The Italian's Blushing Gardener (6 page)

‘Could you give me an overview?’ she said eventually. ‘Isn’t it simply a contract to work on the gardens at Bella Terra?’

‘That, and my Florentine town house as well…’

It had been at the back of Kira’s mind, but she’d hardly dared hope he would remember his casual offer.

‘Words are cheap. Nobody knows that better than I do, Stefano. Men often say things they don’t mean,’ she said quietly.

He stared at her. ‘Not when it comes to business. Honesty is the only policy there,’ he said firmly. ‘Since we met and I’ve had such favourable reviews of your work, I thought I’d raise the stakes. This contract offers you employment not only at Bella Terra, and Florence, but also on my new property in the Caribbean.’

Kira could have bounced straight up to the ceiling in sheer delight. It sounded like her dream contract. Instead, she frowned and bit her lip. ‘I’ve never worked in the Caribbean.’

‘Then you’re in for a treat. It will be a wonderful experience,’ Stefano assured her. ‘Silver Island has everything. One hundred hectares of tropical wilderness
surrounded by beaches as fine as sugar, set in a warm blue sea.’

Despite her determination to play it cool, Kira’s eyes sparkled.

‘It sounds lovely already,’ she said wistfully.

Stefano had no illusions. He frowned. ‘I thought so, too, when I first bought it. But despite all the luxury there’s still something lacking. It’ll be your job to make the whole place more—’ he grimaced, so used to total satisfaction that he couldn’t find the words to identify the problem ‘—user-friendly,’ he said eventually, but looked no happier with the phrase than Kira felt.

‘That doesn’t give me much of a clue.’ She shrugged.

‘Silver Island is a perfect hideaway. No expense was spared in setting it up, and yet—’ he ran his fingertip pensively across his lips ‘—for all its qualities, it lacks something. I want to import the magic you have worked on the Bella Terra estate. In the same way that you can live in the town house here in Florence while you’re working on it, you could stay in the Caribbean while you restructure Silver Island. You’ll be on the spot, all the time.’

And where will you be? Kira was appalled to find herself thinking.

‘I don’t suppose you noticed exactly how interested I was in your garden?’ Stefano continued.

‘I did,’ Kira said, trying to concentrate on their moments of light, insubstantial chit-chat and forget the instant he took her in his arms. It was hopeless. The way she felt about him surged into her mind again. The force of his presence overwhelmed every other memory. A tiny tremble in her voice betrayed her. He noticed,
and suddenly his devastating mouth curled up at the corners.

‘Yes, I can see…’

All Kira’s worries about the Bella Terra valley faded. The intensity of his stare focused on her to the exclusion of everything else. He looked like a tiger ready to pounce. The tremble extended throughout her body and she felt her self-control slipping away into warm arousal. It gathered in all her most feminine places, waiting for one word, one movement from him, to unleash its power.

‘Good…so as soon as you’re happy with your contract, we’ll be on our way.’

‘Where?’ Kira asked faintly.

Stefano put his elbows on the desk and netted his fingers. ‘To Silver Island—you’ll need to experience the place in all its glory before you can hope to do it justice. The computer hasn’t been built that can give you the experience of warm sand between your toes, and swaying palms beneath a tropical sky.’

The words flowed from him like the tropical breezes he spoke of—warm, gentle and so very seductive.

K
IRA
wanted this job more than anything else in the world, but if she was honest with herself, working so closely with Stefano would be dangerous. How was she supposed to keep her mind on her job? Travelling around the world with him would be torture. It wouldn’t simply be a case of storming off down the road if she felt herself weakening. She would be a long way from home and completely at the mercy of a man who held her spellbound. It was the same old story from her university days. Kira couldn’t face falling into that trap again. A man like Stefano could never commit to just one woman—that much was obvious from his easy smile and delicious kiss. No woman with any sense should trust him with her heart.

Kira didn’t know what to do. Surely if she was aware of the danger, that would make it easier to avoid? And a business contract was legally binding. It meant security. She rated that highly. The problem was, working for Stefano was bound to be a temptation too far. She had no confidence in her ability to resist him, and the man was trouble with a capital T. Her heart had spent the past few days on a helter-skelter of hope and gloom, and it was all his fault. Even if she kept her distance from
him, working together would mean seeing exactly how faithless he could be from day to day. That would be a thousand times worse.

‘I know—let’s leave business behind and I’ll take you to lunch first. We can discuss it further there, if you like?’

Kira put her hands on her chair and shifted her weight back a little in the seat. Her feelings were all over the place. She needed to draw some boundaries between the two of them, make it clear that she wouldn’t simply fall into line. Everything was moving so fast. She blurted out, ‘I won’t be rushed. Please don’t take me and my feelings for granted.’

He drew back across his desk, and stared at her. It wasn’t often possible to read his expression, but Kira thought she saw a brief flash of astonishment.

‘Is that what you think I’m doing? Is that how it feels to you?’

She braced herself for an explosion of rage, and answered him defiantly.

‘Yes. Yes, it does.’

The expected outburst never came. Stefano simply looked at her thoughtfully. Kira gained a little confidence from that.

‘What else would you call it?’ she added, more boldly. ‘Before you left my home, you promised me great things. It was a good job I didn’t believe you, because all I got was radio silence. When I finally rang your office to check on whether there was a contract in the name of Kira Banks, there was no trace—’

Stefano couldn’t resist interrupting. ‘That was only because I wanted time to double-check your work, and to be completely sure you were the right person to—’

‘Please! Let me finish.’

Surprised into silence, he met her scowl with raised eyebrows. Then, with a nod, he raised both his hands as a sign she would be allowed to carry on without any more interruptions.

‘You seem to be expecting me to obey you without question, Stefano, and I won’t have it,’ she said bluntly.

His clear blue eyes watched her steadily, and then he suddenly nodded.

‘I’ll take that into consideration.’ He frowned a little before continuing. ‘That took courage. So that we both know where we stand, Kira, maybe I should tell you that no employee has ever got away with speaking to me like that before.’

She opened her mouth to say something, but the way he began to smile stopped her.

‘My relationship with contractors, on the other hand, can be rather more—’ he lowered his lids slightly, hooding those beautiful eyes ‘—easy-going, shall we say?’

She stared at him. When he looked at her like that, she couldn’t have gone on scolding him if her life depended on it.

‘You don’t have to make any allowances for me,’ she murmured, suddenly and mysteriously short of breath.

Stefano shook his head sagely. ‘I admire you for making a fresh start in a new country. A heart in pain is too often the cause of endless trouble.’

He was probing. Kira could tell. When she thought of the research he had done on her, it made her edgy. Had he stuck to her work, or had he delved into more personal areas? The uncertainty made her nervous, so she refused to be drawn any further.

‘I bet you’ve created a fair few broken hearts yourself!’ she parried with a laugh. She thought he would do the same, but his reaction was quite different. Instead, he stood and roamed over to the window.

‘You could say that. When I was younger, I saw too much abuse to put any faith in human relationships. Instead, I turned my back on all the fine old Italian bonds of family. Escape cost me so much, I’m never going there again.’

Standing at the window, hands on hips, he stared out over the busy cityscape like an eagle searching for prey. His words hinted at an inner pain of his own. Kira’s heart went out to him, but it would take a lot of nerve to approach a man who so obviously shunned sympathy.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kira said softly, after a pause. ‘It’s terrible to grow up where you aren’t wanted.’

Stefano’s answer shrugged off her concern.

‘That’s why I made sure I didn’t.’ He spoke to the pane of glass in front of him. ‘I kept right out of everyone’s way. From that moment I started working, and never stopped. It was around the clock, and all year long. It saved me from having to go back home.’

Suddenly he clapped his hands with a loud report that made her jump. ‘But what are you doing to me, Kira?’ His easy smile returned as he swivelled around and strode back to his desk. ‘I didn’t bring you here to dissect my private life! I brought you here to talk business, and enjoy a working lunch. Then we’ll go and see my town house.’

Kira’s own experience of a loveless childhood made her wonder about his past. Then Stefano’s eyes connected with hers and wiped the thought clean out of her head. She recognised a heart-stopping shadow of the
longing she had seen when he left her. Confused, she picked up the file containing her contract. She wanted to sign, and yet such close contact with the gorgeous Stefano was bound to put her self-control under impossible strain. To her, surrender meant dangerous dependency. She had seen her stepmother and her stepsister fall prey to it. Once a man took over their lives, they stopped seeing themselves as individuals. Kira could not bear to lose a part of herself like that.

‘Did you take Amanda the estate agent out to dinner when you signed the final paperwork on Bella Terra?’ Her question was as mild as mustard.

There was silence. Made brave by it, she looked up at him sharply. Expecting to find him looking guilty, she was disappointed.

‘Would it make any difference to you, Kira?’

His face was impassive. It was another probe. That only made her wonder all the more. He hadn’t denied a liaison with the woman, although if he had, Kira would have assumed he was lying.

‘Maybe,’ she mused, trying to look and sound casual as she studied the closely typed document for snares and pitfalls. ‘I don’t like men who use their position in life as a lever for their sexual conquests. I like to keep my work and my private life strictly separate.’

‘You told me as much the other day. I’ll bear it in mind,’ he said gravely, but then his mouth twitched. ‘So in future, there will be absolutely no business talk whenever I visit your house after moving into La Bella Terra.’

The thought of inviting Stefano over the threshold of her home raised Kira’s temperature in a frighteningly exciting way. She cleared her throat, trying not
to squirm in anticipation. Her lips became dry, and she had to moisten them with her tongue before announcing, ‘I think we ought to get one thing straight right from the start, Stefano. I’m a genuine loner. I don’t fancy the idea of you dropping into my home at odd hours while I’m off duty, distracting me with…talk,’ she finished awkwardly.

His reply was so simple, it shocked her. ‘That’s a shame.’

She looked up, waiting for him to try and persuade her otherwise. His face was as poker fit as her own as he added, ‘Now come on, let’s have lunch.’

Kira stood, mentally preparing herself. Lunch with Stefano was sure to be the stuff of fairy tales. That worried her. Powerful people liked to create a good impression—to begin with. They showered you with pixie dust until you were dazzled into falling in with their plans.

‘I’d be delighted, but don’t expect me to sign this contract on the strength of it. I’d rather my legal people had a good look at it before I make a final decision,’ she said airily.

Kira’s only advisers were her cynical nature and a glass of pinot grigio, so she was rather looking forward to that consultation.

‘Good. That leaves us free to discuss much more interesting things over lunch.’ He smiled, pulling on his jacket as he led her to the door. ‘Although I’m rather surprised a forthright woman like you doesn’t go through her own paperwork!’

She smiled as he strode across his office and opened the door to let her out.

Kira’s journey to the ground floor couldn’t have been more different from her trip up to the executive suite. Then, she had spent every second checking her appearance. Now she kept her eyes riveted on the thick cream carpet. It wasn’t that she didn’t know where to look. She desperately wanted to gaze at Stefano, but somehow she couldn’t do it. She had to be content with hints of his aftershave or the jingle of change in his pockets as he stood so close to her, yet so distant.

A limousine was waiting for them outside the revolving doors of the office block. Its driver opened the door for Kira. She slid in, glad of the excuse not to have to look at Stefano as he exchanged a few words with his driver.

He was every bit as good as her fantasies. His first words to her when she walked into his office had been absolutely right. The past few days had tortured, tormented and distracted her with thoughts of what he had been doing, and with whom. Stefano was the only man who had ever moved her like this. It made her certain he must have a new girl every night. Who could possibly resist that clear-eyed gaze? Kira was terribly afraid she couldn’t. Her pulse increased to dizzying levels each time he looked at her. As he took his seat beside her in the car it felt as though her heart was trying to jump into her throat. Her mouth went dry, and she felt heat pool in the pit of her stomach.

It had been hard enough not to reach out to him when he had been standing alone and aloof in his office stronghold. How much more difficult would it be to resist him when they were at lunch together?

‘When it comes to that contract, you’ll have no worries,’ Stefano said as their car pulled out into the
stream of traffic outside the headquarters of Albani International. ‘I’m ruthless in business, but I’m always fair. That agreement is simple, straightforward and totally unthreatening. Working for me will be the smartest move you ever make. I’ve seen the design work and planting you did on the Bella Terra estate, and I’ve heard brilliant reports from your other clients. Your touch is exactly what I need. You’ll bring your talents to my properties around the world. In return, I’ll reward you well and give you free advertising among all my contacts. That will save you all the tiresome brown-nosing for business you hate so much. Think of it—all the work you could ever want, but none of the socialising.’

He slid a smile towards her. Kira thought of the man she had seen silhouetted against the cityscape. His expression tangled her heartstrings before her brain had time to intercept it.

‘You don’t know what that would mean to me,’ she said, the relief of getting work without having to pitch for it filtering through her words. Whenever she was in Stefano’s presence, her body refused to behave. It ignored all the warning signs. Her brain screamed
danger
but her soft, warm feminine core heard only
temptation
and remembered only their kiss.

‘We’re here,’ he said, sounding slightly husky, and Kira wondered if he was struggling with similar memories, but he leapt out of the car before she could see his face. By the time he had arrived to open her door, he was back to business.

‘This is one of my favourite restaurants,’ he explained as he escorted her into a beautiful old building in the heart of the city. Its glamorous receptionist was all teeth and talons. She greeted Stefano by name, and led
them to a spacious table for two. It was like no business lunch Kira had ever attended. As a respected professional she was used to being treated well. Stefano’s idea of entertaining was in an entirely different league. The Michelin-starred restaurant was as perfect as its extensive menu, and Kira felt entirely uncomfortable. She looked down the list of tempting dishes, studying the menu intently, but it was no good. Eventually, she had to swallow her pride. It stuck in her throat, but as a regular Stefano was the best person to ask for help. ‘I’m sorry. This is a cordon bleu restaurant and I’m a cucina povera girl at heart. All these exotic things are way out of my zone. Which do you recommend?’

‘Definitely the lamb. It’s a favourite of mine.’

Her mind made up, Kira ordered and handed her menu to the waiter.

Stefano ordered the same for himself, and a bottle of wine to accompany their meal. When they were alone again, he leaned towards her. His eyes were keen with interest.

‘I would have thought a woman such as yourself would be entertained in restaurants like this all the time,’ he said quietly. ‘You deserve the best.’

Kira withdrew from the intensity of his gaze. ‘I’ve told you—I enjoy plain Italian food.’

Stefano smiled suddenly. ‘You are very much an Englishwoman. None of them are any good at truly indulging themselves.’

Clearly
, thought Kira wryly,
he’s never met my mother.

‘There aren’t any fish-and-chip shops in the Bella Terra valley, so I’ve learned to adapt a little!’ she said, relaxing in spite of herself as she looked around at their luxurious surroundings. ‘It makes it easier when you
bring me to a wonderful place like this. Everything is so beautiful, especially that dessert trolley over there. Mmm, I do so love my puddings!’ She laughed, suddenly overcome with amazement at where she was and who she was with.