The Tuscan Tycoon’s Wife

heart.

He reached down a hand to haul her up, so that she could sit down beside him.

‘You’re not really mad at me, are you?’

‘Grrr!’ he said, like a bear.

She chuckled, wrapping both arms around one of his and leaning her head against his shoulder.

‘I’m sorry, Leo. I’m always like this. I open my big mouth first and think later.’

‘You? Think?’

‘I manage it sometimes.’

‘You must send me a ticket. I’ll bet it’s quite an event.’

She freed a hand long enough to thump him, then put it back, and they sat contentedly together for a while.

He turned his head so that he could see as much of her face as was visible, and placed one of his big hands over her narrow one.

‘I really didn’t mean to lump you with Paulie,’ she said. ‘I should have known you’re not like him, groping around, trying to sneak a kiss.’

Leo spoke quietly. ‘I did not say I didn’t want to kiss you.’

‘What was that?’ she asked quickly.

‘Nothing.’ This conversation was getting dangerous. He was too close to admitting what he really wanted, and shattering the delicate web of trust that was building up between them. And when he thought of what he would probably discover when they returned home he knew that web had to be protected at all costs.

‘Perhaps it’s time we went back,’ he said.

They took the journey home easily as the sun slid down the sky. As they cantered back into the yard Leo exchanged a silent glance with Barton, and knew that their worst fears had been realised.

‘She said it herself,’ Barton told him, when Selena was out of earshot in the stable. ‘They took one look at her van and roared with laughter. Oh, they’ll pay for the damage, but only as a write-off. It won’t buy her any replacements.’

‘That settles it,’ Leo said. ‘It has to be Plan B.’

‘I didn’t know we even had a Plan A,’ Barton said, startled.

‘Plan A is the one that’s just collapsed. Now, this is Plan B…’

He took Barton’s arm and drew him well out of the way, so that all Selena heard from inside the stable, was Barton’s roar of, ‘Are you out of your mind?’

CHAPTER FIVE

LEO not only meant to attend the rodeo in Stephenville, he was going to be a part of it. With what Barton called ‘more nerve than common sense’ he was determined to ride a bull.

‘Just one bull,’ he argued with Barton. ‘What harm can it do?’

‘Break your neck. That enough?’

They were at breakfast with the family, and since they were at opposite ends of the table the others began looking back and forth like spectators at a tennis match. Jack, who studied even at the table, took his nose out of his book long enough to begin scoring them.

‘Barton I know what I’m doing,’ Leo insisted.

‘Fifteen love,’ Jack intoned. ‘Leo serving.’

‘In a pig’s ear you know what you’re doing,’ Barton retorted.

‘Fifteen all.’

‘It just takes practise.’

‘Been doing that in Italy have you? First I knew they had bucking bulls out there. Does it say Mama Mia! as it throws you off?’ Barton roared at his own joke.

‘Fifteen thirty!’

‘I just need to practise with your bucking machine.’

‘And make it my fault? No way!’

‘OK,’ Leo sighed. ‘I’ll just have to enter without getting any practise, so when I break my neck, it will be your fault.’

‘That’s hitting below the belt,’ Barton roared.

‘Let him do it, Dad,’ Carrie begged.

‘You want him to get hurt? Thought you’d taken a shine to him.’

‘Dad!’ she hissed in an agony of embarrassment.

Selena had been enjoying the scene until then, but she pitied the girl, having her teenage crush exposed, and her misery compounded by a deep blush. Leo, she was sure, would pretend nothing had happened.

To her astonishment he did just the opposite.

‘You see, I have a supporter,’ he announced, pointing at Carrie. ‘Carrie, you think I can do it, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she said defiantly.

‘And you don’t think I’ll break my neck?’

‘I think you’ll be great.’

‘There you are, Barton. Listen to my friend over there. She knows what she’s talking about.’

It was beautifully done, Selena had to admit that, watching Carrie’s blush fade and her smile return. In a few seconds Leo had ‘repackaged’ her crush on him into a friendship he openly valued. It was clever, and it was kind.

Warmth and happiness pervaded her. She didn’t know why Leo’s kindness to someone else should give her that feeling. Yet it was like receiving a personal gift. The nicer he was than other men, the happier it made her.

Grumbling, Barton gave in, and after breakfast they all went out to his mechanical bull, an electrically driven machine, designed to be ridden, that bucked and tossed to give the rider some practise in hanging on for dear life. It had a range of speeds, starting with ‘gentle’ for beginners, and Barton, to Leo’s disgust, insisted on setting it as low as possible.

With the whole family and Selena watching avidly Leo sailed through the first test. Encouraged, he raised the stakes, and still managed to hang on.

‘Isn’t he wonderful?’ Carrie whispered to Selena. ‘You’d never know he hadn’t done it before.’

‘Yes, you would,’ Selena said with a grin.

‘Well, you know what I mean.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Selena murmured so quietly that Carrie didn’t hear her.

Jack had joined them, another book in his hand.

‘Wanna know Leo’s chance of getting killed the first time he-?’

‘No!’ they both said firmly.

A scream from Billie made them turn their heads sharply in time to see Leo flying through the air, to land with a crash, and lie still.

Carrie buried her face in her hands. ‘I can’t look. Is he all right?’

‘I don’t know,’ Selena said in a voice that didn’t sound like her own. ‘He isn’t moving.’

She had the horrible feeling that time had stopped as she began to run to where Leo lay. As she reached him he let out a hideous whooping sound. Again and again he made the dreadful noise and she felt time begin again as she recognised the symptoms of a man who’d had the breath knocked out of his body.

She dropped down beside him just as he managed to half raise himself. Still unable to speak, he clutched hold of her while the hoots and gasps came from him without end. Selena held onto him, knowing there was nothing to do until he’d struggled back to some sort of normality.

When the fit had passed he seemed exhausted, leaning against her and heaving. But then he looked up at the others who’d crowded around him, and gave his irrepressible grin.

‘I told you I could do it,’ he said.

From then on they were in countdown to the rodeo. The town was filling up, Barton entertained a constant