‘I sorted it,’ Ariana said.
‘How?’ Gian frowned, quietly impressed.
‘That is for me to know,’ Ariana responded. ‘However, to this day, Eloa and Stefano think that they arranged the reception venue by themselves.’
‘You haven’t told them that you were behind it?’
‘No. They have made it clear they don’t want my help and it might sour things for them to know I had a hand in it.’
She watched as he put down her résumé and she continued to watch his long fingers join and arch into a steeple. He slowly drew a breath and Ariana felt certain that he had not been persuaded, and that she was about to be told that his answer was still no. ‘I really do want to work, Gian.’ There was a slightly frantic note to her voice, which she fought to quash, but there was also desperation in her eyes that she could not hide. ‘I love the hotel industry and, you’re right, I should have done my placement here...’ It wasn’t just that, though. ‘I want some real independence. I’m tired of—’ She stopped herself, sure that Gian did not need to hear it.
Yet he found that he wanted to. ‘Go on,’ Gian invited, casting his more regular interview technique aside.
‘I’m tired of living in an apartment my family owns, tired of being on call when my mother decides I can drop everything for her. After all,’ she mimicked a derisive tone, ‘I couldn’t possibly be busy.’ She screwed her eyes closed in frustration, unable to properly explain the claustrophobic feeling of her privileged world.
Oh, many might say that life had been handed to Ariana Romano on a plate.
The trouble was, it wasn’t necessarily a feast of her choosing.
While she had a family who seemingly adored her, even as a child Ariana had always been told to take her toys and play somewhere else.
To this day it persisted.
While she had access to wealth most people could only dream of, there was a perpetual feeling of emptiness. For Ariana, the golden cup she drank from was so shot through with holes that no gifts—no trust-funded central Rome apartment, no wild party, no designer outfit or A-list appearance—filled her soul.
‘I want a career,’ Ariana insisted.
‘Why now?’ Gian pushed.
‘It’s a new year, a time when everyone takes stock...’ She suddenly looked beyond Gian to the window behind him and saw white flakes dance in the darkness. ‘It is starting to snow.’
‘Don’t change the subject,’ Gian said, without so much as turning his head to take in the weather. It was Ariana he was more interested in. ‘Why now, Ariana?’
Because I’m lonely, she wanted to say.
Because before Mia came along, I thought I had something of a career at Romano Holdings.
Because my days are increasingly empty and there surely has to be more to life than this?
Of course, she could not answer with that, and so she took a breath and attempted a more dignified response. ‘I want to make something of myself, by myself. I want, for a few hours a day, to take off the Romano name. Look, I know what I’m asking is a favour, but—’
‘Let me stop you right there,’ he cut in. ‘I don’t do favours.’
There was from Ariana a slight, almost inaudible laugh, yet Gian understood its wry gist and conceded. ‘Perhaps I make concessions for your father, but he was very good to me when...’
Gian didn’t finish but Ariana knew he was referring to when his brother and parents had died and, to her nosy shame, Ariana hoped to hear more. ‘When what?’ she asked, as if she didn’t know.
Nobody did silence better than Gian.
Surely, not a soul on this earth was as comfortable with silence as he, for he just stared right back at her and refused to elaborate.
It was Ariana who filled the long gap. ‘I didn’t get my father to lean on you, Gian,’ she pointed out. ‘I’m trying my best to do this by myself.’
‘I know that,’ Gian admitted, for if she had asked her father to call in a favour, then Rafael would have had a quiet word with him when he’d visited yesterday.
‘I won’t let you down, Gian.’
But even with Ariana’s assurances, Gian was hesitant. He did not want Ariana to be his problem. He did not need the complication of hiring and, no doubt, having to fire her. And yet, and yet, he grudgingly admired her attempt to make something of herself, aside from the family name she’d been born into.
She broke into his thoughts then. ‘Perhaps you could show me around?’
‘I do not give guided tours to potential staff, that is Vanda’s domain...’
‘Ah, so I’m “potential staff” now?’
‘I did not say that.’
‘Then, as a family friend, you can show me around.’
Gian took a breath, and looked into navy violet eyes and better understood the predicament her parents must find themselves in at times. How the hell did you say no to that?
CHAPTER THREE
TO THE SURPRISE of both of them, Gian agreed to the tour of La Fiordelise.
Ariana’s clear interest in the hotel pleased him, and if it had been a real interview, her request would have impressed him indeed.
‘Just a short tour...’ he nodded ‘...given you are my final appointment for the day.’
Perhaps it was the single glass of champagne on a nervously empty stomach, but Ariana was giddy with excitement as she stood up. There was even a heady thought that perhaps they might conclude the tour in the restaurant, and then dinner, of course.
And there Gian would offer her the role of VIP Guest Services Manager!
Oh, she could just picture herself in the bespoke blush tartan suits and pearls that the guest services managers wore!
It felt very different walking through the foyer with Gian at her side. Ariana was more than used to turning heads, but there was a certain deference that Gian commanded. Staff straightened at his approach,
