Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

A man standing just behind Renzo gave an envious sigh.

‘So Luigi’s in love again, but you can’t blame him this time. She’s a pearl among women, don’t you think?’ Receiving no answer, he peered closer. ‘Renzo, are you with us?’

‘Forgive me,’ Renzo said with an effort. ‘What were you saying?’

‘I asked what you thought of Luigi’s latest little playmate.’ His voice trailed off at the murderous look he found turned on him.

‘Be silent if you know what’s good for you,’ Renzo said softly. ‘Do you understand me?’

‘Yes…yes…no offence meant…I only…’

‘Get out of my sight.’

The man backed away, exchanging a glance with the pretty young woman beside Renzo, who’d been determinedly flirting with him. Now she gave a shrug and a resigned sigh. Another hope gone.

Mandy’s hosts escorted her across the marble hall to a pair of ornate double doors, which Ferrini pulled open to reveal a huge old-fashioned library with books going up to the ceiling. It also boasted a top-of-the-range computer, but the predominant impression was of another century. She was charmed.

She was also slightly puzzled when she examined papers and heard Ferrini’s detailed description of what he wanted her to do. The notes were extensive and the ground seemed to have been well covered already. But the fee he was offering was considerable, and she had no other work in prospect.

At last the door opened to reveal Ferrini’s elder son.

‘Papa, Signor Marucci wants to speak to you urgently-’

Her host said something very impolite about Signor Marucci.

‘Don’t worry,’ Luigi said. ‘I’ll look after the Dottoressa. There are many things you haven’t told her.’

‘Can you endure this bad character?’ Ferrini asked her, grinning.

‘He doesn’t frighten me,’ Mandy said. She waited until the other two had left, then said firmly to Luigi, ‘Shall we get to work?’

She had to admit that when he got talking he was serious and interesting, giving her insights that his father had overlooked. But he also gazed at her like a lovesick puppy, making it hard for her to keep a straight face.

‘I think we should join the others now,’ she said.

‘Haven’t I earned a reward?’ he asked plaintively.

‘You’ve certainly earned my thanks.’

‘Is that all? Not one little kiss?’ He began to advance on her.

‘Listen to me, Luigi. You’re a very nice person, but I’m several years older than you and I don’t play games with children.’

‘I’m not a child. I’ll show you.’

He managed to get an arm around her waist but she fended him off with a hand pressed firmly against his chest.

‘I’m warning you, Luigi-’

‘But now I simply must kiss you,’ he said winsomely. ‘It’s a matter of honour.’

In the brief tussle that followed he succeeded in planting the tiniest possible peck on her cheek before she managed to get free and head for the door. Then she froze.

Renzo was standing there.

‘Our host asked me to fetch you,’ he said tonelessly. ‘There’s going to be dancing.’

‘Good,’ she said a little breathlessly. ‘I enjoy dancing.’

‘Yes, I remember.’

‘Splendid,’ Luigi declared, unabashed. ‘Now I can dance with you.’

But now the game had palled.

‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘You have other guests. I mustn’t monopolise you.’

He tried to get close again, but Renzo forestalled him, extending his arm for Mandy to take.

‘Well, don’t let Renzo monopolise you,’ Luigi said blithely. ‘He won’t dance with you. He can’t. He’s a dead man these days.’

Mandy heard someone draw a sharp breath. It might have been Renzo or herself. She couldn’t be sure because a red mist had descended on her.

‘What a rotten thing to say!’ she flashed. ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’

‘All right,’ he said, backing away. ‘Don’t eat me. I’m just warning you that he’s not the man he was.’

‘He’s still ten times the man you are,’ she raged. ‘Let me go, Renzo.’

He’d settled his arms around her tightly enough to withstand her struggles.

‘Let me go.’

‘Hush,’ he said, holding on. ‘You can’t murder him in his own house. It wouldn’t be polite. Luigi, clear off or, I swear, I’ll set her on you.’

Luigi fled.

When he was out of sight, she stood for a moment, breathing hard, shattered by her own reaction. She’d thought she was in command until Luigi had insulted Renzo. Now she was in a blazing temper, and turned it on him for lack of any other target.

‘Why did you do that?’ she blazed. ‘Did you hear what he said about you?’

He nodded. ‘I heard what you said too. There was a time when you’d have gone to the stake rather than pay me a compliment.’

‘I wasn’t complimenting you,’ she said quickly. ‘I just said it to put him down.’

‘Ah, yes, I should have realized that.’

‘I was annoyed at his callousness. Didn’t it make you angry when he said you were a-’ She stopped, unable to say it.

‘A dead man?’ Renzo finished for her. ‘Why shouldn’t he say it? It’s true. I’ve been a dead man for two years, but perhaps-Who knows?’

The stab of pleasure this gave her made her doubly conscious that he was still holding her firmly against him. His grip was strong, not at all like an invalid, and the warmth from his body seemed to envelop her.

‘Will you please let me go?’ she asked in a shaking voice.

‘I don’t think I should. You’re not a safe person to be on the loose. You never were. The first time we met, you threatened to thump me.’

‘No, our meeting in the office wasn’t the first meeting. There was one before that.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, there was. I behaved very badly, didn’t I?’

‘Shockingly.’

‘And you were wearing that towel robe that kept falling open.’

‘I don’t remember,’ she said, trying to dismiss the pictures that flashed through her brain.

‘Neither did I for a long time, but I’ve remembered now.’ His smile came from the old days and told her that his memory contained every detail of that night. To her intense annoyance, she found that she was blushing.

‘Nothing to say?’ he asked wryly. ‘That’s not like you. You were always waiting to catch me out.’

‘I liked my fun,’ she said defiantly.

‘Not that night. We could have had fun together-’

‘I’d barely met you.’

‘You’d barely met Luigi tonight but it didn’t stop you egging him on.’

‘I didn’t-How dare-’ She was speechless.

‘Let’s go out into the garden, where we can have a drink and talk.’

Renzo began to lead her out of the house, still his prisoner, and now she found that the desire to escape had mysteriously faded.

The sound of music reached them from the garden and they wandered out to find it lit with fairy lights. There was a small orchestra and a patio where couples were dancing. Beyond it, people were wandering among the fountains, drinking champagne, talking softly.

‘Let’s dance,’ he said, adjusting his hold so that she was completely in his arms.

‘Can you dance?’

He gave her a wry smile. ‘That bit of me is still alive.’