Lorenzo sat in silence for some time, his eyes fixed on their entwined hands. "She will be very surprised," he said at last, his voice deeper and more uneven than it had been. "Because I have never invited a woman there before." He looked up again, his eyes alight with an urgency which took her breath away. "I did not mean to say this. At least, not tonight. I told myself I must wait, be patient. But, Dio, I have wasted enough of my life already." His grasp tightened. "I knew from the first moment I saw you that I wanted you for my own. Not for a relazione-a love affair-but for ever. I want you for my wife, Jessamy."

Chapter Eight.

Jess sat very still, gazing at him in silence broken only by the night-time sounds of Florence coming through the open balcony doors. A voice in her head suggested, without much hope, that this was too sudden, too soon, but her turbulent heart brushed it aside, clamouring that this was what she'd been waiting for all her adult life.

"It is too soon," said Lorenzo bitterly, and thrust a hand through his thick black hair. "I am a fool. I should have waited-"

"No," said Jess swiftly. She gave him a smile so incandescent his eyes blazed in response. "I'm glad you couldn't wait."

He seized her hands in a grasp which threatened to crack her bones. "You mean this?"

"Yes."

"You are saying you will marry me, Jessamy?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me that you love me!"

"Of course I love you," she said unevenly. "Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Lorenzo leapt to his feet, pulling her with him, his face stern as he gazed down into hers. "You realise that the world will say you have known me too short a time to be sure of your feelings."

"Do you care?" she demanded.

He cupped her face in his hands. "I care only for you. And for what your parents will think. We must talk to them-"

"Not yet," Jess said hastily. "I don't want to tell anyone yet."

"Not even your friend?"

"Emily knows already," Jess assured him, then laughed at his look of astonished delight "That I love you, I mean. I've never been madly in love before-I had to tell someone!"

"Meraviglioso!" His eyes lit with a triumphant gleam. "If your friend knows this life will be easier at the Villa Fortuna than I thought. She will expect us to want time alone together, no?"

"She will, yes," agreed Jess, and smiled at him expectantly. "I don't know how you do things in Italy, darling, but in my part of the world it's the custom to exchange a kiss once a proposal is accepted."

Lorenzo's eyes kindled. "Say 'darling' again!"

"Kiss me first."

Lorenzo picked her up instead, and for a wild moment Jess wondered if he meant to carry her straight to bed now their relationship had altered. Instead he sank down with her on the sofa, settling her in his lap as he kissed the mouth she held up in invitation.

"Now, amore," he breathed against her parted lips, "it is I who cannot believe this is real."

"If it's a dream, we're sharing it," she whispered, and responded with uninhibited delight to the mouth which showed her that mere kissing itself was an art form in which Lorenzo Forii possessed so much skill that Jess pulled away a little at last, smiling in challenge. "Who taught you to kiss like that?" she demanded breathlessly.

He laughed, and ruffled the bright hair falling over her forehead. "Francesca."

"Who was she?" demanded Jess, sitting up.

Lorenzo pulled her back down against his shoulder. "Just a girl I knew when I was young, long before my marriage. She was older than me, and taught me that kisses and caresses are as important as the act of love itself. Not," he added with regret, "that Francesca ever allowed me more than the kisses, you understand."

"But you wanted more!"

His sudden grin stripped years from him. "Men always want more, tesoro." He breathed in deeply. "Now we must be practical. I am asking a great deal of you-I know this. Are you really willing to give up your career to share my life here with me, Jessamy?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, I am."

"You have doubts?" he asked quietly.

"No. None. In fact-" Jess smiled a little, then shrugged. "This is something I've never admitted to another soul. My so-called career has never really been important to me at all. I just pretended it was."

Lorenzo frowned. "But why should you need to pretend, carissima?'

"I had to have something special in my life. I'm not brainless, nor am I lazy, but I'm not in the least academic, like the rest of my family. Leo got a good degree, and I'm sure Adam has done well in Edinburgh, too, while Kate will do brilliantly, probably better than either of them." She smiled wryly. "I'm the odd one out, even to me straight hair-"

"Your hair is beautiful," he contradicted, and smoothed it back from her forehead. "And it will be even more beautiful when it grows longer, Jessamy," he added slyly, then kissed the mouth she opened to protest. "Go on," he said unevenly. "I am listening, carassima."

Jess took a deep breath. "After school I did a course which made me computer-literate, and I got a job in advertising, making it clear to all concerned that I was intent on a career. Eventually I worked for one of the men I told you about" She sighed. "This meant that when the relationship went wrong I was forced to resign. So much for my advertising career. My present job is interesting, and I enjoy it." Jess looked at him squarely. "But to be honest I hate the thought of doing it for the rest of my working life."

Lorenzo pulled her closer, his eyes gleaming with relief. "I am delighted to hear this. Also very happy that your career in London will not come between us."

"May be I could do something here in Florence, or-" She halted.

"Or?" he prompted.

"Or perhaps we'll have a baby right away." Jess kept her eyes on the brown muscular throat visible through the open collar of Lorenzo's shirt, and saw it grow taut in response to her words.

"You mean this, amore?" he demanded incredulously. "You would like a baby?"

"Not a baby," she corrected breathlessly. "Your baby."

He crushed her close, his English deserting him as he unleashed a flood of passionate Italian which flowed over Jess in a torrent of feeling which left her in no doubt as to his reaction.

"I had given up all hope of children of my own," he said at last in English, his voice rough with emotion.

"But surely you must have met women who would have been only too delighted to give you babies?" said Jess.

Lorenzo gave a very Latin shrug. "Perhaps. But I swore never to many again without love. Once," he added grimly, "was enough."

Jess pulled his head down to hers, experiencing a great urge to comfort him any way she could. She kissed him passionately, her arms locked round his neck, telling him without words how much she cared, feeling his heart thudding against hers as he whispered a great many things she knew would be gratifying if she could only understand them.

"I will teach you Italian," he said in between kisses. "I cannot make love in English."

"You're doing brilliantly," she gasped.

"I can do much better-"