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Prologue

Florence,1283

The poet stood next to the bridge and watched as the young woround to a near standstill as he reantly curled brown hair

At first he didn’t recognize her She was breathtakingly beautiful, herabout her face and figure that reo They’d gone their separate ways, and he had always el, his muse, his beloved Beatrice Without her, his life had been lonely and small

Now his blessedness appeared

As she approached him with her companions, he bowed his head and body in a chivalrous salute He had no expectation that his presence would be acknowledged She was both perfect and untouchable, a brown-eyed angel dressed in resplendent white, while he was older, world-weary and wanting

She had alht of one of her slippers — a slipper that hesitated just in front of him His heart beat a furious tattoo as he waited, breathless A soft and gentle voice broke into his remembrances as she spoke to him kindly His startled eyes flew to hers For years and years he’d longed for this ined encountering her in such a serendipitous fashion

And never had he dared hope he would be greeted so sweetly

Caught off balance, he ence of a smile — a smile that was returned to him tenfold by his muse His heart swelled within him as the love he held for her multiplied and burned like an inferno in his chest

Alas, their conversation was all too brief before she declared that she must depart He bowed before her as she swept by, and then straightened to stare at her retreating forent sadness as he wondered if he’d ever see her again…

Chapter 1

“ Miss Mitchell?”

Professor Gabriel Emerson’s voice carried across the se woman as seated at the back

Lost in thought, or lost in translation, her head was down as she scribbled furiously in her notebook

Ten pairs of eyes swung to her, to her pale face and long lashes, her thin white fingers clutching a pen Then ten pairs of eyes swung back to the professor, who stood perfectly still and began to scowl His scathing demeanor contrasted sharply with the overall sye, expressive eyes, and full edly handsome, but in that mo effect of his appearance

“Aheht the woman’s attention

She glanced in surprise at the broad-shoulderednext to her He smiled and flicked his eyes to the front of the room, back to the professor

She followed his gaze slowly, looking up into a pair of angry, peering blue eyes She sed noisily

“I expect an answer to my question, Miss Mitchell If you’d care to join us ”His voice was glacial, like his eyes

The other graduate students shifted in their seats and stole furtive glances at one another Their expressions said what crawled up his ass?But they said nothing (For it is coraduate students are loath to confront their professors with respect to anything, let alone rude behavior)

The young wo into those unblinking blue eyes, her own eyes wide like a frightened rabbit

“Is English your first language?” he mocked her

A raven-haired woh, sh All eyes shifted back to the frightened rabbit, whose skin exploded into cri the professor’s gaze

“Since Miss Mitchell seee, perhaps soh to answer my question?”

The beauty to his right was only too eager She turned to face hireat detail,with her hands as she quoted Dante in his original Italian When she had finished, she saze up at the professor and sigh All that was lacking fro of her back on his leg to show that she would be his pet forever (Not that he would have appreciated the gesture)

The professor frowned almost imperceptibly at no one in particular and turned his back to write on the board The frightened rabbit blinked back tears as she continued scribbling, but mercifully she did not cry

A few minutes later, as the professor droned on and on about the conflict between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, a shtened rabbit’s Italian dictionary At first she didn’t notice it, but once again, a soft ahe erly, and glanced down at the paper

She saw it and blinked Carefully watching the back of the professor as he drew endless circles around endless Italian words, she brought the paper to her lap where she quietly unfolded it

Emerson is an ass

No one would have noticed because no one was looking at her, except for the man at her side As soon as she read those words, a different kind of flush appeared on her face, two pink clouds on the curve of her cheeks, and she sh to show teeth or what could be dih line or two, but a smile nonetheless

She raised her large eyes to the rin spread across his face