A Night of Royal Consequences

wn in the north of England.’

‘What’s it like?’

His hands were looped lightly around her waist as he pulled his head back to stare at her. A sensible question was welcome. A return to reality was exactly what she needed when their bodies were an electric hair’s breadth apart. But how to explain to a man who lived in one of the most beautiful countries in the world that her life back home was not like this? She settled for the truth. ‘I’m very lucky. I have the best of neighbours, a good job, and wonderful friends.’

‘So you live alone?’ he pressed as they danced on.

It was hard to concentrate on anything while she was this close to Luca, but she shook her mind back to the facts. ‘I lived with my father until recently. He died a short time before I came to Italy.’

‘I’m very sorry.’

‘He was killed in a drunken brawl,’ she explained. Luca had sounded genuinely concerned, and she didn’t want to mislead him, but her eyes brimmed as she said this. It had been such a tragic waste of life. ‘The world keeps turning,’ she said, to deflect Luca’s interest from the confusion on her face. Guilt had always played such a large part in her thinking where her father was concerned. She had never had any influence over him, but had always wished she could have changed things for the better for him.

‘And now you’re spreading your wings,’ Luca guessed, bringing her back on track.

‘I’m trying different things,’ she confirmed, brightening as she thought about the short time she’d been in Italy. ‘I love it here. I love the warmth of the people, and the sunshine, the glamour of a party beneath the stars—who wouldn’t love being here on the Prince’s estate? I feel free for the first time in a long time,’ she admitted carelessly. ‘Sorry. My mouth runs away with me sometimes.’

‘No. Go on,’ Luca encouraged. ‘I’m interested. I want to hear more.’

She was careful not to add the word adventure to her gush of information. He would definitely get the wrong idea. She told him a little more, and then his arms closed around her. His embrace was worryingly addictive and people were packed around them on the dance floor, making dancing close inevitable. Luca was easy to talk to and soon she was telling him things that perhaps she shouldn’t, like the camaraderie down the pub where she worked that could so easily erupt into violence when people had had too much to drink.

‘Dio, Callie, how could your father let you work there?’

She frowned. ‘No one gave me permission, and it was a well-paid job. Good, honest work,’ she emphasised, and then she laughed. ‘They had to pay their staff well, in order to keep them in such a rough area.’

‘It sounds horrendous,’ Luca remarked, not seeing anything amusing in what she’d said.

‘We needed the money,’ she said honestly, ‘and there aren’t too many options where I come from.’

Luca was a passionate Italian male, Callie reminded herself, and they could be very protective. He might look hard as rock, but he was no brute. And she was no saint, Callie thought as his hard thigh eased between hers. She tried using force of will to pretend nothing was happening, but that was the biggest fail yet. He was so big and she was so small that relaxing against him soon became snuggling into him, which felt ridiculously good, almost as if it was supposed to be. Music quickly restored her moral compass when the beat speeded up. She thought he’d let her go, lead her off the dance floor, but instead he caught her closer still.

‘You’re a good dancer.’

‘Only because you lift me off my feet.’ She laughed, then reviewed what was happening to her body while they were brushing, rubbing, nudging. It was both sensational and addictive. She wanted more. She wanted to toss her moral compass away.

As if sensing the way her thoughts were turning, Luca whispered in her ear, ‘I’m sure you’ve had enough dancing for now.’

She pulled back her head to stare into his eyes, which was dangerous, because now she discovered she was addicted to danger too. The camera drone chose that moment to intrude. ‘If the person behind those controls wants to take a better look at us, why don’t they just come down here and say so?’

‘I doubt we’re the sole object of the controller’s attention.’

‘You could have fooled me.’ She glared at the drone. ‘Do you think it’s so interested because the Prince is here?’

‘Possibly,’ Luca agreed.

‘I haven’t seen him yet. Have you? I mean, you’ve worked on the estate before, so you must know him.’

‘I’m offended,’ Luca said, half grinning, which suggested he wasn’t offended at all. ‘All you want to talk about is the Prince.’

‘It’s something to tell them about back home.’

‘What about me?’ he growled.

‘Don’t look for compliments. You won’t get them from me.’

He laughed and swept her off her feet.

‘Put me down this instant,’ she exclaimed.