There was sudden silence between them. They gazed at each other, both pairs of eyes dilated with shared desire.

Lorenzo jumped to his feet, pulling her with him. "I must take you back to your friend."

"It's early," objected Jess.

"No matter." He stared down at her wildly. "I want you so much, amore, you know this. I feel such fire, such longing to possess, I have no-no confidence in my power to-" he added in frustration. "I cannot find the words." He drew in a deep, steadying breath. "Jessamy, I swear that my intention was not the same as those other men. The meal, the wine, they were merely food and drink, not a means to lure you to my bed."

"I know that now," she said disconsolately, and laid her head against his shoulder. "Lorenzo."

"Si?"

"Are you saying you're not going to make love to me until we're married?"

"If that is your wish, most certainly."

She put her arms round his lean waist and tipped her face back, shaking her head. "It's not I want you to make love to me before then. Even-even if it's not perfect between us at first."

"You confuse me with your other lovers!" he said arrogantly, and smiled. "We were meant for each other, Jessamy. How could it not be perfect?"

"It might not be. But that isn't important. I meant that by our wedding night I wanted it to be perfect," she said urgently, and saw comprehension blaze in his eyes.

"To erase bad memories? Ah, Jessamy. Amore. I am so right to think of you as my reward." Lorenzo kissed her with fierce tenderness, then drew away a little to smile into her eyes. "Now you have consented to be mine," he whispered, "very soon I shall show you just what love can be. But in the meantime-"

"You're going to take me back to Emily," she said, resigned.

He shook his head and drew her down to the deep velvet couch again. "Not yet Anna can look after your friend for at least another hour. This is a very special moment in our lives, innamorata. I need to hold you in my arms for a while."

Lorenzo began to kiss her, gently at first, with subtle kisses which moved over her eyelids and cheeks and along her jaw before coming to rest on her waiting mouth. Her lips parted eagerly, her tongue meeting his with an ardour which hurried Lorenzo's breathing. He laid her back against the velvet cushions and hung over her, looking down into her face as though watchful for any look of dissent as his hands sought her breasts, smoothing and stroking through the thin, clinging fabric. Jess gazed back, mesmerised, stirring restlessly beneath caresses she could only just bear. Then the long, skilful fingers slid beneath the neckline of her dress, and his touch on her erect, sensitive nipples took her breath away.

Lorenzo kissed her deeply, drawing her down to lie-full length against him, and Jess felt heat flood through her as she came into contact with his arousal. Feeling him hard and throbbing with explicit promise ignited something wild and new inside her, and she pulled away to reach behind her back, tugging down the zip of her dress to let it slide from her shoulders. Lorenzo breathed in sharply, pushed scraps of flesh-coloured silk aside and bent his head to her breasts, his mouth hot against her skin as he captured a diamond-hard nipple between his lips. Jess shook from head to foot as his lips, teeth and subtle, expert fingers swiftly roused her to a fever-pitch of need. She thrust her hands into his thick black hair to clutch him closer still, but after a moment or two Lorenzo sat up to strip off his shirt and crush her against his bare chest, kissing her mouth with a frenzied hunger she met with equal fire.

At long last Lorenzo lifted his dark, dishevelled head to look in her eyes. "Innamorata," he said hoarsely.

"I want you so much, Lorenzo," she gasped.

"I want you more!" He closed his eyes in anguish for a moment, then leapt up, reaching for his shirt.

Jess got to her feet, and turned her back on him to reach for her zip, silent tears sliding down her cheeks as she struggled to do up her dress.

"Let me!" Lorenzo put her hands aside gently, then stiffened and spun her round in his arms. "You are crying," he accused.

"No, I'm not," she croaked, and sniffed inelegantly.

"It is no sin to cry," he assured her, and bent to kiss the tears away. The fleeting contact was too much for either of them. In an instant their arms were straining each other close as then lips met in an engulfing kiss which vanquished any last shred of control either of them possessed. Lorenzo picked her up, his eyes wild and questioning on hers, and Jess gave him a look of such smouldering invitation he carried her from me room and set her on her feet at last beside a wide bed bathed in moonlight

"You are sure?" he demanded hoarsely.

"Utterly sure," she whispered, and shrugged the dress from her shoulders, stepping out of it as it slithered to the floor.

Lorenzo sank to his knees before her, burying his face against the satiny skin of her waist "I love you so much-I burn for you. I am not sure I can be gentle."

"I don't want you to be gentle," she said fiercely. "I just need to know."

He raised his head. "To know?"

"That I'm not frigid, or abnormal, or any of those things I've been accused of in the past-" She gasped as in one lithe movement Lorenzo leapt to his feet, swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed.

He hung over her, his eyes blazing darkly in a face rendered pale as marble by the bleaching moonlight "They were fools! You are perfect" Tears slid from me comers of her eyes again. "Darling, I wish-"

"What is it you wish, amore?"

"That there had never been anyone else."

"Forget the past!" Lorenzo licked me tears away. "You and I" he promised huskily, "will find rapture together."

And when the final barriers of clothes were gone and they lay naked in each other's arms all memory of things past was blotted out for both of them as Lorenzo kissed and caressed her into hunger as great as his own. Jess shivered and gasped as his lips and hands wrought magic so overwhelming that she could bear it no longer. She uttered a hoarse, desperate little plea and Lorenzo thrust home to make their union complete. For a moment he lay tense and still, controlling his urgency, but Jess moved in urgent invitation, and Lorenzo responded with delight, increasing the rhythm by subtle degrees, kissing and caressing her and telling her how exquisite, how beautiful she felt in his arms, before his English deserted him and he resorted to liquid Italian endearments as he took her along the path to their mutual goal. Her eyes dilated and her breathing grew ragged, and her head began to toss back and forth on the pillow. At last Jess dug desperate, demanding fingers into his shoulders, and they surged together in hot, throbbing turbulence which mounted to a final paroxysm of pulsating sensation she experienced seconds before Lorenzo let out a great gasp and surrendered to the release he'd denied himself until he felt her convulse in the ultimate pleasure beneath him.

They lay in each other's arms for a long time before Lorenzo, with deep reluctance, stirred at last. He raised his head to smile into her heavy eyes.

"So, mi amore, tell me how you feel."

Jess considered it gravely. "Triumphant," she decided at last

He let out a deep, relishing sigh, and rubbed his cheek against hers. "So you will not go away in this huff of yours?"

"No, indeed. I'm not sure I can even move."

"I do not wish you to move! But it is time I returned you to your friend."

"I wish I could stay."

He kissed her swiftly. "When we are married I shall hold you in my arms all night."

Jess stretched happily at the thought, then winced.

"What is it?" he said in alarm.

"A good thing you can't see me properly," she said gruffly. "I'm blushing."

He laughed and held her close. "Why?"

"Certain muscles unused to such activity are protesting," she said ruefully, then raised a hand to touch his cheek. "Thank you, Lorenzo. For making such magic for me."

"You are thanking me?" he said incredulously. "It was so beautiful, Jessamy, to feel your body so responsive to mine. When I brought you here tonight I did not expect such rapture."

"Before I met you I never expected it at all. Ever." Jess smiled at him radiantly, and he held her close, rubbing his cheek against hers until she asked for mercy.

"Scusi!" he said penitently. "When we are married I promise I shall shave every night before we go to bed."