‘I thought you said you were having a day off and that you wanted to do some sightseeing...’
Beth frowned in vexation.
‘Yes. Yes, I did...I do... But...’
‘It’s raining now—the city should be relatively free of tourists. I suggest we start with a walk along the river. We could have lunch here in Prague, and then this afternoon...’
He stopped and gave her a look of heart-stopping intimacy. ‘This afternoon we shall walk over the Charles Bridge...and then there’s something special I want to show you...’
Beth opened her mouth to tell him that he was taking far too much for granted, that she didn’t want his company, that she didn’t want anything from him, but instead, and much to her own chagrin, she heard herself telling him, ‘I...I need to get dressed. I...’
‘You want me to leave.’ Alex gave her a deliciously intimate smile. ‘I know what you’re saying,’ he agreed huskily. ‘If I stay here with you there’s no way I’m going to be able... Tempted though I am, this is neither the time nor the place. Tempted though I am,’ he repeated. He closed the distance between them and murmured against her lips, ‘And believe me, Bethany, I am very, very tempted. Oh, yes, I am very tempted...’
Beth told herself that she was trying to resist him, and that the only reason she’d opened her mouth was to tell him to stop, but unfortunately he seemed to mistake her actions, and the next thing she knew he was kissing her with a renewal of the passion he had shown earlier. But this time he didn’t take it any further. This time he released her and stepped back from her, gently pressing his fingers to his own mouth and then touching them lightly to hers before telling her huskily, ‘I’ll come back for you in half an hour.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
BETH FLICKED THE droplets of rain off her jacket and stared across the mist-shrouded vista in front of her. She and Alex were looking along the river, its bridges, so clearly depicted in so many tourist postcards, now barely discernible. The artists who normally thronged the streets selling their work to the tourists had already packed away their sketches, only an enterprising umbrella seller standing his ground.
‘My, I never expected it to rain, not after how bright it was this morning!’ Beth heard an American voice exclaim. She still had no real idea just why she had allowed Alex to persuade her to come with him. It had certainly not been her intention when she’d woken up this morning. A pink glow of self-consciousness coloured her face as her senses told her exactly why she might have changed her mind. Of course, her decision had nothing to do with that most unfortunate incident in her bedroom earlier this morning. Nothing whatsoever. That had been a mistake...a...a...
‘Look,’ Alex told her, taking hold of her arm and directing her attention to the hillside to their left. As he did so Alex drew Beth closer to him. It was just because the heavy drenching rain was making her feel damp and chilly that she felt this desire to nestle closer to him, Beth assured herself. That was all... It was simply a basic human need for warmth that was causing her to accept the warmth of his protective arm and the even greater warmth of his body.
They had lunch in a small traditional restaurant where the patron obviously knew Alex and welcomed him enthusiastically. But to Beth’s consternation the man seemed to be under the misapprehension that Beth was Alex’s girlfriend.
‘There will be a big wedding here in Prague...yes?’ he said jovially to Alex. ‘We have many fine churches here,’ he told Beth.
‘Why did you let him think that?’ Beth asked Alex later, when they had left the restaurant.
‘Why did I let him think what?’ Alex teased her, pretending not to understand.
Beth flashed him an indignant look.
‘You know what I mean,’ she accused him. ‘Why did you let him think that we are...?’
‘What? A couple...lovers...? Is it so very far from the truth?’ Alex asked her meaningfully.
‘We hardly know one another,’ Beth protested. Why was he doing this...pretending to genuinely care about her? She could understand him trying to flirt with her in order to secure her business, both for himself and for his family, but to try to pretend that there was more to what he was doing than mere flirtation...
‘I want to go back to the hotel,’ she told him curtly. ‘There are things I have to do...’
‘Not yet,’ Alex denied, taking hold of her arm before she could stop him and drawing her in the direction of the river.
Up ahead of them Beth could see the ancient span of the Charles Bridge.
Awed by its antiquity, and her own awareness of all that it must have witnessed and withstood, Beth allowed him to guide her towards it. There was something about it, a stalwartness, a sombreness, that struck an unexpected chord within her.
‘My grandfather once told me that always, in his darkest moments, he thought of this bridge and all that it and his people had endured,’ Alex told her quietly.
His quiet, soft-voiced comment, so very much in tune with her own unspoken thoughts, shocked her a little. They weren’t supposed to be so emotionally in accord; they shouldn’t be able to pick up on each other’s thoughts.
In an attempt to distance herself from what she was feeling, Beth said quickly, ‘Tell me more about your grandfather.’
Alex was smiling at her. A smile that rocked her heart. Fiercely she reminded herself of all the reasons why she could not allow herself to respond to him.
Whilst Alex was talking to her about his grandfather the rain started to come down even more heavily.
‘Quick, down here,’ he broke off to instruct her, taking hold of her hand and hurrying her towards a small alcove set protectively into the last span of the bridge.