The Sicilian's Surprise Love-Child. Carol Marinelli

been tempted to step out onto the balcony and drink in the view. Instead she looked at the vast bed, dressed in white with dark cushions, and imagined Nico beneath the crisp linen.

      His bedroom daunted and overwhelmed her, although Marianna was clearly very used to it and quickly pulled out a suit carrier and a case and started to select shirts and suits.

      ‘Aurora, could you please sort out underwear?’

       Joy!

      It was agony—sheer agony—Once, a long time ago, she had slipped her hand inside similar black silk boxers and felt his velvet skin…

      Oh, it killed her to be in his bedroom, and to remember how it had been between them, but she tried hard to keep her vow and focus on work.

      ‘Should I pack these?’ Aurora asked, holding up a pair of black lounge pants. To her surprise, Marianna laughed.

      ‘No, I bought those just in case he has to go into hospital or something.’

      ‘Oh…’

      ‘You have to think of all eventualities if you’re a PA.’

      Except Aurora didn’t want to be one. ‘Marianna, why am I shadowing you today? I’m enjoying it, of course, but I thought I would stay with the marketing team.’

      Marianna put the suit she was holding down on the bed before answering. ‘Well, I don’t always travel with Signor Caruso and, given that he’ll presumably be spending some considerable time in Silibri, I thought it might be prudent to train someone to assist me when he’s there. I have someone in each of his hotels with whom I liaise. I spoke with Francesca and she suggested you.’

      ‘I would be Nico’s PA?’

      ‘No. But I want someone in the Silibri hotel that I can liaise with directly regarding him.’

      ‘Does Nico know about this?’

      ‘No, it’s just something Francesca and I have discussed. I would not trouble Signor Caruso unless I considered it viable…’ She gave a thin smile, which told Aurora that she was already having her doubts as to her suitability for the role.

      Aurora had doubts of her own.

      Getting closer to Nico wasn’t going to snuff out the torch. Instead it would fan the eternal flame that burned for him. So Aurora said the bravest thing she could. ‘It is very nice of you to consider me—but, no.’ Aurora shook her head. ‘I don’t think that role would be for me.’

      Tonight, when she was back in the hotel, she would cry one final time over him, Aurora decided.

      There would be no bus tour.

      She was a little tired of being with her friends. They saw each other every day and they were all so much older than she.

      No, tonight she would recall with shame her own behaviour earlier with Nico and then she would weep into the pillow. And then…

      Well, it was time she moved on—time she started dating.

      Time to flirt.

      To be twenty-four and single in Rome.

      She might even download the dating app that Chi-Chi and Antonietta had told her about!

       To hell with you, Nico Caruso, because I want to be with a man who wants me. I am finally out of your shadow.

      And she was soon to be out of Marianna’s.

      ‘Where’s Aurora?’ Nico asked late in the day.

      ‘Oh, she’s with the marketing team,’ Marianna said and then glanced at the time. ‘Though they’ll all be off on their bus tour now.’

      Nico gave a small eye-roll, though not with any malice. It was more in amusement that Pino had called and invited him to join them.

      Again he had declined.

      ‘Do you know?’ Marianna said. ‘I have never met a more enthusiastic lot of people. With their energy and exuberance I’m sure the new hotel is going to be amazing.’

      ‘If you like Persian Orange,’ Nico said, and he pushed over the uniform order he had signed off on. Persian Orange! With bespoke tones of Butterscotch and Burnt Caramel for those who felt the shade might not suit their colouring.

      Nico had a headache from looking at so much orange.

      And he had another question. ‘Why was Aurora shadowing you today? I thought her role was in marketing.’

      ‘Correct,’ Marianna agreed. ‘But presumably you will be spending a lot of time in Silibri…?’

      ‘Not once the hotel is up and running.’

      ‘You are always between hotels. I have Teresa in Florence, Amelie in France… Francesca thought that Aurora might be suitable—’

      ‘No.’ Nico said it too fast, and with too much force, and he attempted a quick recovery. ‘Look, I’m sure Aurora will be excellent in her marketing role, but I don’t think she would work out as—’

      ‘It’s fine,’ Marianna cut in. ‘Aurora said the same.’

      ‘She did?’

      Why did that feel like a punch to his guts rather than spread relief? And why did the thought of working closely with Aurora unsettle him so?

      Nico grabbed his jacket and took the elevator down to head for home.

      He did not need to ponder further to know the answer: there was way too much history between them.

       CHAPTER THREE

      The night that neither can forget…

      ‘YOU CAN TELL Nico that I’m not leaving my home.’

      Just hearing Nico’s father say his name had Aurora’s heart both soaring and shattering anew.

      It was a regular occurrence in Silibri. Nico Caruso’s name was mentioned often.

      ‘Since when did I have a direct line to your son, Geo?’ Determined not to give herself away, Aurora responded light-heartedly as she plumped the old man’s cushions behind him. ‘I haven’t spoken to Nico in ages.’

      ‘He’s sending his helicopter to take me to Rome.’

      Aurora’s cushion plumping was paused for a moment.

      Geo got confused at times, and was also known to exaggerate, but even by Geo’s standards this was too far-fetched to be believed.

      ‘Who told you that?’ Aurora asked as he rested back in his chair and she straightened up.

      ‘The doctor did.’

      ‘Oh? And is this the same doctor who told you that your drinking would kill you?’ Aurora checked.

      Geo gave a reluctant smile.

      ‘The same doctor who said that you couldn’t manage here alone and needed to be in a nursing home?’ she continued. ‘Because I thought you told me that that doctor could not be believed.’

      ‘Perhaps,’ Geo conceded, ‘but he was telling the truth this time—Nico is sending a helicopter to fetch me.’

      Wildfires had been ravaging the south coast of Sicily and steadily working their way towards their small village for more than a week. They had been told to get out—of course they had—but, like Geo, her father had refused.

      She didn’t doubt that Nico wanted his father away from the fires, but a private helicopter was way beyond a boy from Silibri—even a successful one!