‘You might be on to something, Gianni. Running the gauntlet of your beautiful office staff without having had time to take a shower, change my clothes and put on a bit of make-up was a real challenge!’
‘There’s nothing wrong with the way you look.’ His eyes roamed over her body, giving weight to his words.
‘They seemed to think so,’ she said nervously. ‘That’s why they rolled this out for me.’ She pointed at the carpet protector. Once again he chuckled.
‘Don’t take it personally. It’s done for every visit from a member of my outdoor staff. As well as my own vineyard, I’ve inherited olive and citrus plantations and any number of farms. A lot of it would end up in here, scattered all over my office floor if they didn’t take precautions like that.’
‘Your indoor staff aren’t like the people who work in the grounds,’ Meg said, still stinging from the scornful looks she had been given.
‘My domestic staff are all fine, but it’s a jungle out there.’ He nodded towards the outer room before adding quickly, ‘But don’t worry—you’re of absolutely no interest to my office staff. They don’t see
you
as any sort of threat at all.’
Meg wasn’t remotely reassured.
‘Is that supposed to cheer me up?’ she asked faintly.
‘Of course. Now—to business. How are you getting on here, Megan? I’ve been meaning to check up on you for the past few days, but no sooner do I spot you in the garden than you vanish. That’s why I’ve called you in here. I want to talk to you properly.’
‘And I wanted to do the same, Gianni,’ Meg said before she could stop herself. He was interested straight away.
‘That sounds promising. Take a seat.’ He indicated a
deeply buttoned visitor’s chair drawn up before his workstation.
To reach it she would have to step off the carpet protector. He saw her glance from one to the other and back again, and laughed.
‘Don’t bother about the floor. I never normally give my cleaning staff anything to do. Your little footprints won’t kill them.’
She walked over and sat down in the chair. Elbows on his desk, Gianni leaned forward, his grin growing predatory. After all her fantasies, all the hours spent wondering what to say and how to act the next time they met, Meg froze again. Her wild confession might turn out to have been a fatal mistake. If he tried anything now, she could put up no resistance. Trembling, she waited for his next move. Forcing herself to sit back in her chair, she looked down at her hands. They were twisting nervously in her lap.
‘While I’ve got the opportunity, Gianni, I’d like to ask if you could possibly—that is, if you don’t mind—if there’s some way…if perhaps you could be a bit quieter when you return from your nights out?’ She finished in a rush, crimson with embarrassment. Cringing at the way she had told Gianni everything about her night-time vigils, she waited for him to laugh.
All she heard was the sound of him sitting back in his chair. There was an agonisingly long pause. And then he said distantly, ‘I’ve been thinking about that since the moment you mentioned it. You’re the first person to say I’ve woken them up. Nobody else has ever complained.’
Meg tried to make a joke of it. ‘Perhaps they’re afraid of you!’
‘And you aren’t?’ He sounded curious, rather than cross.
Meg risked glancing up. He looked calm enough, and his beautiful eyes were dark with questions.
‘I-I’ll have to think about that,’ Meg said eventually. It was true. Gianni Bellini could be terrifying. He could also be warm and funny, but Meg wasn’t sure how deep or genuine any of his emotions were.
‘Don’t take too long making up your mind, will you?’
She heard the laughter in his voice and couldn’t resist looking up again. Gianni smiled at her over his clasped hands.
‘So I’ve been costing you your beauty sleep, have I? If it’s any consolation, it’s impossible to tell. Nobody would ever know. Have you thought that, while you’re watching me, you could be in bed, getting more rest?’
‘There’s no point at that time in the morning. I don’t bother. I might as well get up, do some paperwork and then go out to work.’
‘I know,’ he said, quite unrepentant. ‘By the time I’m stripped and ready for bed, you’re out and about, heading for the gardens.’
She frowned at him quizzically. ‘How do you know that?’
All he did was smile as he waited for Meg to work out what he meant. It didn’t take long. The footpath from her cottage to the old kitchen gardens passed straight along one side of the villa. His suite must overlook her route. Meg had a sudden, delicious vision of him standing stark naked on the balcony of his bedroom, watching her. At any time over the past days she might have glanced up and caught sight of him in all his glory. But she hadn’t. Her shift from puzzlement to disappointment must have been obvious. Gianni responded with a slow, teasing smile that filled her mind with all sorts of possibilities.
‘Don’t worry. Now I am Count, I shall be partying less and entertaining here at the villa a lot more. You won’t be troubled by me during the night too often in the future,’ he said with sly humour, as though he knew she always would be. ‘I’ll be too busy working—and your job is another reason I’ve asked you here. Something you said on the day you arrived stuck in my mind. I got my staff to check you out, Miss Megan Imsey. Did you ever tell my father you were so grand and so well qualified you turned down a job with the English royal family?’
‘No! I’d never say a thing like that, even if it was true!’ Meg flapped her hands in embarrassment. ‘I didn’t turn them down—I couldn’t take the job. There’s a difference. My father had his heart attack the day after I was offered the position. I’d already accepted, but couldn’t take it up. My parents needed me, and all the help I could give them. I knew there would always be another job beyond the palace gardens, but my mum and dad are the only family I’ve got. People are more important than careers.’
He ignored her. ‘I’ve decided you’re wasted here, Megan.’
The breath caught in her throat. What could he mean?
‘That title, Curator of Exotic Plants, confines you in those glass prisons behind the ten-foot-high walls of my kitchen garden. I want to set you free, Megan. You’re going to take on the role of my Head Gardener, here at the Villa Castelfino. If you live up to my very high expectations, there could well be a promotion to Coordinator of Horticulture for all my properties—Barbados, Diamond Isle, Manhattan, and the rest.’
Meg could hardly take it in. Gianni was speaking so casually, and yet the job he was talking about would mean the world to her.
He stood up and pushed back his chair. Strolling around his desk, he perched on the corner, one leg swinging. The toe of his handmade leather shoe was only inches from her knee. Looking down on her from his vantage point, he tried to reassure her. It had exactly the opposite effect.
‘There will, of course, be all sorts of fringe benefits.’ His beautiful face was slowly lit by a meaningful smile.
Meg gazed up at him. Her future career lay in the hands of this bewitching, desirable man. From the look in those haunting dark eyes, she was only a heartbeat away from a still more torrid destiny.
‘First on the list is a dress allowance,’ he announced.
Meg looked down at what she was wearing. Her simple white T-shirt showed off her new tan beautifully, but neither it nor her jeans were new. On the other hand, they were comfortable.
‘But these clothes are best for my job,’ she murmured.
Gianni grimaced. ‘They may be in England, but here you are part of my new Villa Castelfino Project. I have decided my vineyard and my father’s plans for increased tourism will complement each other. Instead of appealing only to wine connoisseurs, a visitor centre that leads people on from my vineyard to other attractions will bring in a wider, though still discerning audience. I intend all my staff to be my ambassadors, and that means they must look the part. When I host my first banquet here as Count, the head of every one of my departments will attend. It’s going to be a prestigious evening, so you will all be expected to look as good as these surroundings.’ He looked around his stylish office with satisfaction. ‘Particularly you, Meg, as you will be showing my guests that tropical wonderland you’re developing.’
Meg began to relax. If all his staff were to be treated alike, she could accept something as simple as a dress allowance with no qualms.
‘I got the idea from some background research I did, after my people handed me the file they’d opened on you,’ Gianni went on. ‘A hundred years ago, English aristocrats used to give their grandest guests a tour of the kitchen garden. Did you know that?’
‘Yes…’ Meg said uncertainly, not sure where this was leading. ‘But this is modern Italy,’ she added, remembering how keen Gianni was on looking forward rather than back.
‘I know. I’ve spent my whole life trying to escape from the old-fashioned image of the Bellinis. Now I’ve shouldered all my ancient responsibilities, I’m looking for ways to make life here more bearable for myself. The old counts never simply sat around on the foothills of their wealth. They all scaled the heights, and I’m no exception. I’ve turned a few dozen hectares of run-down vineyard into the nucleus of a multimillion-pound business. I did it to make myself independent from my family’s wealth. I’ve got nothing to prove in that direction. Now I’ve started looking into the idea of producing other local specialities. The Castelfino estate also produces top quality local food and olive oil. I want to make this villa into a beautiful place to do business with my friends and associates. They can all come and see how it’s done, and help local trade at the same time. That’s why I’ve started targeting my social life so ruthlessly. After my trophy head gardener has shown my guests around the grounds, they will be treated to a lavish banquet. Everything that can possibly be supplied by the Castelfino estate will be on display: food, wine, your
flowers…everything I’m most proud of is going to be shown to its best advantage. So I want you to make as spectacular an impression on my guests as my house and grounds, Megan.’
M
EG
loved his idea, in theory. In practice, she felt the sort of parties thrown by a social butterfly like Gianni would be as nerve-racking for her as a week at the Chelsea Flower Show.
‘I can’t argue with that,’ she said tactfully.
‘I’m
so
glad, Megan.’ He gave her a knowing smile. ‘In which case, you can take the rest of the day off to go and find something suitable to wear.’
Meg moved uneasily in her seat. She didn’t have much experience of clothes-buying. Money had always been in short supply at home so she tended to buy things with an eye to durability rather than fashion.
‘There’s no need to waste a lovely afternoon shopping. I’ll go into town on my next day off.’
Gianni looked pleasantly surprised at this, but Meg’s next words definitely didn’t impress him.
‘Or…I can make do with the skirt and jacket I arrived in,’ she said with a flash of relief at the thought she might avoid shopping altogether. ‘It looks nice and official.’
Gianni gasped. ‘Megan! It’s
black
!’ he said incredulously. ‘That’s fine for meetings, but I’m organising a banquet. And
nobody
on my staff “makes do”. You’ll need
something new and spectacular…hmm, in the same shade of blue as your eyes, I think. Yes—that would set off the rest of your colouring perfectly. As for the style—the skirt you wore the day you arrived was good.
Very
good,’ he repeated with relish. ‘It showed off your legs to great effect.’
‘Neither you, nor your visitors should be interested in my legs,’ Meg said stiffly.
‘I’m a man. But, then, you noticed that a long time ago, didn’t you?’ Gianni countered her disapproving expression with a winning smile. ‘You are my only female head of department. I must have some small consolations in my life. To see you holding court dressed like a princess will make up for leaving the clubs of Florence behind me, and filling my home with overweight, boring businessmen, Megan.’
When he said that, Meg’s common sense almost flew out of the window. It took every ounce of her will-power not to fall for his line. She knew he must spin similar stories to a new girl every night. But that was so hard to remember when his words, and the way he looked directly into her eyes as he spoke them, combined with those richly Mediterranean looks. She had to keep reminding herself that it was all part of a devastating plot. Gianni was putting her at her ease, softening her up before he moved in for the kill…
Meg knew she would have to try and turn his interest to her advantage. With a supreme effort, she forced out a few coherent words.
‘Acting as an ambassador for you will be a great opportunity to show my skills to a wider audience. I’ll be able to network with people who can be useful to us both. I think it’s a great idea, Gianni. Do you have any other suggestions about what I should wear?’
For the second time in as many minutes he was visibly
surprised by her words. His scrutiny became slightly less seductive, but much more wary.
‘Hmm…I’m beginning to think I may have misjudged you, Megan. If you’re so uncertain about clothes, you need specialist advice. I’m not running the risk of you turning up in chain-store chic, no matter how
chic
that can be. A girl like you may be able to make a potato sack look sexy, but that’s not the point. When I hold a party, the Villa Castelfino is out to impress. The extra sheen designer labels can give you will be well worth seeing.’
He stood up and went around to sit behind his desk again. After making a quick request through his intercom, he folded his hands on his desk. In that position he looked every inch the successful businessman. Meg could only marvel at the transformation from seducer to tycoon, but nothing could stop his true spirit gleaming through his patina of ruthless efficiency for long.
‘There—I’ve had the best shops in Florence put on standby. I’ve got accounts with all these…’ opening a drawer in his desk, he pulled out an indexed folder and dropped it onto his blotter ‘…and I send women in there all the time to treat themselves to pretty things,’ he said airily.
Meg hoped he meant business-wear for the girls from his outer office. The secret smile playing around his lips as he peeled the top copy from a pile of papers made her doubt that very much.
‘Any one of these places will soon fix you up with something sexy but suitable.’
He slid a single sheet of paper across the desk towards her. Meg picked it up and looked at the neatly printed list of designer names. The only place she had seen them
before was in glossy magazines in the dentist’s waiting room back in England. She stared at it, wondering how she would have the nerve to cross the threshold of any of the shops on his list.
‘Any thoughts?’ he said nonchalantly.
Meg didn’t know how to put them into words. Her parents’ debts had indirectly cost her the job of her dreams. Now she had worked her way up to an even better career, was it going to bankrupt her?
‘All these places sound pretty…exclusive,’ she said carefully.
‘You don’t think I’d bother opening accounts with anywhere less than perfect?’
Meg pursed her lips. She had managed to persuade Gianni not to sack her once. If she disagreed with him over this, he might change his mind. Her fear of snooty shop assistants looking down on her fought with her terror of poverty. She had seen how that could wreck lives. It wasn’t something she could face a second time. Her wages for working on the Castelfino estate meant she would be able to send impressive amounts of money home each month. Although the Imsey family’s plant centre was thriving now, Meg knew how narrow the line was between comfort and disaster. Her mother and father had teetered along that tightrope for too long in the past. She wanted to make sure they had plenty of funds to withstand whatever life might throw at them in the future. This job was a magnificent opportunity to build up a nest egg for them. That way, she could be sure bankruptcy wasn’t lurking around every corner.
‘Of course not—and that’s what worries me,’ she confessed. ‘I need every penny of my wages. Shops like the
ones on this list probably charge a fee for looking in their windows!’
Gianni leaned across his desk toward her, wrinkling his brow. ‘That’s what accounts are for, Megan. Everything will be charged to me. You won’t pay a cent.’ He used the slow, carefully enunciated speech usually reserved for speaking to small children.
She almost collapsed with relief. Then she realised she might be walking straight into a trap. The bait was sweet as honey, but she had one exceptionally good reason not to take it. Exactly how thankful would Gianni expect her to be? Her body wanted to get closer to him, there was no denying that. This would give him the ideal opportunity to tempt her further. That was why her mind was determined to hold her back. Her experiences with ex-boyfriend Gavin had given her a taste of what some men were like. She knew from experience that a man who spent money on a woman thought he had a say in her life. Accepting Gianni’s generosity might lead to all sorts of things…
She looked once again into the deep, dark pools of sensuality that were his eyes. There wouldn’t be any harm in accepting his generosity, her body cooed. A smile was already warming her face as she raised her eyes from the list in her hand.
‘That’s more than I ever expected, and very kind of you, Gianni,’ she said, and was rewarded with a laugh that enclosed her in a warm, protective force field. It gave her enough courage to face the curiosity of his fearsomely glamorous assistants in the outer office again. Assuming her audience with him was finished, she stood up. As she turned to go he checked his watch.
‘Wait—I’m about to leave for the Florence office. I can
give you a lift. While I’m busy, you can shop. We’ll meet up again afterwards, and I’ll bring you home.’
Meg stopped. Those few words sent her into total meltdown. Time alone with Gianni in his office was one thing. Travelling with him was something else.
‘Fine, b-but I’ll need to change first!’ she stammered, already halfway to the door.
‘There’s no time. You look great as you are,’ he announced, although Meg noticed he didn’t actually look at her as he said it.
‘And then there’s my work—I can’t just disappear without telling my staff what’s happening, Gianni! Why don’t you arrange a car, while I go back and leave some instructions for the men?’
He grinned and pulled a jangling collection of keys from his pocket. ‘Oh, no, you don’t! I know all there is to know about women. If I don’t keep my eyes on you, you’ll head straight for Garden Cottage and spend the next two hours delaying me while you get ready. I’ll come with you, every step of the way.’
Meg wasn’t about to stop him. His presence at her shoulder kept her nerves singing with anticipation. He shadowed her as she went back to the kitchen garden and completed all her meticulous checks. All the time, Meg knew he was watching. She felt his gaze running over her like quicksilver. It only slid away whenever she tried to catch his eye.
‘What is happening to Imsey’s Plant Centre while you are enjoying yourself here in Italy?’ he said as they walked out through the garden gates and went to find his car.
‘I ring home every day to find out. On my mobile, of course,’ Meg added hurriedly so he wouldn’t think she was
running up a bill on the estate account. ‘Mum and Dad say they are coping, but I’m still worried. I’m afraid they don’t tell me everything. That’s what happened last time.’ She bit her lip.
‘It seems strange to take a job far away from home when you’re so devoted to them.’ Gianni snapped off a tall stem of ornamental grass in passing and rubbed the embryo grains between his fingers.
‘I had to.’ Meg stared at the seed head in his hands, remembering. ‘When your father offered me this job, it was the perfect opportunity. Helping them so successfully gave me the confidence to look for another challenge. I could strike out on my own, and begin building my career afresh.’
Her words slowed as she thought back to the one thing that had really kick started her new life. It was the night at Chelsea, when she had first met Gianni. For weeks afterwards she had fantasised about him. Then her life had turned upside down with the offer of this job, and now she was walking through a Tuscan estate beside him. It was a dream come true…almost. She tried not to notice the sunshine glittering over his raven-dark hair, or the beautiful cast of his features. It was becoming really difficult to keep work at the forefront of her mind.
‘I’d secured Mum and Dad’s business, and it was my time to shine again,’ she added, dragging herself back to reality.
‘And then out of the blue I received your father’s letter, giving me the chance to pitch for the position of his Curator of Exotic Plants. He’d been impressed with me. We spent a very long time talking together at the flower show. I never dreamed you were related, but, thinking about it, that must have been his handwriting in your notebook.’
‘That’s right. He sent me to seek you out, so he must have been impressed.' Gianni nodded.
‘Mum and Dad said they didn’t need my help any more at the nursery, so here I am.’
They reached his car. The sleek black Ferrari crouched on the gravel like a wild cat. It was a great distraction from her problems, and she couldn’t resist smiling.
‘I’d never been close to anything like this until I came to Italy,’ she breathed.
‘Why? What do you drive?’
‘I don’t—not in this country. I’d be petrified of driving on the wrong side—I mean on the
opposite
side of the road.’ She corrected herself quickly in response to the scornful look Gianni shot at her.
‘Then it’s time you got some practice.’
Without another word he tossed his jangling set of keys and passes at her. Meg bent to pick them up. He leaned against the passenger door with a knowing look on his face.
‘You want me to drive your car?’ She gasped.
‘Everyone who lives in the country must drive. It’s best if you start right now. And I’m only going to let you pilot her the few kilometres across my estate to the public road. I’m not completely insane.’
‘But what happens if I crash it?’
He looked at her as though she were the mad one. ‘I’ll get the factory to send me another, of course. There’s an inexhaustible supply, or so they told me the last time. And don’t change the subject. We were talking about you. I thought you said you were happy at home?’ he mocked, as though exposing some hypocrisy in the way she had left England. ‘It didn’t take much to set you on the path to fame and fortune again, did it?’
‘
If you had been listening carefully, you would have understood what I meant.’ Meg’s cheeks flared as she got into his car and tried to find a comfortable driving position. He looked puzzled. Then understanding brought his smile out of the shadows.
‘You were
quite
happy, but not
completely
.’ He nodded. ‘Something was missing from your life.’
Someone
…Meg thought. There was a pain beneath her ribs, interfering with her breathing. It was the same feeling she had endured back in England, every time she spotted someone in the distance who might have been Gianni, or thought she heard his laughter. Her heart rode a roller coaster each time it happened. She had thought no disappointment could have been greater than never seeing him a second time. But meeting him again had been more agonising than any mistake made in a shopping mall. She sensed that deep down he was suspicious of her motives.
‘I wanted to make a success of my life on my own terms…’ she said with difficulty.
‘I can relate to that.’
His reply held such feeling Meg instantly needed to know more. Before she could ask, Gianni launched a list of instructions at her for starting his car and coaxing it toward the road.
She didn’t have a hope. It was her very first driving lesson all over again, scary and embarrassing all at once. She clung onto the leather bound steering wheel in grim determination as they kangaroo-hopped down the drive. That was more than Gianni could bear. After thirty seconds he slapped both hands down on the dashboard.