Page 108 of Gin & Trouble

“My skull feels like I was beaten with a tire iron.” He ran his hand over the back of his head and winced. “Stitches? And what the hell happened to my hair?”

I motioned to Sophia. “She sewed us both up.”

Dante looked at the elderly woman and said something in her dialect.

Maria blushed and nodded several times.

He flashed her his dimples.

The two had an entire conversation, and I managed to catch three words—“good” and “thank you.”

Dante turned back to me. “You’d tell me if you were hurt?”

“I’m fine. Better now that I know you’re okay.” I caressed his cheek. “I asked them not to tell anyone we were here.”

“They understood you?” He chuckled and winced.

“They understand some Sicilian, and their son speaks formal Italian.” I couldn’t stop touching him. His face, his arm, his hand. “How do you know their dialect?”

“I did summer science camps here when I was a kid.”

“They sent for a doctor, but he hasn’t arrived. They don’t have a phone or electricity, or plumbing.”

Dante grinned the same little boy grin Casio had earlier that day. “She thinks you are my wife.”

I pressed my lips together. “I might have told them that when we were rescued. I thought it best not to correct myself.”

“Good plan.” He ran his hand through my hair. “Good idea to tell them to keep quiet about us being here, but people had to see the explosion. We need to leave.”

“You need to see a doctor first.”

He pushed himself upright and gripped the edge of the bed. “I will, but not here.”

“Dante, please, rest.”

“How could I be so stupid? I should have checked the engine before we left Trapani.”

“Giancarlo had security…”

He stood and pressed his hand to the wall for support.

I thought he’d fall, but he proved me wrong. Dante was too damned stubborn for his own good.

“I want to get out of here as much as you do. Time is running out for my sisters, remember?”

His shoulders fell. “I should have told you about Sophia.”

“You should have, but I understand why you didn’t.”

He took a step toward the door but stopped when he swayed like a drunk.

I stood and wrapped my arm around his waist. “You might as well sit down. We won’t get very far on our own. We don’t even have shoes.”

Maria came back into the room and stopped in her tracks. Her eyes went wide, her mouth fell open, and her cheeks flushed.

Coming face-to-face with a frustrated and very naked Dante Marchionni would do that to a woman.

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