Her Italian Soldier

On his way out the door, he paused. “I will also tell her you are more squisita than Grandfather Guilio says you are. When the women in our family meet you, they will all be jealous and the men will wish they had met you first.” He blew her a kiss. “Ciao, signorina.”

“Ciao.” She watched him drive away in a fabulous champagne-colored Amalfi four-door voyager.

“Sounds like you made a conquest of Ruggero’s son.” Lucca had come up behind her. His warmth enveloped her as his hands slid around her waist from behind. She felt his lips kiss the nape of her neck. It sent rivulets of desire through her body, causing her to gasp softly. But much as she wanted to go back to the bedroom with him and pick up where they’d left off, she couldn’t.

“Lucca, he knows—”

“He knows a man is in the house,” he said against the side of her neck and kissed her skin again. The mere contact made her feel light-headed. “He just doesn’t know who. Once he tells his mama about the squisita signorina staying in my house, she’ll be down to investigate.

“Does it matter? Papa knows I’m home.” Lucca spun her around, wrapping his arms around her neck. “Now I have to have this.” He planted a hot kiss to her mouth, melting her bones in the process.

Annabelle could have stayed crushed against him indefinitely, but not wanting to get caught by Fortunato’s mother, she tore her lips from Lucca’s so she could ease away.

He studied her upturned features for a moment. “Don’t be concerned. Fortunato is harmless.”

“But he’ll tell everyone what he saw and it will get out that Signorina Marsh has

a lover.”

“That frightens you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

His black brows knit together. He grasped her upper arms. “Something tells me this has a lot to do with your ex-husband.”

“What?”

A tiny nerve throbbed at the corner of his compelling mouth. “Some women feel guilty about enjoying another man even after they’ve been divorced. It usually means she still imagines herself in love with her ex-spouse and is waiting for him to come back to her.”

“You may have known a woman like that, but that’s an absolutely crazy theory and doesn’t apply to me!” she cried.

“Doesn’t it?” Lucca wouldn’t let this go until he got the answer he wanted. “Ryan won’t last long with the woman he’s married to, even if they have a baby. You can count on it.”

“Well you can count on this—examine my heart and you’ll discover no trace of him there because he became extinct the day I learned he betrayed me.”

He gave her a speculative stare until she wanted to scream. In this mood, the passion they’d shared earlier might never have happened.

“Do you honestly think I would have switched hospitals, let alone have gone to work for Mel, if I’d still had the slightest hope Ryan would regret what he’d done and ask for a second chance? He destroyed every particle of affection I ever had for him.”

Lucca gave an elegant shrug. “You’ve convinced me. I won’t bring him up to you again.”

“Thank you.” Her voice shook.

“So what else is going on with you?” One brow had dipped dangerously.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Except she did because he always seemed to know when she was keeping something from him.

“I gave Papa my word where you’re concerned. It seems to me you’re more worried about your image with him.”

She lowered her head.

Lucca heaved a frustrated sigh. “Let me tell you something about my father, Annabelle. If you were that kind of woman, he’d have seen right through you and he would never have asked you to model for him. You’re someone very important to him. You must know that.”

“I do. I just want those warm feelings to continue.”

Everything Lucca said and did was making chaos of her emotions, but no one was as important to Guilio as his own son. One day soon he’d see what his father had done in his honor.

He brushed his lips against hers. “Let’s get dressed and go down to the beach. I’ll find one of my mother’s sun hats for you to wear. We’ll rent a cruiser and spend the day on the water.”