Free Under the Italian's Command by Susan Stephens Page B

inspired fear in the heart of every wrongdoer, including her! ‘If this means I’m finished I’d rather you told me straight,’ she said, trying to keep up with him as he started back towards the flat.
     
    ‘We’ll talk about it later. Right now it’s more important to get you out of this weather.’ Lacing his arm through hers, he slowed, matching his pace to her shorter stride, seemingly oblivious to the sleet hitting them in the face.
     
    ‘Lorenzo, I’m really sorry to bring you out on a night like this. I was just—’
     
    ‘Trying to pick up a man in a bar?’
     
    ‘It wasn’t like that.’
     
    ‘What was it like, Carly ?’
     
    ‘I wouldn’t do anything I thought might bring chambers into disrepute.’
     
    ‘Work? Is that all you think about? What about your own reputation?’
     
    The lamplight was reflected in his eyes, making them appear to burn fiercely. The look reached inside her and twisted something. ‘Lorenzo, I—’
     
    ‘Lorenzo?’ he interrupted. ‘Do you think I have all the answers? Or maybe you think the scholarship will fill that empty space inside you? Do you even have a clue what you want out of life, Carly ?’
     
    As she stared at him in shock his jaw firmed. ‘No, I didn’t think so.’
     
    As he swung an arm around her shoulder and urged her on she shrank into him, relieved that, though clearly exasperated, Lorenzo wasn’t prepared to abandon her to her fate. Keeping her scholarship hopes alive was important, but meanwhile it felt good snuggling up to him, and she was going to enjoy it as long as she could. Even in the freezing cold her lips still burned from his kiss, and everywhere his hands had touched, held or stroked bore little imprints of strength and warmth and protection. Dreaming again, maybe, but it was a dream that didn’t cost a broken heart to indulge in.
     
    When they arrived back Lorenzo let them in and left her under strict instructions to strip off her clothes in the hallway. And pose nude? Catching sight of herself in the mirror, Carly quickly doused that thought. She could hear Lorenzo running a bath and, clutching her damp clothes in front of her, she draped her jacket over her shoulders for good measure.
     
    ‘I thought I told you to get undressed?’ he said, barely sparing her a glance.
     
    ‘I am undressed…underneath…’
     
    Zero reaction. The promise of that kiss in the bar had cooled, leaving stern Lorenzo a little sterner, but no more interested in taking her to bed than he’d ever been. This wasn’t lust that ached inside her; it was something more, she realised in panic. The thought that she might have fallen in love with Lorenzo put her at more risk than a broken heart, because it made it impossible to work with him. And what about her scholarship hopes then?
     
    ‘Are you coming to have your bath?’ he said, distracting her. ‘I’ll get some towels.’
     
    As he walked away her dreams seemed ridiculous, like the fantasies of a schoolgirl with a crush.
     
    ‘Don’t wait for me,’ he called back.
     
    What point would there be?
     
    Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. Lorenzo was way out of her reach. Even the oil he had added to the bath water was expensive and exclusive; a man like that would never settle for anything ordinary.
     
    This time he only put his arm round the door, brandishing thick-piled, toffee- coloured towels, each one of them big enough to swaddle her from head to foot. ‘They’re still warm,’ he said. ‘If you hang them over the radiator they’ll stay that way…’
     
    She thanked him and then settled back in the warm water so she could listen to him moving about in the kitchen. Tea and sympathy? Or maybe he was preparing a stiff drink for her to ease the news that her scholarship hopes were dashed.
     
    ‘Ten minutes and then we talk,’ he called to her from the hallway.
     
    At least she didn’t have long to wait to hear her fate! Relaxing back, she closed her eyes. There was