Page 54 of Awakened in Her Enemy's Palazzo

‘Are you all right?’ asked Sophia.

Grace shook her head woodenly, aware that her legs were shaking.

A moment later Theo and Luca joined them. They were talking in Italian—well, Theo was talking—and the way he spat out his words suggested he had not calmed down yet.

‘No harm done,’ Sophia said with a shimmering golden calm as she ignored Theo’s snort. ‘Drink up,’ she advised Grace, who now looked at the glass of champagne in her hand, having no knowledge as to how it had actually got there.

She saw that Theo was holding a glass of something amber, and Luca was talking to him in low tones.

A moment later he patted Theo’s shoulder and turned to Grace. ‘We are so sorry that that happened, Grace.’

She shook her head. ‘It’s not your fault,’ she said embarrassed about all the fuss. It was not the intruding reporter who had spooked her—it was Theo’s reaction to him.

‘Theo might not agree,’ Luca said, glancing at his friend.

‘We have to get back to meet and greet,’ Sophia said apologetically as she grabbed her husband’s arm. ‘When you two are ready take the secret staircase.’

She moved a book in one of the bookshelves that lined the room and a door swung open, revealing a lit staircase.

‘I’m sorry,’ Theo said, when the room had emptied.

‘I wasn’t going to say anything to him. You know I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t have embarrassed you,’ said Grace earnestly.

‘Embarrassed me?’ he echoed. ‘I wasn’t embarrassed. I just...’ He paused and shook his head, as if not only had he not protected her, but he was also the cause of the harassment.

She looked at him feeling frustration at his silence, his seeming distance from her. He remained closed off, while she was laying her soul out for him.

He put down his untouched glass. ‘I might have overreacted slightly.’

She compressed her lips over the words,You think?This really was not a moment for irony.

‘You’ve had a bad day?’ she asked.

‘I’ve had a badmonth!’ he exploded, and Grace flinched.

She’d been in his life for a month—it was not hard to read the message there.

‘Shall we go upstairs?’ she asked in a frigid, controlled little voice as she glanced towards the hidden stairway.

After a moment, he nodded.

They emerged into a space that made Grace blink. The room was lit by chandeliers and lined with frescoes and a series of niches in between arched windows that were open to the warm evening air. A string quartet played softly on a dais at the far end, directly next to an area that held tables loaded with silver, crystal and flowers.

People were mingling at this end.

Grace had never seen so much glittering jewellery and over-the-top glitz in one place in her life. She unconsciously fingered the sapphires round her neck...they no longer seemed like overkill.

‘Hope would love this,’ she said.

‘Do you love it?’ he asked.

She sensed his eyes on her face, but didn’t look up. ‘It’s a bit like the zoo...fascinating, but I wouldn’t want to visit every week. Although I’m not thinking I’d prefer to see the exhibits in their own habitat, because thisistheir habitat.’

But not mine, she added silently.

‘Grace, let me introduce you to someone who is dying to meet you.’

Sophia, an irresistible force if ever there was one, swooped in to carry her away. And as she smiled and looked interested, she watched through her lashes as Theo worked the room with effortless ease, not amused when she saw there were often three or four females jostling for his attention.

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