Free Irresistible You by Victoria Connelly Page A

I’m engaged to you! ’
    ‘Me and me alone?’ he asked. Was it his imagination or did he see a very pronounced swallow when he asked her that question?
    ‘Of course you alone! What do you take me for?’
    ‘Then where’s my ring? Why aren’t you wearing my ring? he asked, noticing the missing rubies.
    ‘It’s my ring,’ she corrected. ‘And I never wear rings when travelling. You don’t know who might be eyeing up your valuables.’
    Reuben supposed that was a fairly reasonable argument and yet he couldn’t help feeling that she was hiding something.
    ‘I’ve got the ring upstairs,’ she said. ‘I can go and put it on – right now – if you want me to,’ she said, turning around and making to return to the apartment.
    Of course, he shook his head. ‘Don’t bother,’ he said. ‘But make sure you have it on tomorrow’
    ‘I will!’ she replied and her eyes flickered with sudden mischief. ‘I’ll be wearing your ring and nothing else if you manage to find yourself a hotel.’
    He smiled. Elena always knew exactly what to say and he felt his suspicion ebbing away. He even let her persuade him to book into the Hotel Danieli which was extravagant even by his standards. The Venetian-red palazzo seemed to glow in the rich afternoon light and he had to admit that it was beautiful.
    ‘It’s so romantic,’ she cooed as they entered through the revolving doors and took in the sumptuous splendour of the foyer. So he booked a double room with a view out across the lagoon. As he took in the Murano glass chandeliers, the antiques, the pink marble and the gold leaf columns, he knew that he’d be able to knock out a few pictures during his stay and thus recoup any money spent.
    Once in the room overlooking the Bacino di San Marco, they had sex. He couldn’t use the phrase ‘making love’ because that, to him, implied something long and luxurious, and what Elena and he had was fast and furious; it left them breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
    As he was gazing up at the ornate ceiling, Elena propped herself up on an elbow and, stroking an idle finger through his hair, asked, ‘You do believe me, don’t you?’
    ‘What?’ Reuben was still lost in the land of lust.
    ‘That you’re my one and only.’
    ‘Yes,’ he said but, quite frankly, at that moment in time, he would have said anything she’d wanted him to say.
    They kissed and fell asleep and, after she left, he showered, towelling himself dry for the third time that day. Despite the sumptuous surroundings, he felt uneasy and restless and there was only one way out of that. Picking up his sketchbook, he began to draw. Black, silken hair. Soft, dark eyes. Gentle curves of shoulders and breasts. He drew them quickly and confidently because he’d been paying them so much attention.
    He filled page after page until the light in the room turned into the rich amber of early evening and then he flicked back through the pages. She was beautiful, he thought, as he looked at the images he’d caught with a few brief strokes of charcoal.
    Finally, he closed the sketchbook before closing his eyes but it wasn’t any good because the images were burned into his brain. She was beautiful. It was the only word he could think of to describe her, and, at that moment, he felt as if he couldn’t live without her.
    He sighed a long and weary sigh as he whispered her name under his breath.
    ‘ Rosanna! ’

Chapter 14
    Elena had to admit that she was shocked and shaken by Reuben’s unexpected visit and felt sure she had betrayed herself terribly. Normally, her life was beautifully orchestrated; with three fiancés, you couldn’t live any other way. Of course, she could never fully predict what Reuben, Mark and Prof were going to request from day to day but she was always the master of control. A quick: I’m sorry, I can’t see you today – something’s come up at work , usually did the trick. She’d never really found herself in any sticky situations,