‘You put Meissen on display in a room you never use?’
‘I may not use it, but I have plenty of guests.’
Luca gave a wolfish smile. Beth guessed he meant most of them were women.
‘That makes it worse,’ she muttered. Bewitched by the room’s beauty, she had hardly taken in the fine details at first. Now she began to look at its contents more closely. Some of her father’s enthusiasm for his work had rubbed off on her, and Beth could recognise the styles of Chippendale and Wedgwood. There were many other exquisite pieces of furniture, glassware and porcelain that she could not identify, but they all murmured of quality and taste. She had no doubt every item was as genuine as Luca. The things in this bedroom alone must be worth hundreds of thousands. She gave a silent whistle of amazement.
‘But you’re such a perfectionist, Luca. Aren’t you afraid your lovely things will get broken or stolen?’
‘What sort of a host would I be, if I worried about little things like that?’ he said airily, strolling over to the window.
Beth watched him walk away from her. In the past, she had done it dozens of times, but always when feeling the normal fear of any soldier’s partner—that he might not return to her arms. Back then, the pain had been all in her mind. Now, Luca’s new coldness had stamped it all over her heart as well. She gazed at his broad back and wide shoulders. The fine designer cut of his blue silk shirt could not disguise the power of his body. Gradually, her pangs dissolved into need. This time, she was feeling the agony of a separation from him that could never be repaired.
Her anguish was so real it trembled through her body, willing her to rush up and throw herself on his mercy all over again. As she watched he put up a hand to push aside the gauzy curtains with his slender bronze fingers. She saw the contrast of his olive skin against the white net. She remembered his touch so vividly that it hurt. Thoughts of what they had shared tugged at her like stitches in a wound that would not heal. Unable to fight her desire any more, Beth felt herself drawn across the few metres separating them. Although the thick Amritsar rug muffled all sound, Luca still sensed her movements. Turning his head, he looked at her with limpid dark eyes. They told her nothing. She was so close now she could breathe in the warm, familiar fragrance of his cologne, although the faint shadow along his jaw line showed it was hours since he had last shaved. Her whole body ached with the desperate urge to reach out and touch him—to feel his raw masculinity.
All he did was look at her, silently and steadily. It was a tigerish expression, daring her to get within his danger zone. There would be no open invitation any more. Beth had to risk making contact on instinct alone. Nervously, she raised her hand until her fingertips could no longer resist the magnetic attraction of his proud, carved cheekbones. His skin felt exactly as she remembered. As her index finger traced the slope of his jaw she felt where the smooth, flawless surface of his cheek became roughened at his beard line.
As inflexible as Sansovino’s statue of Mars, Luca allowed her caress to move slowly to his hair. Hardly daring to breathe, she continued to stroke him. Her touch drifted down around his neck to the front of the plain white fabric of his shirt. All the time his unblinking stare challenged her to continue, to tempt him beyond endurance. But there was not any direct response. Finally, Beth closed her eyes. She could not carry on laying her emotions bare like this without any encouragement. Her hand faltered and fell away. She was unable to go any further, in case he rejected her.
Then she sensed a sudden darkening of the world outside. Opening her eyes again, she saw Luca had moved his hand and let the curtain fall. Now they were both completely surrounded by shadows. He stood before her in his magnificence, a coiled spring perfectly contained by his tall, lean body. The challenge of his eyes was replaced by the defiance of his stance.
‘How does it feel to be denied the one thing you desire, tesoro?’ His native language whispered into the growing darkness but the endearment could not help her. His tone had been too painful.
‘Oh, Luca…it’s unbearable, especially when you speak to me like that.’
Her voice was hardly strong enough to tremble the nearest candle flame, but there was no doubt Luca heard it. In response, he moved towards her until barely a dream could slip between them. Beth dropped her head, unable to stand the pain of feeling him so close, and yet so far away. And it was then that he placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head so her gaze connected with his.
He met no resistance as he took possession of her as easily as he had always done. Beth should have known what was coming next, but she was still surprised when his mouth closed over hers. His tongue penetrated her with all the fierce passion she craved. For a few moments it was as though they had never been apart. Beth could fool herself she had never said goodbye to him, on that last terrible night in Balacha.
Luca’s thrusting urgency fired Beth’s desperate need for him. She clung to him with urgent hands. For five years she had quashed every emotion he inspired in her. Now her feelings rushed out in a torrent of release. She fretted over his body with her lips and tongue and fingers, but as quickly as he had embraced her he stood back.
He was breathing fast; his expression was masked. Beth felt herself crumble—Luca hadn’t changed at all! Despite everything, he was still, and always would be, in control. He might allow her to touch his body, but she would never reach his heart and soul. This was no bitter-sweet reconciliation between friends. All her fierce desire and need were useless in the face of his iron will. He was rejecting her as easily as he had snatched her up.
‘Don’t you want me after all?’ she asked, wide-eyed with realisation.
His eyes narrowed. ‘Want, certainly. But you answer your own question with those two little words “after all”, Beth. After all that has happened over the past few years I don’t need you,’ he said, his voice dangerous and dark.
Beth felt his scorn like a blow. She tried to take a deep, steadying breath. Seconds before, the perfume of lavender and candles had seemed so romantic. Now it seared her lungs like acid.
Luca smiled, but while his mouth might have softened, his eyes did not. He was watching her like a cat watching a mouse.
‘What is the saying—“Once bitten, twice shy?” I’m surprised a clever girl like you didn’t remember that, tesoro.’
Her hands reached out to him, but dropped to her sides before they made contact. Passion was still burning within her, but he had discarded her.
‘Luca…you were enjoying yourself…The feeling wasn’t only on my side, was it?’
He gave an eloquent shrug. For a few glorious seconds, they had been pressed together so tightly, the smallest movement of his body had rubbed against hers with wicked intent.
Beth lost every shred of self-respect. She had come so far she could not give up on him now.
‘Luca…look at me, please! Then tell me you didn’t enjoy what we were doing just then.’
Candlelight flickered in the black pools of his eyes. It was a long time before he spoke.
‘I enjoyed it very much.’
He could hardly deny it. Beth had felt the unmistakable, insistent pressure of him crushing against her. But now the look on his face mocked the flames of light dancing around the room.
‘If I wanted to, I could take you right here and now, Beth. But as it would mean nothing to either of us, there would be no point.’
‘You don’t know that.’ She looked up at him with the hopeful ghost of a smile.
‘I know enough. Self-knowledge is a wonderful thing, Beth. I could have you any time I wanted, but it won’t be today.’
She took a step back and stared at him, confused.
‘What?’
He checked the Rolex on his wrist. ‘It is getting late, Beth. My pilot will take you home, before your new neighbourhood comes alive—if you know what I mean.’
Beth groaned. The fear of what might be waiting for her back at that horrible apartment squashed all her deepest physical n
eeds in an instant.
‘Don’t worry. I shall tell my pilot to see you right to your door,’ Luca added quickly. ‘He will have instructions not to leave until you are safely inside. And remember—don’t open that door to anyone overnight. Not even me.’
Especially not you, Beth thought, with a heavy sense of finality.
‘Of course—but, Luca—Luca, what has happened to you?’ Her words dropped like beads and rolled across the widening gap between them. ‘You’re as cold and uncaring as your beautiful possessions. After five years apart, I was hoping you could have found it in your heart to forgive me…’
‘Why? So that we could be together again?’ he replied quite reasonably, then gave her a killer blow. ‘I don’t think so, Beth. I think we’ve both come too far. The past can’t be an issue for either of us any more. All I did with that little exhibition just now is to prove it to both of us.’
Pushing his hands deep into his pockets, he sauntered out of the bedroom, heading for the main door of the suite.
‘And now, as you have seen everything here, I shall go and arrange for my launch to take you back home.’
The sky over the city had long ago faded from a cloudy, milky dusk into glowing velvet. It made no difference whatsoever to Luca. He remained seated beside the window of the bridal suite. He was as still as any of the marble statues guarding his piece of heaven on earth. There was a glass in his hand. Sensing trouble, his barman had mixed him a large Bellini. Luca had not touched it. The room became dark as one by one the candles around the room burned down. He did not relight them.
This was a time for shadows. Showing Beth everything she was missing had been harder than he had imagined it would be—much harder. But it was over now. Nothing would ever be so difficult for him again. He had freed her from the burden of her guilt by letting her put it into words. That should have freed him, too. Now they could both move on. Luca had faced his own demons. By putting himself to the test he knew he could resist her, though it took a huge effort. Beth now thought his love for her was dead, and he had cut her out of his life for ever with his trademark military precision.
If only he could be sure of that himself.
Self-pity wasn’t in Beth’s nature, but she knew the change in Luca was because of the way she had treated him in the past. Memories gnawed at her, bringing tears to her eyes. She was trying so hard not to cry she had to meet Luca’s pilot with her head down. Her torment was so acute she stepped into the palazzo’s speedboat without any of her usual hesitation. She had not been in Venice for long enough to use boats with the casual ease of the locals. They thought no more of travelling over water than she would of hopping into a car, but Beth was only a beginner. The pilot helped her in, before removing the waterproof cover from a seat so she had somewhere dry to sit. Tonight, she did not have the heart to enjoy the luxury of her lift home. Passengers on the waterbuses gasped and pointed as Luca’s speedboat swept past them, but Beth hardly noticed. She huddled down in her jacket, going over the wrong turnings she had taken in life, and rubbing her eyes raw with the pain of rejection. Luca was the only man she wanted—now and for ever. If he didn’t want her, then Beth’s heart had no future. It was unbearably painful, but she knew she must turn her disaster into an opportunity. Now, she ought to be able to throw all her energy into making something of the rest of her life. Thoughts of Luca threatened to choke her with tears, but she refused to cry in front of his pilot. She would work out how to get herself back on track, if only to show Luca she didn’t need him any more, or his money.
The lights of a vaporetto rose up out of the growing gloom. The glare made her blink, as though it were shining right into her murky past. Her father had managed to send her to a good school, but Beth had been more interested in making well-connected friends than in getting an education. Scraping through GCSEs and dropping out before A levels had set her up for a glittering career as a party animal. Then her father’s health scares had brought a reality check. Beth had started to realise that life was about responsibilities, as well as the right to party. She had had to face facts then, and find some way of supporting her father.
Trying to find a job had given her a nasty dose of reality. Beth had discovered she was almost unemployable, despite all her contacts. Nobody would risk taking on such an airhead. She had been forced to grow up almost overnight. Staff at her local public library had given her lots of help, and she had decided voluntary work would be a good way to improve her image. As usual, she had called on a friend of a friend to provide something. This time she had got what she deserved—a position nobody else had wanted. The job of dogsbody for a charity team in a tense foreign country had felt like the world’s revenge on all her time-wasting. Updating computer records, running errands, mopping up and hosing down had meant Beth was soon absorbed by eighteen-hour days. She’d had no enthusiasm left for a social life. Then Luca had arrived at the medical unit where she was working, to visit one of his men. Beth had seen him, and burst back into life.
The speedboat hit a patch of choppy water, and Beth instinctively grabbed her seat and held on. She tried to forget her wonder at meeting Luca for the first time, and to focus only on his coldly practical loan of this craft and pilot for her journey home. That was the no-nonsense Luca she had to deal with now. But his generosity kept reminding her of how things had been, once upon a time. The moment he had returned from that hospital visit in Balacha, he had sent her two dozen roses and a handwritten note thanking her for all her hard work. From then on, Beth had been entranced. Knowing Luca had made her life worthwhile again. During all their desert picnics, Beth had been too starry-eyed to wonder where the contraband champagne had come from. Today, she ran her hand idly over the smooth leather upholstery of this brand-new boat. It made her realise just how sharp the contrast was between her and Luca now. He must have as many glamorous contacts as she’d had, back in the good old days. He just didn’t flaunt them.
They were approaching a jetty. Beth looked around, already nervous. The shadows were growing, and she wanted to get behind her locked door before it got any darker. As the pilot tied up and helped her ashore Beth tried to cheer herself up with thoughts of the good times. Luca was an irresistible man, and he had been an even better soldier. Dedicated to his work with the peacekeeping force in Balacha, he had always put the army first. To begin with, the little notes he had sent Beth via office captain Tristram Anderson had been a sweet touch. And the making-up after each absence had been spectacular…
Back then, life as Luca’s wife had really appealed to Beth. It had offered the dream of a lot more fun, and no swabbing of floors or sterilising instruments. The trouble was, Luca might have been romantic, but he had always made it clear his work meant more to him than marriage. He had not wanted to be tied down. The army had provided more than enough order in his life. Freedom from all other commitments had been vital for him.
Beth had been different. She had wanted a proper home, and to enjoy the kind of stability her father used to provide for her. She had craved a nine-to-five existence, with no worries about how the next supermarket shopping would be paid for. One final demand, and Luca had wrecked all her dreams. And now she was marooned in this dreary Venetian backwater.
As the pilot made Luca’s boat secure Beth tried to take in her surroundings. Tenement buildings leaned over her like sea cliffs. As she was led through the lanes a million mangy cats disappeared into doorways. Luca’s pilot refused her offer of coffee, and she was glad. The moment her door was locked she shut her eyes and clutched her head in lonely despair. Why, oh, why did Tristram Anderson make me tell Luca it was marriage or nothing? Because he was too spineless to make an open play for me himself, Beth thought bitterly. He wanted Luca safely out of the way before he tried anything.
Luca’s friend and messenger Tristram had had a nice, respectable desk job inside the army. The closest he had got to action was writing bullet points. The only thing Beth and Luca had ever argued about was the future, and their wors
t fights had always happened within Tristram’s earshot. They had been carried on over the phone, with Beth safe at base camp and Luca out in the field. Tristram had always been there for her in the office armed with tea, sympathy and plenty of tissues. During one explosive argument with Luca, Beth had snapped and done what Tristram had been suggesting for months. A wedding, or you can walk away, she had said.
And that had been the end of it all.
Beth’s guilty conscience had plenty of company on her first night in Venice. Tap-dancing mice, paper-thin partition walls and noisy neighbours all added to her misery. Things died down around three. By that time she was so scared of sleeping through her alarm and being late for work, she could not risk staying in bed. Instead, she got up and made herself busy. Throwing herself into housework concentrated Beth’s mind. She was facing a painful truth. In the split second between recognising Luca and realising his feelings for her had changed, Beth had imagined her father’s voice. Catch yourself a rich husband, and you’re made for life, it had whispered. It was a horrible reminder of the clinging parasite she had been, back in Balacha. Luca must think she was still like that, and the realisation made Beth cringe. She had changed. The crucible of Balacha had altered everything. Beth did not want to be dependent on others any more. It had made her vulnerable in the past, when she had thought she was safe. Once, she had made a career of relying on her so-called friends for everything. Then, snaring Luca simply for the size of his pension fund would have been totally in character for her. Now, she was determined to find her own way in life. She was proud of being such a good PA. The trouble was, Luca paid her salary now, not Ben. Unless she could persuade him she was serious about this new way of life, her time at FFA would be limited. There had to be a way of making her position more secure. She had to show Luca she could be an asset to him, and his firm, after all. The only way she could do that was to immerse herself in FFA work and absorb all she could about the business.
Her Ruthless Italian Boss Page 4