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Close to him like this, she found her head was filled with images of them making love. She thought of the way his fingers felt when they moved along her body, and she couldn’t control the soft tremble that rippled through her.
Who was she kidding?
Was she really going to hold his feet to the fire and labour the point about not liking what they had bought into?
He would laugh out loud! Because here she was, and she just couldn’t stop herself from responding to him.
Besides, what would be the point of arguing? Leonard believed what he believed, and to undo that piece of fiction now would be cruel.
Maybe Alessio had a point.
They were both adults and they had entered into this with their eyes wide open. Why not just relax and enjoy what had been brought out into the open?
Once they were back in the UK she could focus on thinking of a way out. Theybothcould. Because she was pretty sure that Alessio, with his phobia of anything long-lasting, would be anxious to find the nearest exit and scramble through it as fast as he could.
She could start drip-feeding Leonard, hinting that all might not be right in the land of milk and honey.
Old he might be, but he was no fool. He would follow the thread without too much difficulty.
And why wouldn’t he?
Anyone could see that she and Alessio couldn’t be worse suited.
She was serious...thoughtful...interested in love and marriage and having kids...
He was casual...dismissive of love and marriage...and into women who were happy to clear off almost as soon as they’d knocked on his front door.
Bolstered by the thought of her sensible way forward, Sophie smiled at Alessio, and her heart filled as he smiled back.
‘So...would you like me to tell you where I’m taking you?’ Alessio murmured. ‘Or would you rather be surprised?’
He slung his arm over her shoulders and drew her against him. She rested her head against his arm and felt utterly content.
‘I’ve never liked surprises,’ she mused.
‘I get it.’
Sophie felt him angle his head to look down at her as he kissed the crown of her head.
‘We have more in common than either of us imagines. I’m not a fan of surprises either. Okay. No surprises, in that case...’
He told her where he was taking her—a little village where he had invested in a restaurant that was now world-class...
The driver who had been booked to take them on the now discarded vineyard tour was rerouted to drive them to what turned out to be a truly stunning village, sitting on the very tip of the peninsula. Under the never-ending milky blue skies Sophie gasped at an exquisite thirteenth-century castle that rose in a series of dramatic turrets, around which was clustered a charming array of shops and boutiques and cafés. The reds and ochres and pinks and pale greens of the buildings gave the place an inviting, cosy feel, even though the fabric of every edifice was imbued with its history.
She wondered whether he’d made this enchanting trip in the company of other women, and felt a spurt of jealousy which she squashed because it was inappropriate.
‘If you enjoy coming here so much,’ she said pensively, as they wound their way through narrow streets, ending up at the promised restaurant, ‘why don’t you visit more often?’
‘Time is money.’
‘You’re managing to find the time to be here now...’
‘My father would expect nothing less.’
‘So it’s all about your dad? Why you’re here?’
Her voice sounded light and teasing, and she wondered whether she was the only one to register the sting of hurt under the surface.
