The Italians: Alessandro, Luca & Dizo: Alessandro's Prize / In a Storm of Scandal / Italian Groom, Princess Bride

Awareness. Sensual recognition. Sexual chemistry.

All three. And nothing she did, even attempting psychological analysis, and how crazy was that, was successful in diffusing the warmth, the heat, he generated in her body.

Not once in her life had she experienced such a reaction or felt so confused by it.

Hopefully any minute soon Alessandro would choose to mix and mingle, acknowledge friends and she could breathe easily again.

Except he remained at her side … there, almost as if he knew his presence affected her, and determined to press the advantage.

‘Sophia, a moment of your time, if you please.’

‘Of course,’ her aunt granted graciously as she excused herself and moved away a few paces to confer.

‘Nothing to say, Lily?’ Alessandro posed lightly, and she found it remarkably easy to summon a stunning smile.

‘What would you like to discuss? Fiscal affairs, the current oil spill? That should fill a void.’

He lifted a hand and trailed light fingers down her cheek, caught a glimpse of fleeting emotion in her eyes before it was quickly masked. Pain? Vulnerability? Perhaps both … and wondered why it should matter so much. ‘You have no need to feel nervous,’ Alessandro said gently.

She didn’t want gentle. Dammit, she didn’t want to play the musing conversational game—light innocuous words without substance that meant little.

‘Why should I be nervous?’ For a moment she held his gaze, and his soft laughter curled round her nerve-ends. Not the most comfortable sensation, Lily admitted as she held up a hand and began ticking off each finger.

‘Today I’ve had breakfast with Sophia, a sojourn in Como, shopping, followed by lunch, and more shopping.’

‘That is all?’

No, it wasn’t. Except she had no intention of revealing another email from James had appeared in her inbox, a further missive citing remorse, empty promises and begging for another chance. Another email she’d chosen to ignore.

She tilted her head a little and regarded him with deliberate solemnity. ‘Why don’t you tell me about your day?’

Alessandro’s eyes gleamed with humour. ‘Corporate meetings, a linked video conference, lunch with an associate.’

‘And now you’re here, socializing and doing duty with Sophia’s niece.’

‘Is that how you perceive my presence?’

‘It’s not?’

‘No.’

For a few brief seconds she became lost for words, unable to summon any that made sense, and the sassy response that rose to her lips remained unsaid.

At that moment their host announced dinner was due to be served, and requested the guests be seated.

Name cards designated placings, and Lily felt her stomach execute a slow somersault as she realized she was seated at Alessandro’s right, with Sophia to his left.

The arrangement would offer no respite from his presence for an hour, two hours, she eventually amended, and they were yet to raise a toast to the newly engaged couple.

Alessandro proved to be an attentive male companion, maybe a little too attentive as he appeared to regard her with a degree of affection, ensuring her glass was filled, solicitously abiding by her request for mineral water after the initial flute of champagne. There, adding supposition to innuendo that she was more than merely Sophia’s niece. The light brush of his hand, the warm smile.

Charm, he possessed it in spades. Although only a fool would fail to detect the ruthless edge beneath his sophisticated persona.

It was a combination that appeared to fascinate, Lily perceived, as she noted covert glances from, not one, but three attractive women seated at the table … not that she was counting, of course.

A subtle invitation in the soft parting of perfectly glossed lips and a slow delicate sweep of the tongue.

Was it his expertise between the sheets that attracted these women or the fortune he’d managed to amass?

Inevitably both, she decided with unaccustomed cynicism.

Hadn’t it been James’s modus operandi to act a part, then offer he needed a real woman prepared to meet all his sexual needs as his excuse for maintaining an affair?

‘Attenzione.’

This was the moment to fill flutes with champagne and toast the newly engaged couple, something which was achieved with voiced enthusiasm.

Lily banked down the faint stirring of envy as she took in the radiant Anabella and the equally enamoured Enrico.

Had she been so enchanting, and glowing with love on the evening she’d accepted James’s ring?

There had been pleasure, certainly, and contentment … but glowing?

Not really. And there was the thing: what had felt sensible at the time, hadn’t been right from the beginning.

A slight shiver slid down her spine as Alessandro stretched a casual arm across the back of her chair and leaned towards her to quietly offer, ‘Beautiful, is she not?’

This close she was aware of the warmth from his body, the intense masculinity he projected with effortless ease.

‘Stunning,’ Lily conceded as she met his gaze with what she hoped was polite indifference, and felt betrayed by an increased beat of the pulse at the base of her throat.

It was a relief when dinner concluded and their hosts encouraged guests to move into the adjoining ballroom where a DJ began to play so the guests could dance.

Mood music alternated with upbeat modern, and Lily deliberately sought to mingle a little, aware Alessandro rarely moved from her side.

‘Dance with me.’

Lily felt her eyes widen momentarily before she successfully masked her expression. A silent no rose and died in her throat at the thought of being enclosed in his arms moving to slow music beneath dimmed lighting.

‘I think …’

‘Don’t,’ he said quietly, and drew her onto the dance floor and into his arms.

Relax. She could do this. They were in the middle of a dance floor in a large room filled with people.

So why did she feel as if … what?

As if they were the only two people in the room and no one else existed.