Draco stirred, as uncomfortable now with his thoughts as he was with the hard ground beneath his back. He needed some distance from Blair, time to regroup his thoughts, remind himself what they had was lost.
“Come,” he said softly, stroking her short, black hair with a steady hand. “We should think about heading back.”
Blair groaned in protest but disentangled her limbs from his and slid off his body in a sensuous glide. She slipped her underwear back on and watched from under her lashes as Draco did the same. Her body hummed with satisfaction but her mind whirled with confusion.
Where did this leave them? Continuing their affair while he’d been staying in Auckland was one thing, but what had happened today changed things again. When Draco practically forced her here she would never have believed that within twenty-four hours of their arrival they’d be making love. And it had been lovemaking. He’d been so reverent, so tender with her. She knew at any time she could have called a halt to his attention, but she hadn’t wanted to.
She wanted to make love with him again. The heightened sensitivity of her skin, her breasts—nearly every molecule in her body—had made the entire experience one she ached to repeat.
She dragged her creased sundress back on and found her head scarf, which had slipped off her hair at some stage during their lovemaking. Only when she was fully clothed could she meet Draco’s eyes.
He had packed away the cooler and its contents into the back of the car, and now stood, tall and straight and endearingly handsome, looking into the distance. He turned and caught her eye. A small smile briefly twisted his lips, sending a jolt of desire through her again.
Blair scrambled to her feet and thrust them into her sandals, then picked up the blanket to give it a shake and fold it back up again. Draco took the blanket from her, his fingers lingering a moment as they grazed hers.
“We will have to do this again, before it grows too warm.”
“I’d like that,” Blair answered, holding eye contact. Trying silently to tell Draco that she’d like that and more.
He’d tucked the tails of his shirt in at the waistband of his black trousers, but the absence of buttons meant closing the edges of the fabric was impossible. Her gaze was drawn to the smooth, golden planes of his chest. Without thinking, her tongue swept her lips.
“If you keep looking at me like that, we may not get home before dark,” he said, with a note of humor in his voice.
But beneath the humor there was something else that Blair couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was almost as if he’d created some mental distance between them. She felt the distance widen as he opened the car door for her and gestured for her to get in. Once she was seated he closed the door and walked around to his side of the vehicle.
Draco barely spoke on the journey home, and as they re-entered the palazzo he made his apologies, saying he had work to attend to. Blair watched him go.
“Draco?”
He hesitated and turned to face her, his face inscrutable.
“Si?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. I will see you at dinner at eight. If you need me for anything before then, you’ll find my office extension on the list next to the phone in your room.”
Blair nodded, but her mind latched on to his expectation that she’d spend the rest of her time in her room. Banished perhaps?
She certainly needed to shower and freshen up, but she’d be darned if she was going to spend the next few hours hemmed up in her room, no matter how beautiful it was. There was plenty she could explore before meeting Draco for dinner.
After Blair had showered and changed, she went back to the ground-floor level of the palazzo and headed in what she hoped would be the direction to the kitchen. If Cristiano was there preparing for their evening meal, she wanted to see if she could lend a hand. And if she couldn’t help, maybe she could learn something that she could take back home with her.
Large glass-and-wooden doors led off a gallery and onto a wide, tiled patio, and the shine of late afternoon sun on water distracted her from her intentions to find the kitchen and instead led her outside. Topiaried orange trees and low box hedging defined a beautiful formal garden. A few yards away a large stone building squatted—an old stable by the look of it—its golden brick bathed in sunshine. Blair meandered along the pathways, intrigued by the building ahead.
As she got closer she could see inside the deep, arched windows. State-of-the-art gym equipment took possession of the carpeted floor. Here was something else she could fill her time with, she thought. She wondered if the large outdoor pool, further off to her right, was heated. Between the two, the gymnasium and the pool, at least she could keep her fitness up.