Page 49 of Incognito

She’d worried about losing the family business being her fault.

And now this.

In the grand scheme of things, her interlude with Dante should mean nothing. She should be able to move on, forget him, chalk up her foolish crush to a woman whose self esteem had taken a battering and she’d fallen for the next nice guy to smile her way.

However, what she’d shared with Dante hadn’t been nothing. It had been something. A big something that kept her awake at night dreaming the impossible dream.

“You know I’m right,” Gina said, her tone surprisingly gentle. “Go see him.”

She needed answers.

She needed closure.

She needed some sort of reassurance that what they’d shared hadn’t been entirely in her imagination.

If her self esteem had been butchered by Clay, it would be nothing on the realisation that she’d conjured up some imaginary bond with Dante to soothe her weary soul.

How pathetic could she be?

Gina flung her hands in the air with typical Italian flamboyance. “You’re in love with him.”

Natasha stared at Gina in open-mouthed shock. “What?”

“You heard me.”

Yeah, she heard, and apart from being stunned by the words themselves, she couldn’t believe a woman she barely knew, a woman who had warned her off falling for her brother, had uttered them.

“You don’t know anything about me,” Natasha said, covering her discomfort with a fake chuckle. “And I must say, coming hot on the heels of you warning me off Dante, it sounds rather hilarious, not to mention presumptuous.”

Gina reached out as if to grab her hand and Natasha scuttled back, wondering if her day—her week—could get any crazier. “I’m sorry for what I said to you at Paolo’s party. I love my brother and I’m protective of him. He has a hard life and I didn’t want it to get harder if he fell for the wrong woman.” She shook her head. “I can see I’m too late.”

“There is nothing between Dante and me.” Natasha kept her voice steady with extreme effort, trying to project enough force without knocking the other woman down. Besides, what did she mean the wrong woman?

This had to stop. She didn’t have to listen to this.

“I think you should leave.”

Her harsh tone should’ve convinced Gina to leave her alone but it didn’t work. She merely stood there with a sorrowful expression on her expertly made up face. Damn it, the woman had a hide like a rhinoceros.

“Deny it all you like. I know my brother, and I can see it in your eyes. You cannot hide it.” Gina stared her down. “Well? Are you in love with him?”

She couldn’t love Dante.

She may be many things but she wasn’t a complete fool. Falling in love with a bad boy would be crazy, falling in love with a prince from the other side of the planet insane.

He had a country to run, a wife in the wings waiting for him back home. She couldn’t interfere with that even if she did love him.

An image of Dante, with his too-long hair, dark stubble, and sexy smile, trussed up like she’d seen him in his online photo and standing next to a princess bride, flashed into her mind. Another Dante altogether, a fake Dante, a Dante who wasn’t hers.

Spots swam before her eyes and she gulped for air, hating the constricting band tightening around her chest leaving her breathless and woozy.

That’s when it hit her.

She didn’t want a prince in a fancy suit. She wantedherDante, the guy she knew, the guy she’d fallen for, and she wanted him all for herself.

She loved him.

Heart and soul.

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