She glared at him, wishing she could tell him where to shove his devil’s bargain. Unfortunately, she was way too tired and fed up to out-bully him. “What about the scooter?”
“It’ll be okay until we get back here. We’re not in Naples.” He twisted the throttle, making the bike roar, then hooked the helmet off the handlebars. “Put it on, so we can get going. I haven’t got all day.”
She jammed the helmet on her head, muttering under her breath as she clambered aboard the bike. As they accelerated down the track in a spray of rocks and dust, she had to wrap her arms round his torso. The heady blast of heat shimmered down to her sex—which was still tender from last night’s excesses—and it occurred to her that Jared’s brooding presence at her mother’s graveside wasn’t the only reason why agreeing to this particular devil’s bargain wasn’t a good idea.
* * *
After a twenty-minute ride along the coastal road and through the narrow alleyways of Capri town to the hill-top cemetery, they found her mother’s gravestone on a family plot in the far corner, nestled amid flowering vines.
SALVATORE NAVARRO
Alexis Elizabeth Mary
In amore morì
Katie ran her fingers over the names carved into the modest limestone slab, puzzled by the simplicity of the memorial. She had expected something much more elaborate for a woman who by all accounts had been a committed hedonist.
No dates, no insignia, none of the pomp and circumstance of the alabaster angels or marble Madonnas which adorned so many of the other graves. The stone just listed the name of the lover Alexis had died with, her own Christian names and the romantic Italian sentiment.
Died in love.
Emotions which Katie had kept hidden for so many years swelled in her throat. Vague memories, of sparkling green eyes so like her own, and an effervescent laugh, pushed at her consciousness.
Were those really memories of her mother, or simply projections which she’d clung onto as a child? She’d locked them away so long ago—ever since that miserable day when they’d buried her and the funeral had turned into a media circus—she would never know for sure. But, real or imagined, those memories blended with the anger and resentment which had colored her view of her mother for so long.
Alexis had been reckless and irresponsible, selfish and immature. It was hard to argue that point. How else could you explain the decision to abandon her own daughters? But after the intensity of what Katie had discovered in Jared’s caresses—even the torturous pleasure of riding on a bike with him again to get to this very spot—she was finding it hard to continue to condemn all of her mother’s choices. Was it really so terrible to want to live in the moment? And hadn’t her mother paid a terrible price in the end for her impulsive pursuit of pleasure?
Letting out an unsteady breath, Katie placed the bunch of wilting wild flowers she’d picked at the roadside on top of the curved stone.
“I forgive you, Mom,” she whispered. “Sorry it took me so long to come visit you again.”
Brushing a tear from her eye, she stood up.
Jared was standing several yards away, his shoulder propped against the crumbling wall of a mausoleum, his hands tucked into the pockets of his ruined suit pants. The stance looked casual but the intent way he was watching her was anything but.
Her heartbeat kicked against her ribs and she wondered again why he had taken the trouble to bring her here. She swallowed down the stupid swell of emotion. It wasn’t significant. He was probably just keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t attempt to skip out on him. Running nervous fingers through her hair, she took a moment to look around the nineteenth-century cemetery which she hadn’t taken the time to notice during their search for the grave.
She didn’t recognize the place at all. She would certainly never have found it from her scattered memories of the day of her mother’s funeral. It was such a beautiful spot, tranquil and ancient, the jumble of graves and tombs bisected by cobbled stone pathways and shaded by ancient oak trees which framed a breathtaking view of the sea from the cliffs above Capri’s main town.
The musty smell of moss was layered with the ubiquitous spice of the citrus groves and the sweet scent of overripe figs from a nearby farm.
She breathed in a lungful of the sea air and felt the tangle of emotions that had gripped her ever since reading Jared’s note begin to unwind.
Last night had been a mistake because it had meant so much more to her than it had to Jared but, as she walked past the graves, she felt lighter for having owned her own needs and desires. Unfortunately, as she approached him she was forced to acknowledge that those needs and desires were as strong, if not stronger, than they had been the night before. The low hum of arousal flared as his gaze roamed over her.
“All done?” he asked as he pushed off the wall.
She nodded, her throat suddenly thick.
To her astonishment, he took a hand out of his pocket and ran his fingertip down her cheek.
“You good?” he asked.
A lump formed in her throat and before she could stop it another tear dripped down her cheek.
“Hey, don’t cry,” he said, looking stricken.
She shook her head, trying to force down the wave of melancholy, but his concerned response only made it worse. Suddenly she found herself nestled against his shirt, her hands gripping his back and his arms tight around her shoulders as the tears she’d locked inside during all the years of her childhood and adolescent burst out.