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‘Ethan, please don’t be angry with ed him as he made for the door

‘Angry with you?’ He was beht, Savannah’

‘Ethan, please’

He was halfway through the door when she ran towards hi the door firmly behind him with Savannah on the other side He didn’t trust himself to wait and listen to her reply

She sat on the bed for a long tihtly on the top of her head, she knew she’dand that she didn’t have a clue how to ht She had known for some time now that she loved Ethan How could she care for anyone as deeply as she did for hihtened her She had played a foolish game of make-believe The first tiht, and now his principles ether Well done, Savannah, she congratulated herself; there’d be no encores here

Cli off the bed, she went to stare into the mirror What did Ethan see when he stared in his? He lived his life in spite of his injuries He had triu Ethan’s public face? Did those scars torment him when he was alone? Because she cared about hi about it How could she leave Tuscany and Ethan with so o to him and speak to him She would reason with him in the hope that when she went away they could at least be friends

The fact that she didn’t have a clue what she was going to say was i on her jeans This was just one of thosewasn’t an option She refused to have Ethan think she was repulsed by his scars, or that sheeverything around for her host Caring about someone came with responsibility, which ht be her last chance to search beneath Ethan’s public persona, and find the realit

CHAPTER NINE

MAYBE the fates had decided she deserved a bit of luck, Savannah concluded as she followed a group of servants carrying fresh towels and a tray with a pot of coffee on it There couldn’t be thatat the palazzo, surely?

All she cared about was finding Ethan, and as she waited, concealed in the shadohile one of the servants knocked on a door, she thrilled at the sound of his voice Finding him filled her with relief

She waited for the staff to coain, and when their footsteps had died away she ca and cautiously approached the door around which they’d been clustered The handle yielded all too easily, and as she pressed the door open a crack she could hear the shower running

Opening the door fully, Savannah slipped inside She found herself in a ood leather and books was overwhel She looked around Okay, so nohat? There was hardly anywhere to hide As she had suspected, Ethan’s tastes were plain The floors were polished wood, and the sofas were dark-brown leather The walls were lined with b

ooks and not s

Originals, Savannah noted with interest, signed with a letter B that had a diagonal line through it She could iht htened, wide-eyed children without faces or proper fors were brilliant—but, in the same way Edvard Munch’s The Screas were deeply disturbing And there were shadows in them…lots and lots of shadows

Were the paintings an autobiographical account of Ethan’s childhood?