The man looked down at her with interest. “What are you doing here, little one?” He looked around. “Where is your husband? You do not look well.”
“I’m fine. Great in fact.” Blinking back tears, she turned back to the bartender as he held out her sparkling water. “Oh no—I forgot my purse!”
“Please. Allow me,” Prince Vladimir said, pulling out his wallet. He blinked with surprise when the bartender told him the amount. “So little?”
“It’s water,” Lilley said. “I’m pregnant.”
“Ah,” Prince Vladimir said. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Not everyone knows yet.” Lilley glanced back at the table across the room. “Believe me, if I could drink something stronger, I would.”
Vladimir followed her glance, and understanding filled his eyes. “Ah. But you have nothing to fear, Principessa,” he said quietly. “Your husband is smitten. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
Holding the cold glass against the hot skin of her cheek, she whispered, “You mean the way he doesn’t look at me.”
“Then he is a fool.” He put his finger on her bulky crystal necklace. “This is beautiful. Where did you buy it?”
Startled by his touch, Lilley nearly jumped. “I made it.”
“You did!”
She shook her head. “Alessandro doesn’t want me to wear it in Rome. He said it might make his friends laugh at me, but I don’t care. They’re going to laugh anyway,” she said in a low voice. She straightened. “I have to wear one thing that feels like mine.”
“It’s beautiful.” His finger ran along the bottom edge of her necklace, just below her collarbone. “It’s art.”
His touch made her uncomfortable. Innocent as it was, the situation might be misconstrued. Even now, Alessandro might be watching them, growing wild with jealousy …
She glanced back at their table, and saw he was busy laughing, having the time of his life with his cold-hearted friends, saying things she couldn’t remotely understand.
Clearly, Lilley’s plan to make Alessandro fall wildly in love with her was going perfectly.
Tears filled her eyes. How she wished they were still in Sardinia, with nothing but warm sunlight, cool blue water and swaying palm trees around them, far from the rest of the world!
Instead, she was here with him in Rome. As she’d insisted. And as he’d warned her, she was miserable.
Vladimir followed her gaze. “Come, Principessa,” he said quietly. “I will take you back to him.”
As he led her across the elegant restaurant, the tension in Lilley’s throat ratcheted up with every step. They reached the table, and the laughter of the group abruptly fell silent.
“Cara.” Alessandro turned with a smile. “I was starting to wonder …” Then he saw Vladimir behind her, and the tenderness in his eyes evaporated. He said shortly, “Hello.”
“Your wife isn’t feeling well,” Prince Vladimir said. “I suggest you take her home.”
“Yes,” Alessandro said grimly, rising to his feet. Throwing money on the table, he said to his friends, “Mi scusi. Buona notte.”
Placing his hand against the small of Lilley’s back, Alessandro escorted her out of the restaurant. Collecting his Ferrari from the valet, he helped her into the car. He didn’t speak. He didn’t even look at her.
He drove swiftly and silently through the streets of Rome, and Lilley glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His face was dark, his expression hard. Miserably, she looked away.
The harder she tried to please him, she thought in despair, the worse it seemed to get.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean for you to have to leave your friends early.”
Alessandro changed the gears on the Ferrari with more force than necessary. His jaw was tense as he said in a low voice, “I’m sorry you felt it necessary to tell Vladimir Xendzov you wished to leave, rather than coming to me.”
She blinked at him. “I was just trying to—”
“Save it,” he cut her off. He pulled past the guardhouse outside their palazzo, driving through the gate.