She stood, horribly awkward as the zipper of her dress was slid down.

‘I can manage now, thank you.’ She did not need someone to undress her, except the maid didn’t leave. Instead, as Allegra slid out of the ball gown, the maid retrieved it and then handed her a small nightdress that certainly was not one Allegra had brought.

‘I can manage now, thank you,’ she said again.

‘Of course,’ the maid responded. ‘I need the jewels.’

‘Sorry?’

‘For safekeeping.’

Left alone, her dress and jewels removed, she could hear Alex undressing, telling his servant his choice of outfit for the luncheon tomorrow, clearly used to stripping off and dropping his clothes at whim, only to have someone pick up for him.

She took off her underwear and slipped on the nightdress, both nervous and furious at the thought of sharing a bed with him. She wanted her own space to curl up into bed and go over the night by herself. And yes, she wanted to recall their kiss, to relive the feel of his lips, the dizzying absolute pleasure of it even if it had just been for the camera. She wanted to recall it alone, needed a little bit of space before she could look him in the eye again, but instead she had to spend the night with him. She could hear him closer now, thanking the valet, telling them he would not be needing them at all tonight.

‘Just breakfast at seven,’ came his snobbish orders. ‘Oh, and the newspapers, of course.’

She heard the door close and then silence, but Allegra stood there.

‘Allegra?’

Still she stood there.

‘It’s just us now.’

Which was why she was nervous to go out there!

He did not need to know of her nerves; instead she’d show him her anger. She walked out of the dressing room, feeling completely awkward in a short lacy nightdress. Why, she hadn’t worn a nightdress since she was about four years old, and certainly not one that came midthigh with tiny straps that would surely snap if she dared roll over in the night. She was rather more used to T-shirts or pyjamas for bed.

She was also more accustomed to bed and a book alone than this vast one that had Alex sitting up in it, reading through texts on his phone. Naked, at least from the waist up, he glanced up as she walked in and then went back to reading his texts. ‘And I thought communal changing rooms were bad. She expected me to undress in front of her. Don’t you know how to take your own clothes off? They took my dress and jewels....’ Alex didn’t answer. Since their time here he hadn’t indulged in small talk and she’d had enough. ‘This,’ Allegra said in a voice that was more than a little shaky, ‘was not—’

‘I know that,’ he cut in. ‘But there’s nothing we can do about it now. Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll sleep on the sofa.’ Well, he would in a moment, but right now, the sight of her in that skimpy nightdress, the beauty of her as she had stepped out of the dressing room, meant that, for a couple of moments at least, the decent thing to do was stay under cover and read a garbled text from his brother as she nervously chatted on.

Allegra sat on the edge of the bed, indignant still at the maid’s implication. ‘As if I’m going to flee in the middle of the night with the Santina royal jewels.’

‘I wouldn’t put it past your father...’ He gave a small laugh. ‘Or Chantelle. She used to have a market stall, you said. Maybe...?’ He had meant it as a joke, something to lighten the tense mood, but glancing up he saw her face screw up, and his apology was immediate. ‘I’m sorry, Allegra, that was—’

‘A joke—’ she looked at him ‘—that’s all my family are to you.’

‘No.’

‘Yes.’ She closed her eyes for a second. ‘That speech of Dad’s...’ How could she explain her father, how inappropriate he was at times, but how lovable and kind he was too? ‘He’s a nice person, if any your cold-fish family gave him the chance.’

‘Cold!’ Alex raised his eyebrows, even bristled a little, perhaps learning that it was fine for him to insult them, but it touched a nerve when others did. ‘My mother cried her eyes out when I returned—that’s hardly cold.’




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