None of which was of the least importance right now. Natalia’s interruption had broken the mood of intimacy, and Carla, having stepped to his side, looked decidedly uncomfortable. Despite her earlier choice to stay, she looked ready to run.
He could insist Natalia went to her room, or he could invite Carla to his suite, but he doubted either woman was going to agree to one of those suggestions.
“Rain check?” he prompted Carla softly.
“You’re leaving tomorrow,” she reminded in the same quiet tone.
“So I am,” he acknowledged with regret. “I could stay an extra day and night.”
Carla grimaced. “I’m probably not worth rearranging all your plans for.”
Leon scowled. Someone had hurt this woman badly, damaging her self-confidence in a way that made him want to wrap his hands tightly around someone’s throat and squeeze until they stopped breathing.
He’d killed in the past, but it had always been with a gun, and only when he absolutely had to. This need he felt to physically strangle someone with his bare hands was totally new.
Because, whoever that someone was had hurt Carla.
“I think you are,” he murmured softly.
“If you don’t go tomorrow, you’ll leave the day after that.” She shrugged. “Let’s just leave things as they are, hmm? We’re from different lifestyles and different countries. You’re also Grace’s uncle, and I’m her friend. It’s for the best if we don’t make things weird for the future.”
“So what have you decided while whispering together over there?” Natalia’s abrasive voice cut across their muted conversation. “Are you going to take yourselves somewhere more private, or are Killian and I going to witness a free porn show? Which, as my father will be one of the participants, is pretty far out there,” she added with a sour grimace.
Leon clenched his hands at his sides, knowing Carla was going to run. Not exactly screaming, but certainly as if the devil were at her heels. Or his daughter’s dry mockery, at least.
“You weren’t spanked enough as a child, Natalia,” Carla surprised him by drawling pleasantly.
His daughter almost choked on the mouthful of champagne she’d been about to swallow. “I wasn’t spanked at all,” she finally managed to wheeze.
“Spare the rod, spoil the child, Leon,” Carla taunted.
He grimaced. “Believe me, I have cause to regret that oversight every day.”
“I can imagine.” She nodded. “Accompany me to the lift?” she invited lightly.
That confirmed their time of intimacy was at an end and Carla no longer had any plans of staying the night with him. “Of course.” He nodded tersely as he followed her, pausing briefly beside the chair where Natalia sat. “You and I are going to set some new boundaries when I get back,” he all but growled.
She pouted. “But Daddy—”
“You haven’t called me that since you were five years old, so cut the crap,” he snapped.
Natalia looked genuinely contrite. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how much you like her.”
Leon did like Carla. He liked her very much. She was beautiful and spirited, and he knew he had only lightly touched on the deep well of sensuality he was sure resided inside that delicious body.
Just as he had no doubt she was going to walk out of here with no intention of ever seeing him again, unless it was accidentally when they were both attending another function that involved Grace and Matteo. The christening of their first child, perhaps. Which, as Leon didn’t believe Grace was even pregnant, could be years away.
Unacceptable.
He’d meant it when he said he would delay leaving the UK tomorrow if Carla asked him to. There were things back in New York in need of his attention, but Carla only had to say the word and he would put all that aside in order to spend more time with her.
With that in mind, he stepped into the elevator beside her.
“You don’t need to come down with me,” she assured him.
“My daughter’s manners might be lacking, but mine aren’t.” He pressed the button for the ground floor. “It’s late at night, and I’m going to walk you outside and make sure you get safely into a cab.”
Again, as with the sensual dance they’d shared earlier, Carla couldn’t think of a single man her age who would show the same courtesy to a woman. It was…refreshing.
“Or,” Leon added huskily, “I could join you in the cab and come home with you?”
Her heart gave a jolt at the suggestion. Before reality set in. She might like to tease him, but there was no doubting he really was Leonardo Brunelli, capo dei capi, a man more powerful than any royalty or head of state.
The thought of taking Leon anywhere near her run-down apartment building, in a less than salubrious part of London, wasn’t in the least appealing. Even if it was the best she’d been able to afford after moving from the apartment she’d shared with Benny.
The inside of her apartment didn’t reflect the outside, the furniture new and modern and the decor warm and colorful. But even so, Carla doubted Leon, born the son of the previous capo dei capi and therefore having lived in the height of luxury all his life—she had only to think of the penthouse suite where he was staying in London to know that—would feel in the least comfortable in her cramped apartment.
She gave a rueful grimace. “Probably not a good idea.”
“Why not?” he persisted.
“Because…” She gave an embarrassed laugh. “Let’s just accept that particular boat has sailed and part as friends. Far less embarrassing for both
