Cinderella in the Sicilian's World by Sharon Kendrick

Author:Sharon Kendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-12-03T14:21:13+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE KNOCK ON the cottage door sounded imperious and Lina felt a ripple of apprehension as she opened it to find Salvatore standing there, his muscular physique dominating the star-sprinkled sky behind him. And despite all her intentions to do otherwise, her heart began pounding frantically beneath the fancy fabric of her new dress.

It was a little under twenty-one hours since she’d last seen him. Twenty-one hours of trying to get to know some of the staff a bit better and asking Henry if there was anything she could do to help. Answer: no. In theory, twenty-one hours to build up some immunity against the charismatic tycoon. So why hadn’t it worked? All the stern talking-tos in the world didn’t seem to have changed her body’s instant response to him, which was as powerful as ever.

It was as if she’d been stumbling around in the dark for a long, long time and Salvatore had suddenly become her bright, hard focus. Whenever he was around her skin felt sensitive—her limbs weightless and her senses soft. It was as if the very substance of her was capable of dissolving whenever he was in the vicinity.

He flicked his gaze over her and Lina wondered if she’d imagined the brief flash of disbelief in his eyes. She doubted it. Hadn’t she experienced a similar reaction when she’d stood in front of the mirror a little earlier and surveyed the image reflected back at her? She shifted her weight on her stiletto heels because she was doing everything she could to avoid getting a blister this evening. She wasn’t used to wearing an evening dress, nor shoes this high, and as she waited for Salvatore’s verdict on her appearance her already jangled nerves felt even more frazzled. It was exactly as she’d thought. She looked a disaster. She was going to let him down. She would turn him into a laughing stock. ‘You don’t like it?’ she said.

There was a pause as he continued to study her with an unhurried scrutiny which was making her nipples tighten.

‘You look different,’ he concluded eventually.

It wasn’t the reply she’d wanted but maybe it was the only one which was appropriate. Because she felt different. She felt... Lina shook her head, but not a single hair of her perfectly coiffed head moved, thanks to the careful ministrations of the in-store hairdresser. It was difficult to describe exactly how she felt. Disorientated might be a good place to start. She’d never been to an upmarket department store before, nor been assigned a personal shopper—but apparently this was perfectly normal when you possessed the platinum store card to which she’d been given unfettered access by Salvatore di Luca. But nothing could have prepared Lina for the lavish interior of the sumptuous San Franciscan store, nor the expensive outfits of her fellow customers, who glided over the marble floors as if they had been shopping there all their lives. Never had she felt quite so poor or provincial.

Her relief at being

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