The Italian's Token Wife by Julia James

Author:Julia James [Julia James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance - Harlequin
ISBN: 9780373124404
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

'It is all explained?" she said in English. 'Good.' She smiled at Magda again. 'Now we begin."

'I will return later,' said Rafaello to Magda, and walked out.

She stared after him helplessly. What should she do? Should she go after him and tell him...? Tell him what? Tell him she'd like to do something else—like go back to London and never lay eyes on him or his family or his precious Tuscan villa ever again? Well, she couldn't. She had signed papers—a contract, a wedding certificate—and there was nothing whatsoever she could do until Rafaello di Viscenti decided it was time to send her back to England without risking any possibility of the marriage being declared fraudulent and invalid and so play right into his father's hands again.

'Come this way,' said Olivia in her bright, smiling voice. With a dull, numb feeling of resignation. Magda followed her.

Rafaello sat at the cafe" looking out over the piazza which had once been a Roman amphitheater, two thousand years ago. Apart from making one single purchase, he'd cooled his heels for well over two hours now. spending the time moodily striding around the city, wandering in and out of the countless churches, ignoring, as he always did when he wasn't in a receptive mood, the more than frequent glances he received from tourist and Italian females alike.

It had been impulse—impulse and guilt—that had made him yank that poor scrawny creature out of the villa this morning and throw her into Olivia's clutches to improve upon nature somehow—anyhow. But maybe he had not done the girl any favours by letting Olivia loose on her. He frowned. Maybe the material Olivia had to work on was hopeless! Maybe he had only set her up for yet another round of humiliation at his hands...

Hadn't he already humiliated her enough?

He gestured for another cup of coffee and picked up his newspaper again. Perhaps the miseries of the world at large would take his mind off his guilt.

Some forty minutes later his mobile sounded. Reaching inside his jacket pocket, he flicked it on.

'Pronto—'

'Rafaello?' It was Olivia. 'We're all done. We'll meet you at the restaurant. See you there."

He made his way to the restaurant where he'd reserved a table for lunch. Inside, he spotted Olivia immediately, by the crowded bar area. She saw him and gave a wave. He headed towards her, wondering what she'd done with Magda. Misgiving filled him again—perhaps Olivia had found it so impossible to make the girl presentable and had left her behind in the salon while she conveyed the bad tidings to him.

As he approached, a woman seated with her back to him at the bar caught his eye. There were a good many females in the place, but this one definitely caught his attention. His eyes flickered over her. She was sitting very straight, and very still. She was wearing a sleeveless shift in dark cinnamon raw silk, She was very slender, with a long, elegant back. Her hair, a delicate, unusual shade of light brown, skilfully coloured, he realised, with soft amber highlights.

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