‘I thought you were never going to come. I’ve been pacing out the back for the longest half hour of my life.’
She pulled back and looked up at him, smiling against his mouth as he kissed her. What on earth was he doing here?
‘You could have just called and asked me for dinner,’ she said, shaking her head as he guided her back to her seat. ‘Or told me that you were coming to London. Why didn’t you just, I mean…’ She was lost for words.
‘That would have ruined the surprise,’ he said, and she noticed then that his cheeks were flushed, that something was different about him. She also realised that Sam hadn’t come back.
‘Why are you in London, Luca?’ she asked, her excitement turning to suspicion as she looked around for her friend. ‘And how did you?—’
Luca’s smile melted her heart, but when he pulled out her chair and asked her to sit, she forgot all about interrogating him. He cleared his throat and stood on the spot, not moving around to the other seat.
‘What are you—’ she began, before her voice died in her throat as she watched him go down on one knee.
‘Georgia Montano, I’ve never believed in love at first sight, but as soon as I met you, I knew you were special,’ he said,reaching for her hand and linking their fingers as he spoke. ‘My father said to me many years ago that I would know when I met the woman I was supposed to marry. He said that when I met someone I couldn’t live without, I would know without question, and Georgia, I know. I know that I don’t want to live without you. I know that I’d be making the biggest mistake of my life if I let you go. I know that the last few weeks without you have been the most miserable weeks of my life.’
Georgia clutched tightly to his fingers, her breathing shallow as she digested his words.This can’t be happening. Her heart began to pound as she watched him, as he searched her eyes for the longest of moments.
‘What are you saying, Luca?’
‘Georgia,’ Luca finally said, letting go of her hand to reach into his pocket. He produced a little blue velvet box, and when he opened it she saw an enormous, oval-shaped pink stone surrounded by diamonds. ‘Will you marry me?’
She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t speak, the words evaporating in her throat as she stared at the ring looking back at her.
‘I know your life is in London and mine is in Geneva, but I don’t want that to be why we’re not together. Is that really reason enough to live our lives apart?’
Georgia closed her eyes and when she opened them, she saw the way Luca was looking at her, knew how much he meant the words he was saying. And she believed them, because she felt the same.
‘Georgia,’ he whispered, taking the ring from the box, which he put back in his pocket, the ring in his other hand. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, as he slid it onto her finger. ‘Yes, Luca,yesa hundred times over.Yes.’
She looked from the ring to Luca and back again.What just happened?
‘How did…I mean, when…’ She laughed. ‘How did you plan all this?’
Luca stood and pulled her up with him, taking her face in his hands with such tenderness as he gently kissed her, not answering her question with words. It was like their first kiss all over again, as if everything was new, every part of her body alive as his lips moved against hers.
‘I take it she said yes?’
A familiar voice made her pull away from Luca.Sam. Of course, Sam was in on it all. Dragging her out of the flat, telling her she had to get dressed up for a special event—only Sam could ensure she was perfectly prepared and yet also completely taken by surprise at the same time.
‘I thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other?’ Georgia said, trying her hardest to look cross, but finding it impossible to wipe the smile from her face.
‘I thought this was one secret you wouldn’t mind me keeping from you,’ Sam said, before opening her arms wide and embracing both of them. ‘You make a gorgeous couple. Congratulations.’
‘Merci, Sam,’ Luca said, and Georgia watched as he kissed her friend’s cheeks. ‘I trust we can become great friends.’
Sam looked like she was swooning, a hand to her heart as she leaned in and whispered, ‘If only you could see the way this man looks at you. He’s divine, absolutely divine.’
Georgia blushed. Therewassomething different about the way Luca looked at her; she’d felt it from the very first moment she’d met him. It was the first time in her life she’d felt as if the man she was with genuinely couldn’t take his eyes off her, that a pretty girl walking past couldn’t turn his head because he wasn’t even looking.
‘Luca, I know this is supposed to be a romantic dinner for two, but since Sam is here…’
She stopped talking abruptly when she saw Luca and Sam exchange glances, and she knew then that there was more going on than just an unexpected meeting.
‘What? Why are you looking at each other like that?’
‘Because, my love,’ Luca said, drawing her close again and dropping a familiar kiss to the top of her head. ‘I invited your family to join us. We have the rest of our lives to be just the two of us.’
