It was packed. On a wall, a group of teenagers was laughing and joking. There were people hanging out, chatting. Off the main street, she could see a side road, and beyond that an open square in which a market was in full swing.
A solid wall of heat hit her as soon as she stepped out of the car but she barely noticed that as they made their way down the hill, with locals smiling and turning to stare at them, because they stood out like sore thumbs.
Here and there, tourists were browsing, and she knew that they were very likely hotel guests at Niccolo’s resort for they hadn’t passed another hotel on the way.
‘There are one or two bed and breakfast places.’ He read her mind. ‘But mine is really the only hotel of any substance. The shops are just along here. Pick whatever you want, and if you hesitate I’ll be forced to step in and pick stuff for you.’
The boutique was well stocked and catered for rich tourists. It was wonderfully cold inside. It was a shopper’s paradise. Ellie stopped point blank in the middle of the large, open space and stared at the rails and rails of rainbow-coloured clothes with dismay. When she turned round, it was to find Niccolo leaning against the wall, arms folded, wry amusement on his face.
‘Stuck for choice?’ he asked, strolling towards her, which instantly made Ellie take a few steps back.
‘I... I...’ she stammered, eyes wide, very conscious of the sales assistant who was staring at them with open curiosity.
‘Isn’t she adorable?’ Niccolo looked at the shop assistant and smiled one of those devastating smiles that could make any self-respecting woman jump to his command. ‘We’re looking for a selection of shorts, swimwear, evening wear...tops...’ He looked at Ellie then came a bit closer, to ask in her ear, ‘How are you for underwear?’
Ellie looked at him. His face was mere inches away from hers. She could feel his warm breath on her and his fabulous eyes were burning into her skin. ‘Not funny,’ she spat, and he grinned but didn’t step back.
‘Okay. But if you don’t start choosing, you’re going to have to fight off a very keen shop assistant who will want to sell you everything in here.’
She didn’t want to. She wasn’t mean with her money, but she was frugal. Saving came as second nature to her, with most of her spare cash designated towards paying off her mortgage and putting aside enough to tide her through rainy days. She just didn’t do crazy spending.
But, as she trailed her fingers along the racks of soft cotton and shimmering voile and silk, a very feminine urge kicked in and she felt a wicked sense of forbidden excitement.
She picked clothes of every hue—shades that resembled the colours of tropical fish and birds of paradise—clothes that she would never have dreamed of wearing in a million years because they weren’t sensible.
Memories of her parents in India surfaced, of their hippy friends floating in and out of the beach house they had rented, wearing their gaily painted, flowing, long dresses. There had been a lot of laughter, and that memory took her by surprise, because for a long time her memories of her childhood had been ones of insecurity and unwelcome changes.
Ellie tried on a million things and completely forgot about Niccolo, who had pulled a chair, settled himself in the corner of the room and was on his phone, working.
This was as domestic a sketch as you could get and something fluttered inside her, something scary, because it felt good to be here with a man, trying on clothes which someone else would take an interest in, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
The loneliness of her life struck her like a forcible blow as she stared in the mirror in the changing room, a vision in orange and russet.
There had been no guy in her life for a long time. What she had seen as being discriminating had sealed all the doors on her personal life and stifled any sense of adventure she could have had.
She didn’t want adventure but the colourful, frivolous, silky dress was begging for it. Ellie closed her eyes and, when she opened them again, she felt faint.
She hurriedly stepped back into her sensible clothes, but she had to control her unsteady limbs when she finally presented the stack of items to the shop assistant and stood back as Niccolo settled the bill on his credit card.
‘You can have all the clothes back once we’ve returned to London,’ she told him urgently, as once again they were in the sunshine, strolling back up the hill, slowly, because the heat didn’t encourage speed.
‘What would you suggest I do with all of them?’ From behind his sunglasses, he turned to look down at her.
She might spend her time preaching the joys of frugality and the fulfilment of taking the moral high ground, but he’d watched her as she’d become more and more excited at doing something she had very firmly put down. Her tentative selections had become more confident, and Niccolo had to admit that he had enjoyed her gradual enjoyment in succumbing to the very understandable pleasure of shopping for pretty things a lot more than he had ever enjoyed the effusive gratitude he had had from past girlfriends, who had happily accepted his expensive gifts to them as their due.
‘I have no idea,’ Ellie told him airily. ‘But they don’t belong to me.’
‘In that case, I could always bin them.’
‘You wouldn’t, would you?’ Ellie stopped and stared up at him, and he laughed, warm, genuine laughter that made her breathless.
‘I suppose I could have them all dry-cleaned and try and fob them off on one of my sisters,’ he drawled. ‘But then that would be inviting too much curiosity.’
‘What are they like?’
They had fallen into step and the question felt so natural. Not nosy, not prying, just...natural.
Niccolo stilled. He realised that this was the sort of conversation he just didn’t do. His relationships with women were light and flirty, sexy and seductive, or businesslike and intellectually demanding, but they were never...personal. His instinct was to guard his privacy.
‘Challenging,’ he said shortly.
‘Challenging in a good way?’ Ellie sensed the shutters dropping but it was hot and sunny and she didn’t care about the ‘No Trespassing’ signs being erected. They had drifted into the market place, which was bustling with people, and she toyed with one of the hand-crafted trinkets at one of the stalls.
‘Buy it,’ Niccolo said, by way of changing the conversation, and she held it up to the light. It was polished glass, soft and smooth from its life in the sea before the tides had washed it ashore so that it could be made into the necklace she was staring at now.
‘This reminds me of...’
‘Of what?’
Ellie looked at him and blinked. He hadn’t wanted to share any personal details of himself with her. They were on opposite sides of a giant wall and just because they were involved in a crazy charade didn’t mean that they were on course to becoming buddies.
‘Nothing.’ She dropped it back into its hand-made box and spun round on her heels to begin walking quickly towards another stall. A safer one, with fresh fruit and vegetables, but her heart was still hammering inside her at how close she had come to... To what?
To thinking that they were more than just work colleagues? Because the sun happened to be shining and the atmosphere happened to be holiday-like?
She was back in control when she turned to find Niccolo walking towards her and she shielded her eyes from the glare, watching him as he approached.
‘Time to head back,’ he murmured. ‘Or you’ll end up with sunburn.’
‘And that certainly wouldn’t be good for business.’ She smiled, but her heart was beating fast as they headed towards the car. His hand brushed hers and she resisted flinching at the contact.
‘In what way?’
‘It wouldn’t do for me to be laid up in bed for the week with sunburn when I would need to be out and about, nosing around and getting a feel for the place!’
She stood back as he reached to open the passenger door for her but, instead of stepping aside, Niccolo remained where he wa
s, leaning against the car, sunglasses still firmly in place so that she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes.
‘On the other hand,’ he mused lazily, ‘It would probably be just what might be expected...’
‘That the naïve English woman would venture out without her sun block and end up resembling a lobster?’
‘That the sexy English woman would end up in bed for a week enjoying the ministrations of her man.’
Ellie’s mouth fell open and she gaped. The fluttering inside her intensified to become the beating of a thousand frantic wings, and she had a crazy, irresistible desire to moan out loud because her nerves were all over the place, not least because of the way he was staring at her. Just when she thought it was actually safer that he was hiding behind those dark shades, because that way she could pretend that he was joking, he flipped them up with his finger... He wasn’t joking.
‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Niccolo murmured. ‘I can see it written on your face.’
‘See what? I have no idea at all what you’re talking about.’
‘Liar.’
‘Niccolo...no...’
‘I haven’t done anything. Yet.’
‘This is crazy. You’re my potential client! I have no idea why we’re talking about this!’ Her arms should have been pushing him aside, and her legs should have been carrying her resolutely into the car, but instead she hovered, staring dry-mouthed at him.
‘Trust me. I’m as mystified as you are.’
‘I don’t... I’m not... Yes, you’re an attractive man—as well you know—but I’m not, definitely not, attracted to you!’
‘No?’
‘No! You’re not my type!’
The silence thrummed between them. He was going to kiss her. Her eyelids fluttered. Her whole body was tensed in a state of rigid suspension and a dark, forbidden excitement drummed through her veins until she wanted to pass out. She could almost feel the cool touch of his mouth covering hers.
‘My mistake, in that case.’ Niccolo flipped down the sunglasses and stepped aside. For a few painfully long seconds Ellie couldn’t move, then her breathing returned to normal.
Relieved—that was what she should be feeling, she told herself fiercely. She definitely shouldn’t be feeling disappointment! She should be relieved that he had taken the hint and listened to what she had told him. That he wasn’t her type. That it was crazy. She didn’t welcome his flirtatious advances! She wasn’t attracted to him. Not really...
CHAPTER SEVEN
EQUIPPED WITH HER brand-new wardrobe, the sort of wardrobe to be expected of a woman who was supposedly dating one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet, Ellie decided that she would busy herself doing what she had come to the island to do.
She dreaded the prospect of Niccolo sticking to her like glue. She dreaded the thought of having to wage war with her rebellious body, which was determined to go against all rules and regulations and respond to the wretched man like the girlfriend she most certainly was not.
There were a lot of things she dreaded but, actually, what she discovered she dreaded most was the piercing disappointment when, arriving back at the resort after a silent journey broken only by stilted small talk, Niccolo informed her that he would be busy for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening.
‘Work beckons.’ He killed the engine and leant back against the car door so that he could look at her, his eyes infuriatingly still hidden behind the sunglasses, which left her scrabbling around to try and work out what was going through his head.
‘I was about to say that very thing,’ Ellie informed him crisply and then pursed her lips together when that remark was greeted with a slow, knowing smile.
‘Of course.’
‘And I think we should get a few things clear.’
‘By all means.’
The grin was still in place, and Ellie bristled, because it just wasn’t fair that he could rattle her like this. The heat was gathering in the car now and perspiration was trickling uncomfortably under her stifling outfit.
Sprawled like a lord of the manor against the car door, Niccolo was as cool as a cucumber, perfectly at ease in the soaring temperatures, indeed the very picture of someone unruffled by the electric atmosphere he had deliberately created between them.
He fancied her.
Ellie shivered, tried desperately to shove that horde of buzzing insects back into Pandora’s box from which they had come, but her eyes were drawn to the lean beauty of his face, the sensual curve of his mouth, the lazy strength flexed underneath his clothes. He oozed sexy power and the fact that he had pulled back rather than trying to go in for the kill didn’t make her want him any less. Rather the opposite. She had protested long and hard about not being attracted to him, but they both knew that those had been empty protests.
She licked her lips nervously, determined not to be undermined by her wayward body.
It had always obeyed the rules! In fact, she had given up on being physically attracted to the opposite sex and had, on countless occasions, told herself that it was for the best because a lack of a love life allowed her to prioritise the things that really mattered, namely her work, her job and moving forward with her career. All those solid things she had lacked growing up.
She was staggered and mystified that it could now choose to ignore all those healthy priorities and behave in ways that made her cringe.
Ellie felt that the holiday atmosphere was partly to blame. She was in the sunshine, surrounded by people who were relaxing, on an island where the pace of life was slow and easy.
Add to that the fact that she had been called upon to play a role that had taken her out of her comfort zone and was it any wonder that she was thinking things that were definitely forbidden?
She realised that she was staring and she cleared her throat with purpose.
‘This is an unusual situation,’ she began firmly. ‘But that doesn’t mean that we can’t keep our working hats on. Effectively you’re my client and, just because we’ve entered into a pretend charade, doesn’t mean that...that...’
‘You’re stumbling over your words.’
‘You can’t say those things to me.’
‘What things? Clarify.’
‘I don’t appreciate you talking about any sort of attraction between us. It’s highly inappropriate.’
‘Really? Because effectively I’m your client? I would never dream of making a nuisance of myself, but neither do I intend to pretend that there isn’t something between us.’ He shrugged. ‘Make of it what you will. Whether I’m your client or not doesn’t enter into the equation. The only person I answer to is myself. I’m not someone who has to obey rules in case I get into trouble with someone higher up the pecking order. I’m at the top of the pecking order.’
‘That doesn’t mean you can do what you like.’ Ellie was fascinated by a take on life that was so contrary to her own. To have that much power was staggering. But she knew that, whatever Niccolo said, she was safe with him.
Which gave her no sense of relief because she wasn’t sure that she was safe with herself.
Was he safe from her?
She nearly burst out laughing, because she never thought she would see the day when a question like that might pop into her head. But it had lodged there now and her fists were tightly clenched just in case her fingers decided to wander, her body rigid with tension because so easily she knew it could melt.
Silence settled between them and, since Niccolo showed no sign of dislodging it, it was up to Ellie to say, in a prissy voice, ‘So, do I make myself clear?’
‘Abundantly.’
‘Then stop laughing at me.’
‘Was I?’ His eyebrows flew up.
‘And I wish you’d take those sunglasses off,’ Ellie said irritably. ‘I’d like to see your face when I’m talking to you.’
‘You’re beginning to sound like a wife.’ He removed the sunglasses and, sure enough, there was humour lurking in the depths o
f his dark eyes. ‘Ellie,’ he said softly, his voice a whisper against her skin, bringing her out in goose bumps, ‘do you ever relax?’
‘Of course I relax!’
‘I’ve never been in the company of a woman more tense than you. Normally, I’m exceptionally good when it comes to making women relax. You’re single-handedly destroying my self-confidence.’
Ellie clicked her tongue impatiently but something blossomed inside her, warmed by the lazy teasing in his voice. She’d never experienced anything like it in her life before. ‘Please take me seriously,’ she half-pleaded and his expression altered.
‘I do,’ he murmured, intrigued by her obsession with denying the obvious. ‘Almost as seriously as you take yourself. Are you always like this, Ellie?’
‘Like what?’
‘Tightly wound up. You’ve come over here with a suitcase full of clothes better suited to an office in London. I’m taking it you weren’t prepared to let your guard down even for a second. On a tropical island. Surrounded by the ocean and in a six-star resort that has been designed specifically to enable guests to forget all their every-day concerns.’
‘I...’
‘Yes, I know. You’ve come here to work and not to enjoy yourself, but—’ he shot her a knowing sidelong look ‘—you enjoyed yourself in that boutique, didn’t you?’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ A guilty flush spread across her cheekbones. He’d looked as though he’d forgotten where he was inside that boutique. He hadn’t once looked at the clothes she had been choosing, and he’d certainly not asked her to model any of them for him, even though they had been astronomically expensive, an expense he had borne. One would have thought he would care about where his money was going.
Clearly he’d been watching her, though, and that made her body tingle and burn.
‘You kicked up such a fuss, but in the end you enjoyed picking out clothes for yourself, and there’s nothing to be ashamed about in that. That was the first and only time I’ve really seen you relax since we met. You don’t have to add to your stress levels by thinking that I won’t be able to control my manly urges when I’m around you.’ He watched her carefully, amused by the tug of war he sensed coursing through her slight frame, and turned on by it because it was such a novelty. ‘If you want to pretend that there’s nothing here, then I can’t stop you. Or maybe,’ he drawled, ‘You don’t want to pretend that there’s nothing here. You just want to ignore it. Which is it?’
A Deal for Her Innocence Page 10