Lucy Gordon - A Proposal From The Italian Count

In a moment he was out of the door, hurrying until he reached the church gate.

Inside was a cemetery. As he watched she approached a tombstone and knelt before it. He was too far away to make out the name, but he could hear Jackie saying urgently, ‘I’m sorry, Daddy. I really am.’

So this was Benton’s grave, and she had come here to talk to him. Vittorio backed away, unwilling to invade her privacy, but he couldn’t help hearing her next words.

‘I don’t really trust him. I’d like to, but he doesn’t understand what a terrible thing was done to you, and that makes him almost as much of an enemy as his father. But I must go to Italy. I’ll come back, I promise. Only forgive me. Please, please forgive me.’

As watched she pressed her lips to the stone, then leaned against it, sobbing.

Torn by the instinct to comfort her, he took a step closer—but stopped just in time. Whatever happened, she mustn’t know he was there. He had an unnerving feeling...as though he’d been suddenly stranded on a desert island. He hadn’t expected this, and the sensation of being caught unprepared was alarming.

He backed off and hurried away, haunted by her words—

I don’t trust him... Almost as much of an enemy as his father...

If that was how she thought of him he supposed he couldn’t blame her. But it hurt more than he would have expected.

Back at the hotel, he returned to his room and went to the window, hoping to see her return. But hours passed with no sign of her and his heart sank. Where had she vanished to now? What trouble might she have fallen into? Had she changed her mind about accompanying him to Italy?

Then a noise from the corridor made him hurry outside. She was there, turning the key in her lock.

‘There you are,’ he said with relief.

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