The Affair Read Online Free Page B

down where it had ridden up around her thighs.
    ‘I knew you had a family business back in Italy but I didn’t know it was coffee. I guess I just assumed your family was in the fashion business, you having seven sisters and all.’ Nina smiledsweetly as she mentioned his sisters and the stranger’s eyes widened in mock horror.
    ‘Seven?’ he mouthed silently.
    ‘How are they all?’ continued Nina. ‘As head of the family I guess you inherit responsibility for them all. That must be a handful.’
    The stranger started waving both hands about in what Nina supposed was meant to be an Italian manner. ‘ Si , si, they are a handful,’ he said, shaking his head gravely. ‘Fortunately, I also inherited the family castle, with a moat of course, the family fortune, so that I can provide them each with a respectable dowry, and the title, which is one of the oldest in Italy. I am the fourteenth Count Mauro de March.’
    He spoke with all the aplomb and elan that centuries of Italian aristocratic breeding might have produced.
    ‘Count Mauro de March,’ repeated Nina, drawing out the rs . She wondered where he had plucked that name from. He was wondering the same thing. It had just popped into his head. It was a name he had heard at school. A joke. The rest of the memory eluded him.
    ‘At your service, signorina.’ He bowed forward in his seat. Nina was captivated.
    ‘I think Count Mauro de March definitely needs to bring his suit of armour out of his dungeon and put it on display.’
    ‘Yes,’ laughed the count. ‘I think that might be perfectly suitable.’
    Nina noticed with a start where they were. Ifshe didn’t speak up soon they would miss her turn off. She leaned forward to instruct the driver and then settled back into the seat. She smiled at the stranger. She didn’t want the ride to end. She felt like she had known this man all her life. She wanted to thank him somehow for his kindness and for keeping her so entertained. She slid her foot along the floor and gently tapped his ankle with her bare toe.
    He understood her silent communication and smiled back.
    ‘How lovely it has been to catch up with you,’ he said. ‘After so long.’
    ‘And with you too. Please remember me to your sisters – all of them.’
    ‘I will. And don’t forget to drink lots of coffee. They have expensive tastes you know. And with seven of them … Mon Dieu !’
    Nina laughed. ‘It will be only Lavazza in our household from now on, I promise.’
    The taxi stopped at Nina’s apartment block. The stranger leapt out of the car into the rain and, before Nina could gather her bags together, he was opening her door. She thanked him and stood for a moment by the car as the raindrops fell silently onto her head, spilling down her face. She made no attempt to brush them away. The stranger was just as unconcerned by the rain. They were both already so wet. He leaned forward, as if he had all the time in the world and, half-bowing, gently took her hand.
    ‘It has been a surprise and a pleasure.’
    He sounded so sweet and sincere Nina felt herself blush. ‘Thank you, count,’ she said.
    They shook hands, almost formally. His fingers were warm but wet and slippery with the rain. They slid across hers, slowly, sensually, and Nina felt an involuntary tightening of the muscles somewhere in the pit of her stomach. She was reluctant to let go of the stranger’s hand. It was so pleasurable to feel it wrapped around her own. He was frozen by the magic of the moment also, and they stood together, stupidly smiling at each other in the softly falling rain.
    Nina had no idea how long they stayed like that. She was conscious only of his eyes, locked onto her own, and his smile, open and engaging, dragging her into him. She felt joy bubbling up inside her. This man made her want to laugh and laugh and laugh.
    He felt the same. She knew it as surely as she knew her own name. And she was right. He was feeling all those things. And then he did