Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,51

briefly and let his head flop back against the headrest. The fine crinkle of the space blanket sounded like crickets chirping as he shifted to get comfortable, stretching his long legs out into the confined space.

His legs brushed hers and he lifted his head. ‘Sorry.’ He grimaced as he shifted them slightly to one side.

‘It’s fine,’ she murmured.

Their gazes locked and for the longest moment they just sat and watched each other. Luca was the first to break the connection.

‘So … you’ve never seen Swan Lake?’

Mia didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she just shook her head. ‘Have you?’

He nodded. ‘My grandmother adored things like that. Opera was her first love but she enjoyed ballet too. And she insisted we all be well versed.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘She took me and my sisters to Rome when I was twelve because it was playing at the Teatro dell’Opera.’

Mia remembered he’d mentioned having sisters before. She heard the affection in his voice and felt a corresponding ache of longing deep inside. Her life had been far from family outings to the opera and ballet.

‘You have three sisters, right?’

‘Yes.’ He toyed with leaving it at that but was surprised by the urge to confess all. ‘And a brother.’

His accent thickened and Mia heard the regret in every syllable. He’d mentioned he’d been ostracised and she could hear the pain in every husky nuance. How terrible to have lost an entire extended family. Two people had been hard enough.

‘What happened, Luca?’

She’d told him she hadn’t wanted to know. And she hadn’t. But that was before feeling the power of a love so deep that, even now, despite its newness, it was nestling in to her bones, bedding in for the long haul.

Now she wanted to know everything about him.

She wanted to know it all.

Luca hesitated at her soft enquiry, knowing the answer involved a trip down memory lane. And he’d just flown halfway round the world to come back from there. But somehow, with his recent trip back to the scene of the crime and the potentially dire situation they were in, it didn’t seem so confronting.

In fact, it seemed kind of cathartic.

And in this strange metal cocoon, perched in the treetops of an ancient forest, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the entire world. Despite the beeping of Brian’s monitor, the occasional staccato chatter from the radio and the ever-present potential for disaster, the atmosphere was intimate.

Maybe it was the rain—the whole dark, stormy night thing—but somehow the mood was conducive to confidences and deep dark secrets.

And it was Mia. The one woman he instinctively knew would understand. But where did he start?

CHAPTER TEN

MIA watched and waited. She could see Luca was grappling with some demons and she held her breath, hoping like crazy he’d open up to her.

‘I fell in love for the first time …’ Luca paused. ‘The only time … when I was sixteen.’

Mia steeled herself against the jab to her chest. He seemed so definite. So absolute.

He snorted. ‘At least, I thought I had. I think lust or infatuation is probably more appropriate when I think about it now.’

Mia tried to ignore how the spike of jealousy hurt. It was an ancient love affair, for crying out loud!

‘She must have been a hell of a girl,’ she said, forcing lightness to her tone, and turned to look out the window because she couldn’t bear to see what love looked like in his eyes. Not when it was for another woman.

He nodded. ‘Oh, yes. Her family was an old, important family in Sicily and our two families had had a deep and abiding friendship for generations. She was promised to my brother.’

Mia’s gaze snapped back to his. ‘Promised? Like an arranged marriage?’

Luca smiled at her shock. ‘Yes, Mia. An arranged marriage. This is Sicily where the old ways still rule.’

Mia blinked at the strange concept. ‘But … you fell in love with her instead?’

Luca shook his head. ‘As well.’

Oh. Mia felt goose-bumps on her arms as if the wind had found its way in again and blown right up beneath the blanket. There was nothing as heart-wrenching as brother against brother. She hunched into the space blanket a little more with a corresponding ruffle. ‘Ah.’

Luca gave a grim nod. ‘Yes. Ah.’

She quirked an eyebrow. ‘Were there pistols at dawn?’ she joked.

Luca gave a half-smile. ‘No. That might have been quicker.’

Mia sobered. ‘It was bad.’ She wasn’t sure if it was a question