Page 57 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
Kate knew that she was dithering. She’d been so tired after that drive back to Milan. Dante’s driver had been waiting for her, not that she’d needed reminding of how keen Dante was to see the back of her now that she’d become too hot to handle with her declaration of love.
She should have slept in the back of the car but her head had been buzzing. One minute, she’d been as high as a kite and elated that she had been brave enough to tell him how she felt, and them immediately after plunged into the cold depths of misery as a future without him had loomed ahead of her in all its cold reality.
Which meant that she’d been exhausted by the time she made it back to his villa in Milan. Exhausted enough to have fallen asleep, fully clothed, on her bed.
Nothisbed, which she had shared for so many glorious nights, but hers, the bed she should have stuck to before adventure had beckoned and she had thrown caution to the winds.
She woke with a fuzzy head, disoriented, and for a few seconds wondered where the heck she was and what was going on. Weak sunlight was streaming through the windows because she hadn’t bothered to draw the curtains.
Realisation of what had happened hit home with the force of a sledgehammer, galvanising her into action.
What an unholy mess. That was all she could think as she flung things into the suitcases she had brought with her from England.
She didn’t want to think about Dante. She didn’t want to think about anything. She couldn’t begin to contemplate the nightmare she had left him to deal with when it came to retracting the engagement they had only just announced.
She had to sift through the finery to pull out all her old stuff, depressingly shabby and cheap in comparison, with her head all over the place. It was only when she had dragged her cases down and was about to head to the kitchen to grab some coffee that she heard the thunderous sound of a helicopter.
Dante’s helicopter.
She recognised it from those rare occasions he had landed on the specially designed bit of land at the back of the villa. Like many uber-wealthy Italian aristocrats, he had helicopters at his disposal, although he seldom used them because of environmental reasons.
What the heck was he doing back here?
She needed time to run away!
But, if she couldn’t have that, then she needed time to gather her forces. He would have been called back on urgent business and with any luck she could avoid him altogether. She couldn’t imagine he wanted to say anything to her or even see her.
But as she lay low in the kitchen, aware that he would spot her bags by the front door when he entered, she was braced for a confrontation as she heard the sound of his footsteps on the marble floor.
And then there he was.
So tall, so impossibly handsome. She struggled to breathe and had to make her way to one of the leather chairs by the table and sink into it whilst dragging her eyes away and focusing on her coffee.
He looked terrible. Good. Maybe he’d at least reflected on the road ahead that would involve him wriggling like a worm on a hook when he was forced to explain away the vanished engagement.
She couldn’t imagine him wriggling like a worm on a hook.
‘I’m sorry.’ She broke the silence to look at him as he remained standing in the doorway. ‘I didn’t expect you to return so quickly or else I would have left earlier. I’ve already packed, as you’ve probably seen. My suitcases are by the front door. I’ll finish my coffee and be on my way.’
‘Kate...’
‘No!’
‘No what?’
His voice was haggard. ‘Have you been drinking?’
‘Maybe a little.’
‘And youflewthe helicopter?’
‘Would that worry you?’
Sudden rage consumed her. How could he just show up here and have this devastating effect on her? Yes, she knew, of course she did, but she still resented the love that made her vulnerable.
‘It would worry me if anyone was stupid enough to do anything that could endanger their life and other people’s lives while under the influence of drink.’ Her voice was cool.
‘My pilot got me here.’
