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Back Under a Dancing Star
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Laura Wood
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One: England
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Part Two: Villa di Stelle
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Part Three: Villa di Stelle
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Part Four: Florence
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Part Five: Villa Di Stelle
  41. Chapter Thirty-Three
  42. Chapter Thirty-Four
  43. Chapter Thirty-Five
  44. Chapter Thirty-Six
  45. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  46. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  47. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  48. Chapter Forty
  49. Epilogue: England
  50. Acknowledgements
  51. About the Author

Ben lets out a shaky laugh. “You’re very direct, Bea; it’s one of my favourite things about you. I just didn’t want you to feel like there was any pressure… Like I expected…”

I decide that the easiest way to halt this slightly stumbling conversation is to stop his mouth with a kiss.

“Violets,” he says a little unsteadily. “You taste like spring.”

Laughing, I pull him towards me again. He kisses me back, and his hands reach up to frame my face, cradling my jaw and pulling me closer. I’m on my knees now and so is he, our bodies pressed tightly together. My own hands rest lightly on his shoulders and as I move them to his chest I feel his heart thundering. He lowers me to the ground and I twine my arms around his neck; the kiss is desperate, tender, hungry, sweet – I never knew that a kiss could be like this, that it could be so many things all at once.

His clever fingers skim down my side resting at my hip and I shiver against him – it’s an unconscious movement, one of expectation and delight. I feel meltingly hot, as though something is burning me up from the inside out.

Finally, he breaks away from me, his face suspended over mine, his blue eyes seem almost violet now, the colour of larkspur. “Are you sure?” he asks gently. “Do you want to?”

“Yes,” I say, reaching for him, smiling against his mouth. “Please.”

Part Five: Villa Di Stelle

Part Five: Villa Di Stelle

August, 1933

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never.

– Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3

Chapter Thirty-Three

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

As we travel back to the Villa di Stelle, I know that something is different between Ben and me. The events of last night are seared on my brain, and I confess I have been quite distracted all morning. As knowledgeable as I thought I was about the mechanics of lovemaking, I could never have anticipated the torrent of emotion that came along with it. It was more than I could ever have prepared for.

“More than satisfactory,” I told Ben, as he laughed, pressing kisses against my skin.

I feel changed now, as though something has altered not just between the two of us, but in me, for ever. I just don’t know exactly how to talk to him about it. Instead, I concentrate on the scenery slipping past the window, the way the world rushes past us, each view a fleeting blur, instantly replaced by another. I smile across at him and he smiles back, my own giddy happiness reflected in his eyes.