He glanced down. ‘Yes.’
She would not be Svetlana, Ariana decided, and pick it off. Or one of the doubtless many others that had come before her and dared to demand more. She bunched her fist so hard that her nails dug into her palm, and smiled. ‘You’d better tidy yourself up then.’
To her everlasting credit, Ariana got into the car and went home alone.
CHAPTER NINE
BY AND BY, the Romano Ball drew closer.
Gian had quickly forged a strictly business code.
There were emails and phone calls and even a couple of face-to-face meetings, but there was no low-level flirting or alluding to them.
For there was no them.
If anything, it was all so professional that Ariana actually wondered if she’d completely misread the mood that night after dinner, if it really had all been just business to him.
Sometimes she wondered what might have happened if she hadn’t asked him to leave her apartment that morning, because she’d been unable to grasp at the time that it really was to be the end of them.
Sometimes she just stared into space for a whole afternoon, blinking as she realised it was getting dark, just wondering about him.
A man who did not want love.
Everyone breathed a private sigh of relief when Angela Romano, unable to bear Rome at the time of the Romano Ball, headed off on a cruise.
Phew!
Ariana lay in bed, so relieved not to have to do lunch and placate her mother as well as focus her attention on both Stefano and Eloa’s wedding, which she was now helping with a little, and organise the ball.
Even when the final menu cards came, Ariana merely fired back a confirmation, saying that they looked wonderful and she was certain her father would approve.
There was not as much as a breath of tutti-frutti between them.
Or references to pink blossom.
Or hints about a moonlit night and a deep kiss by the eternal flame.
It was just:
Gian, regarding the orchids, Roberto will bring them on the day...
Blah, blah, blah...
And in turn Gian, kept to his side of the deal. Or he tried to.
Ariana, regarding the seating plan...
But two days from the big day, he was finally so irritated that he picked up the phone and called her. ‘I don’t understand the problem with Nicki,’ Gian said. ‘We managed to find her a seat...’ He chose not to add that Nicki was being accommodated at the exclusion of a potential paying guest and this ball was a very high-end ticket indeed. ‘What is her issue?’
‘The table is near the back,’ Ariana explained, ‘and with Paulo not coming because you banned him—’
‘I will ban anyone who is abusive to my staff, which he was.’
‘Well, she doesn’t know anyone she’s seated with. She was hoping to bring a friend.’
‘You’re her friend,’ Gian rather tersely pointed out. ‘Would you like me to move you to sit with her, because there simply isn’t room at the top table.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Ariana said. ‘Has Mia RSVP’d yet?’
He knew, even before she asked, that Nicki must have asked her the same question ‘Because, if she doesn’t come then there’ll be a space.’
‘Ariana.’ It was the first time they had crossed to anything remotely personal. ‘I told both you and Dante that you are to leave Mia to me.’
‘Yes, but if she isn’t even coming...’
‘You cannot give Mia’s place to...’ to one of your freeloaders, he was tempted to add, but refrained and reminded himself that this was a business discussion. In truth, if the Romanos wanted a flock of geese seated at the head table then it was his job to accommodate it. He took a breath. Where Ariana was concerned, it was almost impossible to draw the line and differentiate between personal and professional. ‘However,’ Gian said, ‘if you want Nicki at the top table so desperately then she can have my seat.’
‘But where would you sit?’ Ariana asked, loathing the thought of him not being next to her. Gian was always seated by her side at the Romano Ball, but now it seemed like he was willing to break that tradition.
‘In the seat to which she is currently assigned. I’ll be working the room anyway. Nicki can have my seat, if that is what you want.’
‘No, no,’ Ariana rapidly broke in, blushing as she declined his cold and practical solution to salvage her seat beside Gian. ‘Just leave it as it is.’
‘Very well,’ Gian clipped. ‘Anything else?’
‘I don’t think so. Should there be?’
‘No.’ Gian was assured. ‘Everything is under control.’
Except himself, but he was working on that, determined to erase that forbidden morning from his thoughts.
He did not need the complication of Ariana Romano in his life, he insisted to himself. He just had to get past the ball.
It wasn’t just Ariana that was worrying him, though.
Trouble loomed in another Romano direction...
‘Dante!’ Gian shook his friend’s hand and invited him to take a seat when he arrived unannounced the day before the ball. ‘I just spoke with Ariana this morning...’
‘I hear it’s all under control.’
‘She’s done very well,’ Gian agreed. ‘I expect the ball to be a huge success. Your sister has an eye for detail—’
‘Has Mia responded?’ Dante cut in.
‘Not as yet,’ Gian said. ‘As I said to Ariana, even if she arrives unannounced, she will be greeted as if she had always been expected and made to feel most welcome.’
‘Well, if that’s the case, could you ensure she gets this gift just before she heads down to the ball?’ He handed Gian a black velvet box and envelope. ‘I thought it better to take care of the hostess gift myself, rather than leave it to Ariana.’ He gave a black laugh. ‘Or it would be a doll full of pins...’
Dante was his close friend, yet Gian found himself smiling his on-duty smile. ‘Of course. I’ll
