The palazzo was on three levels. Flagstones in the reception hall with a massive stone staircase. Cassian had shown her into rooms with terrazzo floors, massive windows, frescoes on the walls dating from the eighteenth century.
It had all the period features with the comforts of modernity. There was a male housekeeper called Domino who Lili had greeted, still feeling a little like an imposter.
She was in her bedroom suite now with a stylist from a boutique in Milan with a selection of dresses. Cassian had gone to his board meeting.
The stylist was saying, ‘I think this blue would look amazing with your eyes, why don’t you put it on and I’ll help you do it up.’
The friendly woman was being so suspiciously hands off that Lili wondered if Cassian had said anything to her. But she dutifully went into the lavish en suite of her bedroom and shimmied out of her jeans and top and into the dress. She had to take off her bra because it was strapless and had a sweetheart neckline. She was holding this up to her chest when she went back out and the stylist did up the zip at the back, winching in Lili’s waist and pushing her breasts up.
She looked at herself in the mirror, eyes wide. ‘I can’t wear this.’ Her breasts looked so…provocative. And her waist was tiny. Since when had it been small? And her hips, so wide. There was a slit on one side, showing the length of one pale thigh.
Her upper chest, shoulders and arms felt very bare. Because they were.
‘Nonsense,’ the stylist said. ‘You look fantastic. It could have been made especially for you. It’s sexy and modern and you have the figure for it.’
The stylist stood back and looked at her and then said, ‘Have you ever considered a fringe? I think it would really suit you.’
Lili looked at her and said honestly, ‘I haven’t considered much about my looks at all to be honest.’
‘I used to be a hairdresser, can I try something?’
Lili shrugged and let the stylist help her back out of the dress and into a robe. They went into the bathroom and the woman put Lili on a stool and started working on her hair. It didn’t take long. Then she stood back and said, ‘Look.’
Lili stood up. She didn’t recognise herself. She now had a long, choppy fringe that together with the layers in her hair made her look much younger and somehow…cooler. Edgy. Modern. She looked like a different person. Like the woman she was becoming. Emerging from the shadows.
‘Do you like it?’ asked the stylist, sounding a little worried now.
Lili turned her head from side to side. ‘I think I…love it.’ She felt emotional. ‘Thank you.’
‘Good!’ The stylist looked at her watch and said, ‘I’ll go and pick up those things we need and be back in time to get you ready, okay?’
Lili nodded.
She sat back down on the stool feeling a little stunned. Just who was she becoming?The woman you were always meant to be.Ridiculously, Lili had to blink to get rid of the stinging in her eyes.
CHAPTER NINE
CASSIAN LOOKED AThis watch. He was down in the reception hall waiting for Lili. She wasn’t late but he was unaccountably nervous. When no woman had ever made him nervous, not even his first lover.
The stylist had just left, saying enigmatically, ‘She’ll be down shortly. Wait till you see her, Signore Corti.’
He heard a sound and looked up and nearly had a heart attack. Lili was on the top step in a silk midnight-blue dress that seemed to be glued to every curve of her body.
She started coming down the stairs, holding onto the wrought iron banister but all he could see was the toned length of thigh showing through the slit in her dress. And then, up, to where the swells of her breasts looked like they were ready to spill into his hands. Plump and luscious.
Her hair was down, long and lustrous. Falling behind her shoulders. Casual but very sexy.
Like her mouth, a glossy colour just darker than her own lips. Her skin looked dewy. Eyes huge and very blue. Lashes long and dark, peeping out from behind… He frowned and managed to ask, ‘Is something different?’
She touched her hair and he noticed the self-consciousness. ‘I got a fringe…do you like it?’
Did he like it?She looked all at once younger and more mysterious and sexier than anyone he’d ever seen in his life. She was going to kill him.
‘I think it’s lovely,’ he said a little inanely, not quite able to put how he really felt into words. He’d always taken for granted feeling confident around women but now he felt like a bumbling teenager.
‘We should go, or we’ll be late.’
They went out to where Cassian’s chauffeur was waiting for them and got into the back of the car. Lili’s scent was evocative and Cassian realised it reminded him of the wild roses at Villa Corti. He noticed she was wearing a simple diamond necklace and matching stud earrings and a bracelet. And she wore the wedding rings.
