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tonight it helped.
    Helped to close her eyes and pretend that this was forever, made it easier to imagine that the arms that were holding her tonight would still be there tomorrow, that this sensual, complicated man could be hers to love always.
    Feasting on the delicacies, dancing to the music, laughing softly at private jokes, lost in their own world, they made the most beautiful couple. Alisa, demure yet somehow bold, brave enough to make small talk with dignitaries. For the first time Benito questioned the impossible.
    Could he have her, not as his lover or mistress, but as his wife?
    For the first time in his shallow existence, Benito wasn’t thinking about himself, or his royal duty or whether his family could accept her. Holding her in his arms, feeling her heart flutter against his chest, feeling her so delicate but so strong beneath his fingers…Benito was thinking about her.
    If this stubborn, fiery, proud woman could actually accept him.
    â€œI need to talk with you about our arrangement.” Benito said.
    â€œI thought we would be too busy for talking?”
    â€œAlisa, don’t…” His eyes implored her to listen, his arms wrapped around her as they danced. “I am the same—one night is not enough for me.”
    The pause between dances was suddenly welcome. Tears flashing in her eyes, Alisa walked off a touch too quickly.
    â€œYou do not walk away from me!” Benito met her at the edge of the dance floor as she accepted a glass of champagne.
    â€œI’ll try to remember my place,” Alisa snapped. “But you’ll have to remind me where it is, Benito. Am I supposed to be making your bed or lying in it?”
    â€œDon’t talk like a tart!”
    â€œBut that’s what you make me!” Her face was white beneath her makeup. “You dictate the terms, you tell me how much you are prepared to give and I am supposed to demurely accept—”
    â€œBenito! Come sta ?” Prince Luca Fierezza, a pretty blonde thing on his arm, either didn’t notice or didn’t care that his cousin was clearly having words with his date—no doubt it was par for the course with this pair.
    â€œSignora Moretti, I am sorry to intrude,” Giovanni, one of the waiters, a man Alisa had worked alongside for years, was wooden and formal now when he approached her, as unsure of her new status as Alisa was.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Giovanni?” Alisa asked.
    â€œThere is a call for you…” He gave a small cough, and Alisa’s world stopped when she saw his expression. “It is your neighbor calling from the hospital. She knows she should not disturb you tonight—she says she is aware how important it is that you stay—but she thinks it is only right that you know. Marietta has just been hospitalized.”
    Alisa’s only thought was to get to her.
    It didn’t matter that she was at a grand ball; it didn’t matter that this was her ticket to a better future.
    Without Marietta there was no future.
    The last piece of her family, the one person she had in the world, was ill and scared and needed her.
    As Alisa fled out of the ballroom, for a moment it did enter her head to tell Benito where she was going, but what was the point?
    His face blurred as she dashed past. She could see him talking with Luca—two rogues, two playboys, together. What did they care about the real world? Benito wanted her body, not her problems.
    He’d made that perfectly clear.
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    â€œShe seems upset!” Luca drawled as Alisa ran from the ballroom. “Very careless, Benito. Usually you wait till morning to tell them it is finished.”
    â€œI was trying to tell her otherwise.” Benito took a deep breath. “Unfortunately for me, I choose to fall in love with the one woman in Niroli who fails to be impressed with my title.”
    â€œShe will soon come around.” Luca shrugged. “Being a prince’s mistress