Secret Heirs: Royal Appointment. Carol Marinelli

In fact, she would call it more of a buzz, so maybe the Prince was close by. She glanced around and realised that she wouldn’t know the Prince if she tripped over him. Everyone was probably wondering how she got so lucky, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. There was no chance to dwell on it. It was far more important to keep her wits about her. Dancing with Luca was a high-risk sport, she concluded as the sinuous melody bound them closer together. There was only thing more intimate they could do and be this close, and that was to make love—

      She could put that out of her head right now! She was going to have one dance, and then she was going home. To pull away from Luca before the music ended would be rude. To fall into the trap of relaxing in his arms was stupid. Control would be her watchword. At least for now. Another, far more reckless side of Callie wanted to know why she couldn’t see this adventure out. She wasn’t Callie who scrubbed floors for a living now, but Callie from the lemon groves, who had a whole world of adventure tucked up inside her.

      She made herself relax. Luca was right about dancing with him being easy. For some reason her feet seemed to know what to do. Her body moved instinctively with his. They could have been alone on the dance floor. She looked up to see him smiling a lazy, confident smile. He was good. He was very good. Luca might look rugged and tough, but when it came to seduction, he was smooth. So long as she was aware of it, she’d be okay, Callie reassured herself as they danced on.

      But he must feel her trembling with arousal. Her body was on fire for him. Her heart was banging in her chest. She’d never played such dangerous games before. Luca was so brazenly virile she couldn’t think straight. She wanted to lace her fingers through his hair, and explore his body. She wanted to feel his sharp black stubble rasp her skin, and his firm, curving mouth tease hers into submission. While his big strong hands position me for pleasure...

      No! She had to leave now.

      But she didn’t.

      And then an annoying drone buzzed overhead. ‘It’s only just checking who’s around,’ Luca reassured her when she looked up.

      ‘Like we’re so important,’ she said dryly. ‘I guess the Prince must be around.’

      ‘It’s a natural precaution when there’s a crowd,’ Luca explained.

      Hmm. She loved to watch his mouth tilt at the corners when he smiled. ‘You’ve worked here before, so you’re used to it,’ she pointed out, ‘but this is all new to me.’ And how! And how fabulous, Callie thought as the music started up again, and one dance segued smoothly into two.

      ‘Tell me about home for you,’ Luca prompted.

      ‘I’m from a small town in the north of England.’

      ‘What’s it like?’

      His hands were looped lightly around her waist as he pulled his head back to stare at her. A sensible question was welcome. A return to reality was exactly what she needed when their bodies were an electric hair’s breadth apart. But how to explain to a man who lived in one of the most beautiful countries in the world that her life back home was not like this? She settled for the truth. ‘I’m very lucky. I have the best of neighbours, a good job, and wonderful friends.’

      ‘So you live alone?’ he pressed as they danced on.

      It was hard to concentrate on anything while she was this close to Luca, but she shook her mind back to the facts. ‘I lived with my father until recently. He died a short time before I came to Italy.’

      ‘I’m very sorry.’

      ‘He was killed in a drunken brawl,’ she explained. Luca had sounded genuinely concerned, and she didn’t want to mislead him, but her eyes brimmed as she said this. It had been such a tragic waste of life. ‘The world keeps turning,’ she said, to deflect Luca’s interest from the confusion on her face. Guilt had always played such a large part in her thinking where her father was concerned. She had never had any influence over him, but had always wished she could have changed things for the better for him.

      ‘And now you’re spreading your wings,’ Luca guessed, bringing her back on track.

      ‘I’m trying different things,’ she confirmed, brightening as she thought about the short time she’d been in Italy. ‘I love it here. I love the warmth of the people, and the sunshine, the glamour of a party beneath the stars—who wouldn’t love being here on the Prince’s estate? I feel free for the first time in a long time,’ she admitted carelessly. ‘Sorry. My mouth runs away with me sometimes.’

      ‘No. Go on,’ Luca encouraged. ‘I’m interested. I want to hear more.’

      She was careful not to add the word adventure to her gush of information. He would definitely get the wrong idea. She told him a little more, and then his arms closed around her. His embrace was worryingly addictive and people were packed around them on the dance floor, making dancing close inevitable. Luca was easy to talk to and soon she was telling him things that perhaps she shouldn’t, like the camaraderie down the pub where she worked that could so easily erupt into violence when people had had too much to drink.

      ‘Dio, Callie, how could your father let you work there?’

      She frowned. ‘No one gave me permission, and it was a well-paid job. Good, honest work,’ she emphasised, and then she laughed. ‘They had to pay their staff well, in order to keep them in such a rough area.’

      ‘It sounds horrendous,’ Luca remarked, not seeing anything amusing in what she’d said.

      ‘We needed the money,’ she said honestly, ‘and there aren’t too many options where I come from.’

      Luca was a passionate Italian male, Callie reminded herself, and they could be very protective. He might look hard as rock, but he was no brute. And she was no saint, Callie thought as his hard thigh eased between hers. She tried using force of will to pretend nothing was happening, but that was the biggest fail yet. He was so big and she was so small that relaxing against him soon became snuggling into him, which felt ridiculously good, almost as if it was supposed to be. Music quickly restored her moral compass when the beat speeded up. She thought he’d let her go, lead her off the dance floor, but instead he caught her closer still.

      ‘You’re a good dancer.’

      ‘Only because you lift me off my feet.’ She laughed, then reviewed what was happening to her body while they were brushing, rubbing, nudging. It was both sensational and addictive. She wanted more. She wanted to toss her moral compass away.

      As if sensing the way her thoughts were turning, Luca whispered in her ear, ‘I’m sure you’ve had enough dancing for now.’

      She pulled back her head to stare into his eyes, which was dangerous, because now she discovered she was addicted to danger too. The camera drone chose that moment to intrude. ‘If the person behind those controls wants to take a better look at us, why don’t they just come down here and say so?’

      ‘I doubt we’re the sole object of the controller’s attention.’

      ‘You could have fooled me.’ She glared at the drone. ‘Do you think it’s so interested because the Prince is here?’

      ‘Possibly,’ Luca agreed.

      ‘I haven’t seen him yet. Have you? I mean, you’ve worked on the estate before, so you must know him.’

      ‘I’m offended,’ Luca said, half grinning, which suggested he wasn’t offended at all. ‘All you want to talk about is the Prince.’

      ‘It’s something to tell them about back home.’

      ‘What about me?’ he growled.

      ‘Don’t look for compliments. You won’t get them from me.’

      He laughed and swept her off her feet.

      ‘Put me down this instant,’ she exclaimed.

      ‘Not a chance,’ he said. Amusement coloured his voice.