The Italian's Price

by Diana Hamilton

  His hands dropped from her shoulders and he turned away, striding along the rough track to where he'd dropped the luggage, then waited until she joined him. 6My father had it built when he bought the island many years ago. By all accounts he was a workaholic and came here at least once a year to recharge his batteries.'

  'You must have happy memories of childhood holidays,'

  Milly responded to his totally unexpected mention of anything remotely personal trying to act as normally as possible under difficult circumstances doing her level best not to get too set up over the possibility of him leaving her here with no way of returning to the mainland once her deception had been uncovered.

  She certainly wouldn't put that kind of action past him! For a moment she thought he wouldn't respond to her innocuous remark. She glanced up at his tanned extravagantly handsome features and saw his mouth tighten with what she could only translate as scorn. 6My mother never came here. She was a metropolitan creature. My father brought his mistresses here he didn't want me around. I only learned of the existence of this hideaway after his death.'

  Biting back instinctive words of sympathy because she knew he wouldn't want them, Milly concentrated on getting up the increasingly steep track that traversed the sun-baked hillside where herbs and wild flowers merged their perfume with the tang of the sea and the scent of the pines she could see ahead of them. Breathless with heat and effort-neither of which seemed to affect him in the slightest-her mind was busy.

  If his father had taken mistresses openly enough for him to know about them then that would explain why, given such an immoral role model Cesare took it as the norm to take a woman to his bed and throw her out of it when he got tired of her.

  Poor JiIly !

  Glancing up at him, Milly noted with a peculiar twisting sensation in her tummy that the slight breeze from the sea had ruffled his short dark as night hair. It made him look more approachable less the hard-nosed ultra sophisticated business tycoon, and it was again impressed on her exactly why her up-until-now inconstant sister had at last fallen truly, deeply in love. Very few women would be able to resist his potent brand of sexual charisma.

  'Almost there.'

  The effect of his voice rippled through her like a mild electric shock. Smoooth as silk, consoling? Her heart pattering she narrowed her eyes against the sun. They had crested the brow of the hill and a shallow wooded valley lay before them. On the opposite side, its back to the hill, beyond which she could glimpse the sea and the sand of a small cove was a sturdy stone house facing the green valley.

  A quiet secluded place ideal for lovers.

  'Why have you brought me here'?' She didn't want to know the answer because she knew she wouldn't like it but she had to ask because not knowing was getting to her. And his reply made her feel giddy .

  'Why do you think, Jilly'?' The slanting smile on his shamelesly sexy mouth and the glinting, terrifyingly intimate light in those stunning eyes made her tummy loop over, forcing her to recall why this secluded hideaway on an uninhabited island had been built by his womanizing father.

  Had he given her that snippet of information to make sure she made the connection? He and Jilly had been lovers. Did he mean to take up where they'd left off:? Demand her presence in his bed-away from his grandmother's sharp eyes and knowing smiles-in part payment for the massive debt she had accumulated by, according to his warped and cynical mind forging those cheques? Her heart squeezed in a severe contraction and her legs turned into wavering pillars of cotton wool. Surely he couldn't mean that! And, if he did, what on earth was she to do? Looking down into her suddenly pale as milk face Cesare bit back a peal of husky laughter. Aside from her looks her imposter rating would be lower than nought out of ten.

  She'd obviously got the message loud and clear and it had floored her. Didn't she know how her twin would have reacted to such a neatly couched invitation? Like a heat seeking missile homing in on a coveted target. AII over him like a second skin.

  ‘Come, I’ll help you. The track's steep in places.'

  Milly shuddered right down to her toes as he took her hand, the warmth of his soft, silky tone, the heat of his skin as his strong lean fingers closed around hers made her heart beat in a frenzy, her lungs struggling painfully because try as she might she couldn't seem to breathe.

  Yet, uncaring breaker of hearts as she guessed him to be he was more than careful as he helped her to negotiate the trickier places only releasing her hand as they came to the paved area in front of the house.

  Windows lay open and the stout wooden door unlocked' obviously he had no fear of squatters or thieves intent on lifting anything they could carry away.

  Mild surprise deepened to bewilderment as he ushered her into a square stone-flagged room that appeared to double as kitchen and informal living area.

  Flowers in a terra-cotta bowl graced the central chunky pine table and near a small but functional looking cooker a fridge hummed gently.

  Driven by feminine curiosity, Milly dived to open the fridge door and survey the lavish contents.

  She turned, her eyes wide. ‘If no one else lives here, how did this stuff get here'?' Had he lied? Were there other people on this island someone she could turn to for help if he left her here after discovering-as he surely would eventually-that she wasn't who she claimed to be?

  ‘By motor launch not by magic.' His slight smile registered superior amusement. ‘I have a caretaker on the mainland who apart from checking up on the property from time to time sees it is stocked if I phone him to tell him I'm going to be here. He gets the generator working, makes sure the water pump is functioning properly and soon.'

  One strongly marked brow elevated mockingly. ‘Did you imagine I brought you here to starve or exist on fish from the sea? If so you'd have had to do the catching of them. I do not own such patience.'

  Face flaming, her chin notched up by several degrees, Milly faced the unwelcome truth that they were indeed alone here.

  She ought to have known how the other half lived. Just one word and a minion would be found to carry out orders at a moment's notice! Silly of her to have overlooked that fact of a life! And she wasn't about to ask again exactly why he had brought her here and risk another loaded answer.

  Instead she said tightly, ‘show me where I'm supposed to sleep and tell me what you want for lunch. I'm sure you expect me to wait on you' Because he wouldn't know how to boil water. He might be a whiz at doing whatever clever stuff he did to earn a dazzling living, but brought up surrounded by a platoon of servants anxious to cater to his slightest wish, he wouldn't have a domesticated bone in his body.

  'Now there's a thought' Slumbrous eyes scorched her, and Milly hastily looked away. He was lethally attractive and she sure as Hades wasn't going to follow her twin down that fatal track. She heaved a sigh of relief when he picked up her suitcase and led her up the staircase tucked away at the far side of the room.

  There were two doors leading off the square landing. The first he flung open revealed a bathroom of almost clinical utility, the second a bedroom that contained the biggest bed she had ever laid eyes on and not much else.

  Did Cesare, following his father's track record, bring his women here? Had he brought Jilly? If so,

  she had goofed badly when she'd queried the lavish supply of foodstuffs, asked where she would sleep, because there appeared to be only this one bedroom.

  So where would he sleep? Her throat closed and her stomach churned with the weirdest sensation she had ever experienced. Whipping round on her sandalled feet intent on telling him that there was no way she was sharing a bed with him and if he had brought her here with that in mind he was going to have to think again.

  But there was just empty space where he had been and from downstairs she could hear his tuneful whistle. She ground her teeth in frustration. He sounded in a good mood, was her ireful thought.

  Looking forward to making the woman he'd dragged back to Italy to make reparation for her supposed sins pay off par
t of her dues in his bed?

  CHAPTER SIX

  MILLY HAD STRETCHED her wash and brush up into the best part of an hour she realized guiltily when she finally glanced at her watch. Most of that time had been spent leaning out of the bedroom window, breathing the warm scented air and making herself concentrate on nothing else but the view of the shallow wooded valley, the arc of the blue sky overhead, soaking up the utter tranquility. Anything to take her mind off her decidedly dodgy situation.

  In any other circumstances she would have loved being here especially with the man she loved.

  It was the perfect place for a romantic idyll.

  And where that had come from she had no idea. The wayward thought shocked her. She didn't have a man to love here or anywhere else! Unlike her sister, to whom the male of the species gravitated like moths to a brilliant light, Milly hadn't had much to do with the opposite sex. Quiet and unsure of herself always deep in her twin's shadow she hadn't exactly been sought after and had certainly never been in love.

  Her first date had been a disaster. Sixteen years old and, compared with Jilly, still wet behind the ears, she'd been hugely flattered when, out of the blue, the local pin-up, Mitch Farraday, had asked herout.

  He'd been earthily good-looking, full of himself, pushy. Her girl friends had all drooled over him.

  But the date had ended up in a scary tussle at the back of the cinema with him calling her vile names.

  He had taken it for granted that buying her a seat in the stalls fully entitled him to have sex. It had horrified her and she'd fought him off like a wild spitting cat.

  It had frightened her had put her off the male sex for ages.

  Then she'd met Bruce. Twelve years her senior, an accountant, he'd lived with his widowed mother.

  He'd called into the shop to buy a pot plant and they'd got talking. Discovering a mutual interest in visiting local gardens open to the public he'd returned a week later and invited her to accompany him and his mother to Bassett Hall gardens an annual pilgrimage for them apparently.

  And because she'd heard of the acres of rhododendrons and azaleas-at their best at that time of the year, the lakes and grottos she'd accepted. Without her own transport she hadn't been able to get there under her own steam.

  And because Bruce was solid and worthy, without a flash bone in his body, and she was comfortable in his company they had seen each other once a week for the last two years.

  He was a pleasant companion. He made no sexual demands. It had only been after the death of her mother that things had changed, subtle hints from him and not so subtle ones from his mother about settling down, formalizing their relationship.

  Sighing, Milly turned away from the window. She liked Bruce-and his mother-but she didn't love him and never would. She'd been trying to think of a way to tell him, before he decided to come out with a proposal. She didn't want to hurt his feelings or his pride.

  But Cesare had happened. His misconceptions about her twin his threats. In the turmoil she hadn't given poor Bruce a thought. He'd be worried about her and she felt really bad about that. But there was nothing she could do about it until she got back to the mainland. She could phone him and tell him she'd taken a temporary job as a companion. And thinking about Bruce-something she rarely did unless she was actually with him-was she recognised a cowardly delaying tactic.

  Sooner or later she was going to have to face Cesare carry on the deception as best she could and hope to discover why exactly he had brought her here. And hope to heaven that it wasn't what she thought it was! Sex.

  She was pretty sure Jilly had confidently expected marriage. Was as sure as she could be that her twin had taken off, hurting and humiliated, the moment that brute had told her that all he wanted from her was hot sex.

  Now he believed he had a hold over his grandmother's companion. That with his threat to go to the law hanging over her she'd do exactly as he wished. So did he think he could take up where he'd left off:? Did the idea of that brand of dominating sexual revenge give him a buzz?

  According to his warped mind Jilly had stolen an as yet unspecified amount of money. Was he now intent on exacting repayment? As Jilly's stand-in the thought was enough to give her nightmares! Her tummy muscles tight with nerves, Milly straightened her spine until it was ramrod stiff and made her way downstairs to set about making lunch. Not that she was hungry, but he conscienceless would be. And it would give her something to do maybe even take her mind off the mess she was in for all of two seconds.

  To be met by the sight of Cesare confidently dividing the contents of a pan between two plates

  with the panache of a professional.

  ‘I was just about to call you.' A warm smile, lacking guile, then a slight inclination of his far-too-handsome head. 6 I thought we'd eat outside. The wine's uncorked' perhaps you'd like to pour i t ' He'd found a small table and two chairs from somewhere she noted as she stepped out on to the sun-soaked paved area in front of the cottage. The edges of the white tabIecIoth moved lazily in the gentle breeze.

  Cutlery, glasses a basket of bread rolls and a slab of creamy butter on a blue earthenware plate.

  Her hands shook as she poured a little red wine into b0th glasses and she sank on to one of the chairs because her knees gave way as he appeared.

  ‘TeII me what you think.' Cesare slid a plate in front of her and retreated to the chair on the other side of the table. 'When I cook I like to experiment.' An eyebrow quirked in rare self-disparagement.

  ‘sometimes it goes horribly wrong' Against all her expectations the delicate aroma enticed the appetite she thought she'd lost for ever and struggling with confusion Milly forked up lemony rice and one of the perfectly cooked succulent prawns. The dish was garnished with mushrooms and roasted peppers and was absolutely

  delicious .

  Suddenly ravenous, she reached for a roll and lavished it with butter and Cesare demanded softly, ‘WeII, what's the verdict'?' ‘Fabulous-you can cook for me any time you Iikel' Her first real smile for days lit up her features and he returned it with a devastating grin of his own before starting on his meal.

  He could actually seem human Milly marvelled trying to see through the mists of confusion that were now fogging her brain. And how easily, naturally, she could respond to him was an eye-opener! A tiny frown furrowed her brow. She'd honestly believed that Cesare Saracino wouldn't know how to boil a kettle and was too arrogant to even want to know how to perform that most mundane of tasks. Yet he'd set to and produced one of the most delicious meals she'd ever eaten.

  She'd been proved wrong about that' was she also wrong about believing him to be all bad? And another thought struck her a savage blow. Had she been acting like a brain dead gnat when she'd entered this utterly distasteful deception? She was trapped here. Once back on the mainland she would be trapped at the villa. With blithe stupidity she'd seen herself tracking Jilly down before Cesare reached her combing the streets of Florence calling the contact number her twin had given when she'd worked there questioning her friends and her former employer in the hope of gaining a clue to her present whereabouts.

  Fat chance! She might just as well decide to explore the dark side of the moon. Jumping on a bus or taking a taxi into Florence wasn't an option when she had no money and as Cesare had stringently pointed out she wouldn't be earning any either! Reflectively she sipped her wine and Cesare leaning back against his chair one arm hooked casually over the back said softly, ‘A penny for them.'

  'You'd be wasting your money' Milly came back abstractedly, fighting uncertainty over what to do .

  Carry on in her role as her sister or come clean and confess all throw herself on his mercy.

  After all, he thought she was, in his entrenched opinion, the devious Jilly and he'd been nothing but kind and friendly since they'd reached the island. A prelude to getting her to share that huge bed with him? Should she rid herself of this hare-brained deception once and for all?

  It was what her conscience told her
she wanted but she'd jumped in without thinking back in England, she wouldn't do it again. She'd have to think it out properly.

  ‘I wonder. I'm fairly canny when it comes to handing out such vast sums of moneyl' Milly's breath caught in her throat. He looked so relaxed so spectacularly good to look at' the hand that toyed with the stem of his wineglass was strong yet achingly elegant. Beautiful hands to match the rest of his perfect male physique. And that slight smile, tilted at one corner-the glamorously wicked gleam in those dark darkly seductive eyes as they locked with hers was more than she could take. Her breath was quickening and to her deep shame she could feel her nipples pressing against the silky top, tight, over-sensitive buds.

  He was lethal! Jilly would have been a pushover. And in all honesty Milly couldn't blame her! Unable to prolong what suddenly and shatteringly seemed like a not so subtle form of torture-frantic heartbeat, trembling lower limbs, her skin scorchingly hot Jilly shot to her feet and got out through a throat that had gone suffocatingly tight, ‘1'11 do the dishes.'

  ‘Leave them.' His voice was lazy but there was nothing lazy about the inescapable grip of those long beautiful fingers as they closed around her wrist. He rose to his feet, still holding her wrist, and her face flooded with hot pink as his darkly veiled eyes drifted over her body with a blatant lack of inhibition .