The Ultimate Risk

by Chantelle Shaw

  She did not doubt his ability to handle the powerboat, but she did not feel safe with Lanzo even on dry land, Gina admitted to herself. She did not fear that he would hurt her, as Simon had done. Her wariness stemmed from the feelings he evoked in her—the hot, flustered feeling of sexual desire that she had not felt for a very long time.

  She looked up at the row of huge houses set back from the jetty and stiffened. ‘Why have we come to Sandbanks?’ she asked sharply. ‘I thought you were going to take me home.’

  ‘I have brought you to my home. My housekeeper will know how to clean that wine stain.’ Lanzo had jumped onto the jetty and, ignoring her mutinous expression, swung her into his arms and set her down beside him. ‘I want to talk to you.’

  ‘About what?’ she demanded suspiciously.

  ‘I have a proposition that I am confident will suit both of us. Come up to the house and we can discuss it,’ he ordered, and strode along the jetty, leaving Gina with no option but to trail after him.

  Twenty minutes later she emerged from the marble-tiled bathroom Lanzo had shown her to after he had ushered her into his house, feeling considerably cleaner after a shower. She had blasted her hair with a hairdryer and donned a white towelling robe, and now she stepped hesitantly into the main hall, wondering what to do.

  ‘Feeling better?’ Lanzo strolled through one of the doors leading off the hall. ‘Daphne has prepared us something to eat. Come on through.’

  He had discarded his bow tie and unfastened the top few buttons of his shirt to reveal several inches of bronzed skin overlaid with whorls of dark chest hair. Gina’s stomach lurched and she took a steadying breath. ‘Who is Daphne?’

  ‘My housekeeper, cook and general all-round saint. Daphne travels with me to my various houses around the world, and is the only woman I can’t live without,’ he told her, his smile revealing his perfect white teeth.

  It transpired that Daphne was a tiny, dark-haired woman with a lined brown face and brilliant black eyes. Why on earth did she feel so pleased that Lanzo’s housekeeper was not a gorgeous, leggy blonde? Gina asked herself irritably as she followed him into a huge open-plan lounge, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the sea.

  ‘What an incredible view,’ she murmured, distracted from her acute awareness of him for a few moments. ‘My flat overlooks the harbour, but the view is nothing as spectacular as this.’

  Sliding glass doors opened onto a decked area where a table was laid with a selection of colourful salad dishes and crusty rolls. Of course—they had missed dinner aboard the yacht, Gina remembered, discovering suddenly that she was hungry.

  ‘I didn’t know that you speak Italian,’ Lanzo commented when they had sat down and he’d indicated that she should help herself to food.

  ‘My grandmother taught me. She moved to England when she married my grandfather, but she missed Italy and loved to speak her own language.’

  ‘Whereabouts in Italy did she come from?’

  ‘Rome.’ Gina heaped crispy lettuce leaves onto her plate, and topped them with a slice of round, creamy white mozzarella cheese. ‘I’ve been there several times for work, but never had time to explore the city. One day I plan to go back and look for the house where Nonna used to live.’

  ‘Di Cosimo Holdings’ head offices are in Rome.’ Lanzo filled two glasses with wine and handed her one. ‘To old friendships and new beginnings,’ he murmured, touching his glass to hers.

  ‘Oh … yes …’ Gina hesitated fractionally. ‘To old friendships.’ She wasn’t convinced about new beginnings, and to avoid his speculative gaze she took a sip of deliciously cool Chardonnay.

  ‘Come and work for me and I promise I’ll give you a guided tour of the city. I know Rome well, and I’m sure I’ll be able to find your grandmother’s house.’

  Her eyes flew to his face. She had been so absorbed in her intense awareness of him last night that she had forgotten his offer for her to work for him as a temporary PA. Now she hurriedly shook her head. ‘No—I don’t think so.’

  ‘Why are you so quick to dismiss the idea?’ Lanzo sat back and studied her broodingly. ‘And why do you need to rent out your flat?’

  ‘Were you eavesdropping on my conversation with Geoffrey?’ Gina began hotly.

  ‘I was standing close by and couldn’t help but overhear.’

  She was tempted to tell him to mind his own business, but after a moment she shrugged and put down her fork, her appetite fading as it always did when she remembered her financial worries.

  ‘When I moved back to Poole I took out a big mortgage to buy my flat,’ she admitted. ‘It wasn’t a problem at the time, because I was earning a good salary at Hartman Homes, but since I lost my job I’ve fallen behind with the repayments.’

  ‘I’m prepared to offer you a six-month contract and pay you a generous salary—higher than you were earning at Meyers.’

  Gina’s brows lifted. ‘That’s a rather rash statement when you don’t know what I earned at Meyers.’

  ‘I have a fair idea. A good PA is like gold-dust, and I expect to pay good money to ensure the best staff.’

  ‘How do you know I’m good at my job?’

  He shrugged. ‘I checked your references. Did you think I would offer you the vital role of my personal assistant without first making sure you could handle the responsibility?’ he queried coolly when she opened her mouth to tell him he had a nerve. ‘I am a businessman, cara, and I never allow emotions to dictate my decisions.

  ‘I spoke to your previous boss, Frank Wallis, and he assured me that you were the most dedicated and efficient PA he’d ever had—with an almost obsessive attention to detail,’ Lanzo added, looking amused. ‘Apparently you had a complicated system of colour-coded notes.’

  Gina flushed. ‘I like to be organised,’ she defended herself. Maybe she was a bit obsessive, but she wasn’t a control freak as Simon had accused her of being. She simply liked things to run like clockwork.

  ‘I have no problem with you being organised,’ Lanzo assured her. ‘In fact it is a necessity. I work long hours and travel extensively. I will expect you to accompany me on business trips and also to act as my hostess occasionally when I hold social functions.’

  He was going way too fast, Gina thought frantically, panic flaring inside her that he seemed to think her agreement was a given. ‘If I accept the job,’ she muttered.

  ‘Why wouldn’t you?’ he demanded.

  There were so many reasons, but the main one was her strong attraction to Lanzo—an attraction that she had decided during a sleepless night that she dared not take any further. He had broken her heart once, and she was not prepared to risk her peace of mind by becoming involved with him again.

  But it would only be for six months, a voice in her head pointed out. His job offer was a fantastic opportunity for her to sort out her finances and ensure that she kept her flat that she loved. If she went to Italy to work for Lanzo she would not have to impose herself on her stepsisters while she rented the flat out, and the six months’ rent paid by the tenants would cover the mortgage repayments. On top of that she would have six months of earning a high salary that she could put away to cover the mortgage when she returned to Poole and looked for another job.

  But move to Rome, work closely with Lanzo every day, and travel to business meetings around the world with him? She chewed on her bottom lip, torn between the temptation of solving her financial problems that were growing worse with every day that she failed to find a job in Poole and fear of what she could be letting herself in for if she agreed.

  What would she do if he tried to kiss her again, as he had almost done last night? She swallowed as she met his gaze and saw the banked-down flames of desire smouldering in his striking green eyes. A little tremor ran through her at the knowledge that he was attracted to her. Would it be such a disaster if she responded to him? her mind queried.

  Her breath hitched in her throat as his eyes strayed down to the slopes of her breasts, visi
ble where the edges of her robe had parted slightly. Time seemed to be suspended, and she was acutely conscious that her white dress, which was now being cleaned by Lanzo’s housekeeper, had not required her to wear a bra. Her breasts felt swollen and heavy, and into her mind came the stark image of Lanzo pushing the robe over her shoulders and lowering his head to take one nipple and then its twin in his mouth.

  ‘You would be a fool to turn me down, Gina.’ His voice jerked her back to reality and she tore her gaze from him, hot colour storming into her cheeks as she prayed he had not guessed her shocking thoughts. ‘You need this job, and I need to appoint a temporary PA as soon as possible. I have excellent contacts, and when Luisa returns to work after her maternity leave I will recommend you to other company directors who may be looking for staff.’

  It was an offer no sensible person could refuse. A golden chance to keep her flat, which was more than just a home but also a place where she felt safe and secure after two years of living on the edge of her nerves with Simon. She had hoped that buying the flat would be the start of a new chapter in her life—a mark of her independence now that she had escaped her violent marriage. She had vowed to take any job she could find to meet the mortgage repayments, she reminded herself. She was twenty-eight, no longer a naïve girl, and she was more than capable of dealing with her inconvenient attraction to Lanzo.

  ‘All right,’ she said quickly, before she could change her mind. ‘I accept your offer.’

  Lanzo was careful to hide the feeling of satisfaction that surged through him. He had realised when he had seen Gina on the yacht earlier tonight that his desire for her was too strong for him to be able to dismiss it. He wanted her, and his instincts told him that she was not as immune to him as she would like him to think. But he sensed her wariness, although he did not understand the reason for it, and knew that he would have to be patient and win her trust before he could persuade her into his bed.

  ‘Good,’ he said briskly. ‘I’ll pick you up from your flat at nine tomorrow morning, and my private jet will collect us from Bournemouth airport and take us to Rome. Luisa will come into the office for a couple of hours to run through everything with you.’

  Gina gave him a startled look, doubts already forming thick and fast in her head. ‘I’ll need a few days to get myself organised. For a start I’ll have to find somewhere to stay in Rome.’

  ‘You can stay at my apartment. It will be ideal,’ he insisted when she opened her mouth to object. ‘I often work late in the evenings, and it will be useful to have you on hand. I hope you weren’t thinking that this was going to be a nine-to-five job?’ Lanzo said abruptly, noticing her doubtful expression. ‘For the money I’ll be paying you I will expect your full and exclusive attention twenty-four-seven.’

  ‘Presumably my nights will be my own?’ she replied coolly, stung by his tone. She was well aware that the job of PA to the head of a global company meant working extended hours, including evenings and weekends when required, but she would need to sleep!

  Lanzo leaned back in his chair and surveyed her with a wicked gleam in his eyes. ‘Certainly—if you want them to be, cara,’ he murmured softly. Was she aware of the hungry glances she had been darting at him across the table? he wondered. Or the way the pulse at the base of her throat was jerking frantically beneath her skin?

  Under ordinary circumstances he would not consider mixing his work with his personal life. Office relationships always created problems, which was why he never had affairs with his staff. But the current circumstances were not ordinary.

  It had come as a bolt from the blue when his PA of the last five years had suddenly announced that she was getting married, and then a few months later revealed that she was pregnant. Of course he was pleased for Luisa—although somewhat surprised, because she had never given any indication that she wanted to settle down to a life of domestic bliss. But he resented the disruption her pregnancy had caused to his life. Two junior secretaries had jointly taken over organising his diary, but he missed Luisa’s calm efficiency that had ensured his office ran as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.

  His conversation with Gina’s retired boss from Meyers had convinced him that she was ideally suited to fill the position of his temporary PA. But, more than that, it was a chance for him to get to know her again. She had lingered in his mind for a long time after he had returned to Italy ten years ago. They had been friends as well as lovers, and now it was perfectly natural for him be intrigued by her, he assured himself.

  It went without saying that any relationship he might have with her would not involve his emotions. After the fire fifteen years ago had taken everyone he had loved he had felt frozen inside. His heart was as cold and hard as a lump of ice, and he was not sure than anything would ever make it thaw.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘WHAT was the name of that little country pub in the New Forest that we used to go to?’ Lanzo queried. ‘Do you remember it? We went there several times.’

  Of course she remembered, Gina thought silently. She remembered every place she had visited with Lanzo ten years ago. ‘It was the Hare and Hounds, famous for its steak and ale pies,’ she told him. ‘You took me there for lunch on my days off from the restaurant.’

  ‘Mmm—and afterwards we went walking in the forest.’

  They had walked deep among the trees and made love in a little clearing, where the sun had filtered through the leafy canopy above and dappled their bodies. Gina inhaled sharply. ‘Yes, we went on some lovely walks,’ she murmured, pretending to clear her throat to disguise the huskiness of her voice. ‘The New Forest is very pretty.’

  ‘We made love in a little dell, hidden among the trees.’ Lanzo stretched his long legs out in front of him and turned his head towards Gina, his mouth curving into a sensual smile when she blushed. ‘Do you remember, cara?’

  ‘Vaguely.’ She affected an uninterested shrug. ‘It was a long time ago.’ She stared out of the window of Lanzo’s private jet at the endless expanse of brilliant blue sky, and tried to ignore her fierce awareness of him. It wasn’t easy when he was sitting next to her, his body half turned to hers so that her eyes were drawn to his face, and inevitably, to the sensual curve of his mouth.

  She had only spent three hours in his company since he had picked her up from her flat that morning, but she was already losing the battle to remain immune to his charisma, she thought dismally. When he had taken the seat next to her on the plane she had assumed he would open his laptop and catch up on some work, but instead he had spent the entire flight chatting to her and reminiscing about the past.

  To be honest she was surprised at how much he remembered of their affair. They had only been lovers for a matter of weeks, yet Lanzo recalled the places they had visited together, as well as those passionate sex sessions in the forest, which were branded indelibly in her memory but which she’d thought he had forgotten.

  ‘How much longer until we land?’ she asked him briskly. Perhaps once they were at the Di Cosimo offices in Rome she would be able to slip into the role of efficient PA, and her heart would stop leaping every time he smiled at her?

  ‘We won’t be long now. The pilot has just indicated that we should fasten our seatbelts,’ he told her, his eyes glinting with amusement when she gave an audible sigh of relief.

  Rome in late June was stiflingly hot; the temperature displayed on the information board at Fiumcino Airport showed thirty-two degrees Celsius, and Gina was glad to slide into the cool interior of Lanzo’s waiting limousine.

  ‘We’ll go straight to the office,’ he told her as the car moved smoothly into the stream of traffic heading in the direction of the city centre. ‘Luisa is going to be there to hand over to you. This afternoon I’m holding a board meeting and I’ll require you to take the minutes.’

  As he spoke his phone bleeped, and he began to scroll through his messages while simultaneously checking emails on his laptop. The powerboat racer playboy had been replaced by the powerful billionaire busin
essman, Gina mused. Dressed in a beautifully tailored dark grey suit, blue silk shirt, and toning tie, he was achingly sexy. She sighed and tore her eyes from him. She had barely slept last night, plagued by doubts over her decision to work for him. She had no qualms about her ability to cope with the demands of the job of his PA, but she was less confident about her ability to deal with the devastating affect he had on her peace of mind.

  ‘I’m afraid my Italian might be a bit rusty,’ she said worriedly. ‘I spent six months working for an Italian company in Milan, but that was before …’ She had been about to say before I got married, but she had no desire to talk about Simon—her marriage had been a bleak period of her life she preferred to forget. ‘That was a few years ago,’ she said instead. ‘You’ll have to ask your board members to be patient with me.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it. Di Cosimo Holdings is a global company and the board members are not all Italian. Meetings are usually conducted in English,’ Lanzo explained.

  Privately, he did not think the members of the board would be overly concerned with Gina’s language skills and were far more likely to focus their attention on her curvaceous figure. Presumably her aim had been to look smart and efficient, in a pale grey suit teamed with a lilac-coloured blouse, but the pencil skirt moulded her derrière so that it swayed delightfully when she walked, and the cut of her jacket emphasised her slender waist and her full breasts. Long, slim legs sheathed in sheer hose, and high-heeled black stilettos completed her outfit, and the whole effect was one of understated elegance that could not hide the fact that Gina was a sexy and desirable woman.

  Lanzo took a sharp breath. He had spent the entire flight fantasising about leading Gina into the bedroom at the rear of the plane and unbuttoning that prim blouse. He could see the faint outline of her lacy bra beneath it, and in the fantasy he had peeled the straps over her shoulders so that her ample breasts spilled into his hands. Patience was all very well, but his determination to take things slowly was already wearing thin, and he was wondering how quickly he could persuade her to lower her barriers. One thing was certain: he would have to subtly let it be known to his board members that his temporary PA was off-limits to anyone but him, he decided.