Runaway Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

when he showed her the clothes she was wearing.  “These belonged to my wife,” he'd said.
    Belonged. 
    Past tense.
    So, what happened?  Where was she now?
    “So what?” She turned on a tap and tested the flowing water with her finger “What will knowing get me?” The water turned hot almost immediately. 
    “Stick to the plan, Hamilton.” She placed the dirty dishes in the sink. “Oh yeah.  Just how am I supposed to do that?” 
    Here she was, isolated from the rest of the world for God-knows how long, in a close encounter of the third kind, with a man. 
    Maybe divorced. 
    Maybe a widower. 
    Maybe neither. 
    Either way, a beautiful man who only had to smile to bring her out in goose bumps - and worse.
    She started cleaning the plates vigorously with a dish cloth.
    Could it really be fate - as Lorenzo had suggested?  An Italian farmer - a million miles from her home, her accustomed lifestyle, and even her nationality. 
    It just couldn't be.  
    It mustn't be. 
    No way.  No way.  No way.  
    Never.     
    It's just that he's so lovely.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Lorenzo walked with Domino around the perimeter of his estate, checking the wire fence.  A formidable barrier, it stood almost three meters high, the top half metre inclined outwards.  It was not meant to repel human intruders. People could walk through the gate, just as Genie had done.  He never locked it.  He just made sure it was securely latched.  The sole purpose of the fence was to keep at bay, animals with an earnest desire to dine on his livestock.   
    In the past he had found signs of the attempts by the more enterprising predators to burrow under the fence, or to break through.  He had even seen a bear testing it - to no avail.  The bear's immense strength and weight was no match for Lorenzo's fortification. 
    However, his main concern was the craftiest of potential intruders - and among the most dangerous.  The wolf.
    He knew they were around.  He had seen them from time to time, and frequently heard their eerie howls in the distance.  On rare occasions, Lorenzo had the impression that they had ventured close to the fence.  So far, however, they had not succeeded to break in.
    While his daily fence inspection was routine, there was an additional reason for his tour this morning.  He needed space - time to think.  
    He paused and stared through the fence at the snow-covered, open ground stretching out to the tree-covered slopes and mountains beyond.  Nothing looked or felt the same this morning. 
    This scruffy girl erupting from a pile of straw had totally disoriented him.
    His first reaction had been anger.  After all, she was an uninvited and unwelcome intruder.  Then, his natural male instincts came into play.
    He marvelled at her wild, rich bronze-gold hair, framing a delicately carved oval face, with high cheekbones as perfect as you can get.  She looked like a desirable little imp, instantly capturing him with her seductive emerald green eyes, sparkling with lively, continual shifting highlights. 
    Her unzipped green storm jacket revealed a compact, metre and a half frame with all the earmarks of someone who regularly took care of herself.  Meals consisting of practically nothing, and daily aerobics, he shouldn't wonder.
    He smiled as he thought about the way she bolted down her breakfast.  Any diet regime to which she had enslaved herself, she ate to smithereens this morning.
    “Andiamo AIMCO,” he said to Domino as he resumed his fence inspection - albeit, on automatic pilot.  His thoughts of Genie continued to usurp his powers of concentration.
    This was not good. 
    Yes, he admired beauty.  He'd committed enough to oils and canvas in the old days to last a lifetime. But this girl aroused certain emotions in him that surpassed mere admiration.  Apart from her beauty, she excited him with her quick wit, intelligence and her ability to rapidly adapt to challenges.  The