They hadn’t spoken once about the so-called relationship they were supposed to have, concocted for the sake of his father and her grandmother. They were supposed to be madly in love. They were supposed to be thinking about a series of tomorrows and not just the here and now, but that was just a technicality that suited Alessandro. He’d told her to forget about Roberto and her grandmother and to see the long weekend as an opportunity for hot sex, and such was his hold over her heart that she had pushed her anxieties and misgivings to one side and, yes, coward that she was, she had enjoyed him. Enjoyed him, being with him and the glorious tropical paradise into which she had landed. A little sparrow thrown into an exotic world far beyond her reach.
She couldn’t have been further out of her comfort zone. The little island was the playground of the fabulously wealthy. Vast plantation-style houses were screened behind sweeping, palm-tree-lined drives. Exquisite beaches were nestled into the mountains, although they had actually been to only one of those because they had their own beach, a beach with sand as fine and as white as icing sugar with placid, turquoise water to swim in. The town centre was picturesque, with several top-rated restaurants, a few very expensive shops and then all the other businesses that were needed to support the economy of the island and keep the locals employed.
She had felt as though she had inadvertently stepped onto a movie set. Everything was so picture-perfect that there was an air of unreality about the experience.
It was as unreal as their relationship and she knew that being on this island was like being in a bubble, where it was easy to forget about things that would need to be dealt with.
She sighed and shut her eyes. When she opened them, it was to see Alessandro standing by the sun lounger, looking at her through sunglasses.
‘You’re not the picture of joy and rapture,’ he said without preamble.
Laura shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun and propped herself up on her elbow. Would she ever tire of the sight of him? He took her breath away. When he was near, her heart beat faster and her pulse raced. There was no bit of her, emotionally, physically, intellectually, into which he didn’t intrude. He had managed to take over her entire being and when she thought about him no longer being around she felt as though she was staring into a black, bottomless void that filled her with tearing emptiness and despair.
She knew that she had only herself to blame. He hadn’t asked her to fall in love with him. In fact, he had made it clear from the start that love was a four-letter word that didn’t exist in his vocabulary. If her heart had broken free of its leash, that had had nothing to do with him.
‘I’m going to miss all this when we leave...’ She forced a smile as he settled into the sun lounger next to her.
His first thought was that the house wasn’t going anywhere. Who was to say that she wouldn’t be back? Then he frowned because that was just the sort of forward planning he always avoided with a woman.
‘Holidays in the sun aren’t out of reach just because you live in Scotland.’ He shrugged and Laura kept on smiling because that was just the sort of response she didn’t want. Of course he couldn’t guess that a holiday in the sun, any old holiday in the sun, wasn’t what she was talking about.
‘I’ll have to start saving,’ she said lightly. ‘Believe it or not, teachers don’t earn all that much...’
Alessandro slanted a killer smile and leaned on his side, feathering a light touch on her arm and feeling the soft shudder of her body with a familiar, mounting arousal. She was so responsive and that never failed to turn him on. He couldn’t get enough of her. ‘I admit this particular resort is probably out of reach for the average teacher,’ he murmured, ‘unless, of course, the average teacher happens to be the lover of the above-average tycoon... I’m glad you enjoyed it here. It’s good for the place to get a little use.’
‘Why do you have places like this if you never use them?’
‘As investments,’ Alessandro said lazily. ‘It’s not exactly killing me. This house has appreciated substantially in value since it was bought and right now I’m glad I was never tempted to sell it.’