The Ultimate Romance Box (6 Bestselling Romance Novels)

by Eckhart, Lorhainne

"I don't know much about it, that's all. Where do you have to go to sing?"

  He threaded his fingers through the hair at her temple, smoothed the strands back behind her ear. "When I leave here I must go to New York. I am performing La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera House in two weeks' time. I need to rehearse."

  "America!" Maria bit her lip. She had feared that whatever he did would take him far away, but she hadn't expected it to be that far. "Will you come back to England afterwards?"

  Dino's gaze slid into the distance and he sighed. "After New York, I have concert dates throughout North America before I return to Europe. Then I will spend a week with my family for my mamma's fiftieth birthday. I have not seen them for many months. I miss them."

  A cold fist of disappointment gripped Maria's heart. She'd hoped he might visit her the next time he had a vacation, but she understood him wanting to be with his family. Maybe he would never come back to Cornwall. "After that?" she prompted.

  "Ah, Maria, Maria. I have a busy schedule. I have to go to Roma, Paris, Madrid, London, and many more cities." He gestured in frustration. "I do not remember all the places or the order in which I visit them."

  Maria leaned her cheek against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart and blinked away the tears threatening to fall. Dino didn't have time for her in his life. If he ever settled in one place, it was unlikely to be in the rural depths of Cornwall. Dino leaned down and whispered in her ear: "Would you like to visit America, Maria?"

  Memories of her time in Austria cascaded through her mind and ended with the awful final night she'd spent there. One of the drunken men who'd forced his way into her bedroom had been American. "No. I couldn't." Just the thought of leaving the safety of home again made her heart race in panic. "I'm going to run the Crow's Nest when Mum and Dad retire. It's all arranged." She hoped to have a husband at her side to help. But that husband obviously wouldn't be Dino. She'd known all along he was not the right sort of man for her, yet in her heart of hearts, she'd still hoped.

  Unbearable pressure filled her chest. She had to distract herself, shake off this awful feeling of loss. He hadn't gone yet. She pulled away from him, grabbed the remote control, and changed the TV to a dance-music channel. "Let's practice the salsa for tomorrow night."

  Dino blinked at her, looking bewildered, then seemed to compose himself and smiled. "Of course, tesoro, of course. We will make sure tomorrow night at the hop is a night to remember."

  Chapter Five

  Maria carried trays of finger food she had prepared for the hop out to her car and laid them on the back seat. Dino brought a bag with four cans of lager and a bottle of wine. He held it up questioningly.

  "We have to take our own booze as the village hall doesn't have a license to sell alcohol," Maria explained.

  He wore stylish black trousers, a blue shirt, and his leather jacket as he didn't have sixties clothes. Maria had donned the yellow cotton dress with a full skirt and tight bodice she had picked up for the occasion. Her hair was in a high ponytail secured with the spotty ponytail holder she had bought in Mevagissey.

  As she locked the front door, Dino pulled a corsage from behind his back. "Oh, Dino, thank you." She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, her heart racing, ticking off the dwindling seconds they had left together. She wanted to ask him if he would come back to see her, but she couldn't summon the courage. If he said no, she might just fall apart. And she couldn't do that right before the fundraiser. She pulled herself together and stepped back, holding out her arm for him to attach the flowers around her wrist. "This is lovely, but a bit fancy for the village hall."

  "You look beautiful, Maria." Dino's dark gaze glided over her appreciatively.

  "Thank you." Did he really mean that? Effusive compliments fell from Dino's lips all the time. Traveling as much as he did, he must meet lots of beautiful women. In a few months, he might barely remember their time together. The thought cut through her like a knife. She turned away and tripped over her own feet.

  Dino caught her arm. "Are you all right, tesoro?"

  "Yes, fine." She tried to smile and thought she managed convincingly. "I'm just clumsy." They climbed in her car. Dino sat beside her, his long legs crammed in the tight space. It was lucky they only had a few hundred yards to drive to the village hall. Together they unloaded the food and drink, and Dino followed her inside.

  Philip was busy organizing people to set up tables and chairs around the walls. Maria left the food in the small kitchen and introduced Dino as a friend. Philip shook his hand and slapped him on the back. "You've arrived just in time, Dino, mate. Help me set up the tables, will you?"

  Maria and Philip's wife, Millie, spread tablecloths on the trestle tables as they were erected, and laid out the buffet along one wall while other helpers fetched chairs from the store. Richard, the errant committee member who had been responsible for the music, turned up armed with a sixties compilation CD after all and checked that the hall's sound system worked.

  Maria fished out the Dirty Dancing CD from her bag and clasped it to her chest, reluctant to hand it over. This was the music she and Dino had danced to, a little piece of her private time with him that would live on in her memory and her heart forever. She wasn't sure she wanted to share the songs with anyone else. With a sharp breath of irritation at herself, she passed the disc over. "Something else to add to the playlist."

  Richard turned it over and scanned the list of tracks. "Okay, Maria. Looks good. I'll put this on first. There are some lively ones on here to get everyone warmed up."

  Maria watched Dino chatting with people, his hands dancing elegantly through the air as he communicated with his body as much as with his words. The terrible feeling of loss crowded in on her, the darkness waiting to engulf her little pool of happiness. She had only hours left with him...hours. Her throat tightened and she swallowed. There was no point being miserable. She must enjoy this final evening.

  Chris bustled in, late as usual, and dumped a plate of sandwiches and four mammoth bags of potato chips on a table. "Sorry I didn't get around to cooking." She indicated Maria's plates of finger food. "I knew you'd do us proud, though."

  Chris's friend, Tina, who had loaned Maria the Dirty Dancing CD, came in behind her with a bottle of wine in each hand. "Where's this boyfriend of yours I've been hearing so much about, Mari?"

  "Over there." Chris pointed across the room. Maria's cheeks flamed as the people nearby all turned to look.

  "Golly! He's a bit of all right." Tina eyed Maria with new respect. "If he turned up on my doorstep, I'd probably let him in, as well."

  Maria took Chris's arm and pulled her aside. "Who have you told about Dino? I'm introducing him as a friend. I'd rather people didn't know he's staying at the Nest."

  "Only Eric and Tina."

  "Well don't tell anyone else, especially not Mum and Dad. I'm going to pretend I had an old college friend to stay so I don't have to charge Dino for his room."

  Chris's eyebrows shot up. "What about the grocery bill you must have run up?"

  "He's more than paid his way by helping me with the decorating," Maria retorted. And she couldn't imagine asking Dino for money now they were friends.

  "Hmm." Chris looked skeptical. "I hope he appreciates you, Mari. That's all I can say."

  Maria was saved from having to answer when the speakers crackled and burst into life with the strains of "Be My Baby," the first track on the Dirty Dancing CD. Maria glanced at the clock amazed to find it was eight already. The doors had opened.

  People started coming in, and the place quickly filled. Dino eased through the crowd to her side and clasped her hand. "Are you ready to show off your skill on the dance floor, tesoro?"

  Nobody else was dancing yet. Maria didn't want to be first, especially as it would attract attention to the fact she had Dino with her. "Let's eat now."

  They loaded their plastic plates and chatted with Chris and Eric while they ate. Chris pulled a bottle of vodka out of her
purse and sloshed a generous amount into Maria's lemonade. "To oil the wheels," she said under her breath.

  Maria eyed her cup. She rarely drank spirits, but it might give her enough courage to get up on the dance floor and make a fool of herself.

  After she finished the cupful, she felt hot, flushed, and a little giggly. "Will you hide in the corner and waste all our dancing practice?" Dino teased her.

  "Course not! I'm ready now." She dumped her plate on a table. Dino set down his can of lager before helping her to her feet. His warm hands engulfed hers, and his laughing brown gaze caught and held hers as he backed onto the dance floor, drawing her with him. He moved so gracefully compared to the other men, as if he had muscles in places they didn't.

  He leaned closer and cupped her cheek in his palm, pressing his mouth to her ear. "Now, my beautiful partner, we will show them how it is done." She laughed, all tingly from his breath on her skin, and fell into the now familiar steps of the salsa. As she twirled for the first time, Chris and Tina clapped and hooted. "You are a success, I think," Dino shouted over the music.

  After a few songs, Chris shimmied across to them and tried to copy the dance steps. By now, she had obviously had a few too many spiked lemonades. She grabbed one of Dino's hands away from Maria. "Teach me, delicious Dino," she shouted over the music in a bad Italian accent.

  Dino cast a questioning glance at Maria. She smiled her assent and released his hand. "Good luck," she mouthed. He led Chris and she stumbled through the steps, giggling.

  Eric came up behind Maria and put his hands on her shoulders. "Sorry about this," he said. Maria just smiled and danced with Eric for a while beside Chris and Dino, hoping her sister wasn't going to do anything too embarrassing.

  A slow song started. Dino passed Chris back to her husband, turned to Maria, and drew her into his arms. She flattened her palms on his chest, feeling his muscles move beneath his shirt, and pressed her face into the hollow of his neck. The spicy fragrance of his shower gel reminded her of the first few times she had cleaned his room, before she had gotten to know him, before she had fallen for him. She would never be able to enter room twelve again without remembering Dino. Her chest tightened, and she squeezed her eyes closed.

  "Maria, tesoro," he whispered in her ear. Then he continued whispering in Italian, his voice low, soft, seductive. She melted inside. Being with him was equal parts bliss and torture when she knew he was about to leave.

  The slow song ended and the tempo increased again. She eased away from him. "I need a break, Dino. Let's sit this one out." The combination of the alcohol and the other bodies on the dance floor had made her hot. She needed to get outside, get some fresh air. She headed for the door, Dino behind her. The cool sea breeze hit her like a wakeup slap on the cheeks. Her senses sharpened, her ears ringing from the loud music.

  "Are you all right?"

  She fanned her face. "I'm too hot. Let's stay outside for a few minutes." The noise and the crush of people were suddenly too much. She wanted Dino to herself for a while.

  Hand in hand, they wandered across the car park and down the lane to a wooden bench on the edge of the road. She sat and Dino followed suit. From this high up the hill, the view stretched over the cottage roofs. The full moon hung above the sea, painting a golden streak across the rippling water like a living watercolor. "So beautiful," Dino said softly.

  "Yes, it is." Maria turned to smile at him, but he wasn't looking at the view. He was staring at her.

  His hand lifted to stroke her cheek. "Maria," he whispered her name in his sexy accent, the sound rolling through her like a caress. "I will miss you so much, tesoro. I cannot bear to think of it."

  A little burst of hope filled her. "Come back and see me again, Dino. You must have some free time."

  He dredged up a sigh from the depths of his chest and stared out to sea. "I do not know when I'll have the chance. My manager keeps my schedule full. I didn't even make it home at Christmas."

  Dino pressed a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes as if his thoughts hurt. "After New York, I will be on tour," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "A few days in each city, then I move on. It is not much of a life, tesoro. Not for me, and not for you, I think."

  The hope trickled away and left Maria empty and aching inside. Even if she enjoyed traveling, she couldn't live out of a suitcase. She wanted Dino to stay here. But when she tried to visualize him running the Crow's Nest with her, she couldn't. He might have helped her decorate and move furniture, but she had known right from the start that this life was not for him.

  They sat silently staring out to sea for what felt like an eternity. Maria's emotions had hardened to a frigid lump in her chest. A hopeless emptiness filled her. She shivered in the wind, goose bumps popping up on her skin. Dino put his arm around her and pulled her towards his warmth. She clutched his shirt and buried her face against his chest.

  "Maria, amore mio." His hand smoothed over her hair, soothing, gentling. She couldn't bear to lose him. Should she take a chance and go with him? Her parents would be back in a few days to look after the Crow's Nest. But what would she do while he was busy? She'd be left alone in hotels all over the world, knowing nobody, sometimes unable to speak the languages. It would be a million times worse than her trip to Austria. The thought terrified her.

  She had known from the start that Dino was wrong for her and still fallen in love with him. How foolish. But if she had the chance to do it all again, she wouldn't change a moment of their time together. At least she knew what it was like to fall in love. He would live on in her heart forever.

  Maria raised her head. The moonlight limned Dino's features, glinted in his dark eyes, transformed him into a mysterious man of shadow and light. Tonight was her last chance to make love to him. She snuggled closer and kissed him. Tonight she wouldn't take no for an answer.

  ***

  Dino had fought to control his desire for Maria, told himself he was doing the right thing. But as she kissed him, turning his blood to fire, he struggled to hold his resolve. He returned her kiss, her body soft, warm, and yielding in his arms. Leaving her would be the most difficult thing he had ever done. She had helped him overcome the pain of losing his son, yet in coming here, he had exchanged one pain for another, that of losing her.

  Maria shivered and he held her closer. "You're cold, tesoro. We should go home." She didn't resist as he helped her to her feet. They walked back to the village hall, his arm around her shoulders to keep her warm. Maria retrieved her bag from inside the hall. They climbed into her car and drove the short distance home.

  She clung to his hand as they walked up the path. He took the key from her and opened the front door. They entered the hall and she turned into his arms, pressing her face against his neck. "Don't go, Dino. I want you to stay with me."

  "Maria, amore mio, I wish I could." Dino held her tight, kissed her hair, and for the umpteenth time wished his life could be different. They stood like that for ages, the only sound the clock ticking in the dining room. She shivered in his arms, her light yellow dress not warm enough for the time of year. "Come," he said, leading her towards the stairs.

  When they reached the first landing, she held on to him as if scared he would leave her. He'd only been up to the private top floor where she and her parents lived once, but now he took her elbow and led her up the stairs. At the top, he guided her to her bedroom and opened the door. Her room was much like her, pretty, but not overly fussy. "Get ready for bed," he said. "I will make you a hot drink to warm you up."

  As he turned to leave, she gripped his hand and pulled him back. "I want you to warm me up."

  Dino leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, a battle raging inside him. It would be so easy to forget his principles and give way to desire. But it wasn't fair to her. "I should not. You know I must leave tomorrow."

  "Dino, I want you. This is our last chance."

  ***

  Maria wrapped her arms around Dino's neck
and stood on her toes to kiss him. She pressed her body against the hard planes of his, putting every scrap of love and yearning into the kiss. He resisted for a moment, then his arms enfolded her and pulled her close as he answered her passion with his own.

  Together, they moved towards the bed. She shoved his jacket off his shoulders and her hands fumbled at his shirt buttons in her eagerness. He solved the problem by yanking the garment off over his head. Her hands explored his warm skin, stroked across his back, his shoulders, glided down over his chest and flat stomach. He was so beautiful, so perfect. And for tonight he was hers.

  Dino pulled down the zipper on the back of her dress and she wriggled it down over her hips and let it drop. He took a step away, grasping her fingers, his gaze devouring her. "Maria, amore, you are my dream come to life."

  His fingers grazed down her sides and he grasped her hips, drew her closer, and trailed kisses from her shoulder to the top of her breasts. She cupped his head between her hands, pressed a kiss to the springy black waves of his hair. They settled on the bed and she worked on his belt, heat flooding through her, everything about him filling her senses.

  He shucked his trousers and rid her of her underwear. She floated on the sensation of his skilled lips and hands caressing her body, drawing murmurs of pleasure from her, the blissful sensation of his naked skin sliding against hers. She had imagined making love with him many nights, but her imagination hadn't even come close to reality.

  Dino whispered to her in Italian as he stroked and kissed her. The words meant nothing to her, but the beautiful cadence of his voice brushed across her senses, heightening her pleasure. He fished his wallet from his jacket pocket and she watched as he protected himself.

  He leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her lips. "You are sure?"

  "If you stop now, I might have to kill you."

  He laughed, a low sensuous rumble and moved over her, the wonderful weight of his body pressing her into the mattress.

  She hung on tightly to him as he slid inside her, wrapped her legs around him, wishing she could keep him here forever and never let him go. She loved this man, loved him so much it hurt. She couldn't lose him. For Dino, she would try to overcome her fear of traveling. Then the hot, melting sensation washed away all coherent thoughts.