“I knew the day would come, Stefano. I felt it. You were never really mine. But then, I was never really yours. It was always a fleeting thing between us. I do not have time for a man in my life.”

“Not even Lindhaven?” Steve’s mocking reminder of her most faithful protector made her shrug.

“He accepts me as I am, and makes no demands upon me. I am free with him.”

“He’s the kind of man you need in your life.”

“Yes.” She gazed at him with a faint smile. “You and I, we learned not to give too much of ourselves. Lindhaven is willing to settle for little. But I think perhaps you have given all this time. There is a difference in you, Stefano. Is it because you are a father now?”

“Partially.” He released her hand, and she put it behind her, leaning back against the dressing table scattered with bottles of perfume and face powder, waiting. “Mostly because of Ginny. She’s gone through a lot. Some of it is my fault, some of it’s hers, but we’ve both realized that we need each other. Hell, we love each other.”

“So, it is true. She is a lucky woman to have you.”

He walked to the back door with her on his arm, and stood just inside. “Your performance begins soon. Go back inside, ’Cesca.”

Genuine tears sparkled in her eyes, and she kissed him, a long, passionate farewell kiss.

“Ciao, mi amore.”

He had gone only a few steps when he heard her behind him again. She flung her arms around him, heedless of her costume. “I will never forget you, my banditti!”

Steve kissed her again. “Try not to make Lindhaven’s life miserable, cara.”

Half laughing, half sobbing, she took a step back. “And for you, Stefano, I wish much happiness.”

Ginny tied the sash of her dressing gown around her waist. Still damp from a long, soothing bath, she looked into the long mirror tilted on a stand by the tub. No sign of the bruises remained on her body. All traces of her recent ordeal were gone, except that Steve was right—she was too thin. Now her eyes looked too large for her face, and there were hollows beneath her high cheekbones.

The silk dressing gown she had purchased in a dress shop upon their arrival in San Antonio clung to her damp curves, drifted around her legs as she walked to the window to pull down the shade. Sunlight poured into the room in broad swathes that made her eyes narrow against it as she fumbled with the shade. To her irritation, it snapped loose from her hands, spinning up around the wooden roller with a brisk hum. She reached for the cord to pull it down again, but paused suddenly as a glitter caught her eye.