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‘Salvatore di Luca!’ Her hts as she spat out his name, with even more contempt than she had displayed towards Lina’s outfit ‘In the old days he would have stayed for at least a week to pay his respects to the community But I suppose his fame and fortune are more important than the Sicilian roots he has turned his back on in favour of his new and fancy American life!’

Lina didn’t agree with herBecause her iven her thebitterness towards the world in general as the years passed by And with that bitterness had couilt in her only child To make her feel as if she were somehow responsible for herincreasingly intolerable? Picking up her helh sheon, Mama I justneed a break’

‘Oh, that I were twenty-eight years old again! When I was your age I never used to co this business al a break When I was your age I never stopped,’ her mother mocked ‘And there’s work for you here’

Of course there was There was alork for her here Lina toiled fro business, running up cheap skirts and dresses which would later be sold on one of the island’s many markets, with barely a word of thanks from the woman who had birthed her But she didn’t really expect any, if the truth be known Obedience had been dru as she could re her to bear the full brunt of her mother’s ire And Lina had accepted what fate had bequeathed her because that hat village girls like her had always done They worked hard, they obeyed their parents and behaved respectably and one day they married and produced a family of their own—and so the whole cycle was repeated

But Lina had never married She’d not even come close—and not because there hadn’t been the opportunity She’d caused outrage and consternation in the village by rejecting the couple of suitors who had called for her, with their wilting bunches of flowers and sly eyes, which had strayed lecherously to the over-abundant thrust of her breasts She had decided she would prefer to be on her own than to sacrifice herself to the uni a bed with either of those two ainst her of course For an only child, a failure to produce a clutch of grandchildren would not easily be forgiven And although Lina didn’t regret either of those two decisions, it so that she had somehow burnt her boats That she would remain here for the rest of her days and that this was to be her future

As her mother sla had really changed in her life since yesterday’s funeral, yet she are that soed inside her It had been a busy ti all the food which had been consumed by the mourners They had buried Paolo Cardinelli with all the honour and cerearded the deceased But noas over and life went on and Lina had been struck by the realisation that ti road Suddenly she felt trapped by the towering walls of oppression and expectation and her mother’s endless demands

And she needed to escape

She didn’t really have a plan Her best friend lived in a neighbouring e and often they would meet for a coffee But their friendship had taken a hit since Rosa’s recentsolo to one of the fancier seaside resorts at the foot of the enda Yet today she felt like breaking a few of her own self-i at the back of the wardrobe to locate some of the es, she found herself itching for a different experience For so new

Pausing only to stuff her swimsuit in the back of her rucksack, she wheeled out her little scooter and accelerated away fro up in clouds around her Past the last straggle of houses on the edge of the village she negotiated the winding bends, and a sudden unexpected sense of freedom lifted her spirits as she sped doards towards the coast She could slittering brightly in the afternoon sunshine and it smelt delicious

Breathing in the salty air, she drove towards a beach famous for its natural beauty It was the kind of place where people spent vast aed uht to them on trays The kind of place she would usually have disrand and too fancy for someone like her But today? Her heart pumped as she parked her bike close to the seafront bar Today she felt different She felt almost fatalistic

Lina walked towards the open-air bar, acutely aware of how litzy beach outfits and gold jewellery, but since she would never see any of these people again—did it really matter? She would perch on one of those tall bar stools and enjoy an icy sharp granita and afterwards drive off to her favourite secluded cove and have a swi it beneath her ar hair as she picked her way along the sand-covered decking towards the beach bar

And that hen she saw him

Her knees eak and so powerful unfurled low in her belly as she stared at the , effortlessly do the space around hiaze drank him in Because it was him

Him

What were the chances?

Salvatore di Luca was perched on one of the tall bar stools, staring at his cell phone, seeaze of every person in the place, though surely he must have been used to it by now Hadn’t the eyes of every villager been fixed on him from the moment he’d stepped from his chauffeur-driven car onto Caltarina’s dusty odfather’s funeral? Hadn’t woe—surreptitiously patted their hair and pulled their shoulders back, as if unconsciously longing for hiaze with admiration on their breasts?

And hadn’t Lina been one of them? Struck duht blue eyes

He was still wearing the required black funeral attire—an exquisitely cut suit, as her professional eye had noted earlier, which eh his muscular frame His only concession to the powerful heat had been to remove his jacket and tie and undo the top two buttons of his shirt, but he still stood out fro dark cloud which had lare of the sun

Lina hesitated as she glanced down at the grains of sand which were clinging to her orn trainers, uncertain whether to introduce herself and say so to do in the circuodfather Though what if he just looked through her blankly? He certainly wouldn’t have noticed her back in Caltarina—he had been too busy dealing with the attentions of the village elders who had surrounded him from the moment he’d arrived And since he didn’t come from around here, he didn’t really know anyone by name Yes, she had sometimes seen him from a distance when he had paid one of his unannounced visits, but she’d never actually spoken to hiazed at hiht star if it had tuht sky

Should she go up and offer him her condolences, or leave the poor man in peace? She alhts because poor was the last word you’d ever use to describe a e which sootten, none of Caltarina’s inhabitants could have failed to be aware of the fortune and wealth of the powerful tycoon

She decided it was best to slip away unnoticed, but he chose just that moment to slide the cell phone into his jacket and to lift his head His eyes narrowed and then refocussed and he appeared to be staring At her Lina blinked, half teht have recognised standing behind her Soaze was definitely on her It was piercing through her like a bright sword and Lina feltbeauty Becausethose eyes! Those incredible blue eyes, which were rumoured to be a throwback to the days when Greek warriors had conquered the jewelled island of Sicily Hadn’t she overheard wo after the coffin had been lowered deep into the hard, unforgiving soil? Talking about a man so avidly at such a time was perhaps a little disrespectful, but in a way Lina couldn’t blame them Because wasn’t Salvatore di Luca the e it meant to be virile andlike that?

And now