by Annie West
I’ve been a reader almost as long as I can remember and the idea of being without a book sends a chill down my spine. In my teens I got hooked on romance and never looked back.
I found my own tall, dark romantic hero while at university. After a surprisingly interesting career in the public service I found myself with young children and a burning desire to do what I’d always secretly dreamed – write romance rather than government reports. I’ve been writing ever since. Along the way I’ve won a number of awards, including the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and the Australian Romance Writers’ Romantic Book of the Year. I’m also a multiple USA Today Bestselling Author.
I live with my hero and family at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney, Australia. We’re close to the Hunter Valley’s marvellous wine country, superb beaches and the beautiful lake.
My favourite things are books, travel, long walks, good company and great food. I get to spend my days fantasising about gorgeous men and their love lives, which can be hard work, but I have no regrets. There’s nothing better than that sigh-worthy moment when your hero and heroine finally get their happy ending, or when a reader contacts you to say they loved your story too.
EXCERPT FROM ‘AT THE ITALIAN’S BIDDING’
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Copyright Annie West 2017
Prologue
Come and spend the weekend with me, Lia. I need you.
Lia reread the message in disbelief.
Niccolo Marchesi wanted her to spend the weekend with him?
Her heartbeat kicked from normal to frantic, revving just like the engine of Niccolo’s latest race car.
She darted a look around the elegant hotel lobby, still empty of guests needing her assistance, then stared at her phone.
Niccolo never messaged her. Oh, they talked. Whenever he visited her family home for some celebration or when she caught up with her brother Matteo in Rome, Niccolo was often there. Niccolo and Matteo were still close after all these years, and Niccolo treated her as a little sister to be teased and indulged.
But he never went out of his way to seek her company.
Who could blame him? He knew full well about that teenage crush she’d had on him years ago.
The memory of his kindness then, his understanding, sent heat washing through her. No woman, not even a half-grown one, wanted pity instead of passion. And at seventeen it had been passion she’d desperately yearned for.
Thank goodness, at twenty-two, she was over him. She was busy with her own career, her own life. And if she took extra care to look good whenever she knew she was going to meet him? Well, who wouldn’t? Niccolo Marchesi wasn’t just a celebrated, phenomenally successful international race driver. He was handsome and sexy, always with at least one pretty girl in tow. Pretty? Make that gorgeous.
Lia frowned at her phone. Had he meant to send this message to Matteo? But no, he mentioned her by name.
How did he have her number, anyway?
The answer was easy. Any of her older brothers would have provided it. They treated him as one of their own.
Matteo had brought him into their home years ago. Niccolo had worked a season at the prestigious, historic hotel in the Italian Alps owned by his ultra-wealthy family. He’d been sent to learn the value of hard work. Lia’s brother Matteo had worked there part time and the teenagers had hit it off instantly. After that Niccolo had spent all his spare time in the De Laurentis home.
Being addicted to speed and thrills like all Lia’s brothers, Niccolo had returned every winter, since their mountain provided challenging slopes and perfect powder snow.
I need you.
Lia could imagine him saying it, an earnest look in his extraordinary dark eyes. His voice rich and deep and just a little husky as he reached out to her.
She blinked and thrust the fantasy aside.
As if! One thing she’d learnt about Niccolo – he might be a nice guy beneath those movie-star looks, he might even take it upon himself to be kind to a skinny, smitten kid, but he was not attracted to her.
In the years since she’d grown into a woman, he’d not once looked at her with anything approaching male interest.
To him she was the little sister he’d never had. So if he needed her it wasn’t because he’d suddenly discovered he’d been pining for her all this time.
Lia settled back in her leather chair behind the reception desk and again surveyed the hotel foyer. Through the window sunlight shone on the cobblestones and tourists clustered to take photos of picturesque Bergamo, the quaint hill town with its small but ultra-luxurious boutique hotel owned by her brother Luca. She was even a part owner of the enterprise along with the other staff, due to Luca’s innovative profit-sharing scheme.
Right now there were no guests needing attention. Nothing urgent to do. She turned back to her phone.
How could Niccolo possibly need her? At twenty-nine he was at the peak of his career, with so many wins under his belt the press were lauding him as a once-in-a-century sportsman. In addition to the millions he’d made from racing and sponsorship, he came from a well-heeled family. As for his love-life — he had the pick of women. It was well documented by the press and her brothers ribbed him about it all the time.
Need me for what?
She sent the message before she could have second thoughts.
Resolutely she put the phone aside and busied herself, double-checking bookings that had already been checked, and making a list of extra services that might be required. The American couple had spoken of a tour to Verona and—
A message pinged into her phone.
Need your help. Please?
Lia’s heart fluttered. Niccolo needed her help?
The idea tugged at her conscience. Hadn’t he come to her rescue when she needed him?
At seventeen, she’d been so fixated on him she’d almost convinced herself he reciprocated her feelings. When cornered by the other girls, taunting her about not having a date for the all-important local dance, she’d defiantly announced that Niccolo Marchesi, the newest, hottest star on the international racing circuit, would be her date.
It was a moment of insanity she regretted as soon as she’d spoken but then it was too late. The news spread like wildfire. Right to her brothers. And from there to Niccolo.
She remembered his solemn tone when he’d called to ask if it was true, and she’d stumbled, stricken, over her reply. The damning silence while he took it in. And the elation when, unbelievably, he’d promised to escort her, though it meant squeezing the visit into his already packed schedule.
She’d danced on air that night, radiant with happiness. Until he’d taken her home, gently kissed her on the forehead and made it clear that, while he cared for her like a sister, he had a girlfriend waiting for him elsewhere.
The fact was, she owed Niccolo. He’d stood by her and never reproached her for her foolishness. He’d saved her pride when it would have been far easier to let her face the consequences of her wishful lie.
More than that, he’d helped her family in so many ways it was impossible to count. Through knowing him, Luca, her eldest brother, had got valuable contacts who’d helped him as he developed his own chain of resorts. Because of that, Lia herself had a promising career in hotel management.
Another message arrived. This one promising an explanation on Friday afternoon, if she was willing to spend the weekend at his family’s villa at Lake Como.
Lia chewed her lip.
Lake Como with Niccolo or spring cleaning her little flat?
Besides, there was that debt of honour. Niccolo needed her.
Lia ignored the flush of heat that thought evoked and told herself she was doing a favour for a friend. Whatever trouble Niccolo was in, she’d help him. Then she’d walk away, pleased to have helped and lighter for having cleared that ancient debt.
Chapter One
‘Your girlfriend?’ Lia’s voice rose half an octave and those remarkable eyes widened. Light brown, flecked with gold, they�
�d always drawn attention, even when she was a skinny kid with braces and a nervous habit of twisting her hair in her hand.
That shy, skinny girl was long gone.
Niccolo almost wished she wasn’t. It had been far easier to deal with that Lia, his best friend’s cute younger sister, than the dazzling woman she’d become.
‘Temporarily.’
She planted her hands on her hips. ‘How temporarily?’
‘Just for the weekend.’ He paused, wondering if, after all, this was a mistake.
But who else could he turn to? There was no other woman he trusted like Lia. Besides, she was perfect for the role. ‘I promise to bring you back on Sunday night in plenty of time for work on Monday.’
He watched her pace across her neat lounge room, her movements all unconscious, sinuous grace, her slim body far, far too enticing. Desire punched straight to his gut.
Damn. That was a complication he didn’t need…
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