They talked about the conference over the table at first then as the evening wore on, Sharon spoke less and less. She was feeling light headed, dreamy, a heat and excitement running through her veins.
Across the table, Bryan watched her with those hypnotic eyes while they drank their coffee.
'Liqueur?' he suggested as the wine waiter arrived with his rattling trolley of bottles.
She hastily shook her head. 'I have already drunk too much wine. I don't want a headache in the morning', she looked at her watch. 'In fact, I think that I should be on my way to bed now, we have to get up very early and there's a very crowded day ahead of us'.
On their way to the lift, she paused to look out through the main doors at the Rome night.
'It's stopped raining.What I wanted to do this afternoon was take a walk round the city, but I couldn't go out in all that rain'.
'Why not take a short stroll now?' Bryan suggested.
'It's much too late and I haven't got my jacket with me', she said. But she was drawn towards the door, tempted in spite of common sense.
'We needn't walk too far, just look down the Spanish Steps', Bryan said putting an arm around her, pushing the door open.
While she was still thinking about it, she found herself outside the hotel, in the warn autumn night. The torrential rain had washed the sky and the city clean, the air was soft and still, stars shone over the Roman rooftops and a crescent moon sailed above them.
'It's magical', she breathed, staring around her.
With the rain out, everyone had gone out to enjoy the city.
The night was full of people, walking, talking, the lights of Cafe and bars, the sound of guitars, of someone singing Italian with a throb in his throat.
'You don't want to catch a chill. Put my jacket round your shoulders', Bryan said and she looked round in surprise as she dropped his evening jacket around her.
'What about you?' she asked He looked so formidable in his black trousers and waistcoat, he had that atmosphere of arrogance, high courage, disdain. 'Aren't you cold in just her shirt- sleeves and that thin waistcoat?'
He shook his head. 'Forget it. Don't worry about me, I'm tough.Do you want to window shop? If we go down the steps, we shall see so many designer label places we could pick from'.
'Going down the steps would be fine', she said wryly. 'It's coming up again in this dress that could be a problem. The skirt's so tight'.
Bryan's dark eyes wandered slowly over her, lingering on her long smooth legs. 'That dress is dynamite', he murmured huskily and her colour deepened.
She turned away hurriedly and began to walk along the road.She did not quite know how it had happened but in her dreamy mood, her hostility got lost somehow, somewhere. David pushed to the back of her mind. She was too wrapped up in the romance of the Rome night.
Passing a dark shop doorway, she heard a movement, a sound, there was a couple standing in the shadows, a skinny boy on jeans and a girl in a brief tight skirt and pink sweater. They were passionately kissing, bodies pressed so fiercely against each other that it was hard to say where one began and the other ended.
As Sharon paused to stare, the boy's hand began to slide up into the girl's tiny skirt and she gave a little moan.
Sharon spun to walk away and cannoned into Bryan.
He had seen the couple too. He looked down at Sharon who was breathing raggedly, shivering as though she was cold.
'I...we... we'd better go back inside', she stammered, her face darkly flushed.
Bryan followed her as she headed back towards the hotel, bit as they passed another shop, he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into the doorway.
She gave a cry of protest, looking up angrily and then his mouth was on her own, hard, hot, compelling. It was almost as though he had lit a forgotten fuse inside her, she began to shake, a flame leaping through her veins, her whole body going up in fire, an explosion that left her helpless.
Her lips parted moistly under the invasion of his tongue. She felt her legs give under her and put her arms round his neck and clung to him shuddering in a reaction she couldn't stop or understand.
It was a long time since anyone had made love to her. She had buried desires, needs, hungers that she refused to feel. They had betrayed her once, she wouldn't give them another chance.
Tonight though, the wine must have loosened her inhibitions, allowing her hidden emotions to escape. The couple kissing passionately in the dark doorway had not helped matters. She had realised just what she was missing as she saw them going at it together as though their lives depended on it.
Deep within her, she felt the beat of an erotic drum.
Her fingers clenched in his hair, closed on the firm nape of his neck,moved down his back, passionately aware of the male strength of the warm body under the evening shirt, aching to touch him more intimately, unconsciously moving invitingly against him, her hips pressing closer.
Bryan gave a thick groan, his legs sliding between her thighs, his hands still hanging from her shoulders. She felt him unzip the velvet dress, it parted. Bryan's hand slid inside and caressed her back, followed the curve if her spine downwards to her buttocks, his fingers inserting themselves into the top of her tiny silk briefs.
The dark breathing absorption that they shared was suddenly broken by the sound of running feet, screams and shouting.
They fell apart, very flushed, out of breath. A teenage boy ran past the shop doorway. They saw a woman's handbag clutched in his hand.
Before Bryan and Sharon could move, a whole string of people ran past after the boys reaming angrily in Italian.
A police whistle sounded nearby, the boy dived down the Spanish Steps. The crowd followed him.
The sound of the pursuit died away from the city.
Sharon shakily did up her zip without looking at Bryan,her head averted.
All the excited heat had evaporated and she was suddenly very cold.