Lucianna by Bertrice Small

for I much enjoy walking with you along the river, and in the parks. I will miss you, if you will permit me to say it.”
    “Will you give me your permission to come back?” he asked, seriously.
    “Will you come back, Roberto?”
    “For you, Lucianna, aye. I will come back,” he said.
    “Then I shall wait for you, my lord,” she responded with a smile.
    “You must, however, give me something by which to remember you,
cara
,” he said to her. And leaning forward in his chair, he pulled her towards him, and kissed her.
    Lucianna’s head spun. The kiss was not a gentle or quick kiss. It deepened with each moment he held her, and something stirred within Lucianna, and suddenly flared, causing her to feel heat suffusing her entire body. To her surprise, she shivered. His kiss softened before he took his lips from hers, but he still held her gently.
    “That was your first real kiss, wasn’t it?” he asked.
    Briefly speechless, she nodded, finally saying, “Alfredo’s lips never touched mine but once, briefly, the day we wed. He always kissed me on the cheek, or the forehead, or my hand.”
    “Then I certainly have something very special to remember you by until I return, Lucianna. I am honored, sweetheart.”
    It was the first time he had ever used such a serious endearment. Lucianna felt a thrill race through her. Then she said teasingly, “If that is the art of kissing I shall have to attempt to experience more of it.”
    “No!”
he said fiercely, and then, softening his tone, continued. “You must not encourage other men to kiss you, Lucianna, lest you tarnish your reputation. You do not want the gossips suggesting that you are loose in your behavior.”
    “No,” she agreed meekly with him, “of course not, Roberto.” But even as inexperienced as she was in the romantic relationships between men and women, Lucianna knew his explanation wasn’t the full truth. “I shall be very mindful of my behavior while you are away,” she promised him. Certainly a man did not kiss a woman like that unless he had some tender feeling for her.
    He took his leave of her then, this time depositing a gentle kiss on her cheek. She watched him go, and then with a sigh she closed her front door, turning at the sound of Balia’s voice.
    “He is gone then for good,” her serving woman said.
    “No, he has promised to return,” Lucianna said. “I hope he will.”
    “Sometimes gentlemen make promises they intend to keep at the time they make them, but then they do not,” Balia told the young woman. “I hope you will not be disappointed, mistress.”
    “He will not disappoint me,” Lucianna replied firmly.

Chapter 4

    S he missed his company, but Lucianna quickly found herself bombarded by bouquets sent by admiring gentlemen pleading for her company. They would join her at the Mass without her invitation, and she sent them away, complaining to the priest at San Piero of their intrusion into her devotions.
    “But,
Signora
Allibatore,” he said to her, “did you not allow the English gentleman to join you?”
    “After he first requested my company weeks ago, I explained to him I was in mourning for my husband and would not entertain the idea of such a thing until my mourning was completed. He graciously accepted my words, and he asked again once my mourning for Alfredo had concluded. As he was a good customer of my father’s, I considered it would be proper to permit his company at the Mass. Now that Lord Lisle is gone, these bold fellows think they may have my company easily, without my permission, Padre, and they cannot.”
    “I understand,” the priest said immediately, but then he added, “Of course, some of them might be interested in courting you,
signora
.”
    “They are far more interested in the fortune my dear husband left me,” Lucianna said candidly to the cleric, “and you know it to be so. I am not yet ready to socialize, except with my family. My mother will advise me if I decide I should like to