‘Spare me the self-righteous outrage,’ he returned smoothly. ‘Why don’t you have a look at the card?’
Still fuming, Rosie looked at the card, which had just a name on it and three telephone numbers. She politely reached forward to return it.
‘I’m sorry but this doesn’t mean anything to me. Well, I guess it’s your name. Matteo Moretti.’ She sighed. He’d taken the card back and was obviously waiting for her to expand. His expression was unreadable and she got the impression that this was a man who knew how to conceal what was in his head and that it was something he was accustomed to doing. He emanated a certain amount of menace but she wondered whether that hint of menace wasn’t amplified by the fact that she was just so conscious of him in a way she had never been conscious of any man in her life before.
Suddenly very much aware of her physical shortcomings, she fidgeted in the chair and tried to get herself into a suitably more elevated, commanding position.
‘I suppose you’re someone important, which is why you think I should recognise your name, but I don’t know who’s who in the world of business. You must be rich, because you think that I’m some kind of master criminal who wants your money, but you’re wrong.’
‘Your sister knew my name,’ Matteo said bluntly. ‘Care to explain?’
‘Her name is Candice.’
‘Irrelevant. Just answer my question. Time is money.’
Sinfully good-looking he might be but Rosie was beginning to think that he was the most odious guy she had ever encountered. Rude didn’t begin to cover it.
‘I teach skiing here,’ she said stiffly. ‘For the season. I happened to meet your...your friends on the slopes. Pierre was supposed to be giving them a lesson but he went out last night with his girlfriend and he didn’t show up for—’
‘Get to the point!’
‘I’m getting there! Bob and Margaret told me that they were here mixing business with pleasure. They told me your name—Matteo. They said you never left the hotel, then they laughed and said that if they didn’t get to grips with skiing then you were to blame because they were too busy feeling guilty about you being cooped up inside to concentrate on getting their feet in the right place. Obviously I didn’t know it was you at the time, but that’s how I happened to know your name. It was just coincidence that you happened to be where you were when...’
When all hell broke loose.
Matteo gritted his teeth. ‘How much more tortured can this explanation get? I feel as though I’m being made to sample a vision of hell. Are you ever going to get to the point or do I have to bring the police in to question you?’
‘Police? How dare you?’ She glared at him and he stared back at her without batting an eyelid.
‘Just. Get. To. The. Point.’
‘Okay, here’s the point!’ Rosie snapped, leaning forward and gripping the sides of her chair tightly. ‘I had to pretend that I had broken up with someone, because I didn’t want to be condemned to seeing Bertie over Christmas, and I spotted you down there in the foyer with Bob and Margaret and I... I...figured that you were the businessman called Matteo so I lied and told my sister that I’d been seeing you! Is that enough of an explanation for you? I’m really sorry but you were the fall guy!’
Copyright © 2019 by Cathy Williams
ISBN-13: 9781488044984
Bride Behind the Billion-Dollar Veil
Copyright © 2019 by Clare Connelly
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Bride Behind The Billion-Dollar Veil (Crazy Rich Greek Weddings Book 2) Page 19