Scheming Heart (Available on Amazon Kindle)

Chapter 20

ALFONSO

"Stop pacing my office, will you? I am starting to get dizzy just by watching you." Luca grumbled while he was looking with such irritation in his steel-grey eyes.

I stopped walking and stared at him. "I need your help."

The duke sighed deeply. He sat on his leather chair and stared at me with amused eyes. "So you keep on telling me, my friend. Remind me again how do you need my help?"

I eyed him with irritation. I knew that it was not a good idea to visit him in his office here room this early. Maybe his brain wasn't working yet since he just got back from Amalfi in the wee hours of the morning and then he went straight to his office. I rolled my eyes at him. "As I said, it's about my relationship with Claudia."

"You mean your pretend courtship?" Luca reminded me harshly.

"Yes," I answered tautly. "Thank you for reminding me, Your Excellency."

The annoying duke just smile at my sarcasm while regarding me with those judging eyes of his. "So what's bothering you with this pretend courtship, amico?"

I took a deep breath as I took the chair opposite his wooden table. "The thing is," I looked away when I couldn't stand his intense gaze on me. "Lately I feel something different about her."

"What do you mean?"

I rubbed my nape warily. I focused my attention on anything other than my friend's face. "You see, lately when she's with me I forget the time and I can only think of her and nothing else. Her face, her smiles, her unique scent, and so on. I am not like this before it seems that I am always aware of her and what she does."

There was complete silence inside Luca's office. For a moment, I thought he vanished in thin air. I glanced at him only to see that he was staring at me with a strange smile on his face.

"What?" I asked defensively.

The smile on his face broadened. "You seriously don't know why you're acting like that, Orsini?"

I scowled at him darkly. "If I have, do you think I would bother asking you? That's why I came here so I can talk to you about this."

Luca placed his hand over his mouth to stop his laughter. "Oh my God. I think you are in deep trouble, amico."

"What makes you say that?" My eyebrows drew together.

The way this man was smiling at me made me feel that he's as if enjoying some private joke for my benefit. The frown on my face deepened. "Tell me, Alfonso, was there a time when you were in her company your heart starts to beat erratically for no reason?"

"Yes," I answered reluctantly, recalling the instances that I have experienced such things. "There were those times lately. Is there something wrong with my heart then?"

The duke chuckled, his eyes danced with deviltry. "Well, it depends on how you will see it. I think you're the only one who can answer that."

"What's wrong with me then?"

Luca shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing. It's just that I think you're already in love with the lady."

My eyes narrowed in his direction as I shifted in my seat. "What? Who is in love with who again? I think I didn't hear you correctly, Luca."

The duke smiled sympathetically at me. "I know that it's hard to believe now but that's the only reason I can think of your current dilemma with Signorina Claudia."