her do anything he wanted her to do. Anything. Every
word he had just said to her, every look he had given
her, had said quite plainly that he now believed she
was his for the taking.
But she wasn’t, and she never, ever would be. She
knew that, and she was going to make sure that he
knew it as well. And if she couldn’t? How much did
she really want to bolster her pride and appear at John
and Louise’s wedding with her own brand-new husband?
Enough to take that risk?
More than enough, Jodie decided with renewed determination
as she gathered up some clean clothes and
headed for the shower. Especially since she already
knew that, no matter what Lorenzo said or did, or
even fleetingly made her feel, nothing could alter the
fact that she simply did not want an intimate one-toone
emotional or physical relationship with a man
ever again. John had shown her that she could not
trust his sex, and if John could not be trusted to mean
it when he said that he loved her and wanted to marry
her, then she certainly wasn’t going to risk trusting a
man like Lorenzo!
Fifteen minutes later, showered and dressed, and with
her still damp hair caught back off her face, Jodie
hesitated outside the door to the study-cum-office
Lorenzo had shown her the previous night.
She could have sworn she hadn’t betrayed her presence
by the smallest sound, much less even raised her
hand to knock politely on the door, but somehow
Lorenzo must have divined it, because before she
could do so he was opening the door and taking her
by the arm to draw her into the room. Taking her by
the arm or imprisoning her? Certainly to any onlooker
the way the strong, lean fingers were curling round
her wrist might look both protective and possessive—
the hold of a lover wanting to establish the exclusivity
of a relationship — but she, of course, knew better.
'I was just beginning to wonder what was keeping
you,' he told her.
'I’ve only been half an hour,' Jodie protested defensively.
'A lifetime for us to be apart,' he told her softly,
giving her a look of such sexually explicit hunger that
her own eyes widened and darkened before she could
stop herself from reacting to it. She was awed by the
impact of a look that somehow managed to convey a
desire to strip every item of clothing from her body
and explore and pleasure it in the most intimate way
possible, but at the same time made it fiercely clear
that he also wanted to wrap that same body in the
protection of his love and adoration, to keep it and
her for himself alone. What on earth must it be like
to be truly loved and desired by a man who looked
at one like that? A man who was not either afraid of
or embarrassed to show his feelings? But Lorenzo had
no feelings for her, she reminded herself, and nor did
she want him to.
'Alfredo, come and let me introduce you to my
wife-to-be.'
Lorenzo’s lawyer was about the same age as
Lorenzo himself, but nothing like so tall or so awesomely
good-looking, Jodie thought. He did, though,
have very nice, warm brown twinkling eyes, and a
kind smile.
'Lorenzo has just been telling me about you. I
thought he must be exaggerating, in that deranged
way that lovers have, but now I see that he was not
doing you justice,' Alfredo complimented Jodie
warmly.
Lorenzo’s lawyer was just being courteous, that
was clear, albeit in a flattering, slightly over-the-top
way. Jodie knew that, but she still couldn’t help dimpling
him a laughing smile, immediately feeling at
ease with him.
'No wonder you are so anxious to rush her to the
altar, Lorenzo,' Alfredo continued. 'In your shoes—'
'But you are not in my shoes, are you?' Lorenzo
pointed out, with what Jodie thought was almost insufferable
arrogance.
The lawyer, though, did not seem to be offended.
Instead he laughed and said, 'There is no need to be
jealous, my friend. I can see that Jodie only has eyes
for you.' Whilst Jodie was still digesting this untruth,
he continued, 'I was just asking Lorenzo where you
met. I assume it must have been when he was out of
the country, in the aftermath of that dreadful earthquake.
I know that Lorenzo was there in his capacity
of adviser to those government officials who run our
own aid programmes. Which reminds me, Lorenzo—
I have, as you instructed, ensured that sufficient
money has been put aside to cover the medical fees
of the children who are to join the prosthetic limb
replacement programme.' Alfredo turned to Jodie and
gave her a charming smile accompanied by a small
rueful shrug. 'You will already know that your husband-
to-be has a soft heart and digs deep into his
pockets to help those in need. Did you meet him
through his charitable work?'
Jodie could feel her face starting to burn as she
remembered her earlier accusatory comments to
