Lorenzo's Reward. Catherine George

“Where’s your car?”

      “I left it at the Chesterton,” she explained, and introduced Lorenzo.

      “Nice to meet you,” said Adam as he shook hands.

      “Piacere,” said Lorenzo Forli, smiling. “Your sister fell and hurt her hands, so I drove her home.”

      “How the devil did you manage that, Jess?” demanded Adam. “Don’t tell me,” he added, resigned, noticing her feet. “Life-threatening heels, as usual.”

      “I tripped on some gravel,” said Jess tersely. “So you’ll have to drive me back to Pennington after the wedding, to collect my car.”

      “No problem,” said Adam cheerfully. “Right then, Jess, bring Lorenzo in to meet the family. I was just going to ask Mother to make me a snack.”

      “You are most kind,” said Lorenzo, after a questioning look at Jess’s face. “But I will not intrude on this special night.”

      When it became clear that Lorenzo had no immediate intention of getting back in the car, Adam threw his sister a bright, knowing look, said goodnight, and loped off in search of food.

      “Thank you for driving me home,” said Jess at last, desperate to break the silence once Adam had gone.

      “It was my pleasure.” Lorenzo reached out a hand to touch hers. “Jessamy, I can tell that you are angry.”

      “How perceptive,” she snapped, backing away.

      “Why?” he asked, advancing on her.

      Her head went up. “I would have thought it was obvious. I object to wild accusations about my morals, especially from strangers,” she added coldly.

      “Ah!” His eyes held hers relentlessly. “We return to the subject of your sister’s fidanzato. You insist you do not love him?”

      “On the contrary, I do,” she assured him airily, gratified when his dark eyes blazed with anger.

      “You admit this?” he said incredulously.

      “Only to you,” she said sweetly. “They say it’s easier to confide in strangers. So I can share my little secret, Signor Forli.”

      “Then Roberto was right,” said Lorenzo grimly. “He suspected this when he first met you. No matter. You will be made to change your mind.” His smile was so arrogant it raised every hackle Jess possessed. “I swore this the first moment I saw you.”

      “But you didn’t know who I was.”

      He moved closer. “Ah, but I did.”

      Jess stared at him wildly. “I don’t understand.”

      “You lie, Jessamy.” He held her wrists loosely, one finger on her tell-tale pulse.

      “I’m not lying,” she retorted, and pulled her hands away. “So explain. Had you seen me somewhere before?”

      “Only in my dreams,” he said, routing her completely. He smiled into her eyes. “But now I’ve met you in the alluring flesh, Jessamy Dysart, you will forget all other men in your life from this day on, including your sister’s husband. I forbid you to gaze at him with longing tomorrow.”

      “What? You can’t forbid me to do anything,” she said, incensed, desperate to hide the tumult of delight beneath her outrage. “We’re complete strangers. I don’t know what you think gives you the right to talk to me like this—”

      “Why did you cut off your beautiful hair?” he interrupted, changing the subject with an abruptness which knocked her off balance again.

      Jess blinked. “Not—not quite all of it.”

      “Far too much. Almost you look like a boy, now.”

      “Do I really!”

      “I said almost!” Lorenzo gave her a slow smile, his eyes lingering on the place where her jacket hung open. “You are all contradiction, tesoro. You wear trousers and cut off your hair, yet choose feminine shoes and a camicetta which clings to your breasts. Why can you not glory in the fact that you are a desirable woman? A woman,” he added relentlessly, his eyes clashing with hers, “who must no longer yearn for a man forbidden to her.”

      Jess gave an exclamation of pure frustration, afraid that at any moment the entire Dysart clan would come pouring from the house to press the stranger at their gates to whatever hospitality he would accept. “I don’t know why I’m saying this to a man who I’d never met until an hour ago, but I do not yearn for Jonah. Nevertheless I’ve known him for a long time, and it’s true that I love him. But like a brother. Or a brother-in-law.” She looked him in the eye. “So let’s forget all this nonsense, shall we? I’d give you my hand to shake on it, but both of them hurt rather a lot at the moment.”

      He nodded, his face relaxing visibly. “Very well, we shall talk no more of this.” He smiled down at her. “And since we cannot shake hands, English style, we shall say goodnight Italian style—like this.” He took her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on both her flushed cheeks. He raised his head to look down at her, no longer smiling, then with an oddly helpless shrug he bent to kiss her mouth, his hands tightening on her shoulders when the kiss went on for a considerable time. He raised his head at last, his eyes slitted. “Mi scusi! That was unfair,” he said unevenly.

      “Unfair?” managed Jess.

      “To take advantage when you are injured. But I could not resist.” Lorenzo smiled into her dazed eyes, dropped his hands and stood back. “Now, since I cannot see you tomorrow, tell me when you return to London.”

      “Not for a while.”

      He moved nearer. “Where are you going?”

      “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here.”

      “Then I shall also.”

      Jess stared at him disbelief.

      “You would not like it if I did?” he demanded.

      “That’s not the point. I don’t know you. I just can’t believe that you took one look at me that day and decided—”

      “That I wanted you,” he finished for her.

      Jess felt her face flame. “Are you always this direct with women?” she demanded. “Or is this approach commonplace in Florence?”

      He shrugged negligently. “I am not concerned with how the other men behave, either in Florence or London. So, Jessamy. When will you be free? Or am I not asking correctly? Should I entreat? Implore? Forgive my lack of English vocabulary. Tell me what to say.” He took her by the shoulders again. “Or are you saying you have no wish to see me again?”

      Jess looked down. “No,” she said gruffly. “I’m not saying that.”

      He put a finger under her chin and smiled down at her in triumph. “Tomorrow, then, after the wedding. You will dine with me.”

      She shook her head reluctantly. “I can’t. I must stay with my family.”

      “Then Monday.”

      “Are you staying on that long?”

      He bent nearer. “Do you doubt it?” he whispered, and kissed her gently. He raised his head to look into her eyes, muttered something inaudible in his own language and pulled her close, crushing her to him as he kissed her again, no longer gentle, his lips parting hers, his tongue invading, and she responded, shaking, her body curving into his as she answered the demand of the skilful, passionate mouth. For a while Jess was lost to everything other than the engulfing pleasure of Lorenzo Forli’s kiss. Then she came back to earth abruptly at the sound of footsteps on the terrace, and pulled away, her face burning.

      Breathing a little rapidly Lorenzo looked up to smile in greeting when Leonie came hurrying towards them. “Buona sera, Leonie. Please forgive my intrusion.”