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said, linking her arm through his, seeing her turn. ‘They’re the good guys.’

      ‘Your bodyguards?’

      ‘Yours, too, now that you are to be my wife,’ he reminded her.

      The thought that she was to be Alessandro’s wife excited her, in spite of everything, but the thought that she would never go anywhere again without bodyguards was the flipside of the coin. She needed Alessandro to guide her through this confusing new world, Emily realised. There were so many things she had to ask him…

      ‘Would you like to come back to my place for coffee?’

      The few seconds before he replied felt like hours. So long, in fact, that Emily began to feel foolish—as if she had made some clumsy approach to a man she’d only just met.

      ‘Better not,’ he replied with a quick smile.

      ‘Don’t worry—I just thought—’

      Alessandro could have kicked himself. Emily’s invitation had been irresistible—almost. But if they went back to her apartment there could only be one outcome and, to his continued surprise, Emily Weston had awoken a whole gamut of masculine instincts within him—prime amongst which, at this moment, was his desire to protect her. To protect her, to woo her, and then make her his wife. And he had already accepted that the timing of that last part of his plan might not coincide exactly with their wedding day.

      ‘There’s still time for that walk in the park.’

      They were sheltering from rain beneath a bandstand when he said, ‘You’d better have this.’

      ‘What is it?’ Emily said curiously, watching as again he dipped his hand inside the breast pocket of his jacket. She frowned when she saw the ring he was holding out to her.

      ‘It would cause quite a stir in Ferara if you weren’t seen wearing this particular piece of jewellery,’ Alessandro explained, as coolly as if it was a laptop that came with the job.

      Of course there would be a ring…she should have known. And it was a very beautiful ring. But shouldn’t an engagement ring be given with love…and with tenderness?

      ‘Don’t you like it?’

      It really mattered to him, Emily realised, taking in the fact that the ring was obviously very old and must have been worn by Alessandro’s ancestors for generations—possibly even by his late mother.

      ‘If you prefer you could just wear it on public occasions.’

      ‘I love it,’ she said firmly. And I can see how much it means to you, her eyes told him. ‘It’s just with all these fabulous clothes, and now this…’ The words dried up as he took hold of her hand. His expression was lighter, as if a great burden had been removed from his shoulders.

      ‘Thank you,’ he said softly. ‘I was hoping you’d like it. It has been passed down through my family.’

      ‘Tell me more,’ Emily encouraged, forgetting everything else as she surrendered to Alessandro’s voice, and his touch…but most of all to the sudden realisation that she wasn’t the only one who needed reassurance.

      ‘I know it isn’t the usual huge and very valuable stone,’ he began, ‘and perhaps it isn’t the type of thing you might have been expecting. But this ring has a provenance that no other piece of jewellery can boast.’

      It might have been made for her, Emily realised as he settled it on her finger. Dainty ropes of rubies and pearls wound around the circumference with a ruby heart as the centrepiece of the design. ‘Tell me about it,’ she repeated.

      ‘There was a Prince of Ferara named Rodrigo,’ Alessandro began. ‘He fell in love with a beautiful young girl called Caterina. Rodrigo had this ring made for her…’

      As his voice stroked her senses Emily tried to remain detached and remind herself that Alessandro was only telling her a story. But it wasn’t easy when her mind was awash with alternative images.

      ‘On his way to ask for Caterina’s hand in marriage, Rodrigo’s horse shied, throwing him unconscious into the lake. Robbed of her one true love, Caterina decided to join a religious order.’

      Emily tensed as Alessandro switched his attention abruptly to her face. ‘What happened to her?’ she asked quickly, full of the irrational fear that he could read her mind and know it was full of him rather than the characters he was telling her about.

      ‘Caterina’s horse shied on the way to the convent,’ he said casually, the expression in his eyes concealed beneath a fringe of black lashes. ‘When she recovered consciousness this ring was right there by her side.’

      The ruby heart seemed to flare a response, making Emily gasp involuntarily.

      ‘So, did she join the religious order?’

      ‘She couldn’t.’

      ‘Couldn’t?’

      ‘That’s right.’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘I should take you home now, if you are to have an early night before your flight to Ferara tomorrow,’ he said restlessly, as if he wished he had never started the story. ‘I have another business meeting in about—’ He frowned as he glanced at his wristwatch. ‘About ten minutes ago.’

      All the romance…all the tenderness…had vanished from his voice as if it had never been. Of course it had never been, Emily thought, angry for allowing herself to get carried away. Alessandro’s fairy story was just part of the play-acting they were both forced to endure…and the ring was just another prop.

      ‘I’ll take good care of it,’ she said, closing her fist around the jewel-encrusted band.

      ‘I’m sure you will,’ he murmured as he straightened up. ‘Shall we go?’

      It was an instruction, not a question, Emily realised. ‘You don’t have to see me home,’ she said quickly. ‘I’ve made you late enough already.’

      ‘I’m taking you back,’ he insisted in the same quiet determined tone that made it impossible to argue with him.

      Alessandro left her at the door to her apartment, refusing yet another invitation to cross the threshold. ‘Li vedro in Ferara, Emily,’ he said, waiting until she had closed the door.

      ‘Yes. See you in Ferara, Alessandro,’ Emily confirmed softly, turning away from him to face the empty room.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      IT SEEMED to Emily that everyone in Ferara had cause to celebrate apart from the main characters in the drama that was about to unfold.

      From one of the windows in the turret of the huge suite she had been given for her few remaining days as a single woman she had a good view of the cobbled thoroughfare outside the palace walls. Bunting and banners in the distinctive Feraran colours of crimson, blue and gold hung in colourful swathes across the street, along with numerous posters of the soon to be married couple…Emily Weston and Prince Alessandro Bussoni Ferara. Es and As, intertwined.

      For once Emily was forced to agree with her mother. It hardly seemed possible!

      She had been awake since dawn, when all the unfamiliar sounds of a new day in Ferara had intruded upon her slumbers. Only then had she begun to drink in the unaccustomed luxury of her new surroundings—and with something closer to dread than exhilaration. The setting was everything she might have dreamed about—if she’d been a dreamer. One thing she had not anticipated was how it might feel to be set adrift in a palace that, however fabulous, was full of endless echoing corridors where everyone but she seemed to know exactly what was expected of them.

      Ferara, at least, was far lovelier than she had ever dared to expect. On the drive from the airport the countryside that had unrolled before her had been

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