His low gravelly laugh oozed superiority but also amusement. ‘Now that we’re chained together as man and wife no doubt I’ll find out more about the rest of your talents.’
His gaze swept over the rounds of her breasts then trailed the length of her thighs. Every inch of her screamed, ‘take me to bed, ravage me amongst the clouds,’ but she was firmly brought to earth by the abruptness of his tone.
‘I trust you can entertain yourself, I have business to attend to,’ he said. ‘Needless to say, when I came to Auckland I hadn’t intended on returning married. It really has been quite an inconvenient, albeit pleasant, distraction.’
The jet had just taken off and was now leveling out. Vitali unbuckled his seatbelt and lifted his briefcase onto the table in front of him.
‘Would you like any help?’ Alex asked.
He looked at her with bemusement. ‘Somehow I doubt you’re trained for this kind of work, Alexandra.’
‘There you go making assumptions,’ she retorted. She had run her own travel business for years, and now owned a successful chain that spread throughout America. Having recently acquired and profitably turned around the business of a competitor who had gone into receivership, she was about to expand into the lucrative European market.
Like Vitali, she had it humming so well that the whole thing ticked along seemingly effortlessly, without her. Somehow she doubted that anything in his briefcase would faze her. Still…’ she mused, twirling a curl around her finger as she regarded him, let him find out for himself. ‘I’d like to think I could be your partner in everything,’ she purred demurely.
He laughed, without amusement, and mockingly patted the leather seat beside him. ‘Be my guest. Cast your eyes over these contracts. We’re on the brink of entering the Chinese market—other than an act of God, nothing will distract me. Not even…’ he looked at her with complete steadiness of purpose.
‘…not even a wife.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Alex had no intention of interfering with either Vitali’s gold or his cattle business, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in finding out more about them. She ignored the bland indifference emanating from Vitali and seated herself beside him–not so close that he could object, but close enough for him to feel the heated attraction that could not be denied. He pressed his lips together, and focused grimly on his paperwork.
Alex was used to dealing with substantial sums but the figures being bandied about were mind-blowing. No wonder Vitali hadn’t blinked an eyelash over offering five million dollars for her father’s painting. Alex did some mental arithmetic. His gold mine was literally a gold mine—staggeringly profitable.
Alex had no idea how deep and extensive the gold deposits were at Gold Ridge. Perhaps no one knew. But Alex was now sure that it was her father who had discovered them. Probably in partnership with Simon Deloitte. He certainly intimated as much yesterday.
She started piecing together the jigsaw of information she was being handed bit by intriguing bit. The mine and the Vitali's property were both called Gold Ridge. That in itself was intriguing. What did a ridge have to do with either gold or cattle?
Lucrezia had lived on the isolated cattle station, presumably with her then husband—Vitali's father. Then along had come Simon Deloitte and Ted Carr. The open-house hospitality of the mainlanders, as New Zealand’s South Coast inhabitants proudly call themselves, would have been extended to them while they prospected in the area. If the gold deposits had been found on Gold Ridge Station—which seemed highly probable-their discovery would have affected them all.
Perhaps it had precipitated the dreadful things that had happened.
Lucrezia was the center of it all—that was obvious. A beautiful woman who craved a different life, craved company and attention, who had needs that her husband couldn’t, or wouldn’t, fulfill. And three men who all held different choices for her.
Vitali's father, no doubt a hard, uncompromising man, like his son, who was wedded to the land more than to his wife. A man who wanted no other life but the one he’d already carved.
Simon, the aristocratic Englishman—gentle, kind compassionate, and rich. But not in the running as far as physical attraction went.
And her own father, who must have been very special for her mother to have completely lost her head over him. Had Lucrezia lost her head over him too? And her heart?
What build-up of pressures had led to the fight which had ended with the death of Vitali's father? She didn’t know, and given the circumstances of her marriage, she could hardly ask. Yet it was obvious that Lucrezia and Simon had lived haunted lives ever since.
Lucrezia, particularly, was still traumatized by a sense of guilt. Had she played one man against the other…and lost both in the horror of what had happened? Had she turned on Ted when she saw her husband was dead, unable to bear the outcome of her own maneuvering?
Alex dragged her mind away from trying to figure out the past. That wasn’t going to help her with Vitali, unless she could understand why he thought she wouldn’t stick it out at Gold Ridge Station. He saw her as a beautiful woman, and clearly all his experience of beautiful women led him to believe they demanded indulging and admiring incessantly.
And he believed beautiful women couldn’t be happy outside a glittering social life. He didn’t realize that she didn’t need people around her. That superficial admiration meant less than nothing to her.
But he would learn. Eventually.
Time was on her side now that she was his wife. And the thought of living with Vitali in a world of their own brought a sweet smile of satisfaction to her lips.
‘I see our trading figures give you pleasure,’ he remarked derisively.
Alex was still holding one of the larger contracts. ‘How much does the mine produce, Vitali?’ she asked, ignoring his taunt.
‘About 230,000 tonnes per day.’ His green eyes were hard as he mockingly added, ‘Does that satisfy your greed?’
‘Don’t throw that in my face, Vitali,’ she shot back at him. ‘You could have left that gold where my father found it. No one twisted your arm to dig it out of the ground.’
His face tightened. ‘The decision to mine the gold was not mine. I was only a child at the time.’
‘But you didn’t turn your back on the gold once it was there. So why chide me for taking an interest in it now?’
‘Would you prefer I leave it buried, mia cara?’ he mocked.
‘What you do or don’t do with the gold doesn’t interest me,’ she declared, staring straight back at him with steady eyes. ‘But, as your wife, your business has just become mine. I won’t be shut out. No matter what nasty motive you decide to give me.’
‘You can’t really expect me to believe you would have played the hand you have if there was no gold mine’ he said skeptically.
‘If there was no gold mine would you have married me?’ she challenged.
His face slowly relaxed into a sardonic smile. ‘Perhaps. You are more than just a pretty face.’ His eyes simmered with more than appreciation of her ability to fight him on equal terms. ‘Although I might have claimed you earlier if I hadn’t seen the painting first,’ he said with dry whimsy.
‘Perhaps,’ Alex replied just as drily, but her heart was racing with excitement. This was his first real admission that he had been attracted to her the first night they had met. She smiled, her eyes teasing his self-assurance. ‘You might have been disappointed. You’re right that I’m not just a face. But I’m not just a body either.’
‘Rest assured I now have a healthy respect for the mind that drives it’, he said with heavy irony.
Her smile broadened with satisfaction. ‘All I have to do now is get you interested in my personality, and I will be the complete package.’
She sensed his conscious retreat from her even before he spoke. ‘The land will reveal who you are,’ he said tersely, ‘it brings out the best and the worse in everyone.’
‘I’m sure it�
�s a test that I’ll pass.’
His mouth twisted. ‘You heard my mother. You’ll be bored out of your mind.’
‘We’ll see,’ she said, without commitment.
‘Indeed.’ His eyes glittered at her with some indefinable emotion, then he bent his concentration back to his paperwork, deliberately excluding her.
The Vitali Rossi’s of this world, Alex mused, as she glanced down at the mountain ranges below, did not give up easily. Once they made up their minds they were as immovable as The Remarkables in her father’s painting. She smiled to herself, choosing not to be offended by Vitali shutting her out, instead focusing on the reasons she had to be optimistic.
It was he who had invited her to look over his business papers, and she had scored some points. She could not demand his respect, nor hurry him in any way. To win Vitali Rossi she would have to earn his respect. She would have to become as important to him as the land he loved.
Vitali ordered brunch to be served.He put his work aside while they ate fresh crayfish accompanied by a bottle of champagne.
‘Don’t you drink anything else?’ Alex asked.
‘Peroni,’ he said. ‘But you can have whatever you want,’ he countered.
Alex shrugged. ‘I’ll have what you have.’
‘The advantage of champagne,’ he said, ‘is that the worst of it is very good, and the quality ascends from there to sublime. I enjoy drinking it.’
‘Even at Gold Ridge Station?’
He flashed her an amused look. ‘We have everything we want. It has every modern creature comfort—you’ll even be able to make yourself a gourmet cappuccino if you start getting city-life withdrawals. What you do with your time there is up to you. You may feel that the place could use a woman’s touch. Other than a few rooms which are off-limits, you can redecorate the house to suit your personal taste.’
Off-limits.
The phrase was a red flag. The prospect of defying his sanction was tantalizing. Alex contained her intrigue, while also ignoring the sexist suggestion that the only thing she would be fit for was to add a woman’s touch to the décor. ‘I take it you’ll be an interested spectator then.’
‘It will be interesting to see how you fend. To see how you will make it a home…what drives you…’
‘What turns me on…’ she added provocatively.
The amusement in his eyes morphed into deep-seated cynicism. ‘What turns you on, Mrs. Rossi is gold. We’ve established that. As to the interior, it will be interesting to see what you can achieve before the isolation drives you away. Or you become bored with the game you are playing.’
She ignored the last barb. Instead she replayed the way his tongue had rolled over her new name. Mrs Rossi. It had a wonderful musical lilt to it, she thought happily, taking another mouthful of crayfish.
‘Lovely,’ she murmured. She couldn’t think of a time she had felt so happy. So what if he was still gruff and unpredictable. So what if he was still a fortress, an impenetrable emotionless cold castle. Like the snow on the mountains, eventually he would thaw.
‘How big is Gold Ridge Station?’ she asked, glancing down at the vast landscape below, with a rare house sprinkled here and there.
‘Big enough.’
She fixed him with an impatient look imploring him not to play games.
‘Size, you’ll find, does matter,’ he said, sarcastically. ‘The Station has been developed to the point where it offers 1850 hectares. Including 350 ha of finishing pastures on the flats and terraces, with 315 hectares of irrigation and 1500 hectares of hill blocks on the steeper tussock country.’
Alex watched with interest as his eyes began to sparkle, and he waved his normally wooden arms about with increased animation. He hadn’t been lying when he said the High Country farm was a passion.
Like a storm cloud racing over the sun his mood suddenly darkened. ‘There’s nothing but timeless land all around you, and you’ll be sitting smack-bang in the middle of it. Bit by bit it will start closing in on you, day after day after day…’
‘It doesn’t close in on you,’ she said, mirroring his animation, ‘just the opposite—when you talk about it you’re like another person—more open.’
‘It’s a man’s country.’ He lifted his glass in a mock salute to her. ‘And the isolation offers a welcome retreat from the madness engulfing the rest of the world.’
‘I think that what it needs…’ with poised deliberation, she reached across and took the glass from his hand, lifting it in a mock toast to him as she added ‘…is the right woman to tame it.’
She heard the brush of breath between his lips as she downed the champagne. Something dangerous flickered in his eyes when she passed the glass back to him. His hand closed around her, imprisoning it, pressing his dominance.
‘From the start, the one thing I have admired is your coolness—’
‘Even in bed?’ Alex tossed in provocatively.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
His smile was devilish. He used his other hand to remove the glass from her fingers while still retaining his hold on her. ‘I think I shall have to refresh my memory, Alexandra Spencer—’
‘Alexandra Rossi,’ she corrected, barely keeping the elation out of her voice. He wanted to take her. He was going to make love to her. Which was what she had been wanting ever since he had woken her up this morning.
‘I think, Alexandra Rossi…’ he said with biting precision, ‘…that we need to practice Scene Three again…’
He moved out from the table, pulled her up from her seat and swept her into the jet’s bedroom compartment. His eyes glittered with relish for the task he had set himself as he closed the cabin door behind them. ‘Even if we are at thirty-five thousand feet, nothing’s going to stop me giving my best performance,’ he promised her.
Alex fought to keep a grin from betraying her delight. He must not think it is what she wanted all along. She would wantonly let him put on his best performance, she mused, biting her lip as he strode out of his jeans. This was going to be a repeat performance she would relish.
But it wasn’t respect on her mind by the time they were sated with lovemaking. More like awe .They were so incredibly attuned to each other.The pleasure she had sampled with him last night was not a one hit wonder. He packed plenty of pleasure.
She lay back on the bed contentedly. Enough pleasure to last a lifetime.
Vitali didn’t say anything about respect either. In fact, for a long while he didn’t say anything at all. Eventually he pushed himself away from her, off the bed and on to his feet.
‘I don’t understand you. I don’t understand who you are and what you want. But I do know that I don’t trust you and I never will. But to your credit, I also know that tangling with you is one hell of an experience.’ He stared down at her and gave a slight shake of his head.
The admission intensified Alex’s satisfaction, but she repressed the impulse to lay her true feelings bare to possible mockery. Instead she gave him a slow, languid smile.
‘You’re a worthy—’ she searched for the right word. Opponent wasn’t right. She didn’t want to highlight their differences. ‘Leading man,’ she said, satisfied he would like the idea of being the one in control of their performance.
She stretched out, enjoying the delicious sense of languor in her limbs, and savored the smooth co-ordination of Vitali's muscular body as they made love.
The performance was short but fulfilling and when it was over he turned aside to pick up his clothes and pulled his jeans back on. He took his time, moving slowly with an air of dogged determination.
Vitali paused in the doorway and looked back at her, a taut, driven expression on his face. Something in his eyes—a flicker of hungry possessiveness—made Alex’s heart leap with hope.
He didn’t want to leave her.
‘You have an hour before the plane lands. And I have work to finish. Please yourself what you do,’ he said curtly, then stepped into the next compartment, pulling the door
shut behind him.
He could keep putting walls between them all he liked, but one way or another Alex was going to prise open the door to his heart. One by one she would break down his barriers. Even if it took her the rest of her life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
‘The Jewel in the crown,’ Vitali mocked, as Alex’s first view of the mine appeared.
It was a tiny, lonely scar on an arid landscape, as disembodied and ugly as a crater on the moon. Yet people had fought and died because of it…with the passion only a woman could stir. Somehow it couldn’t excite Alex at all. If the gold had never been found, perhaps her father would still be alive.
Alex turned her head away from the window and met the hard glitter of his green eyes with a quiet determination that she would allow nothing to shake. ‘I’ll wait until you want to show them to me personally. Until then, I’m far more interested in the home where we’ll begin our life together. Where we’ll live is far more important to me than the gold you covet.’
His eyebrows quirked in obvious skepticism. ‘In that case, I’ll instruct the pilot to continue to the homestead airstrip.’ He accepted her word without argument.
Alex returned her gaze to the landscape below. It reminded her of other wildly barren vistas she had seen in her travels, like the Sahara Desert—fickle places that were at once blazing hot, then relentlessly cold. Not so unlike her husband.
‘How many cattle do you run on Gold Ridge Station?’ Alex asked as Vitali returned to his seat.
‘Depending on conditions, it varies from four thousand up. ‘
Alex frowned. She’d visited cattle ranches in Texas and while she was no expert the numbers seemed low. ‘That makes it …what …about six for every square kilometer? ‘
Vitali's eyes widened. ‘A good guess,’ he drawled. ‘The summers can be very dry and the temperatures soar. But in winter they drop to below freezing and everything is covered in snow in winter. The numbers are dictated by the climate and what we can feed. But the herd naturally increases in the good years. That’s why we have regular musters. To brand the calves and cull out the wild bulls.’
The Italian Billionaire’s Scandalous Marriage: An Italian Billionaire Romance (Italian Billionaire Christmas Brides Book 2) Page 14