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One

Amalfi, Italy

H er last few days in paradise…so hts, so little ti here…in a bar…wasting her valuable ti the will to hike or to tour one er?

Oh,with him

It was late July and warh not nearly as warlass of chardonnay and sipped tooa few drops on her chin and neck Quickly she dabbed at the dribbles with her napkin

Her lengthy list of cathedrals and the notes she’d written about the Greek ruins fell to the floor She didn’t bother to pick thelance at the tall, dark stranger leaning against the bar across the room

Who had said, “I can resist anything but temptation?”

Theto his short, plump friend and lifted his bottle of beer in a mock salute to her

Oh, ain!

He took a slow, long pull froasped Involuntarily, her hand with the napkin went to her mouth and then to the hollow of her throat, where her pulse was racing

The heat of her own fingertipshands and his lips upon her flesh She began to perspire, so she fanned herself with the damp napkin

Then, realizing what she was doing, Regina seized the ornate golden cross around her neck and held on for dear life She’d bought the necklace from Illusions, an opulent shop she’d discovered tucked away in an alley of char Ravello near her hotel

Sightseeing and shopping were her hobbies; not barhopping, not flirting with strange n lands

Run!

The ardenia in her hair Before she could stop herself, she grazed the velvet petals with a stray fingertip

Do not touch, signorina, or the petals will turn brown

Regina picked up her caitated, her hands flew to her lap, where she clasped the

She looked up again, straight at her Adonis Was it only her iination, or did his blue eyes blaze with the same intensity as the sapphire Gulf of Salerno behind him? Was she the cause of all that fire?