Modern Romance March 2021 Book 5-8 by Carol Marinelli (desktop ebook reader txt) 📗

of a couple, but she wanted to be part of that couple with Gian.

Walking hand in hand in public, kissing without secrets, in love for all to see.

The square had never looked more beautiful. There was a carousel all lit up and the stunning fountains were gushing and spouting. It was a special place indeed, where they had eaten hot chestnuts on the night she’d said farewell to her father, and where she now stood so confused and so wanting to go into La Fiordelise if it meant another night with the man she loved.

She would always want him.

That was a given.

If, somehow, forty years from now, they were here at Stefano and Eloa’s ruby wedding celebration, there would still be a longing and an ache for what could have been. If learning the truth about her family had taught her anything, it was that regrets were such a waste of a life. She didn’t want to have any regrets when it came to Gian.

She would start saying no on Monday.

Not caring if she was found out, Ariana slipped away and found herself in the reception area of La Fiordelise, heading straight for his bed and the bliss he would temporarily give.

Life was better with Gian in it than not.

Yes, she was turning into Fiordelise, Ariana decided as she took the elevator up.

He opened the door and, before she fell into his arms, she stated her case. ‘There will be rules,’ Ariana said.

If she was to be his mistress then there would be rules and she would be the one making them.

‘We shall discuss them,’ Gian agreed.

‘If you cheat on me, you die.’

He laughed. ‘I’m saving you from prison then. I never cheat.’

‘Liar.’

‘Never. Even at your interview when I wanted to kiss you but Svetlana—’

‘Stop!’ She halted him. ‘Don’t ever try to redeem yourself with another woman’s name.’ She was way too needy to ignore it though. ‘You wanted to kiss me then?’

‘All over,’ he told her. ‘Come, there’s something I want to show you...’

Down his hallway they went and she smiled when she saw there were pictures of Gian. ‘When did you do this?’ she asked.

‘Tonight. The maintenance man has been busy.’

‘Oh, Gian.’ Her eyes were shining and happy to see his childhood finally featured on the wall, but then her smile died. ‘What the hell is this doing here?’ It was the most appalling, awkward photo of her at her first Romano Ball. She had been tempted to tear it up, but had decided it wasn’t just her memory to delete.

‘No!’ She was appalled. ‘That photo was for your eyes only, I look terrible!’

‘You do and, believe me, your mother had nothing to worry about then... It was here that things started to change for me...’

Her breath stopped, as there she was, in a silver dress, standing next to Gian, in an informal shot of a night that had been more difficult than the picture revealed.

It was the first Romano Ball without her papà. He had been a last-minute withdrawal due to a deterioration in his health. On the one hand, she had been relieved that she wouldn’t have to see him with Mia.

On the other hand, it had meant her papà was getting worse.

Gian had steered her through it, though. He always did.

He had held her in those wooden arms and told her that she was doing well, and it had meant the world.

‘I think,’ Gian said, ‘well, I know, that for me things changed that night...’ She swallowed as he went on. ‘You were right. I easily remembered what you were wearing, for my eyes barely left you that night, and I think things changed for you too, Ariana. You didn’t come by my office so much after that...’

‘No...’ She flushed as she admitted to herself something that for so long she had denied. ‘I have liked you for a lot longer than you realise, than even I dared admit.’

‘Come,’ he said, ‘I have something for you.’

Of course that something was in the direction of the bedroom, and as they walked there, she said, ‘I’ll make a terrible mistress, Gian. I talk too much, I’m not very discreet...’ But then her voice trailed off for there on the bed lay everything she had once thought she wanted: a blush tartan suit, a silk cowl-necked cami, a string of pearls and even a little wallet for her business cards.

‘Gian...’ She wanted to weep, for he made her so weak.

This time when he unzipped the back of her dress, his fingers lingered and she closed her eyes as he peeled it off and slowly kissed her shoulder.

‘Turn around,’ he said in that voice that made her shiver. She was a little bewildered and a lot in lust as she complied.

He undressed and then dressed her.

She lifted her arms as he slid on the silk cami, and she lifted her feet as he negotiated the little kilt. The only resistance was in her jaw as he put on the jacket, for it was everything she had wanted, and yet Ariana knew she deserved more.

He dressed her neck in a string of pearls and she closed her eyes as he secured the clasp, then turned her around and knelt as he dressed her feet in the gorgeous neutral stilettoes that his guest managers wore. ‘We can’t work together, Gian.’

‘We can.’

‘No, because I’m not going to spend my career worrying about when my time will be up...’

‘It will never be up.’

But Ariana had too much to say to stop and listen. ‘I don’t want to be hidden away, and I don’t want hide my love.’

‘You won’t be hidden away,’ Gian said. ‘And you don’t have to hide a single thing.’

‘It would be unprofessional,’ Ariana insisted, ‘to be sleeping with a member of your staff.’

‘I think it would be perfectly reasonable for the owner to love his wife, who just happens to be a guest services manager.’

She swallowed and then corrected him. ‘VIP Guest Services Manager.’

‘Absolutely.’ He smiled. ‘Ariana, Duchess of Luctano,