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She said nothing, but he felt her relax against him.

“The suite has another surprise, but I’ll show you that later,” Slash said. “What do you want first? Nap, food or shower?”

She turned in his arms. “I want you, Slash. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

He leaned over and trailed kisses along her cheek until his mouth grazed the curve of her jaw and rested there. She leaned into him, a perfect fit of mind and body. Her fingers lightly touched the stubble on his cheeks.

When had he shaved last?

“Tu me manques,” he murmured, slipping his hands under her T-shirt and flattening his palms against her back. Her skin was warm and soft.

“That didn’t sound like Italian,” she said, pressing tighter against him.

“It’s French. The French don’t say ‘I miss you.’ They say ‘tu me manques,’which means ‘you are missing from me.’ That’s what it feels like when you’re not with me. A part of me is missing. Thebestpart of me. The last time we were in Italy together, we weren’t dating yet, although I was already in love with you.”

She lifted her head, smiling tiredly. “Well, we’re together and in love now. And, you know the saying, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do...’”

He pressed his lips against her temple and left them there, smiling against her skin. “Ah, but unfortunately, we’re in Genoa not Rome.”

“No worries. I’ll make a geographic exception for you.”

He laughed, the tightly coiled tension of so many days releasing. “Oh,cara, how I adore you.”

“Ti amo, Slash,” she murmured.

“Sei la mia vita,” he whispered against her cheek before he reached around her and pulled the curtain closed. “Come to bed, my love. We’ll sort everything out after a nap.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Cardinal Jacopo Lazo

“We’ve got a new development.” Father Koenhein stood by the door. “His fiancée has arrived in Italy. She was spotted in Genoa, talking to Father Armando.”

Jacopo looked up from the document he was reviewing on his computer screen. “Well, isn’t that interesting? We’ll have to see how he plays that. Do we have a transcript of their conversation?”

“We do not.”

“Why not?”

“They did not stay in his office, but went outside to the garden.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Also unfortunate is we’ve lost our surveillance capability at Cardinal Armando’s home. It’s no longer working.”

He didn’t like what that implied. “That can’t be a coincidence. He must know.”

“I don’t think so, Your Eminence. I believe it to be a malfunction. He’s neither removed nor reported the one in his office. I have someone working on replacing the one in his home now.”

Jacopo thought for a moment. He didn’t like the fact that they had gaps in surveillance. “When did we lose contact at Father Armando’s apartment?”

“Shortly after Slash arrived to speak with him. So, we heard nothing of their conversation.”

Jacopo gritted his teeth. Was he the only intelligent one in a sea of idiots? It couldn’t have been sheer coincidence that the bug stopped working just as Slash arrived. Yet, Father Armando had not reported it, nor had he found or removed the one in his office. Why? Was there a purpose, a strategy for that? Disinformation? A lure? He had strategies in place if the bugs were found, so he wasn’t worried about that, but if Slash had found them, why hadn’t he done anything about it? He’d have to think that through, but for now, he had other pressing matters with which to deal.

“Where’s the fiancée now?” he asked.

Father Koenhein straightened his two guests’ chairs. “I presume still in Genoa. We weren’t expecting her, so she got away before we could put a tail on her. We’re not sure where she is at this point, but we’ll find her.”