The Angel of Soriano: A Renaissance Romance Read Free

no?” She backed away and pointed to the hole in the wall behind Saint Stephen.
    His strong arm slipped around her waist, leading her, guiding her. Would he do the same as he introduced her to the ways of sin?
    “Wait.” She quickly lit the candle, not ready to be alone in the dark with this man.
    Once inside the small cave behind Saint Stephen, she pulled the handle until the door slammed shut. Then she found the courage to ask, “Why? Why risk your life for me?”
    “You truly don’t know?” He sat down between the two walls and patted his lap, as if she might dare sit there.
    Am I ready to give up my virginity to him?
    Her guardian angel cautioned. Don’t go near him. Stand right here and lean against the holy church wall. This time she ignored the little voice in her head because after tonight, she’d never be allowed to step foot inside Rome. Probably never outside some fortress. And she’d never again see this brave, albeit foolhardy, Spaniard.
    He stretched out his long legs with hands behind his head. His elbows opened wide, tips touching the walls on either side. “Is there any other exit from here? Are we safe?”
    Safe? From him? Not hardly.
    Pointing into the wide overhead chimney, she held the candle high. “That’s the only other way out. It leads to the roof. If you jump to the next one, it’s only a small climb down to an alley behind the bakery.”
    “You know this, how?” His mouth dropped open.
    “I’ve done it.”
    He skewed his face as if he didn’t believe her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me. How did you find out about this place?”
    Her face heated at the memory. “Quite by accident, I assure you. The first time I hid here, I stood behind the altar. Then I saw a priest pull on the lever, enter with a woman and then come out again, not long after.”
    There were no words to explain how the woman’s lips were swollen and her look of ecstasy as the priest fondled her breasts.
    “I see.” Carvajal smiled, no doubt understanding what she’d left unsaid.
    She gasped. No matter what the conversation, it seemed to lead to sex.
    His kind smile, however, showed little indication he was about to take advantage. “Sit and talk to me. Who are you? Why did your father say you’re dim-witted when obviously you’re not?”
    She shrugged and stared at the flickering shadows on the walls. It’d take all night to explain the complexity. “It’s the safest way to help my father, the doctor.”
    Her answer made his mouth purse down and his tone changed to incredulous. “Surely he can manage without your aide? You’re way too beautiful to be let out into the world with men like Borgia waiting and wanting to...Well waiting. Why does your mother allow it?”
    The lie came easily after all these years. In truth, the woman was dead to her, or rather the other way around. “She’s long gone.”
    “Ah. Scuse. My apologies.” He shook his head, with a bit of pity in his eyes that made a few tears well up in her own.
    “It’s nothing.”
    But the man’s interrogation knew no end. “So how do you come to be in Rome? Your speech is learned and you’re obviously of noble birth.”
    “When Cardinal Nardini died, my family fell out of favor in Naples and my father and I came north.”
    She rested the side of her face against the stones and the wall cooled her heated cheeks. Would that she could go back in time before that fateful day. As always, she took a silent moment to curse her great-uncle to rot in hell for eternity.
    Carvajal tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in another question, albeit unasked.
    “You truly are meddlesome, signore. Fine. I will tell you more. The great and pious man was my great uncle and he left everything he owned to holy mother church. My father was forced to find work or we would starve. Thank goodness he was a learned doctor.”
    “But he can’t find a male assistant?”
    “I wish.” She sighed, wondering how much she should unburden but