Italian Affair by Seaton Annie

Author:Seaton, Annie [Seaton, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, romance contemporary, General, Italian Affair, Annie Seaton, romance general, Fiction
ISBN: 9781622661374
Publisher: Entangled: Indulgence
Published: 2013-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Tom received some appreciative glances as he pushed his way through the throngs of casually dressed tourists crowding the morning market next to the harbor. He pulled at the collar of his shirt. It was the second time he’d worn a suit since arriving in Italy, and it was constricting his neck after T-shirts all week. He strode up the road past the houses that seemed to be glued to the steep hillside overlooking the azure sea. Terraced gardens with grapevines, olive, and lemon trees and various vegetables provided a brilliant foreground to the intense blue of the midmorning sky. Scarlet geraniums in window boxes and pots spilled down the front of the houses, and sweet fragrances hung in the still, hot air.

He paused at the entry of the small hotel at the top of the hill and wiped the perspiration from his face before pushing open the front door. The reception area was deserted, manned by a huge ginger cat draped along the counter. It swiped a lazy paw at him as he walked past the office. Tom stood next to the desk for five minutes before glancing at his watch. He tapped his fingers on the counter.

Come on Brianna, we’re going to be late.

God, he didn’t even know which room she was in. Leaning over the cat, he looked at the large book on the desk, scanning down the room numbers. Number six. Ballantyne. The name stood out in elegant copperplate in the old-fashioned reservations book.

He climbed the stairs to the first floor and walked along until he reached her room at the end of the corridor. After tapping on the door, he crossed to the window that overlooked the square below, and he stood gazing down at the open-air market while he waited for her to open the door. After another five minutes had passed, he knocked again and a harried voice called through the door.

“All right, already…hold ye horses. I’m bloody coming.”

Sweet. A ladylike bride.

He hadn’t planned on a wife, let alone one whose language could get quite colorful at times. Five more minutes passed and he glanced at his watch. He eased himself into the cane chair by the window and waited patiently. Noticing a speck of dirt on his shoes, he pulled out his handkerchief and polished it off. Satisfied they were back to their glossy shine, he looked up and a pair of long, bare legs filled his sight. He raised his eyes to the woman standing in front of the open door.

A vision in white confronted him. Brianna’s olive skin accentuated the virginal white of the tight, short dress molded to her figure like a second skin. Her feet were clad in a pair of barely there gold sandals, and her toenails were painted a soft pink. For the first time since he’d met her, her hair was loose and a torrent of black curls cascaded around her shoulders, one side pinned back by a small spray of red and yellow wildflowers.

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