Lottie pulled away from the hypnotic grasp and matched his glare. “I’m afraid I can, actually. I didn’t wander off and end up here by accident. I’ve let this house for the next year.”

Alec’s eyes went nearly black as he leaned closer. It was impossible not to notice how much larger he was now. “Then I hope your landlord will honor a refund. As it stands, you have been traveling unaccompanied in a foreign country for over a week. Did you not consider what would happen when you deserted your chaperone while staying in a pension that is extremely popular with British tourists? Did you actually think your disappearance would go unnoticed?”

His tone remained cold while only the barest hint of color stained his cheeks. It appeared that Alec had finally learned to control his temper. However, after insinuating that she was both remarkably inane and grossly incompetent, Lottie saw no need to bother with civilities.

“What kind of a fool do you take me for?” she seethed. “The whole point was for them to notice.”

By running away in such a dramatic fashion, Lottie had hoped to create a scandal so irresistible that it would be written about before the day was out. Those letters would then reach the finest drawing rooms in London before spreading even further with the relentless drive of the most potent plague until her ruination was achieved. And if the letters didn’t do the trick, Lottie had every faith that Mrs. Wetherby herself would make sure word spread. The older woman had her own reputation to maintain, but no one would blame her if a willful young lady ran off with an Italian.

It would be the scandal of the season, if not the year. Lottie was counting on it.

Alec stared as if she was a stranger. “You mean you…you wanted to be ruined?”

Lottie lifted her chin. Proud. Defiant. And entirely unrepentant. “I’d be very disappointed to learn otherwise, Mr. Gresham.”

Finally he was seeing her, really seeing her for the first time; now he would know how strong she was, how determined, how capable.

“Oh, Lottie,” Alec sighed, as if in deep pain, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What have you done?”

Chapter Two

The heart-stopping relief that came over Alec when he stepped out onto the terrace and saw Lottie standing there, the picture of health—and alone—was entirely too short-lived.

He had forgotten so many things, like the exact shade of her hair or the dimple on her left cheek that came out only when she laughed. He had also forgotten how damned stubborn she could be.

And how disarmingly alluring it was.

Over the years, in the rare moments when Alec dared to picture her, it was only as the girl he had first met: the sweet, seven-year-old orphan afraid of the dark who insisted she had an invisible pony named Buckles. Even earlier, while he was traipsing up this godforsaken hill, he was determined to prove that everyone else was mistaken. Lottie hadn’t run off with anyone. No, she had merely wanted to visit the little medieval village where her late parents spent their honeymoon and hadn’t even considered the havoc her little folly would cause.