Nicolo: The Powerful Sicilian by Sandra Marton

Author:Sandra Marton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

ALESSIA had been to endless dinner parties, first as the daughter of a wealthy Florentine prince and in the last several years, as an up-and-coming associate at a publicity firm.

Some parties were dull. Some were interesting. The ones that involved her sometimes egotistically-challenged clients, a polite way of thinking of ones who were unsophisticated, were the most difficult.

She had to seem to be having fun even as she kept a sharp eye on everything.

Whatever kind of party it was, she’d long ago perfected the art of wearing a polite mask. She smiled, moved from group to group, carried on conversations about anything from art to Antarctica and did it all on autopilot.

And she was never nervous.

None of that applied tonight.

She was not just nervous, she was—there was no other word for it—a wreck.

Dressed and ready an hour early, staring at the clock in her bedroom, watching the minute hand drag around the dial didn’t help and finally she gave up and headed downstairs.

Surely, there were things she could find in the drawing room, the dining room, to keep her busy.

But she couldn’t.

Her father’s household staff was well-trained, and she had arranged for her own coordinator to supervise things.

The drawing room was filled with light from half a dozen magnificent chandeliers; gold-rimmed champagne flutes and wine goblets that had been in the family for almost two centuries glittered on the enormous sideboard alongside an array of bottles that ranged from Cristal champagne to vintage Brunello di Montalcino, the incredibly expensive red wine for which the area was known.

The dining room table, set for twelve, was a masterwork of floral centerpieces, antique silver candelabra, her great-great-grandmother’s china and sterling flatware that dated to the eighteenth century.

Alessia straightened a plate here, moved a fork there but the truth was, there was nothing for her to do….

Nothing except finally admit that her nerves had nothing to do with this dinner party and everything to do with Nicolo.

She had not seen him for hours.

They’d driven back to the villa from the hillside in silence. She hadn’t known what to expect. Would he try to take her in his arms again? She was not ready for that. In fact, by the time they’d returned, she was stunned at what she’d said to him about wanting to be with him tonight and convinced she was not ready for anything to happen between them, now or ever.

The drive back had given her time to think.

What am I doing? she had thought.

Nothing sensible, that was certain.

Why would a logical woman even consider getting involved with a man she didn’t know or want to know? Nicolo Orsini wore the right clothes and said the right things but that didn’t change what he was.

Or what she became in his arms.

She had turned into someone else on that hillside, losing her sense of self, of decorum, of—of morality. To have kissed him with wild abandon, to have begged him, Dio, begged him to take her…

All those thoughts had whirled through her head as they drove to the villa, but when they reached it, Nicolo had been the perfect gentleman.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.