Free Italian Marriage: In Name Only by Kathryn Ross Page B

every modern amenity—wardrobes, and dressing table, and the en-suite bathroom even had a shower.
    She went through and closed the door and her reflection stared back at her from the full-length mirror opposite. Her clothes were creased and she looked pale and tired, her hair escaping from the confines of the clips that held it back fromher face. Hastily she scraped it back into an even tighter ponytail and then took off her glasses and splashed her face with some cold water.
    She wondered if she should change. Her suitcase was fastened onto a stand behind her, and on impulse she opened it. She’d packed a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt. They would probably be more comfortable to wear now.
    Victoria had just finished changing when the plane hit a small pocket of turbulence and her spectacles slid from the vanity unit and hit the floor with a clatter.
    Hurriedly she bent to retrieve them. The lenses seemed fine but the arm was hanging off, either the screw had come loose or it had fallen out from the hinge. And as she now couldn’t see properly, she couldn’t even try to fix it.
    The perfect ending to the perfect day, she thought with exasperation. Now everything she looked at was viewed through a slight blur. She wondered if Antonio could mend them for her and then stood indecisively with them in her hand. She didn’t want to ask him. But then she hated to be seen without her glasses; she felt naked without them.
    The plane hit some more turbulence and it galvanised her into action. It didn’t matter about her spectacles; she needed to go back and check that Nathan hadn’t woken up. He could be frightened or crying for her.
    So glasses in hand she returned to the cabin. By the time she got back, the plane had smoothly levelled out and to her relief Nathan was still fast asleep. Antonio was absorbed in another business report and he didn’t look up as she slipped into the seat opposite.
    ‘I took the liberty of ordering dinner for you,’ he murmured as he made some notes on the margin of one of the pages. ‘Cannelloni followed by beef Wellington. So I hope you are not a vegetarian.’
    ‘No, that’s fine.’
    ‘Good.’ He continued on with his work.
    She watched him through a slight misty haze, then cleared her throat nervously. ‘You seem very busy.’
    ‘I’ve got a lot of Italian business to catch up with, ready for when I get home,’ he answered distractedly without looking up.
    ‘When you have a minute…’
    ‘Yes…?’
    Still he didn’t look up, and he only seemed to be half listening to her. She was quite glad. She didn’t want his full attention.
    ‘I dropped my glasses and they…well, they seem to have fallen apart.’ A bit like me, she thought as he glanced up.
    She couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly but she was aware that she did have his full attention now, and she could feel her skin starting to tingle with the heat of embarrassment.
    ‘Do you think you could try and fix them for me? I can’t see properly, otherwise I’d do it myself.’
    Antonio was taken aback for a few moments. She looked totally different. She had rather a lovely shaped face, he thought as he stared at her in startled bemusement. A pert little nose, and high cheekbones that gave her an almost classical beauty. And she looked younger than her years, with skin that was fine grained and smoothly perfect—strange how he hadn’t noticed that before. He watched as her long dark lashes swept down over her eyes.
    The vulnerability of the look wasn’t lost on him.
    ‘Can you fix them for me?’ she asked him again huskily. ‘Please.’
    He took the glasses from her silently and examined them.
    The tiny coil that held the hinge in place had slipped and it was a simple matter to just twist it back into position.
    ‘Can you do it?’ she asked anxiously as she watched him.
    He flicked a glance back over at her; there was a part of him that wanted to say no. A part of him that wanted to say, Why do