ckly. 'It's the least we do

without your fairy foo

ment and her laugh was forced before she said lightly. 'T

iately, and again that throb in

from his lean frame. 'I'd better go, Jim; this call must be costing a fortune. I just wanted to let you all know as soon as I could. You couldn't

out,' Jim said quickly. 'I'll go and see her and arra

d her a cheque from here ' Grace began,

like to. You can settle up

flushed; the note of possessiveness in his voice had never

e hesitated a moment and t

care, won't you? And

said thickly a

a moment of heavy brittle silence when she replaced the receiver before she could nerve herse

ou to come here?' The words w

d time to collect her thoughts after the amazing phone call, du

the rain and the wind and the number ten bus?' Donato asked cuttin

ide open for a split second before a surge of an

st twelve months, but he didn't want anyone else to have her either! The Vitto

und herself flushing with shock. But she had never indicated to Jim by w

like the big brother she'd never bad, a steady, dependa

s even softer when he said, 'So? You have not answered my que

nt,' she said tightly,

his lips, his eyes icy. 'I asked you if he advised you n

do,' she said fiercely. 'I make up my own mind; I won't

ure. 'Come, I will take you to your room,' he said arrogantly. 'You would like, your

d the allusion to her conversation with Jim and smiled coolly, willing hers

our or two to compose herself before she faced him again seemed like an oasis in the desert right at this moment, and s

thought the beautiful old house stretched for miles, and something of that feeling returned now as t

e bath. rooms, but when Donato had asked her to marry him two months after their first meeting he had ordered the immediate construction of a new wing to the bu

t it was the fact that it was exclusively theirs that Donato had reveled in, although she had felt appr

y when furnishings for her new home were being discussed, and something in her face must

to one side and speaking quietly as he had looked down at her from his

he blushed furiously at this point but he pretended not to notice. 'It's just that

ato this?' Romano

worry, that Liliana is ha

lly. 'I don't want Donato to think I don't want to

re babies, so perhaps you would not think me presumptuous if I spoke to you on this

feels it is right and proper that he wishes to be alone with you in his own domain; she even suggested that it might be time for her to move elsewhere. She feels a young married c

no idea how her face h

's eyes she is mostly definitely gaining, a daught

sn't the first time she had wondered how someone like Romano had come to be married to a petulant, attention seeking woman like Bia

ven closer to Liliana in the next few weeks as a result of them, her mind h

said when he drove her home that sam

her person who approved of our match, my love. From the first moment I set eyes on you I knew you would be mine, I knew it; nothin

y fully appreciated on their wedding night, which had also been her nineteenth birthday, when the restraint he had emp

wholly his. He had been the perfect lover, her ecstasy his ecstasy, her pleasure his first concern, and there had been times when their union had left the

the heavy carved oak door that led to the separate wing of the house, Grace caught at his arm, her voice taut. 'You don't expect me t

s but he was completely still as he glanced down at her small, dainty hand on

t back as she continued, '"Was", being the operative word. '