The Italian's Blushing Gardener

by Christina Hollis

She heard a little gasp at the other end of the line. The voice became a shocked whisper.

  ‘Miss Banks, what are you saying? No one refuses Signor Albani!’

  ‘Well, I’m very sorry, but no one disappoints the person I’m currently working for, either. Especially not me,’ Kira said firmly. ‘And if you aren’t willing to tell him that, maybe you could put me through to Signor Albani, direct?’

  The woman wasn’t happy, but put her on hold to see if the boss was taking calls. It gave Kira plenty of time to decide she had gone too far. She was being too emotional about this. Much as she hated to back down in any situation, where work was concerned she was a realist. She needed contracts. This one had the delightfully infuriating Stefano Albani at the other end, and that might make it more of a liability than a blessing. Autocratic behaviour was part of every billionaire’s job description, but this particular man had got right under her skin. She wanted to be known for the quality of her work, not for making a fool of herself over a man.

  Suddenly a voice purred in her ear.

  ‘Kira, it’s Stefano.’ The sound was so deliciously accented, those few words were enough to wipe all the arguments from her mind.

  ‘Hello,’ she said, unable to think of anything else.

  ‘You wanted to speak to me, Kira?’

  ‘Yes.’ Everything sensible and businesslike seemed to have been swept out of her head. She gave herself a mental shake. ‘Thank you for having your secretary ring me, but I’m working on a very important project,’ she snapped, hoping her brisk tone would put some distance between them again. ‘I can’t simply drop everything and rush to your side.’

  ‘I know. You’re a woman of spirit.’ The laughter in his voice was infuriatingly engaging. ‘Alphonse tells me you’re practically finished at his place,’ Stefano continued. ‘I’m going to be out of the country for a while, and I wanted to discuss your contract with you, face to face, before I leave. I thought this would be a good opportunity for both of us,’ he added.

  Kira needed this job. She was also desperate to see Stefano again. After all, it does make good business sense, she told herself. There couldn’t be any harm in a formal discussion. It would be like gazing at temptation through the window of a locked cake shop. Work would form an invisible shield between them, keeping her from disaster.

  ‘You could be right…’ She tried to sound grudging. ‘How do I find you?’

  She could hear his lack of surprise at her decision. ‘Don’t worry. I found you, don’t forget. A car will be arriving to collect you…’ There was a brief pause. Kira visualised him glancing at the designer watch clamped to his beautiful bronzed wrist as he added, ‘In exactly fifteen minutes.’

  And it was.

  As her chauffeur-driven limousine glided to a halt at the main entrance of Albani International, Kira looked up at the grand old building with a hint of anxiety. It was enormous, and a constant stream of people flowed in and out of the revolving glass doors. A commissionaire stepped forward to open the car door for her. Thanking him, Kira took a few moments to compose herself before walking into the reception area. She had worked in palaces, villas and condos, but this place had something extra—Stefano Albani. Taking a deep breath, she went in to meet him.

  To Kira’s relief, there was no hanging around. That would have shredded her nerves beyond repair. She had been desperate to see Stefano again from the moment he left her house. Now she realised dreams were one thing, but reality was terrifying. The moment he spoke, her insides would turn to jelly. Her instinctive reaction was to keep her head down and pretend she was invisible, but that wasn’t the way contracts were won. Instead, she lifted her chin, ready to meet his gaze with an equally bold stare. It took a huge effort.

  The man of her dreams was lounging back in a big black chair. His feet were on his desk. He was dictating into a voice recorder and although his eyes instantly locked onto hers he did not stop speaking into it as she walked towards his visitor’s chair.

  Stefano looked every bit as intimidating as she remembered. Despite his casual attitude, he was dressed in a beautifully cut dark suit. The formality of classically designed business wear suited him so well it was hard not to stare. Kira gave in to the temptation.

  Completing his letter, Stefano switched off the recorder and tossed it aside.

  ‘We meet again, Miss Banks.’

  ‘Indeed we do.’ Kira purposely kept her voice light and professional, but couldn’t resist a question that had been tormenting her since he left her side. ‘Did you buy the Bella Terra estate, signore?’

  ‘Yes, but I’ve been too busy to visit since then. I suppose you’ve been wondering where I’ve been?’

  ‘No, not at all,’ Kira said coolly, determined not to betray any trace of the embarrassingly large amount of time she had spent wondering what he was getting up to while he was out of her sight.

  She saw from a subtle change in his expression that the stony nature of her reply had given him pause. His reaction gave her a little lift, and added some real amusement to her smile.

  ‘In fact, Signor Albani, when your assistant rang it took me a little while to remember who you were.’ She batted the words easily across the desk at him.

  He parried with a wicked smile. ‘I knew you were one in a million, Kira. Now it seems you are unique.’

  He took his feet off the desk and sat up straight in his chair, his suddenly businesslike attitude making him even more imposing. Kira fought to keep her expression impassive.

  Don’t overdo the flip answers! she thought. I might not want him to think he means anything to me, but he is a man who managed to borrow me from Prince Alfonse!

  ‘I want you to work for me, Kira. Name your price,’ he drawled, glancing down as he threaded a pair of solid-gold cufflinks into his cuffs.

  ‘I’d rather find out what I’m letting myself in for first.’ Kira was proud of the careful neutrality of her tone. It was a shame the rest of her being was entirely focused on the man she had been fantasising about for the past few days. ‘I want to make sure I’m the right person for the job. I’d rather you offered the position to someone else if I thought I couldn’t give you exactly what you wanted.’

  ‘I agree completely,’ Stefano said. ‘However, I wouldn’t have asked you here today were I not already certain. You, Kira Banks, are capable of giving me exactly what I want.’ His face remained expressionless but the ambiguity of his words made her cheeks flush red and her breathing catch.

  In a quick, carefully judged gesture he spun the file across the desk at her. ‘So why don’t you read that, and tell me what you think?’

  Kira did not move, but regarded him coolly.

  ‘What? Now?’

  Stefano raised an eyebrow. ‘Unless you have some objection?’

  Kira had spent too many restless hours since their first meeting. After her roller-coaster ride of hope, disappointment and surprise, she did not find his words at all funny.

  ‘No. This is so important to me, and it deserves to be studied carefully. I take my work very seriously,’ she said slowly, trying to gauge his reaction.

  Stefano nodded appreciatively. ‘That’s exactly the sort of attitude I expect from the people I employ. It’s why I want you on board. I had my staff check out some of the other projects you’ve completed. I needed to make sure I was offering you work for all the right reasons, not simply the wrong one.’

  His smile became enigmatic and Kira had to look away. She transferred her gaze back to the cover of the file in front of her. If he paid such careful attention to detail, she wondered what else his people might have found out about her.

  ‘Could you give me an overview?’ she said eventually. ‘Isn’t it simply a contract to work on the gardens at Bella Terra?’

  ‘That, and my Florentine town house as well…’

  It had been at the back of Kira’s mind, but she’d hardly dared hope he would remember his casual offer.

  ‘Words are cheap. Nobody knows that
better than I do, Stefano. Men often say things they don’t mean,’ she said quietly.

  He stared at her. ‘Not when it comes to business. Honesty is the only policy there,’ he said firmly. ‘Since we met and I’ve had such favourable reviews of your work, I thought I’d raise the stakes. This contract offers you employment not only at Bella Terra, and Florence, but also on my new property in the Caribbean.’

  Kira could have bounced straight up to the ceiling in sheer delight. It sounded like her dream contract. Instead, she frowned and bit her lip. ‘I’ve never worked in the Caribbean.’

  ‘Then you’re in for a treat. It will be a wonderful experience,’ Stefano assured her. ‘Silver Island has everything. One hundred hectares of tropical wilderness surrounded by beaches as fine as sugar, set in a warm blue sea.’

  Despite her determination to play it cool, Kira’s eyes sparkled.

  ‘It sounds lovely already,’ she said wistfully.

  Stefano had no illusions. He frowned. ‘I thought so, too, when I first bought it. But despite all the luxury there’s still something lacking. It’ll be your job to make the whole place more—’ he grimaced, so used to total satisfaction that he couldn’t find the words to identify the problem ‘—user-friendly,’ he said eventually, but looked no happier with the phrase than Kira felt.

  ‘That doesn’t give me much of a clue.’ She shrugged.

  ‘Silver Island is a perfect hideaway. No expense was spared in setting it up, and yet—’ he ran his fingertip pensively across his lips ‘—for all its qualities, it lacks something. I want to import the magic you have worked on the Bella Terra estate. In the same way that you can live in the town house here in Florence while you’re working on it, you could stay in the Caribbean while you restructure Silver Island. You’ll be on the spot, all the time.’

  And where will you be? Kira was appalled to find herself thinking.

  ‘I don’t suppose you noticed exactly how interested I was in your garden?’ Stefano continued.

  ‘I did,’ Kira said, trying to concentrate on their moments of light, insubstantial chit-chat and forget the instant he took her in his arms. It was hopeless. The way she felt about him surged into her mind again. The force of his presence overwhelmed every other memory. A tiny tremble in her voice betrayed her. He noticed, and suddenly his devastating mouth curled up at the corners.

  ‘Yes, I can see…’

  All Kira’s worries about the Bella Terra valley faded. The intensity of his stare focused on her to the exclusion of everything else. He looked like a tiger ready to pounce. The tremble extended throughout her body and she felt her self-control slipping away into warm arousal. It gathered in all her most feminine places, waiting for one word, one movement from him, to unleash its power.

  ‘Good…so as soon as you’re happy with your contract, we’ll be on our way.’

  ‘Where?’ Kira asked faintly.

  Stefano put his elbows on the desk and netted his fingers. ‘To Silver Island—you’ll need to experience the place in all its glory before you can hope to do it justice. The computer hasn’t been built that can give you the experience of warm sand between your toes, and swaying palms beneath a tropical sky.’

  The words flowed from him like the tropical breezes he spoke of—warm, gentle and so very seductive.

  Chapter Five

  KIRA wanted this job more than anything else in the world, but if she was honest with herself, working so closely with Stefano would be dangerous. How was she supposed to keep her mind on her job? Travelling around the world with him would be torture. It wouldn’t simply be a case of storming off down the road if she felt herself weakening. She would be a long way from home and completely at the mercy of a man who held her spellbound. It was the same old story from her university days. Kira couldn’t face falling into that trap again. A man like Stefano could never commit to just one woman—that much was obvious from his easy smile and delicious kiss. No woman with any sense should trust him with her heart.

  Kira didn’t know what to do. Surely if she was aware of the danger, that would make it easier to avoid? And a business contract was legally binding. It meant security. She rated that highly. The problem was, working for Stefano was bound to be a temptation too far. She had no confidence in her ability to resist him, and the man was trouble with a capital T. Her heart had spent the past few days on a helter-skelter of hope and gloom, and it was all his fault. Even if she kept her distance from him, working together would mean seeing exactly how faithless he could be from day to day. That would be a thousand times worse.

  ‘I know—let’s leave business behind and I’ll take you to lunch first. We can discuss it further there, if you like?’

  Kira put her hands on her chair and shifted her weight back a little in the seat. Her feelings were all over the place. She needed to draw some boundaries between the two of them, make it clear that she wouldn’t simply fall into line. Everything was moving so fast. She blurted out, ‘I won’t be rushed. Please don’t take me and my feelings for granted.’

  He drew back across his desk, and stared at her. It wasn’t often possible to read his expression, but Kira thought she saw a brief flash of astonishment.

  ‘Is that what you think I’m doing? Is that how it feels to you?’

  She braced herself for an explosion of rage, and answered him defiantly.

  ‘Yes. Yes, it does.’

  The expected outburst never came. Stefano simply looked at her thoughtfully. Kira gained a little confidence from that.

  ‘What else would you call it?’ she added, more boldly. ‘Before you left my home, you promised me great things. It was a good job I didn’t believe you, because all I got was radio silence. When I finally rang your office to check on whether there was a contract in the name of Kira Banks, there was no trace—’

  Stefano couldn’t resist interrupting. ‘That was only because I wanted time to double-check your work, and to be completely sure you were the right person to—’

  ‘Please! Let me finish.’

  Surprised into silence, he met her scowl with raised eyebrows. Then, with a nod, he raised both his hands as a sign she would be allowed to carry on without any more interruptions.

  ‘You seem to be expecting me to obey you without question, Stefano, and I won’t have it,’ she said bluntly.

  His clear blue eyes watched her steadily, and then he suddenly nodded.

  ‘I’ll take that into consideration.’ He frowned a little before continuing. ‘That took courage. So that we both know where we stand, Kira, maybe I should tell you that no employee has ever got away with speaking to me like that before.’

  She opened her mouth to say something, but the way he began to smile stopped her.

  ‘My relationship with contractors, on the other hand, can be rather more—’ he lowered his lids slightly, hooding those beautiful eyes ‘—easy-going, shall we say?’

  She stared at him. When he looked at her like that, she couldn’t have gone on scolding him if her life depended on it.

  ‘You don’t have to make any allowances for me,’ she murmured, suddenly and mysteriously short of breath.

  Stefano shook his head sagely. ‘I admire you for making a fresh start in a new country. A heart in pain is too often the cause of endless trouble.’

  He was probing. Kira could tell. When she thought of the research he had done on her, it made her edgy. Had he stuck to her work, or had he delved into more personal areas? The uncertainty made her nervous, so she refused to be drawn any further.

  ‘I bet you’ve created a fair few broken hearts yourself!’ she parried with a laugh. She thought he would do the same, but his reaction was quite different. Instead, he stood and roamed over to the window.

  ‘You could say that. When I was younger, I saw too much abuse to put any faith in human relationships. Instead, I turned my back on all the fine old Italian bonds of family. Escape cost me so much, I’m never going there again.’

  Standing at the windo
w, hands on hips, he stared out over the busy cityscape like an eagle searching for prey. His words hinted at an inner pain of his own. Kira’s heart went out to him, but it would take a lot of nerve to approach a man who so obviously shunned sympathy.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Kira said softly, after a pause. ‘It’s terrible to grow up where you aren’t wanted.’

  Stefano’s answer shrugged off her concern.

  ‘That’s why I made sure I didn’t.’ He spoke to the pane of glass in front of him. ‘I kept right out of everyone’s way. From that moment I started working, and never stopped. It was around the clock, and all year long. It saved me from having to go back home.’

  Suddenly he clapped his hands with a loud report that made her jump. ‘But what are you doing to me, Kira?’ His easy smile returned as he swivelled around and strode back to his desk. ‘I didn’t bring you here to dissect my private life! I brought you here to talk business, and enjoy a working lunch. Then we’ll go and see my town house.’

  Kira’s own experience of a loveless childhood made her wonder about his past. Then Stefano’s eyes connected with hers and wiped the thought clean out of her head. She recognised a heart-stopping shadow of the longing she had seen when he left her. Confused, she picked up the file containing her contract. She wanted to sign, and yet such close contact with the gorgeous Stefano was bound to put her self-control under impossible strain. To her, surrender meant dangerous dependency. She had seen her stepmother and her stepsister fall prey to it. Once a man took over their lives, they stopped seeing themselves as individuals. Kira could not bear to lose a part of herself like that.

  ‘Did you take Amanda the estate agent out to dinner when you signed the final paperwork on Bella Terra?’ Her question was as mild as mustard.

  There was silence. Made brave by it, she looked up at him sharply. Expecting to find him looking guilty, she was disappointed.

  ‘Would it make any difference to you, Kira?’

  His face was impassive. It was another probe. That only made her wonder all the more. He hadn’t denied a liaison with the woman, although if he had, Kira would have assumed he was lying.