Venetian Masquerade Read Online Free PDF Page A

told her there was no point in fighting it because he could feel her body responding, her lips growing soft and responsive and, moving a hand to her breast, her nipples hardening. But Amy kept those details to herself.
    “I knew, I just knew, that he was going to be a part of my life, whether I wanted him to be or not. He was so arrogant, I absolutely disliked him, but there was a fire in me I had never felt before. Well, I managed to break away when a secretary came bursting in with an urgent message for Alessandro, and I fled back to the office in a state of shock.”
    “And he came after you?”
    “He must have called Mrs. Wentworth to ask where she’d found me. Within the hour, a florist’s van arrived outside. For five minutes, the driver went to and fro, bringing in about a hundred and fifty red roses, all in crystal vases. My boss and the other girls were in hysterics. The phone rang every five minutes, but I refused to speak to him for the rest of the afternoon. Being Alessandro, he wouldn’t give up. He came to the office in person and dragged me off into the back of his car outside. The chauffeur shut the door, drove off, and I was virtually kidnapped.”
    “Oh, Amy, how romantic.”
    “Yes, it was. It was…” To Maria’s obvious frustration, Amy went into a reverie, remembering how Alessandro sat on one side of the car and she, as far away from him as possible, on the other.
    “How dare you do this, Signor,” she said, glaring at him. “Just who do you think you are?”
    “Oh, I know who I am, Amy,” he said, smiling at her. “And I know who you are—and who you are going to be.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean you are going to be mine. You already know it, so there’s no point in fighting me—although I am sure you will. The minute you walked into the room and I looked at you, I think we both understood our lives would be intertwined forever.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous! Where are you taking me?”
    “Only to dinner. What did you think I was going to do? Drag you to my castle and take you by force?”
    She turned to glare at him. “I imagine you are capable of anything. Now let me go, Signor. I don’t know you.”
    “Yes, you do, and my name is Alessandro. Your soul recognized me straight away, as mine did yours.”
    “Amy!” protested Maria. “Stop floating away. What happened next?”
    “Sorry…well, because he gave me no choice in the matter, I had dinner with him in a small, very unpretentious bistro. After the way he’d kissed me at the office, I had visions of fighting him off afterwards, and I was prepared to make a real stand, but to my utter amazement, he took me back to my flat, gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek, and left.”
    “And then what?”
    “I wondered if I would ever see him again. I presumed he thought me an unsophisticated little fool and not his type at all. But he was waiting for me outside the office the next evening and the same thing happened. He didn’t make a move on me…just dinner and an avuncular goodnight kiss. For three weeks, the same thing every evening: we went to the ballet, to art galleries, to restaurants, and every night, he took me home and gave me a kiss on the cheek at my front door. He was really very charming and funny, and he stretched my mind. He would tell me about his business interests, his view on life, and wanted to know about me. By then, of course, I was madly in love with him, and he knew it. But he was prepared to wait for me to tell him when I was ready to…to...”
    “Make love?”
    “Yes.” Amy laughed. “Are you shocked?”
    “At my age, my dear, it would take more than that. What happened next?”
    “Maria, you can guess what happened next. One night after the theatre, when I really thought he might just turn and walk away, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I kissed him. It was the signal he had been waiting for, and the effect was…indescribable.”
    “So, you became lovers?” asked Maria