Fifteen minutes later they were strolling through the extensive gardens, past tinkling fountains and tumbling miniature waterfalls, climbing clematis and beds of sweet-smelling lavender. Liane had changed into a sundress in pale green linen, her hair in a single plait over one shoulder.
‘So whose villa is this, anyway?’ she asked as she bent to breathe in the fragrance of a deep pink overblown rose.
‘Mine. I bought it while I was working in Rome, as a bolthole, I suppose. Christina and Sophia were living in Milan then. Christina’s British, as you might have guessed, but she was translating Italian textbooks for a living while she raised Sophia singlehandedly. When the rent got too expensive in the city, I offered for them to live here.’
Liane turned to him in surprise. ‘Too expensive?’
‘My father is perpetually broke,’ Alessandro explained with a shrug. ‘My grandfather knew him for a wastrel and so kept most of his assets in trust. He has enough to live in Ibiza, but not much to give to Christina, and so I’ve helped. Sophia is my sister, after all.’
‘She’s very sweet. Asking me all sorts of questions, though.’
Alessandro nodded in acknowledgement, a small smile tugging at his mouth. He’d always had a soft spot for his half-sister, wanting her to have the stability and love he hadn’t known, even with her parents having divorced. ‘She’s a good kid.’
‘She’s lucky to have you. And this.’ They’d strolled up to a lilac bush, its purple blossoms drooping nearly to the ground. With a small smile, Alessandro broke off a stem and handed it to her. Liane closed her eyes as she breathed in the scent. ‘It smells like memory to me. There was a lilac bush outside our house in Lyon when I was growing up, during happier days.’
‘Do you miss it?’ Alessandro asked quietly.
‘I miss the idea of it more than anything. A happy home. Two parents. My father wasn’t gambling then. My mother wasn’t quite so stern. We had a little dog, Bisou. It felt...simpler. It all changed when we moved to Paris for a bit, and then on to New York. After my father started gambling, he was never the same.’ She sighed as she twirled the flower by its stem. ‘Sometimes I wonder if the daydreams I’ve had are nothing more than me trying to get back what was lost. Maybe it’s better, wiser, just to let it all go.’
‘Don’t say that.’ He realised he couldn’t stand the thought of her giving up on her dream—the garden, the cat and the dog, the children. ‘It will happen for you.’
‘Maybe,’ she replied with a shrug, ‘but what if it doesn’t? Shouldn’t I at least accept that might be the case?’ Liane twirled the lilac blossom by its stem once more and then flung it onto a small pond nearby, where it floated, slightly bedraggled, on the water. ‘Surely it’s better to grab what you can of life, enjoy it while it lasts, than wait for a silly dream. That’s why I’m here, after all.’ She met his gaze with a playful smile.
‘And I’m very glad you are.’ He reached for her hand, drawing her to him.
As she came closer, her eyes fluttered closed and his lips brushed hers. ‘I am too,’ she whispered. ‘Truly.’
He deepened the kiss, let it take them over. Liane wrapped her arms around him as she lost herself to the moment, just as he was—a moment that was as sweet as it was passionate, as innocent as it was sensual, her soft body yielding to his, promising so much.
As they drew apart, that was when it hit him.
All along he’d been insisting to himself that he would never be weak like his father, or needy like his mother. He wouldn’t beg someone to stay; he wouldn’t even want them to. He’d keep himself from dreams, from love, from hurt, taking each moment and enjoying life just as Liane had said...except he hadn’t. All the while he’d been searching, longing, hoping. Feeling empty inside...until Liane.
And now, Alessandro thought as he stared down at her, the fairy tale had found him.