colourful and sumptuous banquet. Yet it hadn’t tempted her at all. She’d merely picked at the few items that a waitresses had put on her plate.
After the comment Marco had made suggesting that not everyone was lucky enough to remember having fun as a child, she’d lapsed into a quiet reverie about him, her mind tumbling with questions that she ached to have answers to. He was a man that to the acquisitive outside world seemed to have everything anyone could ever want—certainly in terms of a successful career and the material wealth that it had brought him. But behind the soulful dark eyes that she now knew had the indisputable power to make her melt whenever he trained them on her, Grace had glimpsed a man who had had his fair share of heartache too, and she longed to discover the truth about that and perhaps to somehow ease some of his pain.
But she hadn’t forgotten the river of icy shock that had cascaded through her bloodstream when he’d hauled her to her feet and said, ‘You deserve to be severely punished for that.’ Her drunken ex-boyfriend Chris had said something similar that horrible evening .
Of course Marco had only been teasing, but somehow his innocent action had unleashed the frightening memory of that devastating incident, and now it made her wonder again if she would ever be able to enjoy intimacy with a man without being afraid. She prayed that she would … More than that, she was determined that she would.
When Marco suggested that they should leave, Grace was honestly relieved. Not for want of trying, she had endeavoured to converse with the other guests at their table, but it had quickly become apparent that the social and material gulf between them was vast —too vast to be bridged even at a so-called ‘relaxed’ social function like this. How could she relate to a vacuous conversation that centred primarily round yachts, private planes and the latest Paris fashion trends? It was a joke. To be honest, she was genuinely sorry that they had such empty lives, with nothing other than the fruits of their material wealth and the desire for more of the same to occupy their minds.
Heading back to Marco’s villa in the luxurious confines of his car, after a second flurry of paparazzi interest at the gates as they drove out, they both fell quiet. Had the desire he’d expressed to have her spend the rest of her holiday with him dissipated in light of the now obvious fact that Grace clearly didn’t gel in any way with the elite social set that he moved in? If he now wanted her to leave then it would make it hard for her to accept the cheque he’d made out to the charity—not because she didn’t greatly desire them to have it, but simply because she would feel that she’d let him down in some way.
‘Marco …?’
Their gazes met and locked at the same time. A knowing smile raised the corners of her companion’s sculpted lips. ‘Please don’t tell me that you now have reservations about our arrangement. I know the garden party must have been extremely tedious for you, and it was wrong of me to imagine that you might enjoy it, but for the rest of the day I will let you decide what we will do. Just name it and I will endeavour to make it happen. Any ideas?’
Stunned that he wanted her to stay, Grace stared. ‘I thought—I thought that you’d had enough of me,’ she lifted her shoulders in a painfully self-conscious shrug. ‘You must have seen that I was like a fish out of water at lunch? I didn’t have anything remotely in common with any of those people.’
‘And I thank God that you didn’t, Grace. But if you believe that you have nothing they might admire or want then I have to tell you that you’re wrong . Why do you think that they were practically falling over themselves to tell you about their expensive toys and hobbies? I will tell you why: it was because they wanted to impress you. When they didn’t get the reaction they wanted it probably made them feel quite
After the comment Marco had made suggesting that not everyone was lucky enough to remember having fun as a child, she’d lapsed into a quiet reverie about him, her mind tumbling with questions that she ached to have answers to. He was a man that to the acquisitive outside world seemed to have everything anyone could ever want—certainly in terms of a successful career and the material wealth that it had brought him. But behind the soulful dark eyes that she now knew had the indisputable power to make her melt whenever he trained them on her, Grace had glimpsed a man who had had his fair share of heartache too, and she longed to discover the truth about that and perhaps to somehow ease some of his pain.
But she hadn’t forgotten the river of icy shock that had cascaded through her bloodstream when he’d hauled her to her feet and said, ‘You deserve to be severely punished for that.’ Her drunken ex-boyfriend Chris had said something similar that horrible evening .
Of course Marco had only been teasing, but somehow his innocent action had unleashed the frightening memory of that devastating incident, and now it made her wonder again if she would ever be able to enjoy intimacy with a man without being afraid. She prayed that she would … More than that, she was determined that she would.
When Marco suggested that they should leave, Grace was honestly relieved. Not for want of trying, she had endeavoured to converse with the other guests at their table, but it had quickly become apparent that the social and material gulf between them was vast —too vast to be bridged even at a so-called ‘relaxed’ social function like this. How could she relate to a vacuous conversation that centred primarily round yachts, private planes and the latest Paris fashion trends? It was a joke. To be honest, she was genuinely sorry that they had such empty lives, with nothing other than the fruits of their material wealth and the desire for more of the same to occupy their minds.
Heading back to Marco’s villa in the luxurious confines of his car, after a second flurry of paparazzi interest at the gates as they drove out, they both fell quiet. Had the desire he’d expressed to have her spend the rest of her holiday with him dissipated in light of the now obvious fact that Grace clearly didn’t gel in any way with the elite social set that he moved in? If he now wanted her to leave then it would make it hard for her to accept the cheque he’d made out to the charity—not because she didn’t greatly desire them to have it, but simply because she would feel that she’d let him down in some way.
‘Marco …?’
Their gazes met and locked at the same time. A knowing smile raised the corners of her companion’s sculpted lips. ‘Please don’t tell me that you now have reservations about our arrangement. I know the garden party must have been extremely tedious for you, and it was wrong of me to imagine that you might enjoy it, but for the rest of the day I will let you decide what we will do. Just name it and I will endeavour to make it happen. Any ideas?’
Stunned that he wanted her to stay, Grace stared. ‘I thought—I thought that you’d had enough of me,’ she lifted her shoulders in a painfully self-conscious shrug. ‘You must have seen that I was like a fish out of water at lunch? I didn’t have anything remotely in common with any of those people.’
‘And I thank God that you didn’t, Grace. But if you believe that you have nothing they might admire or want then I have to tell you that you’re wrong . Why do you think that they were practically falling over themselves to tell you about their expensive toys and hobbies? I will tell you why: it was because they wanted to impress you. When they didn’t get the reaction they wanted it probably made them feel quite