CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER TWO
H E SENSED HER before he saw her. Before she’d even made a sound, he knew she was there—as if she had activated some sixth sense to alert him to her presence. How the hell did she make that happen? Romano wondered frustratedly. And why her, of all people?
Abruptly, he turned to find Kelly Butler hovering in the doorway of the castle kitchen, looking as if this was the last place she wanted to be. Or as if he was the last person she wanted to be with. Well, that makes two of us, cara , he thought grimly, though the wild thunder of his heart as he shot her a censorious look made a mockery of his sentiments. Her velvet dress clung to her generous curves and the worn fabric seemed curiously appropriate in this ancient setting, as did the richness of its claret hue. He could see the glint of silver at her ears and the swing of her lustrous hair and thought how big her green eyes looked in her heart-shaped face. She looked like a painting come to life and silently, he cursed the rapid trajectory of his thoughts and the corresponding hardening of his groin.
‘Sit over there,’ he said, gesturing towards the table with the abrupt slice of his hand. ‘Dinner won’t be long.’
‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather just walk around for a bit,’ she said, stepping into the warm room and looking around. ‘I’ve been sat in that wretched car for hours.’
‘Suit yourself.’ But Romano’s careless shrug as he met her witchy gaze wasn’t really representative of his feelings because he did mind. He didn’t want her close enough to be able to detect her body heat, or smell the subtle drift of her perfume. Or to watch her petite form as she moved around the vast castle kitchen, peering this way and that with a guileless curiosity, her thick curls swinging around her shoulders. He wanted her seated at the table, half hidden from view. Because if she continued to walk around the place looking like…
His throat grew dry as he adjusted to this new-look Kelly Butler. The femme fatale schoolgirl who had morphed into the wild-looking art student had matured, it seemed. There was no tiny dress barely covering her bottom, her breasts straining against tight satin. Nor those horrible all-black clothes and clumpy boots which had followed—the front of her hair dyed a startling shade of purple and a small silver ring laced through her nose. Every time he’d seen her he had been nothing but critical of her appearance, but on a visceral level he had been unable to deny his attraction towards her. Yet he had always kept her at a chilly distance. He knew that women fell for him—hard—and he never encouraged unrequited love in order to feed his ego. More than anyone else, his half-sister’s wild-child friend had been strictly out of bounds and he had found it curiously easy to transmute his undeniable attraction towards her into disapproval. He found it easier to dislike her than to desire her.
He hadn’t seen her for years until the night before the wedding which had never happened, when she had been properly grown up and the chemistry between them had been almost off the scale. He remembered the way she had looked at him—with hunger and promise glinting from those magnificent emerald eyes. The way her curls had coated the luscious curve of her breasts with fiery corkscrews. And he could recall quite vividly how urgently he had wanted to lick her nipples. If she hadn’t run off with Floriana into the night, who knew what might have happened? Would they have ended up in bed together? He gave a short laugh. Maybe. At the end of the day, he wasn’t made of stone and at least he might have been able to get her out of his system. He’d had a lucky escape, he concluded grimly.
Only right now, it didn’t feel so lucky. If he had bedded her, at least he would be immune to her charms, because once you’d been intimate with a woman, inevitably she began to bore you. He certainly wouldn’t have been left wanting nothing more than to run his fingers through those magnificent curls and kiss the crumpled petals of her lips. Silently, he registered the deep shadows beneath her eyes, as if sleep had been at a premium of late. Was she still a party animal? he wondered acidly. Was that why she was looking so worn out?
‘What do you want to drink?’ he questioned roughly.
‘Just water, please. Don’t look so surprised, Romano. Did you imagine I’d grab the bottle and start drinking it by the neck?’
‘Why not? I imagine that old habits die hard,’ he drawled. ‘Isn’t that what you used to do at your sixth-form parties?’
‘Oh, that ,’ she responded airily. ‘It’s so long ago I can hardly remember. And you don’t have to wait on me, you know. If you tell me where the glasses are, I can easily help myself. I’m very self-sufficient and house-trained.’
‘No.’ His voice was terse as he reached into the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle and tipping water into a tumbler and handing it to her. ‘I don’t want you getting in my way.’
‘Of course you don’t,’ she said, sipping at the water and then putting the glass down on the table with a sigh. ‘Flo was right, you are a total control freak.’
‘I don’t deny it.’
‘I should have realised that a man like you would regard that kind of remark as a compliment.’
‘What’s bothering you, Kelly?’ he taunted softly. ‘Do you prefer the kind of man you can just push around? Who obediently does everything you want him to? A yes man?’
She was chewing on her bottom lip as if his comment had made her feel uncomfortable. Was that because he’d touched a raw nerve and she really did like her men submissive? As their gazes clashed in hostile duel, he tried to quash the first evocative shimmering of sexual fantasy.
‘Look, this isn’t going to work, is it?’ she said, her question shattering his erotic thoughts. ‘Maybe it’s better if I just go back up to my room and leave you in peace.’
‘You’ve been travelling all day.’
‘And?’
‘And you need to eat something.’
‘I can always take a sandwich up to my room.’
He shuddered. ‘You are not picnicking in one of the castle rooms. That’s not how we do things here.’
‘The working-class girl who doesn’t know how to behave, you mean? Or are you afraid it might attract rats?’
‘Are you trying to shock me, Kelly?’
‘I wouldn’t have to try very hard, would I, Romano? You’re so incredibly easy to shock!’
A faint smile touched the edges of his lips. ‘I’m sure we can just about manage to endure each other’s company for the duration of a meal, without killing one another, if we put our minds to it.’ He slanted her a steady look. ‘Don’t you think that might be possible?’
‘It might,’ she agreed grudgingly.
But as he turned away to tend to something on the giant range, Kelly realised she didn’t actually want a sandwich—nor anything else for that matter. How could she possibly think about anything as mundane as food when Romano was waltzing around the kitchen in front of her like that, dextrously wielding pans like a sexy conjuror? The powerful magnate looked completely at home in this setting and it wasn’t a bit what she had imagined. And, disturbingly, it felt uncomfortably intimate to be alone together like this, with tall cream candles burning on the table. Like the kind of thing a couple might do together.
Though what would she know? She’d never been part of a couple. Never even witnessed at close quarters what it might be like to be in a relationship. Was her mother’s attitude towards men responsible? Had she gradually absorbed all that mistrust and negativity she’d been spoon-fed over the years? Or maybe the real reason was more troubling…that she was one of those people who simply wasn’t cut out for romantic partnership.
She watched him tossing salad and grating Parmesan before placing everything on the table, along with two steaming bowls of pasta.
‘Sit down,’ he said curtly.
She slid into the seat opposite him. Say something, she thought—but the only thing she could think of was how his hard features gave nothing away. She cleared her throat. ‘I didn’t know you could cook.’
He raised his brows. ‘Surely you’re not implying that, because I’m a man, I can’t fend for myself? Isn’t that a very sexist assumption to make?’
‘I was just going on what I know.’
‘Which is?’
She wound some pasta around her fork and ate some more before answering, realising just how hungry she was. ‘That you’re a man who has been waited on all his life.’
Had she thought his features gave nothing away? Then she had been wrong. Because suddenly his expression became shadowed, his ebony eyes growing hooded, but not in time to hide the unmistakable glint of irritation. ‘Is that how you see me, Kelly?’ he questioned silkily. ‘As a spoiled little rich boy who’s always had everything handed to him on a plate?’
‘Well? Aren’t you?’
‘I might have been born rich, but I taught myself the art of self-sufficiency a long time ago because I never wanted to rely on anything or anyone, and that’s the reason I can cook. Now eat,’ he added roughly. ‘You look as if you could do with feeding up and the shadows beneath your eyes suggest you’re crying out for a decent night’s sleep. I suppose you’ve been burning the candle at both ends as usual?’
Well, yes, she had—but not in the way he was probably imagining. ‘Surely you know all about my crazy life?’ she questioned carelessly. ‘Floriana must have filled you in.’
‘We don’t speak that often,’ he answered repressively. ‘And when we do, it’s never about you.’
No. That didn’t surprise her. She imagined she’d be the last topic of conversation Romano would be interested in discussing. If anyone else had asked the question, she might have given the true and somewhat uninspiring version of how she lived—that her social life was practically non-existent. That she worked as a waitress most evenings and spent the rest of the time making silver jewellery to sell on a market stall not far from where she lived. That life was mostly hard work juggling all the components and trying to earn enough money to pay the rent. Her heart pounded as her brand-new reality slid into her thoughts. Because now the restaurant had shut, she didn’t even have her waitressing job to fall back on and she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to make ends meet…
But she wasn’t going to justify herself to him, or hope to tug at his heartstrings by telling him a sob story, because what good would it do? She didn’t want his sympathy. And in some ways, wasn’t it easier when he looked down his proud and patrician nose at her? Imagine if a modicum of respect started creeping into in that mocking black gaze. If he regarded her with anything other than hostility, wouldn’t that only increase her vulnerability around him? So feed his prejudices, she thought defiantly. Let his disdain wash over her!
‘I just try to live life to the full,’ she told him carelessly, shrugging her shoulders so that her waterfall earrings shook, and noticing that his attention had been momentarily captured by the jangly noise they made. ‘One long non-stop party express. You know?’
‘Yes, I know.’ He glowered. ‘I remember how you constantly led Floriana astray when you were at school.’
Kelly sucked in her cheeks, because at least now she was on familiar territory. Didn’t he realise that it had been simpler for everyone to blame her for their youthful misdemeanours and make her into the convenient scapegoat? The daughter of the school matron was always going to be a more suitable target than the daughter of one of the richest men in Italy, who regularly donated to the school fund. If there had been any leading astray it had been done by Floriana, not her. But friends didn’t grass each other up, did they? Especially not after all this time. And really, their supposed crimes had been nothing greater than missing the last train home and having to spend a fortune on a taxi to get back—or trying out a cigarette and then being sick in a hedge.
‘We were a little wild,’ she conceded.
‘Maybe you still are?’
‘Maybe I am,’ she agreed, really warming to the theme as she acknowledged the hostile judgement in his voice. Because this felt familiar… Romano looking at her with nothing but censure gleaming from his black eyes. ‘Still the wild-child art student at heart.’
She saw a pulse begin to flicker at his temple.
‘And what about men?’ he continued softly.
‘I’m not sure I understand, Romano.’ She batted her eyelashes at him with exaggerated innocence. ‘What about them?’
‘There are…many?’
Kelly froze. It was probably the most insulting question he could have asked and she might have forgiven him, thinking that something had been lost in translation, were it not for the fact that his English was as good as hers. She wondered how he would react to the truth, which was that she barely had the time to actually date anyone, even if she ever met anyone she remotely fancied, which she never did. But she wasn’t going to come across as some sad loner, let alone an inexperienced virgin. Far better he continued to think of her as a brazen party girl—because wouldn’t that afford her some sort of immunity? Brushing her hair away from her face, she fixed him with a look of challenge. ‘What do you think?’
His mouth pleated. ‘I don’t think you’d care to hear my thoughts on the subject.’
‘Oh, do tell me. Please. I’m fascinated.’
‘If you must know, it wouldn’t surprise me to discover that you have acquired a multitude of men with whom to amuse yourself.’
‘An actual multitude,’ she repeated faintly.
‘Why not?’ His mouth hardened. ‘You are a very beautiful woman.’
It was the last thing she had expected to hear and Kelly’s hand shot to her neck, trying to conceal the sudden blooming of her skin. He’d said… She swallowed. He had actually said she was beautiful. And wasn’t it insane that the compliment somehow managed to cancel out the hateful remarks he’d made earlier? She could feel her nipples tightening beneath her velvet dress and suddenly she didn’t have a clue how to respond. Should she thank him and purr with pleasure, which was what she felt like doing? How did you respond to a compliment from your arch-enemy without losing face?
Until his next words drew her up short.
‘But I think you should be careful about your lifestyle choices,’ he continued remorselessly. ‘Because sooner or later, age will catch up with you.’
‘Age will catch up with me,’ she repeated.
‘Of course it will. And it’s not a good look, Kelly. Believe me. I’ve seen what happens to party girls. It takes its toll.’ He leaned back in his chair and studied her, his gaze cool and assessing. ‘The desperate moth who is drawn to the flame is bound to get its wings burned.’
‘Wow. And for a minute there I thought you were actually being nice to me.’ Kelly slammed down her fork. ‘Well, since you’ve rubbished me and my life, why don’t we shine the spotlight on yours?’
He shrugged. ‘Be my guest.’
She pushed her plate away. ‘Flo says you’re hardly ever here these days.’
‘So what? I have an estate manager who is perfectly capable of dealing with everything. I don’t personally have to pick the grapes or the olives, or go down to the meadows to milk the cows, or supervise the labelling of the wine, in order for the agricultural side of the Castelliari empire to thrive.’ His voice was low and mocking. ‘Logistically that might prove a little difficult since I also have a car factory in Turin as well as an international racing team to run.’
‘Which you were lucky enough to inherit—’
‘And which were both on the point of collapse when I took over,’ he interjected icily.
‘Yes, you turned them around.’ She held her palms up in mock appeal. ‘I concede. Not just a privileged rich boy, then.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Your point being what, exactly?’
‘That you’re a jet-setter, Romano—certainly not a gentleman farmer. You live life in the fast lane. What right do you have to warn me about burning the candle at both ends when you do exactly the same? You’re always being pictured coming out of nightclubs all over the world. So it’s a bit rich you making snide comments about the number of men I’m supposedly dating, particularly when you’re never pictured with the same woman twice.’
The dark gleam of his gaze became thoughtful. ‘You seem to know a lot about my life, Kelly.’
‘It’s not rocket science. There are pictures of you splashed all over the Internet.’
‘Which you naturally spend a lot of time studying?’
‘Oh, get over yourself! I get the occasional alert—probably because you have the same surname as my best friend. But anyway, that’s beside the point,’ she gabbled, terrified she was going to come over as some kind of stalker. ‘What I’m trying to say is that it’s one rule for men and another for women. Even now. If a woman goes out and has a good time, then society attaches labels to her which are deeply unflattering. But if a man does it—well, that’s a whole different story. Anyway, I think this conversation has run its course, don’t you?’ She pushed back her chair. ‘Thanks for dinner,’ she added stiffly. ‘I think it’s time I went to bed.’
But as she got to her feet, he mirrored her movements, rising to his feet so that his tall frame towered over her, bathing her in its dark and formidable shadow and making her feel curiously fragile . His powerful body seemed to ripple with energy and as Kelly felt the sweet liquid rush of reaction, another inconsequential thought skittered into her head. Why weren’t other men more like Romano? she wondered desperately. Why did it have to be him who made her feel like this?
‘I’ll see you upstairs,’ he said.
‘I’m perfectly capable of getting back to my room without your help.’
‘Given how long it took you to find your way here by road, I think it’s inadvisable to take any more chances, don’t you? I don’t want you wandering around the castle at night and disturbing me.’
‘You’re so sarcastic,’ she snapped.
But she was secretly glad of his company as they navigated the twisting subterranean corridors leading from the vast basement of the castle. She could hear the sound of creaking as the ancient building began to settle down for the night and, as they mounted the sweeping staircase, she found herself wondering how many different pairs of feet had walked this way over the years. Had Romano brought any of his lovers here? And why was it so easy to imagine that muscular body of his naked on a bed, with the pale light of the moon bathing his rippling flesh with silver?
Deliberately, she blocked the fantasy. Concentrate on his flaws instead. Heaven only knew but there were enough of them. His cold and judgemental nature, for starters. His cynical attitude towards love. The way he tried to control his sister’s life.
She tilted her chin to look up at him. ‘I suppose I’d better try to get rid of these unsightly black shadows beneath my eyes,’ she said, pointedly referencing his remarks of earlier. ‘Before everyone else gets here.’
There was a long pause as he met her gaze and for a moment the condemnation in his eyes became something else. A flash of ebony fire, which seemed to burn right through her skin and make her dissolve from the inside out. Suddenly Kelly was finding it difficult to breathe and her knees were feeling decidedly unsupportive.
‘I didn’t say they were unsightly,’ he said abruptly. ‘It was a criticism of your lifestyle, not your appearance.’
He turned away and quickly she pushed open her bedroom door, resisting the urge to stand watching him, terrified he would turn round and see the pinprick thrust of her aching breasts. That he might then understand that, although she had never really liked him, she had never stopped wanting him.