Like him, she’d showered after the sauna. But she hadn’t bothered to dress. Instead, she wore the silk robe the chalet provided.
On any other woman, Alessio would’ve imagined it a form of seduction. But from the way the lapels were carefully pulled close at her throat, the belt securely cinched at her waist; from the way one hand hovered close to her thighs to keep the robe from parting, he sensed it was more of a covering than anything else.
Just as the feather boa had been? Or the multiple layers she wore that didn’t make sense? From moment to moment, it was almost as if she were a different woman, with interchanging personalities.
For instance, the Gigi he’d encountered a few months back wouldn’t be in such an emotional upheaval over something like this.
Which, considering he liked to distance himself from such a show of emotion, was a thing for him to be lauding her for. Instead, he was at once intrigued and irritated. Because, damn it, hewantedto know which one was genuine.
Diu, was he going out of his mind?
So what if everything he’d believed about Gigi Parker had been turned upside down? Perhaps under normal circumstances he would’ve been vexed that she’d kept an astonishing amount of intelligence hidden beneath that vacuous façade and hedonistic lifestyle.
But...he was enjoying this version of Gigi. Perhaps a little too much. And whereas with any other woman he would’ve quickly distanced himself, he only wanted to know more about her disagreements with the person on the other end of the phone.
His hand shot out to stay her, then he went one better and slid his fingers into her hair, massaging the knotted tension in her nape as he peered down at her.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded in genuine surprise, as if she found his gentle caress strange.
‘You’re distressed,’ he responded, in that moment unwilling to probe just why her distress fed his unnerved state. ‘Tell me why.’
‘Wouldn’t you be if your mother called you a disappointment?’ she shot out, then her face immediately closed with a touch of dismay.
Alessio wanted to pull her into his arms, to offer her comfort. But he was already unsettled by his knee-jerk reaction. He wasn’t ready to compound it.
And wasn’t that the most infernal thing?
He slotted away the titbit of her referring to her mother by her first name and asked the more pressing question. ‘On what does she base that accusation?’
Her lips parted, then clamped shut. ‘I don’t think you can—’
‘We’re past using our current circumstances as an excuse. No one besides my flesh and blood know what I told you about my father. I’m not even sure why I told you something extremely personal,duci. It would make me feel a lot better if you shared in return,’ he interrupted, his voice thick with emotion he was unwilling to name.
Her eyes widened. Then she licked her bottom lip.
Alessio suspected she didn’t even realise she was performing that nervous tic.A tic she didn’t have before.
