Harlequin Romance March 2021 Box Set Cara Colter (the mitten read aloud TXT) 📖

taking her hat off and shaking her hair out. ‘Oh, yes, the cause is really important and I’d like to support them. But Matteo, think about it. You have volunteered me to prepare fifty children I don’t know and who speak a different language to me for a gala in front of their proud parents and one of the world’s top dancers. In just two weeks! That’s a big ask.’

It was a big ask, huge in fact, but normally it was the kind of challenge she loved, language barriers and all. And she understood why he’d jumped in with the offer, which was why she hadn’t said anything while they were with his cousin. How could she have crushed the fledgling hope on Rosa’s wan little face?

‘Besides, we might not be here in two weeks.’

She might not be here. There was no doubt that Matteo was getting better by leaps and bounds; she didn’t need a medical degree to see how much more colour he had, how much more energy. Once the doctor gave him a clean bill of health then her promise not to give him any shocks would be at an end and she would be free to tell him the truth. Free and morally obliged. And then what? She could hardly stay here in the same villa as the man she was divorcing.

But if she agreed to take on the dance gala then she would have to stay in Ravello for two more weeks at least. Which, under different circumstances, would be perfection but, as it was, the sooner Matteo knew the truth and she was out of Italy the better. Every day it got harder to remember that none of this was real, to remember that her marriage was over.

‘Why wouldn’t we be here?’ Matteo sounded surprised. ‘I promised you a second honeymoon, didn’t I? Lovely as the last week has been, it’s not exactly been honeymoonish, has it?’ He grinned at her, a wolfish gleam in his eyes that sent her pulse racing despite all her attempts to stay calm.

‘Matteo…’ She couldn’t find the right words. She threw up her hands in defeat. ‘I just wish you’d checked.’

He gave her a quick keen look, then strode across the room to sit beside her, taking her hands in his. His touch lit her up inside and it was all she could do not to sway towards him. It was too dangerous being here with him. Her heart was too susceptible, her body too unreliable, forgetting all the reasons to keep him at bay.

‘I’m sorry, Charlie, I didn’t think. I can see that teaching small children ballet on honeymoon isn’t exactly the most romantic thing to do. Don’t worry, I’ll call Lucia and apologise. I should be wining and dining you, planning boat trips to Capri and tours of Pompeii, not expecting you to put fifty small ballerinas through their paces.’

Was that what he thought? That she was the kind of person to take umbrage because she expected champagne and flowers rather than helping out his goddaughter? Of course, he only had a few months’ memories of her; he didn’t really know her at all.

‘No, that’s not it. This sort of initiative is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy. In London I was volunteering at a local community centre, teaching dance to some of the borough’s most disadvantaged children and we put on our own gala. It was a lot of fun…’ She stopped abruptly. The Kensington gala was one event she did not want to relive.

‘Then what is it?’

She sighed, freeing her hands as she got to her feet and walked over to the large French windows, staring out at the lemon trees framing the sea far below. ‘Matteo, look, I know this is difficult for you. The doctor said not to try to prompt your memory, that it is better if it comes back by itself, and so I am really trying to not talk about things from the last year. But I need to tell you that experience has taught me that where keeping promises is concerned, you can’t be relied upon.’

He made no sound and when she looked back at him he was sitting statue-still, his eyes fixed on her, his expression unreadable. ‘I see.’

She looked down at her hands, hating that she had to say this to him, that reality was intruding on their idyll.

‘Your intentions are always good; I do know that. You don’t mean to be so…’ She searched for the right word, not wanting to say self-absorbed, one of the many words she had thrown at him the day of the gala. The day before she had walked out. ‘So hard to pin down,’ she said instead. ‘But the reality can be so very different. Right now, I’m sure that you are absolutely certain that you will prioritise the rehearsals and the ballet, that of course you will be here in two weeks’ time. But at some point you’re going to get access to a phone and a laptop and to work emails and that means something will come up and you will need to be in New York or Paris or Berlin. Then where will I be? I don’t want to promise anything to Rosa, just to have to let her down. That would be much worse than letting her get over this initial disappointment.’

Charlie looked up and bit her lip as she absorbed the shock in Matteo’s hazel eyes. Shock, hurt and dawning knowledge. ‘Am I that unpredictable?’ he asked, his voice low and even. She swallowed. ‘It can’t be easy for you. Not trusting me to keep my word.’

‘No, it’s not always easy.’ She couldn’t, wouldn’t, lie to him, not more than she had to. ‘I do my best to understand, but it’s not much fun having to always cancel plans or do things on my own. So maybe it’s best if you do make our apologies. Safer.’

Matteo rose with easy sinuous grace and was