Page 40 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

‘What an exquisite irony it is to share such a compatibility as this,’ he said at last. ‘To be so equally balanced in our mutual mistrust of one another. And yet what unites us ultimately destroys us, doesn’t it, Kelly?’ He gave a bitter laugh as he turned away. ‘I’ll phone for my driver.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE MARKET WASdepressingly quiet. Or, at least, Kelly’s section was. In fact, she’d had a total of two customers all day and only one of those had bought something. Most people were congregated on the nearby stalls, filling their bags with vegetables which had just been reduced in price, because they were closing soon. Or buying the few remaining burgers, which made the air smell thick with fried onions.

And it was cold.

Unseasonably cold. The pale sun glinted on the metal jewellery as she carefully packed it away in her rucksack and totted up the day’s miserable takings. As she unlocked her bicycle, Kelly shivered, wondering how much longer she could keep going with the belief that one day this was going to become a business capable of supporting her. Because markets like these were a place where people built dreams and, more often than not, those dreams didn’t survive. Would she become like all those other hopefuls who’d had them crushed—her features growing sharp and disillusioned and her eyes bitter? How long before she accepted life on life’s terms and became a full-time waitress, or retrained to work in an office?

And hadn’t her general disillusionment been compounded by the fact that her heart was aching so badly, even if she did manage to hide it behind her bright market smile? No matter how many times she tried to convince herself that a brief sexual fling shouldn’t hurt like this, it didn’t actually change anything. The pain of missing Romano was physical. She kept expecting to wake up one morning without that awful sinking feeling and the bitter realisation that he was no longer in her life. But so far it hadn’t happened. Was that because he had affected her on so many levels? She had thought she was having his baby and, even in the midst of all that worry, hadn’t her heartwantedthat, even though her head told her it would have been a disaster?

The only bright light on the horizon was having paid off her debts with the money she’d earned from cleaning his castle. She’d been slightly taken aback by the amount which had been transferred into her bank account from Castelliari Industries and pride had made her want to question whether he’d paid her too much. But then she imagined how that particular conversation might have gone. No doubt the arrogant billionaire would have accused her of using the call as an excuse to speak to him again. As if she wanted to!

Liar, liar.

Of course she wanted to. She wanted him every minute of every day. And night.

But she needed to stop playing back the tape of their brief relationship because it was over and she was just going to have to get used to it. It had been six long weeks since she’d left Tuscany and she hadn’t heard a thing from him, and although deep down she knew there was no reason to hear from him, that didn’t stop it from hurting. How easily he had forgotten her.

Removing her heavy apron, she stuffed it in her rucksack and was about to get on her bike when she heard someone saying her name and her throat dried at the sound of a horribly familiar voice.

Horrible?

Who was she kidding?

It was a voice of velvet and steel, which was doing dangerous things to her blood pressure. But it couldn’t be his voice. Not Romano’s. Not here and definitely not now, on a cold April day in England. Had she been thinking about him so much that she’d made herself believe she’d magicked him up, like a schoolgirl with a crush on a popstar? Heart crashing, she lifted her head.

No, not magic at all.

Or maybe it was. How could it be anything else when he seemed to look more alive than anyone else around him? Somehow he managed to stamp his presence indelibly on whichever landscape he was inhabiting with his powerful body, jet-dark hair and the glittering ebony of his eyes. And here, against a faded and cold English backdrop, he appeared even more vibrant than usual.

‘Romano,’ she said faintly, trying to get her head around the fact that he was standing at her market stall, attracting a lot of attention from everyone in the vicinity, especially the women. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

‘Why do you think I am here?’ He raised his dark brows. ‘You think I wish to buy some earrings?’

‘Why would you do that, when we both know you turn your nose up at silver in favour of your precious diamonds?’ she sniped. ‘Anyway, you’re too late. I’ve packed away for the day.’

‘So I see.’ He held her gaze with a steady stare which seemed to burn right through her skin. ‘I wish to talk to you.’

She tried to stay calm but it was difficult not to react to his shimmering sex appeal, which was making her want to burrow her hands underneath that soft navy jacket and massage the hard flesh beneath. But she was vulnerable around him and she needed to protect herself. The time for make-believe was over. This was reality.

‘What about?’ she demanded baldly. ‘I thought we’d said everything there was to say.’

‘Not here,’ he said with a formidable clench of his jaw. ‘In private.’

Kelly opened her mouth to tell him not anywhere, but then she shut it again. Because ofcourseshe was curious to know why he’d turned up like this. Perhaps he was so impressed with her work that he was going to offer her a permanent cleaning position at his Tuscan retreat! Keeping her expression neutral, she nodded, determined to make it clear which of them was in charge.

And it wasn’t him.

‘If you insist,’ she said coolly.

He narrowed his eyes, but not before she had seen the glint of surprise sparking in their ebony depths, as if her response had surprised him. ‘So, where?’

This was her opportunity. She could suggest the new Italian restaurant where she’d managed to find herself a job, because she would pay good money to see his appalled reaction when he spotted pineapple pizza on the menu. Or she could show him some of the nicer bits of Granchester, to illustrate that you didn’t have to live in a castle or a multimillion-pound apartment to enjoy beautiful surroundings. The park, say…where the spring flowers currently bursting into bright bloom made it resemble the set of a Hollywood musical.

And suddenly Kelly realised she was in danger. Real, emotional danger.Flowers? Musicals?What was shethinking?That he would start whirling her round the bandstand and crooning in her ear? Why not let him see her as she was? As she really was, without all the Cinderella trappings he’d insisted on lavishing on her. Because surely if she reinforced the differences between them it would kill off this thing between them once and for all. And she needed that. For her own peace of mind, she needed that.

‘You can come to my flat,’ she said. ‘Do you want to write down the address?’

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