Chapter 5

"Oh, my God," Charley gasped in skin-quivering consternation.

They weren’t even dancing any longer! And he was looking down at her with one of those dreadful mocking smiles tugging at the corners of his mouth!

Dropping her eyes to his throat, Charley wished with all her pounding heart that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.

"I’m so sorry!" She whispered, stepping back from him so violently that she almost went over on the spindly heels of her shoes.

"In truth, I was rather flattered by the compliment." His hand snaked out to steady her. Fortunately, I sensed it coming, which is why we are now standing outside on the terrace away from curious eyes...

Outside—? Glancing dizzily around her, sure enough, Charley discovered that they were indeed standing on a shadowy terrace she had not even known was here! The realization hit as to how engrossed she must have been in him that he’d been able to maneuver her through a pair of open French windows out into the cooler evening air without her even being aware!

Once again she took a shaky step backwards—right out of his reach this time—and thankfully managed to remain safely upright. The music still droned somewhere in the near distance. Mortification riddled her blood. She wanted to die, and she couldn’t look at him—she didn't know what to say in her own defense!

And he was so relaxed, his hips resting against a heavy stone balustrade, his arms lightly folded across his wide chest, and she had the sickly feeling he was thoroughly—thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Blame the wine," he offered gently.

Charley nodded, pathetically grateful for the miserable excuse.

"I’m not used to drinking so much."

"No," he agreed.

‘And Estelio—’

"He was constantly filling up your glass."

She hadn’t been going to say that, but hearing him say it brought her eyes flickering up to his face. ‘He wasn’t!’ She protested, then swallowed and added helplessly, "Was he?"

"Poor Charlotte," the cool brute murmured. "Caught by the oldest trick in the book,"

Then she remembered what she had been doing with him, and she dragged her eyes away from him to wave a decidedly uncoordinated hand towards the French doors.

"I think I should..."

"Go back inside to him so he can intoxicate you some more?"

‘No.’ The waving fingers tightened into a fist and dropped to her side. "You have a very nasty sense of humor, signor."

"And you, signorina, have a very moist tongue and a warm, soft pair of lips."

That was it; Charley couldn’t take any more of this; he’d had enough fun at her expense. She spun on her heel and turned towards the doors.

"What are the two of you doing alone out here?" A new voice suddenly intruded.

And nothing, in all of her twenty-two years, had ever made Charley feel as bad as she felt then, when her friend—her beautiful, happily in love, loyal best friend—stepped through those same French doors.

"Your maid of honor was feeling the heat," Dami responded evenly. "She needed to breathe some fresh air."

Barely holding herself together, Charley felt her insides squirm with guilt and shame when Adelina looked at her and said, "Are you okay, sweetie?" with genuine concern. "Dio, you do look flushed, Charley."

"Blame your cousin," Dami suggested. "He is the one who’s been topping up her wineglass all evening."

‘Estelio? Oh, the wicked boy. And I told him to take care of you for me... She floated across the terrace to place a comforting arm across Charley’s shoulders. "With your sternly temperate papa, you’re just not used to late nights and partying, are you, cara?" In fact, you are not used to drinking alcohol at all!

"My father isn’t that bad," Charley mumbled, feeling more uncomfortable by the second.

"No, he’s worse," Adelina said curtly, doing nothing to hide her dislike of Charley’s father, the man she still blamed for breaking up her love affair with Charles two years ago. "I’m still surprised that he actually allowed you to come here knowing you would have to enjoy yourself!" I even had to provide you with clothes so you were not forced to turn out in those terrible modest sacks he prefers you to wear!

Wanting to curl up inside her own skin now at this small piece of insensitivity, Charley wondered helplessly if this was punishment for what she’d been doing with Adelina’s man.

Surprisingly, it was Dami De Santis who came to her defense. "That’s enough, cara," he said to Adelina. "Modesty is not a sin." "And your friend has a headache," he offered up. "Hearing you chatter on about things she would rather not discuss in front of me is making it worse."

"Oh, sorry, Charley." "I'm such a mean-mouthed thing," Adelina said contritely. "Tell you what, why don’t I take you back to the hotel?" We could both do with an early night, and Dami won’t mind, will you, Caro?

This could only get worse if a rat jumped over the balustrade and told Adelina the full, gruesome truth about why her best friend was out here with her man, Charley thought as she suffered Adelina’s contrition with a lump in her throat that was threatening to turn into tears.

"Of course not," the smooth-voiced man himself agreed.

‘N-no—really.’ She was almost consumed by self-hate: "I can’t let you leave your own party." Estelio said he would be going soon to catch up on his jet lag. I’ll—I’ll go back to the hotel with him.

"No, I won’t hear of it," her wretched best friend said firmly. And Estelio can come back with us so I can tell him off for getting you sloshed. Dami will organize a car.

Dutifully, Dami De Santis straightened out of his relaxed pose against the balustrade. Charley cringed inside and refused to look at him as he strode past them to go inside.

She should confess; she needed to confess—but how could she? Adelina would be shocked. She might never forgive her. Their friendship would be over for good.

But what if Dami told her first? What if he thought it would make an amusing story to relay to his betrothed? How was she ever going to live with it if he did?

They were about to step into the limo when Dami touched Charley’s arm. "Don’t do it, she will never forgive you," he warned so softly that only she could hear him, shocking her further by suggesting that he could read her mind. "And if you have any sense, you will steer clear of Estelio Alonzo," he added grimly.

Then he turned to his fiancée to offer her a brief kiss good-night.