The Italian's Price

A wave of dizziness attacked her and Jilly's voice came as if from far away, at the end of a long, echoing tunnel.

‘Listen kid. Take my advice and dump him before he dumps you. Salvage some pride get out before he comes back-if he ever does. Go back home where you belong. Look.' She shot to her feet and crossed the room to pull a bundle of notes from beneath the scarlet-covered pillow. ‘I will even lend you the money for your fare back and call a cab to get you to the airport. So don't say I don't look out for you'

Milly shook her head and forced herself to her feet ignoring the proffered notes. Dragging in a deep breath she straightened her slender shoulders. 'We're twins. Part of each other ' she stressed her lips feeling as if they had been carved out of wood. 'Neither of us would knowingly do anything to harm the other. So do you swear that what you've said is the truth'?'

'You really doubt me'?' Green eyes rolled in expressive disbelief. 'Would I have told you all that stuff if it wasn't gospel, when it shows me up as a gullible idiot? Look, Milly. . . ' She attempted a hug but Milly stepped back too close to breaking down to allow a sympathetic gesture that would have her falling to pieces. ''Take my advice get out before he makes a fool of you too.'

Milly turned, her spine ramrod stiff. Cesare had said he'd give her time alone with her twin. But would he still be waiting in the car knowing that Jilly would surely spill the beans? Or would he have instructed the driver to take off, leaving her stranded? As she entered the narrow hallway she decided bleakly that she hoped he had taken off.

Being stranded in a strange city surrounded by people who didn't speak her language seemed preferable to seeing his handsome devious cruel face again.

The shock that had left her weak and shaky was replaced by searing anger. If she saw him again she would kill him! Beat him to a pulp just as he had taken her loving heart and ground it beneath his heels ! Blinded by rage, fuelled by a hurt that filled every inch of her with indescribable pain, she stepped out on to the hot pavement and collided with a wall of stunning Italian manhood.

Too stunning by half! Feeling those strong arms go round her she pushed him away and all dignity deserting her, she lifted her chin in wounded defiance and held his dark as night, devious eyes, dragged his ring off her finger, dropped it and yelled brokenly, ‘Put it back in the Christmas cracker'

‘Cara-' He reached for her but she leapt back her voice choky as she informed him of her opinion of his character.

‘Don't touch me you-you despicable louse! I never want to see you again'. And no way would she share that car with him! She'd find her own way back to the hotel on foot to collect her stuff, even if it took the rest of the day! She knew a brief flare of triumph as a youth on a skateboard bore down on the gap between them blocking Cesare's way.

She took the opportunity to scramble into the waiting car, not understanding the rapid flow of Italian Cesare directed at the driver not caring either. She gabbled, ‘Back to the hotel, pronto' hoping the driver understood and more desperately hoping that Cesare wouldn't climb in after her then sank in a heap of misery against the leather upholstery as the car drew away and Cesare turned abruptly and entered her twin's lodging place his stride ominous his shoulders rigid.

Stifling the urge to give way to wildly abandoned weeping kept her fully occupied as the car made its stately progress through the narrow streets and she was unsurprised when she was deposited outside the hotel they had used, where their luggage was waiting to be collected. The louse would have instructed the driver to bring her back here to collect her belongings then leave her she realized fuming, barely heeding the driver's thickly accented, 'You to wait. Capjcetz' before, as predicted, he drove away, leaving her to find her own way back to England. Which was no punishment she thought savagely, because that was precisely what she meant to do! Her small face grim she swept into the main reception area adamantly dismissing the driver's instructions to wait.

What for? To hang around like a spare part that had no further use, just for the privilege of seeing the wretch one last time when he finally appeared to collect his own luggage. Not likely! Thankfully, the chief receptionist spoke fluent English and was obliging enough to call a cab to take her to the airport exchanging the small reserve of sterling in her purse for euros to enable her to pay the fare.

Unfortunately, she would have to use her credit card to buy a ticket back to the UK. She would be in debt jobless and homeless. But those problems were small change compared with the devastating pain of a shattered heart and savaged dreams she thought wretchedly as she paid off the driver and made her way into the departures hall hardly having the mental energy left to wonder if there would be a spare seat on the next flight back home which, so the obliging receptionist had informed her was scheduled to leave in half an hour from now.

Cesare exited the hotel at speed and hurled himself back into the waiting chauffeur driven car and in moments they were heading for the airport.

She hadn't waited. His jaw tightened. Had he expected her to? After the admissions he'd dragged from her twin, he acknowledged bitterly that waiting for him would be the last thing she could stomach.

The seven kilometre drive to the airport seemed to be taking for ever. Venting a savage expletive he leant forward to instruct the driver to break all speed records. According to the receptionist the signorina was hoping to get a flight back to London. And that flight would be leaving in fifteen minutes! He ground his strong white teeth in desperate frustration then subsided in black anxiety.

Even if by some miracle the flight had been delayed and he caught up with her would he ever be able to regain her trust after what her sister had told her? By some unholy coincidence her lies would have struck a chord, ringing true to Milly. Even back when Nonna had insisted on hiring her, his instinct had told him that Jilly Lee was bad news. She was a thief, a liar, a self-centred taker. Her twin was a giver, a life enhancer. And he loved her more than life. His gut twisted.

He glanced at his watch and fisted his hands at his sides. They'd arrived at the airport environs just as her flight was taking off.

Frustration roared through him but never one to give up, Cesare was already deciding his next course of action. His private jet was scheduled to take off for London in an hour. He wouldn't be that far behind her. He had no means of knowing where she would go now that she'd vacated the flat. But he'd track down the friend whose wedding she'd attended and, through her, find the love of his life.

Simultaneously Cesare and the driver saw her. A slight figure standing outside the departures area. Cesare sent up a silent prayer of gratitude as the car slid to a rubber-burning halt.

She looked lost. He exited the car at speed, something twisting inside him as his eyes took in her lone, forlorn figure. His heart was bursting with a deep, protective love. He strode towards her his heart thumping heavily in the cavity of his chest. Paces away, she lifted her bright head and he could swear he saw relief spark in the depths of her lovely sea-green eyes.

He wanted to fold his arms around her hold her never let her go. But the situation was too delicate for that. Regaining her trust was his absolute priority.

Her slight shoulders straightened. ‘I didn't know if I would be able to find you.' Relief flooded her voice. ‘By the time I got back to the hotel you might have already left.'

‘But I would have found you, cara mia. I would have searched the whole world for you.'

Milly searched his eyes, the force field of strong emotion emanating from him holding her spellbound. Her voice shook as she confided, ‘I meant to try to get back to England. But I just stood there like a prune because it hit me that if what Jilly said had been true you wouldn't even have told me she'd been found never mind taking me there and giving me time alone with her because you would have known she would tell me-things.' A flush of colour stole over her ashen cheeks.

Controlling the driven impetus to take her in his arms rain kisses on her heartbreakingly lovely face, took some doing but he was rewarded when she stated with distress ‘I threw your beautiful ring back at you, called you names. I..I lost faith. I didn't even bother to ask you if what she'd told me was true-about you promising to marry her then ditching her when she told you she was carrying your child. I believed her as I always have. I'm so sorry.'

Her head bowed on the slender stalk of her neck and Cesare snatched in a deep ragged breath and gathered her in his arms regardless of interested onlookers who being Italian would probably start applauding any time now. ‘per amor di Diol You believe in me now; that is all that matters,' he murmured, his lips tantalizingly close to hers now. ‘I made your sister admit to the lies she had told and I must admit that for a moment I was furious that you hadn't trusted me over her! But my fabled common sense kicked in.'

A finger beneath her chin had her downcast eyes meeting his wry grin. 'And it told me that her lies would have sounded convincing and that somewhere away from me you were feeling in shock betrayed and hurting. It was unbearable for met' he claimed extravagantly. 'And I swear on my life and on yours that I never so much as touched your wretched sister! But I think you have worked that out for yourself. That I want you to be my wife that I truly love you, more than any words of mine can ever portray. Yes'?'

‘Yes' Milly's heart swelled with love, so much love she could barely contain it. Her hands rose, her fingers tangling in the soft dark hair at the nape of his neck and he brought his mouth down on hers with a passion that scorched her soul. She loved him so much and she had almost lost him.