it.
‘What time do you want me?’ Alex was asking her huskily. Beth stared at him, involuntarily licking her suddenly dry lips. ‘After breakfast...about nine?’ he was adding.
He meant what time did she want him to meet her in the morning, Beth realised. For one moment she had actually thought...
After Beth had left him Alex did not leave the hotel straight away. Instead he walked over to the gift shop, thoughtfully studying the lustres that Beth had admired.
In some ways the glass reminded him of Beth. Like her it was delicate, and yet surprisingly resilient. Like her its purity and beauty made one catch one’s breath, inspired and moved the human soul. Beth certainly inspired and moved his soul, not to mention certain far less ethereal parts of his body, he reflected ruefully. He had never known himself to be so dangerously at the mercy of his own emotions.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was in Prague. Perhaps being here released a hitherto unsuspected and very deeply emotional part of his personality, enabled him, empowered him to react instinctively and immediately to those emotions instead of behaving with caution and logic as he would have done at home. Classic symptoms of a holiday romance? Alex grimaced to himself. In many ways he wished that were the case, but he knew himself too well to accept such a definition of his feelings.
Love at first sight.
How did you account for the unexpectedness of such feelings? How did you evaluate or analyse them? You couldn’t...you simply had to acknowledge that they were too strong, too powerful, too overwhelming for mere mortal logic to deal with.
Beth.
Bethany...
Alex closed his eyes, trying to blot out how the sound of her name as it left his lips would make a possessive male litany of love and desire against her skin as he held and caressed her. In the morning light her skin would be as flawless and perfect as the crystal teardrops on the lustres.
No. This was no mere holiday romance, no mere giving in to the mood and magic of the city, even if Prague was a city that was a part of his heritage and his blood. Perhaps the intensity, the impetuosity driving him on now was a previously unfamiliar part of the British side of his personality.
Perhaps if he was honest he was a little bemused by what was happening to him. Bemused, but still instinctively and automatically convinced that his love was the love of his lifetime, a love that would last a lifetime.
Convincing Beth, though, he suspected, was not going to be easy. She was suspicious of him, and perhaps rightly so, and he could see, oh, so clearly, how much her outward antagonism towards him, her animosity, masked an inner fragility and fear. Somehow he would find a way to show her that she had no need of those protective barriers against him. Somehow he would find a way...
* * *
After Alex had gone—unexpectedly without asking her to pay him for the day—Beth went upstairs to her room, intending to spend the rest of the evening there. But once she had bathed and eaten she suddenly got an unexpected surge of energy. From her bedroom window she had an excellent view of the river. The sky had cleared and was now washed with a tempting evening palette of colours; soft blue, pale yellow and a heavenly indescribable silvery pink.
Down below her in the square she could see people strolling around, or sitting at the pavement cafés.
She was, she reminded herself, here to enjoy herself, and to explore Prague and its historical beauty, as well as on a buying trip.
Before she could change her mind she dressed in comfortably casual chinos and a soft shirt and, picking up her jacket and bag, made her way down to the hotel foyer.
Her guidebook had an excellent street map; she could hardly get lost. Wenceslas Square was her ultimate destination. It featured largely in all the articles she had read about the city and, to judge from the photographs, with good reason.
As she walked in the
‘What time do you want me?’ Alex was asking her huskily. Beth stared at him, involuntarily licking her suddenly dry lips. ‘After breakfast...about nine?’ he was adding.
He meant what time did she want him to meet her in the morning, Beth realised. For one moment she had actually thought...
After Beth had left him Alex did not leave the hotel straight away. Instead he walked over to the gift shop, thoughtfully studying the lustres that Beth had admired.
In some ways the glass reminded him of Beth. Like her it was delicate, and yet surprisingly resilient. Like her its purity and beauty made one catch one’s breath, inspired and moved the human soul. Beth certainly inspired and moved his soul, not to mention certain far less ethereal parts of his body, he reflected ruefully. He had never known himself to be so dangerously at the mercy of his own emotions.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was in Prague. Perhaps being here released a hitherto unsuspected and very deeply emotional part of his personality, enabled him, empowered him to react instinctively and immediately to those emotions instead of behaving with caution and logic as he would have done at home. Classic symptoms of a holiday romance? Alex grimaced to himself. In many ways he wished that were the case, but he knew himself too well to accept such a definition of his feelings.
Love at first sight.
How did you account for the unexpectedness of such feelings? How did you evaluate or analyse them? You couldn’t...you simply had to acknowledge that they were too strong, too powerful, too overwhelming for mere mortal logic to deal with.
Beth.
Bethany...
Alex closed his eyes, trying to blot out how the sound of her name as it left his lips would make a possessive male litany of love and desire against her skin as he held and caressed her. In the morning light her skin would be as flawless and perfect as the crystal teardrops on the lustres.
No. This was no mere holiday romance, no mere giving in to the mood and magic of the city, even if Prague was a city that was a part of his heritage and his blood. Perhaps the intensity, the impetuosity driving him on now was a previously unfamiliar part of the British side of his personality.
Perhaps if he was honest he was a little bemused by what was happening to him. Bemused, but still instinctively and automatically convinced that his love was the love of his lifetime, a love that would last a lifetime.
Convincing Beth, though, he suspected, was not going to be easy. She was suspicious of him, and perhaps rightly so, and he could see, oh, so clearly, how much her outward antagonism towards him, her animosity, masked an inner fragility and fear. Somehow he would find a way to show her that she had no need of those protective barriers against him. Somehow he would find a way...
* * *
After Alex had gone—unexpectedly without asking her to pay him for the day—Beth went upstairs to her room, intending to spend the rest of the evening there. But once she had bathed and eaten she suddenly got an unexpected surge of energy. From her bedroom window she had an excellent view of the river. The sky had cleared and was now washed with a tempting evening palette of colours; soft blue, pale yellow and a heavenly indescribable silvery pink.
Down below her in the square she could see people strolling around, or sitting at the pavement cafés.
She was, she reminded herself, here to enjoy herself, and to explore Prague and its historical beauty, as well as on a buying trip.
Before she could change her mind she dressed in comfortably casual chinos and a soft shirt and, picking up her jacket and bag, made her way down to the hotel foyer.
Her guidebook had an excellent street map; she could hardly get lost. Wenceslas Square was her ultimate destination. It featured largely in all the articles she had read about the city and, to judge from the photographs, with good reason.
As she walked in the
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