Interview with a Playboy

He wondered how it would feel to kiss her…

As soon as the thought crossed his mind he dismissed it. She was a journalist…a breed he despised! They were hard-bitten—uncaring—trouble-stirring…

Isobel’s heart was pounding as if she had run a long-distance marathon. She felt shaky and hot inside. And the worst thing was the feeling of pleasure that had blazed inside her just from the lightest brush of his fingertips. It had never happened to her before with anyone. And the fact that it had happened so easily, and with such a casual touch,
with Marco
was horrifying.

He was Marco Lombardi, one of the most notorious womanisers on the planet, and she couldn’t afford to forget that even for a minute.

‘W
ELL
, look who has just walked into the reception area,’ Marco Lombardi murmured with a gleam of pleasure in his voice.

They’d been in the middle of studying an intensely intricate set of financial records, but his accountant looked up from the sheets of paper and curiously followed his boss’s gaze towards the security monitors on the wall.

‘Isn’t that the reporter who has been hanging around the Sienna building for the last couple of days?’ he said with a frown.

‘Indeed it is.’ Marco smiled. ‘But don’t worry, John, she’s here by invitation.’

‘Invitation? You mean you are
allowing
her in to see you?’

‘You could say that,’ Marco replied, somewhat amused by the other man’s astonished tone.

‘But you hate the press—you never give interviews!’

‘Very true, but I’ve had a rethink.’

John stared at him in disbelief. The Italian multi-millionaire had always fiercely guarded his privacy, and since his divorce two years ago his attitude towards the press had toughened even further.

And yet here he was, inviting in the one journalist who in his opinion was trouble with a capital T. She always seemed to be nosing around at the moment; everywhere he went
Ms Keyes was there, asking questions about their takeover of the Sienna confectionery company. A deal that was supposed to be secret and was in the last sensitive stages of negotiation. It was a perfectly legitimate deal, but the woman somehow made him feel they were doing something wrong.

‘So…why…?’ John asked finally, as his thoughts crystallised and he remembered that this was Marco Lombardi he was talking to—a man renowned for being astute.

‘There’s an old saying, John, about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Let’s just say I’m putting it into practice.’

John glanced back towards the monitor again. But he didn’t really understand. He noticed Isobel Keyes was glancing impatiently at her watch. ‘So what time is her appointment? Do you want me to take this paperwork away and work on it in the other office?’

‘No.’ Marco returned to the figures in front of him. ‘Ms Keyes can wait; she’s very lucky to have been invited here in the first place. So we will start as we mean to go on.’

‘Ah!’ Suddenly John understood. ‘You’re giving her the runaround until the deal is signed.’

‘Not exactly. Keeping her occupied might be the more correct terminology.’ Marco smiled. ‘Now, let’s concentrate on what’s important, shall we?’

As John opened the top file he couldn’t help but feel a dart of sympathy for the young woman waiting outside in her prim business suit. Right now she was probably feeling pretty pleased with herself for gaining an interview with the elusive multi-millionaire. But she didn’t stand a chance in hell if she was thinking of pitting her wits against Marco Lombardi.

Isobel was not in any way pleased about this situation. An hour ago she’d been on the verge of finding out exactly what was going on within the Sienna company. She’d been granted an interview with one of the Sienna shareholders, and then at
the last minute the interview had been cancelled and out of the blue her editor had ordered her to drop the story.

‘I’ve got something better for you,’ Claudia had gushed with excitement. ‘I’ve just had a phone call from our editorial director. Can you believe it? Marco Lombardi has agreed to give the
Daily Banner
an exclusive interview!’

Isobel had indeed been stunned. She’d tried to get an interview with Marco on a few occasions and had never got past his secretary. ‘Is he going to talk to me about his plans for taking over the Sienna confectionery company?’ she’d asked hopefully.

‘Isobel, forget about pursuing the business side of the story. What we want is a personal insight into Marco’s life, and the real facts behind his divorce. That’s the story readers really want, and it will be like gold dust for the paper.’

The word smokescreen came to mind.

Isobel clenched and unclenched her hands. She knew most journalists would have been ecstatic to get an interview with the handsome Italian. But she was a serious reporter, not a tattler of gossip. She didn’t want to do an in-depth interview about Marco’s love-life! She wanted to write a real story about people’s jobs being on the line.

As far as she was concerned her paper had struck a deal with the devil—but, as usual, commercial considerations ruled the day, she reminded herself angrily.

‘You can go up now, Ms Keyes.’ The receptionist smiled over at her. ‘Mr Lombardi’s office is on the top floor.’

Hallelujah, Isobel thought sardonically as she glanced at her watch. He’d only been keeping her waiting for over an hour. And of course he had done that on purpose too.

As the lift swept her upwards, Isobel tried to compose herself. She had no choice now but to swallow her principles and give the paper the article they wanted, but it really did infuriate her. Because Marco was the type of man she despised. The type of man who did exactly as he pleased, regardless of
the consequences, regardless of who he might hurt. And she had reason to know that more than most—because this was the man who had bought out her grandfather’s firm eleven years ago, and had then systematically torn it apart, breaking her grandfather’s heart in the process.

As far as she was concerned, Marco was a ruthless charlatan. And frankly she couldn’t understand why there was so much speculation over his divorce. The reason he’d split with his wife seemed blindingly obvious to Isobel—he’d always been a womaniser. So much so that people had been stunned when he had announced he was getting married. And since his divorce he’d been pictured in the press with a different woman every week. Some sections of the press had even dubbed him a heartbreaker, for heaven’s sake!

As the lift doors swished open Isobel took a deep breath and reminded herself—as she always did when working on a story—that she couldn’t allow preconceived ideas to cloud her judgement.

‘This way, Ms Keyes.’ A secretary stepped forward to open a door into an office with sweeping panoramic views out across London. But it wasn’t the view that held Isobel’s attention. It was the man seated behind the large desk

She had heard so much about him over the years that now, suddenly face to face with her nemesis, she felt slightly unnerved.

Marco was absorbed in some paperwork and didn’t look up as she approached slowly. ‘Ah, Ms Keyes, I presume.’ He murmured the words absently, as if he were only half aware of her presence. His English pronunciation was perfect, but more disturbingly she noticed that his velvet Italian accent sizzled with sex appeal.

He was wearing a white shirt left casually open at the strong column of his neck. Isobel noticed how the colour contrasted with the olive tones of his skin and the dark silky thickness of his hair.

She stopped next to the desk, and at the same time he looked up and their eyes locked. Inexplicably, her heart seemed to do a very peculiar flip.

He was incredibly good-looking, she thought hazily. His bone structure was strong, giving him an aura of determination and power, but it was his eyes that held her spellbound: they were the most amazing eyes she had ever seen—dark, smouldering, and extraordinarily intense.

She didn’t know why she was so taken aback by him—it wasn’t as if she hadn’t already known he was attractive. There were snatched photographs of the thirty-five-year-old in the press all the time. And women were always raving about how handsome he was. But Isobel had always maintained that she couldn’t quite see what all the fuss was about—she didn’t like the guy, and as far as she was concerned a lack of moral substance overshadowed mere good-looks any day. It was therefore a total shock to find herself so….mesmerised.

‘Sit down and make yourself comfortable.’ He waved her towards the chair opposite him, and she had to shake herself mentally.

What the hell was wrong with her? She was staring at him like an idiot! And meanwhile she was well aware that his eyes had moved over her with a look that could only at best be described as quizzically indifferent. No surprise there.

Isobel knew there was no way she could match up to the women Marco would be drawn to—for a start his ex-wife was a film star, rated as one of the world’s most beautiful women. By comparison Isobel was nothing—just a Plain Jane. Her clothes were businesslike, her figure bordered on being too curvaceous, and her long dark hair—although shiny and well cut—was held back from her face in a manner that was purely practical.

But that was her style. She didn’t want to be overtly feminine or glamorous. She wanted to get on with her work and to be treated seriously. And she certainly didn’t want to attract
men like Marco Lombardi, she reminded herself fiercely. Her father had been a womaniser, and she knew how someone like that could devastate lives.

The reminder helped to snap her back to reality.

‘So, Mr Lombardi, it seems you have succeeded in diverting attention away from your proposed bid to buy Sienna,’ she remarked crisply as she took the seat opposite.

Marco had been about to finish his paperwork and keep her waiting a little longer, but he found himself looking over at her again. ‘Have I, indeed?’ he countered wryly. Her cool, businesslike tones surprised him. Most women flirted with him. Even when they were being businesslike they softened their questions with a fluttering of eyelashes and a surfeit of smiles. Isobel Keyes, it seemed, wasn’t going to conform on either front.

‘You know very well that you have,’ she retaliated. ‘And we both know it’s the only reason I’ve been granted this interview.’

Interesting, he thought as he gave her demure appearance another quick glance.

His first assessment of her, when he’d seen her on the security monitors, had been that she was a staid little mouse—someone who would probably be easily fobbed off with an interview. Now he was busy reassessing her.

‘You seem very certain about your facts.’

‘I am certain.’ She angled her chin up a little. ‘I saw your accountant at the Sienna offices this morning.’

‘You probably did. He’s a free agent—he can go where he wants.’

‘He goes where you send him,’ she countered quickly.

He hadn’t noticed her eyes until now. The feisty sparkle in them made them glow a deep emerald-green.

His gaze swept slowly over her face again. He’d originally thought that she was in her late twenties—probably because he hadn’t looked at her that closely. But now he realised that
it was just the way she was dressed that made her seem older, and that she was possibly nearer to twenty-one. Nice skin too. She might have been passably attractive if she made more of an effort with herself. The hairstyle did nothing for her, and she was wearing little or no make-up. As for the clothes… His eyes swept downwards. They were verging on boring.