Midnight Kiss by Nancy Gideon

Author:Nancy Gideon [Gideon, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786000203
Google: gPZTR_3VNF0C
Goodreads: 2113854
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 1993-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

ARABELLA FOUND herself standing in the theatre lobby with no idea why she’d come there. She felt light-headed and unsure of her balance. Had she become ill inside? Knowing Louis must be worrying, she circled to return to their box and found herself blocked by an elegantly garbed figure.

“Buona sera, Signora.”

Arabella froze. Devils, Louis had said, but in his evening finery, Gerardo Pasquale looked more the angel. He was tall and very dark, with eyes of a piercing blue. About him was that same unnatural shimmer of beauty she’d first seen in Louis. And as much as she was wary of him, she was drawn to that magnetic aura. She found herself powerless as he lifted her hand for a courtly kiss.

“Are you enjoying the opera? Splendido! How wonderful it is. Such sounds. Reminds me of home. Gino, too? Or does he try to forget those days?”

There was a wistfulness to his expression that made Arabella want to console him. “He remembers, but sadly, I think. As if he’s lost something of value he cannot restore.”

Gerardo nodded, his smile pursed and bittersweet. “It is there we lost our innocence and our love for one another. We were inseparable friends in those days, Gino and I.”

“What happened to change that?” she heard herself asking. Part of her wanted to know, while another part urged her to flee while she could, that she was in terrible danger. But it was already too late. She understood instinctively. Something about Gerardo compelled her attention. It was impossible to draw away. And she wanted to know his link to her husband.

“What happened?” He shrugged with a liquid grace. “A woman.”

“Bianca du Maurier,” she supplied, making that triangle without effort.

Gerardo made an acknowledging sound, one of regret, of pain. “She was so beautiful, my Bianca. I lost my heart to her the first time I beheld her. I was so in love, and in love with the very idea of it.” He gave a soft laugh, just a touch of cynicism edging into the warm tones. He took Arabella’s arm and wound it casually through his so he could lead her in a companionable stroll toward the deeper shadows of the theatre. In the back of her mind, Arabella tried to protest, but she simply could not pull away.

“Bianca, she was so cruel with my heart. It amused her to toy with it. But she did not love me. For her, it was Gino, whom I loved like a brother.”

Arabella listened, a great sadness welling up inside her as if she was experiencing her escort’s pain. How sharp and bitter it must have been.

“And then,” he continued quietly, “I found the two of them together, as lovers. Gino, he was so distraught. He came to me with tears in his eyes, begging for my forgiveness. I could not give it, even knowing as I do now that the fault was not his. You see, he had betrayed my trust, my love for him, and that wounded more deeply than Bianca’s faithlessness.

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