Page 58 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

But she wasn’t ready to return. She felt numb, her brain whizzing in too many directions at once. She needed time away from the island, away from Alessio, to think and decide what to do, because her life had changed irrevocably. Whenever she was with him, it was too tempting to believe in happy-ever-afters instead of cold, hard reality.

She’d talk to the boatman and negotiate a later ride back.

Slipping on her sunglasses, she stepped into the piazza, surrounded on three sides by shops and restaurants and on the fourth by the lake. Instinctively she paused, taking in the gorgeous scene, the holidaymakers in bright colours milling around under the trees, the outdoor tables filling and the sun glinting off the water. And across the water L’Isola del Drago.

How she’d miss it. Misshim.

‘Charlotte.’

She turned and there he was, as if her troubled thoughts conjured him. Something snagged in her chest, and it took a moment to catch her breath.

How could that be when mere hours ago they’d made love until they were exhausted? She should be growing immune to his spectacular looks.

It’s not his looks. It’s him. The whole flawed, fascinating, wonderful man you’ve fallen in love with.

He strode towards her with that deceptively lazy gait and heads turned. Women stared and stood taller, straightening their clothes and hair. Some locals hailed him and he returned their salutes. But he didn’t stop until he reached her.

His slowly unfurling smile made her jittery stomach settle, and for a moment her worries fled as she basked in his attention.

‘What are you doing here?’ She’d never known Alessio to leave the island. His great-aunt had hinted he hadn’t left it since his wife’s death. ‘Is something wrong?’

He shook his head. ‘Everything is fine...now I’ve found you.’

Charlotte felt winded. By his unexpected presence and the implication that things hadn’t been fine until he’d found her. Was she misreading him? Her thoughts were so jumbled and her emotions so chaotic she didn’t know what to think. Today’s news had already unsettled her.

‘I’m piloting your boat back to the island,’ he said.

‘You? But you don’t come here!’

One black eyebrow rose lazily. ‘Yet here I am.’

But Charlotte was aware, even if Alessio wasn’t, of the way staff in the surrounding restaurants whispered and stared. No matter what Alessio said, his presence here was noteworthy.

If there wasn’t some emergency, surely it was a positive thing that he’d left the island? Like it was positive that he spent more time with the other islanders instead of living like a total recluse as he’d seemed to earlier.

‘Whydid you come, Alessio? I thought you had meetings.’

He shrugged and looked towards the gleaming speedboat at the end of the pier. It wasn’t the boat she’d arrived in, and she guessed it was his private vessel.

‘It was time for a break from work.’

He held out his arm but didn’t meet her eyes.

Because he knew she’d find that hard to believe? This was the man who lived for his work. It was only in the last few weeks he’d begun keeping anything like normal business hours. Now they spent every evening together as well as the nights and increasingly long siestas.

‘Shall we go, or would you like me to buy you a coffee or a gelato first?’

‘Nothing, thank you.’

Her stomach had been churning with nerves all morning, and she didn’t want to test it with coffee. She slipped her hand through his arm and let him lead her towards the boat.

The idea that he was here because he’d missed her sent delight dancing through her. Could it be as simple as that? As simple and profound?

He’d changed so much from the surly recluse she’d first met. She knew he enjoyed being with her, not just for sex. Now they knew each other as friends as well as lovers since they talked about anything and everything.

Except his marriage. Other than explaining about Antonia’s miscarriage, he was still taciturn about that.

That squashed her leaping excitement. Yet as they walked through the sunlit piazza, his tall frame brushing close, she couldn’t help wondering if his following her off the island was significant.

---