Bellissima by Anya Richards Read Free Book Online Page A

trained upon the door, her breath gradually slowing, her thoughts untangling themselves, becoming more coherent.
    In four days, Sergio Fontini would be back.
    He would want to do again what they had done today—perhaps finally he would take her the way she so desperately wanted him to.
    Jane’s breath hitched, and she put her hands up to cover her once more burning cheeks, trying not to imagine it. But it was impossible not to think of, or not to remember his possessiveness and demands, the way he made her burn with need and then sated her desires. Even before they’d come together in this afternoon of sheer delight, she’d dreamt of being with him. How would she survive the coming days, guard this newest secret from those around her, go on as she always did?
    Yet, wasn’t she already a consummate liar? Hadn’t she fooled Mrs. Lowell, the rest of the Lowell family and even those below stairs, who saw her most, interacted with her daily?
    Taking a deep breath, she rose, lifted her chin. It was the work of only a few minutes to ensure her dress was straight, to smooth back the tendrils of hair that had escaped her bun and pin them into place. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could see her lips looked soft and swollen, so she pulled them into a firm line.
    She had willed herself into her present good fortune, using her wits and the ability to disguise not only her physical but also her emotional self. Just because Sergio had seen through not only the padding but also the façade she’d erected, it was not the time to lose sight of what was at stake and risk destroying the life she’d built.
    Sergio Fontini was no knight from one of the storybooks Mrs. Hayes had used to teach Jane how to read. He was just a man. A beautiful, arousing man, yes. A man who had transported her to a place of such intense physical pleasure that even now her legs trembled slightly in the aftermath. A man who made her feel more in the course of one short afternoon tryst than she had felt in all the years of her life before. But there would be no heroic rescuing of the maiden from the evil that had befallen her. For Jane was neither maiden nor princess. Just a woman with an ordinary, good life, without need of a knight even if he were to have aspirations to be one. Just a woman who had caught his attention, aroused his curiosity and, once he had slaked whatever desires she aroused, would be put aside.
    That was, when it was all said and done, acceptable to her. There were memories to be made and stored for the long, potentially lonely years ahead.
    Another boon from Providence, when viewed in the proper light. She would never have dreamed she would have as much of him as she already had.
    With another deep breath, a last look in the mirror, she opened the door and stepped out.
    In four days, she would see him again, but, in the meantime, she was once again Mrs. Rollins, housekeeper, and, as she walked toward the kitchen, she determinedly left Sweet Jane , Sergio Fontini’s professed cara mia , behind.

Chapter Six
    No matter how old a man gets, Sergio thought, he is but a child in a controlling father’s eyes. From the moment he’d walked into the parlor of his parents’ small townhouse, he was aware of being the focus of his father’s brooding stare. Now, as the family sat around the dining table, enjoying one of Mama’s delicious meals, there was a sudden lull in conversation, and his father seized the opportunity.
    “This foolishness, giving dance lessons, needs to stop.” Ennio Fontini stabbed his fork in Sergio’s direction. “It is time to do something worthwhile with your life and talents.”
    By that, of course, he meant devoting all his time to the family business. It meant nothing to his father that Sergio was doing well, making enough to keep himself very comfortably supported. In fact, knowing that probably drove the older man’s anger. He would have liked for Sergio to fail and have to come back, both to the family home