"Andrea had no idea he was visiting his parents this weekend. At least not until Isabella informed him on Thursday after lunching at the Villa Fortuna," Jess informed him, much taken by the charm of curtains and lampshades in pomegranate silk, the dark, carved furniture.

Lorenzo began to laugh. "So. My sister took delight in playing cupid. She must like you very much, canssima.

Jess turned to him with a smile. "I hope she does, but actually her main aim is to please you, Lorenzo."

He took her by the shoulders, sudden heat replacing the laughter in his eyes. "Is your aim the same, Jessamy. Do you wish to please me?"

Jess nodded mutely, astonished to find she felt shy now that they were alone in the room where they would sleep together for the first time. "And I'm going to start right now by putting some lunch together," she said, brisk in her effort to disguise it. "Isabella said she would leave instructions about food."

Lorenzo's eyes softened. "Have no fear, amore. I will not rush you straight to bed, I promise!" He put his arm round her as they went downstairs. "But I must translate Isabella's instructions for you. She speaks English very well, but to write it is beyond her."

Jess gave him a challenging look. "I hope it's not beyond you, Lorenzo, because I want lots of letters from you after I go back."

He kissed her swiftly. "I can achieve reasonable English, yes, but I trust we will not be parted long enough for me to write very many letters! I want you with me here as soon as possible."

In some ways feeling like a little girl playing house, Jess found it strangely exciting to prepare lunch for Lorenzo in such unexpected privacy. Lorenzo, reading from his sister's instructions, informed her that Isabella apologized for the simplicity of the food provided, but was sure Jess had better things to do than spend her time in cooking. In the refrigerator there was ravioli stuffed with spinach and cheese, ready to cook and serve with a butter sauce flavoured with fresh sage. For dinner there was arosto misto, which Lorenzo explained was a selection of cold roasted meat.

"Chicken, pork and spiced sausage," he reported, after inspecting a covered platter. "But we can eat out if you prefer, carissima"

Jess slanted a look at him. "Is that what you want to do?"

"No," he said forcibly. "I do not"

"That's settled, then, because I'd rather spend every possible minute alone here with you."

"Grave!" Lorenzo made an instinctive move towards her, then halted, smiling, and threw out his hands. "See how virtuous I am!"

The flushed cook smiled at him happily, then busied herself with the unfamiliar stove, while Lorenzo sliced bread and found the butter.

"I love the bread you have here," Jess told him, when they finally began on the simple, delicious meal.

"So you will be happy to live here in my country with me?" he asked, as he poured wine.

Jess smiled. "The last two words were the important bit, Lorenzo. I just want to be wherever you are."

He reached across to take her hand. "How I wish we had met sooner, Jessamy."

She nodded. "So do I. But now we have, let's celebrate the fact." She raised her glass. "To the future."

Lorenzo echoed her toast with fervour, then in response to Jess's questions about Isabella's sons began telling her about their exploits and the devilry they got up to.

"Would you like us to have a son?" Jess asked suddenly.

Lorenzo gazed at her in eloquent silence, his eyes giving her his answer. "A son or a daughter," he said at last. "Whatever God sends, amore."

They cleared away together, Jess amused by Lorenzo's very obvious lack of experience in the process, and afterwards they took their coffee to drink under an umbrella outside in the small, secluded garden.

"It's lovely here, but I prefer the Villa Fortuna," said Jess, and gave him a wry little smile. "I'll tell you a little secret I was very relieved when we first arrived there, Lorenzo."

His eyebrows rose. "Relieved? You found the journey from Firenze tiring?"

"No, I don't mean that." Jess looked down at her new ring, twisting it on her finger. "You house is so very different from my imaginings. I was afraid it would be horribly grand, with Venetian windows, and vast, high-ceilinged rooms full of tapestries and antique furniture so valuable I would be afraid to go anywhere near it."

Lorenzo chuckled. "The Villa Fortuna must have been a great disappointment, then. It is quite old, it is true, and large enough, but just a simple country house, Jessamy, not a Medici palazzo."

"Which is why I love it," she assured him. "It's so warm and welcoming. Much nicer than your apartment at the hotel."

"I shall find another apartment for us, a private one, somewhere nearby in Firenze," he promised. "I know you will not like to live in the hotel. By the time we are married I shall arrange it, carissima." He smiled into her eyes. "As I have said before, I would do anything in the world for you." He got to his feet. "Allora. Shall we take a short walk along the walls? There are good views of the city, and an occasional glimpse of a private garden like this, and when you are tired we shall stop to eat ice cream. You cannot leave Lucca without tasting some of the local gelati."

Jess was delighted with the idea. The afternoon was hot, but her dark blue lawn dress was cool, and her feet were comfortable in the matching flat sandals. Lorenzo insisted she borrow a large straw hat Isabella wore in the garden, and found Jess looked so irresistible in it he promptly removed it so that he could kiss her, and Jess kissed him back, filled with a sudden desire to capture the moment and never let it go. And later, as they walked hand in hand through the double avenue of trees, she felt a fierce sense of possession when the man at her side attracted glances of open feminine admiration as they walked.

"What are you thinking, Jessamy?" asked Lorenzo.

"You might grow conceited if I tell you," she said, smiling demurely.

"Are you by any chance thinking that it is good to be here with me like this?"

"Yes, I am." Jess smiled at him under the hat-brim. "Do you want to know why it's so good?"

Lorenzo laughed, his grasp tightening on her hand. "Tell me!"

"Because you belong to me. And I belong to you."

He stopped dead to look down at her, sudden colour in his face. "You have a habit of choosing public places to say such things, amore."

They gazed at each other, oblivious of passers-by, in their absorption neither of them noticing the storm clouds beginning to gather. Suddenly it began to rain, and Lorenzo grinned, his teeth white in his dark face. He seized her hand and began to run back the way they'd come. People were running in all directions around them, there were screams as lightning flashed with a simultaneous crack of thunder, and Jess let out an excited laugh as the heavens opened in earnest, drenching them both in seconds. She ran like the wind with Lorenzo as they raced back along the ramparts, and by the time they reached the Moretti house she was panting and hot, but utterly exhilarated, her eyes glowing beneath the sodden hat-brim. Lorenzo pulled her inside and shut the door, then tossed the wrecked hat aside and pulled her into his arms to relieve her of what breath she had left by kissing her so passionately the effect of their headlong race through the storm, coupled with their utter and complete privacy in the silent house, set them both alight.

Lorenzo tore his mouth away at last and picked her up, and Jess wreathed her arms round his neck, kissing his taut, wet throat as he mounted the stairs to the guest room. The moment they were inside he set her on her feet and pulled her hard against him.

"You should have a hot bath," he panted as he drew her into the bathroom, and Jess reached behind her back for her zip with fingers too unsteady for the task.

"Help me," she said tersely, and Lorenzo spun her round, pulled the zip down and lifted her clear of the sodden dress. Jess began on Lorenzo's shirt, but he was before her, so impatient that shirt buttons went in all directions. Jess stripped herself of her wet underwear and the moment Lorenzo was equally naked he took her in his arms. Their bodies clung together, hot and wet and so taut with need that there was no more talk of a bath. Instead Lorenzo flung a large towel on the floor and they sank on it together, both of them so aroused they bodies fused without preliminaries of any kind, the savagery of the storm outside equalled by the frenzy of their lovemaking as they surged together towards the climax which broke over them at last like a tidal wave.

"I hurt you?" demanded Lorenzo hoarsely, when he had breath enough to speak.

Jess shook her head vehemently. "No." She heaved in a deep, quivering breath. "I had no idea it could be like that."

"I was too rough, too violent?"

"No." Jess looked up into his searching eyes, trying to find the right words. "It was-glorious!"

Lorenzo gave out a deep, relishing sigh, and pulled her up with him as he got to his feet. "I love you so much, Jessamy."

"I love you too, Signor Forii," she returned, smiling mischievously. "What shall we do now?"

"We take a shower-"

"And after that?"