Page 51 of Awakened in Her Enemy's Palazzo

Which she did, she decided now, looking into the mirror.

‘Should I wear my hair loose?’ she asked her reflection, her lips twisted into a grimace of indecision.

She wanted to get it right.

She wanted Theo’s eyes to darken with desire when he saw her.

Her lips tugged in a secret little smile at the prospect as she walked across to her dressing table and picked up a sapphire collar necklace from its velvet bed.

Theo had said the sapphires were the same colour as her eyes. She had shivered at the touch of his fingers on her skin as he had fastened them and declared them perfect—declaredherperfect.

The shine in her eyes had dimmed slightly when he had prosaically pointed out, in response to her protests of it being too much, that it was half hers anyway, and that it was better she wear it than it sit in a bank vault somewhere.

‘There are other things you might like too,’ he’d told her.

She fastened the sapphires herself now, compressing her lower lip with her pearly teeth as she struggled with the clasp. The gems felt cool against her skin as she walked back across the room to look at the results of her efforts in the mirrors that lined one wall.

The dress that had been made for her was of bias-cut black silk, deceptively simple in style. The sleeveless bodice was modest in the front, moulding her small high breasts, and fell into a dramatic low vee at the back, almost to her waist—which was why she had chosen to put her hair in an up-do, the chignon softened by the tendrils she had artfully arranged to frame her face.

The style did make her appear taller—an effect aided by the spiky pointed heels held on to her slender feet by wide, gem-encrusted cushiony velvet straps.

She knew she looked good, and knowing it was a confidence boost—not that she fooled herself that anyone was going to be looking at her with a glamorous Hollywood actress in attendance. The truth was that Grace didn’twantto be the centre of attention—she wanted to be the centre ofTheo’sattention.

Moving restlessly across the room once more, she bent over the dressing table and applied a fresh coat of lipstick she didn’t need, then promptly smudged it. She regarded her extended hand, visibly shaking, with a mixture of exasperation and dismay. Luckily the butterflies in her belly were less obvious—at least to anyone but her.

She was nervous. Not because of her famous hosts or the prestigious names on the guest list at the black-tie dinner, but because this was a first, of sorts. The irony was, of course, that she really did not know if she was attending as Theo’s date or, as she had told Hope, as joint beneficiary of Salvatore’s will.

It would not have been difficult to find out—she could have just opened her mouth and asked.

She closed her eyes and felt her stomach quiver—this time not with excitement or nerves but with self-disgust. When had she started avoiding asking questions when there was a chance that she wouldn’t like the answer?

Sometimes she felt as if all those unvoiced questions would explode out of her—after all, what would she learn that she didn’t already know? She was crazily, madly in love with Theo, and he just wanted sex.

Her mouth firmed. No, therehadto be more. His lovemaking could not be so heart-racingly tender if he didn’t feelsomethingfor her.

She gave a small sigh and reached for her lipstick again. This was a conversation she had had with herself a dozen times, and it had never reached a point where she’d put her optimistic theory to the test.

She redid her lipstick and walked across to the marble mantelpiece, where the gold-embossed invitation was propped behind an art deco statuette.

She was not going as an anonymous ‘plus one’.

Her name was there, alongside Theo’s.

It felt...official. Like the next step. They were a couple on the invitation and Theo didn’t seem to object.

Of course she could just be reading too much into it. Though that morning it had been Theo who had suggested inviting her family for a visit.

‘Seriously?’she’d said.

He’d searched her face. ‘You don’t want them here?’ he’d asked.

And have you fall under their spell?

She veiled her eyes. ‘Of course I do. Just maybe not yet...’

‘You’re afraid I will embarrass you?’

‘I’m afraidthey’llembarrass me!’ she retorted.

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