Page 8 of Royally Roma
“Will there be more in your party?” She glanced around the vacant piazza, and Niccolo tried mightily to fend off that image of her on her knees.
Everything about the way she carried herself and the way she’d teased him about the no-talking thing suggested that she was indeed oblivious to his identity. And it was this lack of awareness, coupled with the outlandish thought of sinking his teeth into her lush lower lip, that kept Niccolo rooted to the spot.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to walk away. He couldn’t remember a time—ever—that he’d met someone who hadn’t come to him with preconceived notions of who and what he was. He knew he should tell her the truth, or a sliver of the truth at the very least. He wasn’t the man she was looking for.
As surprised as Niccolo was to admit it—even to himself—he envied that man. Whoever he was.
Niccolo wasn’t prone to envy. He found it most unpleasant. At the moment, he could think of only one way to alleviate it.
“No,” he heard himself say. “Only me.”
Julia the non-reporter flipped her notebook closed. “Shall we go, then, or were you planning on finishing your drink first?”
This was it. The moment of truth. The seconds stretched between them, swollen with possibilities.
Niccolo must have been far drunker than he’d realized because suddenly he was having an out-of-body experience. He saw himself sitting at the café table, nodding and smiling at the tour guide as if he had every intention of accompanying her to the Colosseum. And despite the fact that finishing the drink was the absolute last thing he needed, he watched himself—this wild-eyed Niccolo he scarcely recognized—reach for the Bloody Mary and toss it back. Then he slammed the glass back on the table and the two Niccolos became one once more.
“Shall we?” Julia said again.
At least that’s what he thought she’d said. He couldn’t be certain, because the only words dancing through his consciousness were the ones she’d uttered a moment before.Whatever your heart desires.
Whatever my heart desires.
What did his heart desire? He didn’t even know. No one had asked him such a question before. Ever. His life was one of duty. Not desire. And on the occasions that he indulged in more desirous pursuits, he never went about it like this. With a total stranger.
But he’d never been quite this taken with a stranger. He couldn’t remember ever being instantly taken with anyone like this before. It was unsettling. And unquestionably intriguing.
Donotstand up. Stay right where you are. You’re a prince. You have a schedule to abide. You can’t go stomping around Rome with a woman who hasn’t been properly vetted by the palace. She could be anyone. Think of your position. Think of the orphans.
He stood. The orphans would have to forgive him. “Yes, let’s.”
Whatever my heart desires.
Perhaps it was time to find out exactly what, or whom, that might be.
CHAPTER
THREE
Something felt strange.
Notdangerousstrange. Unless the intensity of her client’s arrogant gaze could be classified as dangerous, which Julia wasn’t altogether sure would be an unreasonable classification. When she’d first approached him, he’d looked as though he wanted to have her arrested simply for speaking to him. She’d been genuinely surprised when he’d deigned to respond. And as devastatingly handsome as he’d appeared from across the piazza, he was even more so up close. More than handsome, really. Potent. Powerful. Filled to the brim with intention. And more than a little full ofhimself,as well.
This is most out of the ordinary. I’m not talking to anyone right now.
Right. Nothing strange about that. Nothing at all.
What she couldn’t quite figure out was why those arrogant words had set her heart to racing.
Nerves, that’s all. He makes you nervous.
That had to be it. He had a rather commanding presence, after all. Stern, dark eyes and a resolute jaw, accented by a neatly trimmed beard that bespoke raw masculinity. And there was something about his lips. Something intriguing, as if they held a sensual, forbidden promise, despite the haughty words that had flowed from them.
Yes, things definitely felt strange. Her heartbeat seemed to have no intention of slowing to a normal range. If anything, it had kicked up another notch when he’d announced she would be leading him around unaccompanied for the day.
Only me.
Her mouth had gone instantly dry, while the air shimmered with a perilous heat.
