in a shockingly intimate kiss of hard passion that was
over almost as soon as it had begun. Then, without a
word of either apology or explanation, he released
her.
She was in more danger of stumbling now than she
had been before, Jodie realised, as her suddenly shaky
legs carried her unsteadily towards the light of the
Castillo.
Jodie was on the verge of falling asleep when she
heard the sound of Lorenzo’s bedroom door opening.
Sucking in her breath, she tensed her body, her concentration
focused on her own door, but the firm footsteps
were already fading as Lorenzo walked past her
room without even hesitating.
Jodie sat up and looked at her watch. It was gone
midnight. Where was he going? To Caterina? And if
he was there was no reason for her to be concerned,
was there? And certainly not enough to lie here wide
awake, checking her watch every few minutes, her
ears stretched for the sound of his return, like a jealous
lover.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FLORENCE! How well its medieval ruler Lorenzo de
Medici had loved his city, and how willingly he had
shown that love, commissioning the best of the
Renaissance's gifted artists to embellish and enhance
both its glory and his own.
Jodie could only catch her breath as she sat beside
Lorenzo in the Ferrari whilst he edged it through the
city's busy traffic, stretching every sense she could to
take in as much as possible of the wonders all around
her. Lorenzo turned off the busy main road that ran
alongside the River Arno and drove the Ferrari down
a street lined with elegant seventeenth-century buildings.
'My apartment is in the block above us,' he informed
Jodie casually, as he turned into a narrow alleyway
and then down into an underground car park.
Jodie’s eyes adjusted to the gloom of the car park
after the brilliance of the sunlit street. He had already
informed her that he lived in Florence, but he hadn’t
said as yet just where they would be living once they
were married. Given the choice she would far rather
be in Florence than the Castillo, Jodie thought as they
left the car.
Lorenzo guided her towards a door which opened
onto a flight of stairs that took them up to an impressive
entrance hall, with an equally impressive coat of
arms prominently displayed above its main doorway.
The same coat of arms, surely, which she had seen
carved into the fireplace lintel in the great hall of the
Castillo?
'Come — the lift is this way,' Lorenzo instructed
her. 'My apartment is on the top two floors. I chose
it when I had the Palazzo remodelled because of its
views — although my grandmother used to complain
that she wished I had chosen one at ground level. She
did not care for enclosed spaces or lifts.'
'The Palazzo?' Jodie questioned suspiciously
'Does that mean that the whole of this building—?'
'Was originally the home of my family? Yes. The
Palazzo was built for the tenth Duce, who had many
business interests in Florence. During my grandfather's
lifetime it fell into disrepair — much like the
Castillo. When I inherited it I was faced with two
choices. Either I abandoned it and sold it, or I restored
it and found a way to make it pay for itself.
Converting it into apartments seemed the most sensible
option. That way I could retain control over any
work to be done.'
'Is this where we will be living, then?' Jodie asked
as they got out of the lift and she followed him across
an elegant marble-floored outer hallway to a pair of
intricately carved heavy wooden doors.
'There will be times when we will live here in
Florence, yes, which is why—' He broke off from
whatever he had been about to say to unlock the doors
before opening them for her.
The room beyond them was another hallway: a
long, rectangular double-height space, with a gallery
around the whole of the upper storey. Its ceiling was
domed in the centre and painted with allegorical
scenes from mythology, whilst its walls were hung
with paintings.
'My family were at one time renowned patrons of
the arts. The eleventh Duce enjoyed entertaining the
English visitors who came to Florence in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. He held court here in
the Palazzo, and his mistress's salons were famous.'
'His mistress's salons?' Jodie queried uncertainly.
'The eleventh Duce was something of a rebel.
While he stayed here in Florence, and set up home
with his mistress, his wife and children were banished
to a villa outside the city. He was a great patron of
beauty in all its forms. He caused something of a
