‘You’re Australian.’ She nodded, her bright eyes fixed on his. ‘When I met you you’d been in Europe for a while, modelling. Not top-of-the-range couture collections but sportswear, swimwear and lingerie.’
Something flickered across her face and her mouth turned down a little. Maybe she wasn’t pleased at being reminded she hadn’t hit the heights she’d aspired to.
‘And my family? Where in Australia did I come from?’
Angelo shook his head. ‘No idea. You never mentioned where you came from and said you had no close family.’
She’d been close-mouthed about both, airily saying she had no ties and no wish to live in the past. But she’d later mentioned her parents were dead and she was an only child.
In the early days he’d suspected some family tragedy, for he’d caught a flash of what looked like pain in her expression, so he hadn’t pushed for details. After all, he knew how deep pain could run, losing his father too early.
‘I see. What else? Where did I live?’
‘You shared a flat in Rome but you gave it up. There was some disagreement with your flatmate.’
‘Was she another model? Do you know her name? Maybe I can trace her.’
Angelo shook his head. Was Alexa really going to persist with this charade?
What if it’s not a charade? What if she really has lost her memory?
The idea unsettled him. He didn’t want to feel sympathy for this woman who’d barged through his life like a wrecking ball. Even now he was itching to get up and leave. It took all his control to maintain a polite façade. But he’d promised the doctor he’d look after her. Angelo would do whatever it took to get her physically mended so she could go and never come back.
‘No idea. But your flatmate wasn’t a woman. He was your lover.’
Her eyes widened and her mouth sagged and, if he didn’t know better, he’d think he’d shocked her.
As if she couldn’t imagine herself with a man. The irony pulled his lips into a grimace.
‘My lover?’
‘Ex-lover. You moved out. Took all your things.’
‘I see.’
She nibbled her bottom lip again and Angelo felt his groin tighten. Did she know the action drew attention to the sweet shape of her mouth? It was one of the things he’d first noticed about her. That and the beckoning light in her stunning eyes.
And her body, lithe and seductive.
Despite himself, Angelo’s attention dropped to her breasts, straining against his shirt. There was something disquieting about the fact it washisshirt she wore against her skin. The knowledge elicited an all too familiar tension in his belly. Sexual tension that had once led him to drop his guard, with calamitous consequences.
His gaze skimmed the indent of her waist, accentuated by her folded arms.
Alexa had changed since he’d seen her. She’d gained weight, her feminine curves more pronounced, though she was still slender.
Shocked at the direction of his thoughts, he snapped his gaze up, but she hadn’t noticed his lapse. That, in itself, gave him pause. Once Alexa had been totally attuned to every nuance of his expression, voice and body. She’d studied him and learned to anticipate his desires.
Angelo sat straighter, resolution starching his spine.
Swiftly he catalogued the other changes in her.
She looked as young and fresh-faced as she had five years ago. But she did her hair differently, not sleek but loose and casual around her shoulders. It was a different shade too, dark honey instead of pale gilt, and there was a sprinkling of freckles across her face. He didn’t remember those before.
She pushed a hand through her hair and he noticed her nails, short and unvarnished. So different to the long nails she’d once favoured, their colour changing to complement each new, expensive outfit.
She moved and suddenly Angelo found himself staring into wide eyes that were an impossible, entrancing shade of blue verging into purple. A shade he’d seen in no one but her.
His pulse thudded. She was a stunning woman despite her character flaws.