The Colorado Countess

by Stephanie Howard

  Last time she’d said something similar he’d simply told her not to worry. And, likewise, when she had asked what the purpose of the meeting was—had he fixed things with Duke Damiano or were there still things to discuss?—he had airily assured her that it was all under control. But now she was beginning to doubt that. She had the feeling she was being fobbed off. And the feeling was making her even more tense than ever.

  She watched him now as he glanced at his watch and she was aware that she was holding her coffee-cup very tight. ‘Don’t you think you should maybe check,’ she insisted, ‘that he actually got your message?’

  If Leone was aware of her growing tension he did not show it.

  He shrugged. ‘You’re right. It is getting late. I don’t really think there’s any point in phoning now. I reckon we’ll just have to postpone the meeting.’

  ‘Postpone it?’ Carrie glared at him as anger went rushing through her. Did this mean she had endured this evening for nothing? She felt like reaching across the table and strangling him with her bare hands.

  And that wasn’t all. Suddenly, she was starting to feel certain that a suspicion that had been growing in her head all evening wasn’t, after all, just paranoia. No meeting with his brother had ever been arranged. He had been stringing her along from start to finish.

  It all added up. That was why Caterina knew nothing. And it was why he’d avoided discussing the subject. He had set her up. That phone call had been phoney. The more these thoughts seethed within her, the more certain she became.

  And now he was casually saying that the meeting would have to be postponed. What a cop-out. Did he really expect her just to take this kind of treatment?

  ‘Postpone it?’ she said again, laying down her coffee-cup with a clatter. Then she demanded, ‘Are you sure you’ve actually spoken to your brother?’

  To her intense annoyance, his response was to smile. ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?’ he enquired.

  ‘Trust you?’ She was really mad now, her tension smouldering to fury. ‘No, I don’t, as a matter of fact. I don’t trust you at all. You haven’t spoken to your brother. You’re just playing some game with me!’

  For that would explain something else. It would explain her own strange obsession, why she kept thinking of his bedroom and feeling ill at ease with him. It was because her personal radar, some instinctive sixth sense in her, had seen through him and picked up his secret intentions. All these things were only in her mind because they’d been in his mind first. He hadn’t brought her here to talk about the dinner service at all. That had simply been a lure. He had brought her here to seduce her!

  Carrie threw down her napkin as she felt her anger spill over. ‘You knew your brother would be busy tonight and that there’d be no chance of me meeting him! There was never any meeting arranged at all!’

  As her voice rose she was rather glad that Silvestro had withdrawn and, presumably, was out of earshot. She could really go to town and tell Leone what she thought of him.

  ‘This whole thing has been a trick! You never meant to help me! You’re nothing but a lying, cheating snake!’

  Leone had barely batted an eyelid. He regarded her calmly across the table. ‘Why on earth,’ he demanded, ‘are you getting so upset?’

  That was the final straw! Carrie rose furiously to her feet, fully intending to go marching out through the door. But at that very moment Silvestro appeared through it instead, stopping in his tracks at the sight of her flushed face.

  Being the well-trained servant that he was, he exited immediately, but Carrie had already flung away in frustration. She couldn’t sit down again now and she couldn’t bear to look at Leone. So she took the only other option and flounced out onto the balcony.

  The blood was roaring in her ears as she leaned against the parapet, and she could hardly see straight for the anger that seethed in her. I should never have trusted him! I should have known he’d make a fool of me! I knew what type of man he was!

  There was a sudden movement behind her. She knew it was Leone. She could smell the familiar cool, clean scent of him.

  Without turning to look at him, she told him, her tone a warning, ‘Don’t come near me or I promise you I’ll throw you off this balcony.’

  She felt him smile, then he spoke softly, ‘What’s up; Carrie? What’s got into you?’ A moment later he had reached out and laid a hand on her arm.

  Carrie’s entire body had gone rigid. She spun round. ‘I warned you!’ Her fists were clenched, ready to pummel him to the ground.

  But something happened to her the moment she looked into his eyes. She felt her body go slack and, as his arm slipped round her waist, she simply tilted back her head and waited for him to kiss her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IT WAS a kiss that, quite simply, took her breath away.

  As soft as thistledown, as warm as sunshine, as sweet as honey, as thrilling as freefall.

  And freefall was a pretty good description of what it felt like. Like leaping into some void, the wind whistling past her ears, the giddy feeling that the ground was rushing up to meet her.

  But then it was as though her parachute had suddenly opened. All at once she was floating. Her body had become weightless. As insubstantial and as buoyant as a cloud. It was the most magical feeling in the whole world.

  As Leone’s lips pressed down on hers, his arms tight around her, Carrie could feel a heat and a heaviness inside her that seemed to curl all the way from the top of her scalp right down to the coral-painted tips of her toes. The sensation held her there, immobilising her totally, and she made no effort whatsoever to fight it. What sense would there be in that? It was totally delicious.

  For not only Carrie’s body had become Leone’s weak and willing prisoner. Her will, too, had surrendered to him with no more protest than a sigh.

  Which was why her hands had floated up to rest on his shoulders, her fingers curling softly round the back of his neck. Somehow, it had just happened. She’d had no choice in the matter. And she loved the warm feel of his flesh against her fingertips.

  Her fingers were reaching up to lace through his hair now, so wonderfully cool and soft and springy. And she felt drunk with the warm scent of him. It was making her dizzy. She had never felt anything remotely like this before.

  That was when a bell, belatedly, rang in her head. She should not be feeling it now. This was Leone, seducing her. And she was just standing here meekly, without a protest, letting him. Though it was much worse than that. She was actively encouraging him! A shaft of horror tore through her. Had she gone mad?

  She snatched her hands from his shoulders and pressed them against her chest. ‘Stop it!’ she commanded, struggling to free herself. ‘Stop it this instant! What the devil do you think you’re doing?’

  Not much struggle was required. Leone stepped back almost instantly, dropping his arms away from her waist. And as a smile touched his lips Carrie thought for a moment that he was about to make some amused, mocking comment at her expense. And she could hardly have blamed him. Her sudden outrage was a little suspect. He hadn’t been the only one doing the kissing!

  But he made no such comment. Instead, he said to her, ‘Why were you so upset a moment ago?’

  Carrie blinked at him. Upset? She couldn’t recall being upset. In fact, she could recall nothing before that dynamite kiss. The powerful impact of it had washed her brain clean.

  ‘Was I?’ She frowned at him, struggling to remember.

  ‘Extremely.’

  He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and looked down at her with humorous blue eyes. He’s behaving as though nothing happened a moment ago, Carrie was thinking. And she wasn’t at all sure how she felt about that.

  ‘You threw down your napkin and came stomping out here. I seem to remember you even threatened to throw me off the balcony.’

  Belatedly, a cog in Carrie’s brain clicked into place. Yes, now she remembered! And as the memory flowed back she felt her ange
r flow back with it.

  ‘I had every right to be upset,’ she accused. ‘You’ve been leading me up the garden path!’

  ‘Have I?’ Dark eyebrows rose. ‘Kindly explain what you mean.’

  He knew very well what she meant. He was just playing more games with her. Carrie took a step away from the stone balustrade of the balcony, carefully putting more distance between them. ‘OK,’ she conceded, ‘since you insist on playing the innocent, it’ll be my pleasure to explain.’

  Then, as he continued to watch her, she folded her arms across her chest and proceeded to explain what he already knew. ‘You promised to speak to your brother about the Montecrespi dinner service and persuade him to let me include it in my book. But you haven’t, have you? It was all just a trick.’

  ‘A trick?’

  ‘Yes, a trick. You’re playing some game with me.’

  She was choosing her words carefully, reluctant to accuse him outright of using his promise as a lure to try and seduce her. If they got back onto that subject it could lead to all sorts. of tricky diversions. Much wiser just to stick to what was really bothering her.

  ‘Admit I’m right,’ she insisted. ‘You haven’t spoken to your brother. You haven’t, have you? It was all just a trick.’

  But Leone was shaking his head. ‘I’m afraid you’re quite wrong, you know. I spoke to my brother, just as I said I would.’ He frowned at her. ‘What makes you think I haven’t?’

  Carrie squinted at him. Was this more lies? ‘Are you serious?’ she demanded.

  ‘Of course I’m serious.’ Leone smiled. ‘I spoke to him the other night.’

  Carrie was starting to feel a little foolish. Could she be wrong, after all? Her mind ranged back over what had made her suspect him in the first place. There’d been no concrete proof, really. She’d simply felt it in her bones.

  She continued to regard him semi-suspiciously. ‘And what did your brother say when you spoke to him?’ she demanded.

  ‘He said he’d like to meet you before he makes a definite decision—though I’m pretty sure I’ve convinced him to say yes. And that’s why I invited you here this evening—so you could meet him and come to some arrangement. But unfortunately he’s been tied up and that didn’t happen.’ He regarded her with unblinking blue eyes for a moment. ‘You see, you really have no cause to be so distrustful.’

  Didn’t she? Carrie was still not totally convinced. Leone Montecrespi was as tricky as a bag of monkeys. Still, there was no point in insisting. If he was telling the truth, that would only annoy him; and if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t make a spit of difference anyway.

  So she shrugged. ‘OK, let’s assume I was wrong. So, what happens now? Will you speak to him again?’

  ‘I’ll speak to him tomorrow.’

  ‘OK. Thank you.’ Then she gritted her teeth. ‘I’m sorry if I was wrong about you.’ It would have been a little ungracious not to apologise!

  ‘Don’t mention it.’ He looked into her eyes with a smile. ‘In the end, your little tantrum didn’t do any harm.’ As he said it he reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ‘On the contrary, I’d say, it proved to be quite positive.’

  Well, Carrie knew what that meant! It was her ‘tantrum’, after all, that had led to that disgraceful, mind-blowing kiss! As his finger brushed her ear she stepped hastily away, just in case he was planning any more positive moves! And the way her ear was suddenly burning and her heart rushing inside her, she was really only half listening as he went on to add, ‘In the meantime, while we’re waiting for Damiano to give the go-ahead, I can arrange for you to have a look—just a look—at the dinner service.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary, thank you.’

  Carrie spoke without thinking, wondering if it was his offer or his advance she was rejecting. Whichever it was, she felt a deep, fierce need to say no. For the burning in her ear had spread to her entire scalp now. He had only touched her ear lightly, but it had sparked off an explosion of sensation.

  She pursed her lips at him angrily, though it was herself she was really mad at. ‘Just let me know when the meeting with your brother’s been set up. There’s no point in me wasting time coming to see the collection before then.’

  ‘As you wish. But if you change your mind all you have to do is ring me. The number’s on that note I sent you yesterday.’ He paused and held her eye. ‘That is, if you still have it?’

  ‘I may still have it somewhere.’ Carrie fought back a blush as she said it. She knew precisely where it was—in the top drawer of her dressing table! She was keeping it as a memento to take home and show her parents!

  ‘But I won’t need it,’ she added, dropping her eyes from his. ‘As I said, I’ll wait until you’ve fixed things with your brother.’

  ‘Suit yourself. The offer’s there.’ Leone glanced at his watch. ‘And now I think it’s time I took you home.’ He flicked her a look. ‘Unless you’d like a brandy first?’

  ‘No, thanks; I’d rather go home.’ Carrie glanced at her own watch, and was astonished to see that it was already after midnight. ‘I’ve got a busy day tomorrow,’ she told him.

  ‘Me too.’ He smiled at her. ‘Come on, let’s go, then.’

  He led her out into the corridor and down in the lift, then across the marble entrance hall and out into the courtyard. A sleek black sports car, its top down, was parked there. As Leone pulled open the passenger door, Carrie slid inside. And then, with a low growl, they were setting off through the palace gates.

  Carrie was extremely glad that the top of the car was down. It was rather pleasant driving along with the wind in her hair and the scents of the clean night air in her nostrils. But, more to the point, it would have been extremely worrying to have been cooped up with Leone in such a small space. She would have had a great deal of difficulty coping with that!

  As it was, she was taking pains to look nowhere near him, glad he wasn’t insisting on anything but the minimum of conversation and slightly troubled by thoughts of what would happen when they got to the villa—though she had already decided how she would make certain that nothing did!

  As soon as they arrived she would be out of the car like a rocket, just in case he had any notions about kissing her goodnight. There had already been more than enough kissing for one night!

  They were climbing up the winding road that led to the villa and Carrie’s hand was already hovering over the doorhandle. I’ll just leap straight out, then say, Thank you and goodnight, she told herself firmly as the villa came into sight. And she held her breath as the car turned into the driveway, then drew to a halt as he pulled on the handbrake.

  Her hand was clasping the doorhandle, but something very strange happened. She didn’t push the door open and she didn’t leap out. Instead, with pounding heart, she turned to face him.

  ‘Thank you for dinner,’ she told him. ‘It really was lovely.’ And then she just sat there, not moving a muscle.

  Leone had turned to look at her. ‘My pleasure,’ he assured her. ‘I hope we can do it again some time soon.’ Then, unhurriedly, he leaned towards her and kissed her lightly on the lips.

  ‘Goodnight,’ he murmured, ‘and sogni d’oro. Golden dreams.’

  ‘Goodnight.’

  In a kind of trance, Carrie pushed the door open. That had not been meant to happen, but she was rather pleased that it had. She stepped out on giddy legs. What a dreamy goodnight kiss!

  Leone watched from the car as she climbed the steps to her front door, then he waited till the light was on and she was safely indoors. Then, returning her final wave, he swung the car out onto the road and headed back to the Palazzo Verde, his spirits soaring.

  Soon she would be his. He trod hard on the gas and punched the steering wheel with the heel of his hand. His plan was working an absolute treat!

  Over the next couple of days Carrie found it increasingly difficult to keep her mind on Castello porcelain.

  She was spending long hours with the ever
helpful Dr Lamberti and some particularly interesting members of his staff—for some of the hand-decorators at the factory belonged to families who had been working for Castello for generations.

  One, old Bruno Nardi, proudly told her how he had learned his skills directly from his father who in turn had learned from his own father before him. And each Nardi son had sat at the same workbench where he sat now, decorating the fragile cups and dishes and vases with the designs that had been passed down through the centuries. Though, alas, he lamented, the tradition would end with him. His own son had chosen to go into banking.

  On one level, Carrie was totally absorbed by it all and absolutely delighted at the way things were going. These personal little touches would make all the difference to her book. They would bring it alive. They would make it special. She found her enthusiasm increasing daily.

  But on another level, simultaneously, she felt detached from it all. For she was finding it increasingly impossible to block out thoughts of Leone.

  He kept jumping into her consciousness at the most unexpected moments. There she would be, bent over some masterpiece in the little Castello museum at the factory, and suddenly she would realise that her thoughts were elsewhere. She wasn’t thinking about the marvellous translucency of the porcelain or of the wonderful quality of the decoration. She was thinking about something much more mundane and prosaic. She was thinking about how wonderful it had been to kiss Leone.

  Though perhaps mundane and prosaic were not the best words to describe that. Kissing Leone had been a thrilling, lyrical experience, like nothing she had ever experienced before.

  Never before in her life had she been so swept away. Never before had she felt her heart fly like a bird. No wonder the experience had turned her inside out.

  It was strange. Here she was, already twenty-four years old, and this was truly the first time a man had affected her this way. She’d felt mild attractions before. It wouldn’t have been natural if she hadn’t. She’d had boyfriends whose kisses had been perfectly pleasant. But pleasant was really as far as it had gone.