‘Well, you obviously don’t need the money.’ Lindsay glanced round their island paradise with a faint smile. ‘You’re a very intelligent man and you obviously find being a lawyer intellectually stimulating. But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?’
‘Is there?’
‘Alessio, you could have chosen to specialise in any number of different areas, but you chose to be a divorce lawyer. And you only act for men. Never women.’
His eyes held hers. ‘Clients approach me.’
‘But you’re very selective about who you act for. Sometimes it seems as though you’re trying to get revenge on the whole female sex. And yet I know you don’t hate women. I think you just hate women who try and benefit from marriage.’ She hesitated. ‘Were your parents divorced?’ Seeing the sudden tension in his shoulders, she cursed herself softly. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘None of my business.’
‘I come from a tiny village in Sicily, which is still living in another time,’ he said evenly. ‘Divorce doesn’t happen. They handle marital disharmony in an entirely different way.’
‘You mean they have affairs.’
‘Two people are not meant to be locked together for ever. The best that anyone can hope for is serial monogamy.’
‘If your father had lots of affairs, then I can understand why you might come to that conclusion.’
He dragged his gaze f
rom hers and concentrated his attention on a yacht that skimmed past them, the wind inflating the sails. It was a full minute before he responded.
‘It wasn’t my father who had the affairs,’ he said flatly. ‘It was my mother. And I can’t imagine for a moment why I’m telling you this.’
Lindsay stared at his hard profile, feeling incredibly stupid and exasperated with herself. ‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘Of course. It would have been your mother.’
‘Of course?’ He turned then, his eyes glittering dangerously, his face more impossibly handsome than ever. ‘Why “of course”?’ His tone was brittle and she knew that they’d sailed into dangerous waters, but she still felt warm inside because he had confided in her and she knew enough about him to realise the significance of that.
He trusted her.
‘How do I know it was your mother? Because you refuse to create an emotional bond with women. Because you rescue men from bad marriages to women who aren’t in love with them.’
‘You’ve clearly spent a lot of time analysing me,’ he drawled and Lindsay shook her head, sensing his immediate withdrawal.
‘Of course I haven’t. But we’ve been together these last few days so it would have been impossible for me to not notice certain things about you—’
‘Then you’ve probably also noticed that I’m not into talking about myself—’ he rose to his feet, walked round the table and scooped her into his arms ‘—and that I have a limitless appetite for sex where you are concerned.’
‘Alessio—’ Breathless, she wrapped her arms round his neck, but he was already striding back into the bedroom and she gave a low moan as his mouth came down on hers.
Alessio lay staring up at the ceiling, his arms locked around Lindsay’s sleeping form. Her body was pressed against his, her head nestled in his shoulder and her silken hair tumbling over his chest.
He hadn’t thought about his mother for years—hadn’t allowed himself to go there.
And before today, he’d never discussed his childhood with another person. He’d never revealed intimate secrets to another person.
And yet, for some reason, he’d told Lindsay Lockheart. Lindsay, with her deeply ingrained sense of responsibility and her unshakeable belief in the existence of love.
And what had that confession achieved?
It had left him feeling naked and bare, and it had left her feeling as though their relationship had turned a corner.
And it had, he thought grimly. Just not in the direction she was expecting.
As far as he was concerned, it was time to make an exit.
His mounting tension must have transmitted itself to her because she stirred, her thigh sliding against his as she shifted slightly in the bed.
Lifting her head, she looked at him, her eyes sleepy. Then she lifted a hand and touched his face. ‘I love you,’ she murmured and he felt every muscle in his body tense.