The Italian's Seduction (1 of 2 free samples)

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COPYRIGHT
The Italian's Seduction by Karen van der Zee. Copyright 2005 by Karen van der Zee.
All Rights Reserved. Sharing not permitted.

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THE ITALIAN'S SEDUCTION

Karen van der Zee


CHAPTER ONE

HE WAS drop-dead gorgeous. Tall, dark and handsome. Charli smiled at the cliché, forgetting for a moment the burden of her troubles as she watched the man guiding the sailboat towards the dock.

Strong, square shoulders. A lean body that moved with confidence and grace. Thick black hair, sexily wind-blown and rakishly long. Yes, definitely, very good-looking. And, going by the fancy boat, probably plenty rich as well.

He might be exactly what she needed.

The August sun here on the Italian coast was still bright and hot in the late afternoon and Charli squinted a little to see him better. Thirtyish, she guessed. Dark glasses obscured his eyes. She watched as he tossed the line onto the dock, then lithely jumped from the boat to loop it expertly around the cleat, his tall body athletic and easy on the eyes. White shorts and a blue T-shirt showed off muscular legs and arms that were nicely tanned. She felt an annoying little thrill of feminine awareness at all that male splendor and tried to ignore it. This was not the time for romantic fantasies.

She was in trouble and she didn't care about how handsome he was, or how rich, or how fancy his boat. What mattered was that these attributes together probably spelled a certain sophistication that included a command of the English language. And, more than anything else right now, what she needed was someone who spoke English.

Alone in a foreign country, lost and clueless, Charli sat on a wooden bench in the marina, contemplating the fact that this was no way to start a new life. Or at least a New Chapter in her life. Being clueless was against all the rules on the list she had made for herself.

In this New Chapter of her life she was going to be on her own, all by her happy own self, and she was going to do exactly what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. No one to answer to, no one to please, and no one's orders to follow.

The freedom was going to be glorious. And the best part of it--so she'd told herself--was that she was going to get started with this adventure in sunny Italy.

And now here she was, lost, helpless, clueless. Also sunglasses-less. They'd fallen as she'd struggled out of the train from Naples dragging her luggage. And then she'd stepped on them with a fatal crunch, almost losing her balance as she'd tried to side-step them. Not a good omen, if you wanted to think about it that way.

She did not want to think about it that way.

It had been just an accident, that was all. She'd buy herself a new pair tomorrow.

I told you it was a bad idea to go to Italy on your own. She could almost hear Rick's voice in her head. Very annoying. The Rick Chapter was over and there was no room for him in the New Chapter, which was definitively Rickless, and perhaps even reckless.

"You don't even speak the language," he'd said. "You don't know what that apartment looks like. It might be a rat-infested medieval dump! You're not being sensible, Charli!"

"It will be an adventure!" she'd said, not allowing herself to be scared off. She'd smiled bravely, fluffed her newly-cut short curls and offered him a careless sassy smile.

He had not been amused, and for days afterwards had pestered her with his objections and then practically ordered her not to go. Ordered her, mind you.

That was when she'd decided enough was enough and had told him their relationship was over. She couldn't stand his controlling, overbearing attitude any longer. That had been a month ago and it was the best decision she had ever made, even if it had scared her to death to turn her calm, comfortable life upside down.

And here she was in sunny Italy and her adventure to live on her own was now truly starting, be it not in the most auspicious way. She'd felt so brave, so courageous, but now, feeling hot, tired and lost, it was hard to feel heroic.

She'd arrived at the train station two hours ago, had waited for an entire hour for Signor Bernardini to pick her up and take her to the apartment, and no one had come. Well, never mind Mr. Bernardini, she'd thought, she'd find the place herself. She had the address, so how hard could it be? It was right here in the historic center of this small town, not far from the railroad station according to the map they'd sent her. Maybe he was waiting for her there. She'd spotted a car rental place across from the station and had got herself a small box on wheels, thrown her luggage in it and followed the directions she'd been given.

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