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CHAPTER TWO
THE door between her boss’s office and hers remained ominously open, and Kate deliberately didn’t glance towards it as often as her sometimes racing heart dictated. Even though—perversely, perhaps—she longed for a glimpse of the man occupying the adjoining room. The man who barked out instructions as though he cared little how she received them, and who clearly intended to treat her like someone well beneath him on the social strata while she was working for him.
She might well have despaired when she recalled the warmth Luca had exhibited towards her the night they had made love, but Kate refused to do so. Feeling sorry for herself would get her nowhere. But her already delicate stomach had churned many times that morning when she thought in distress about the secret she kept. A secret that she now likened to carrying smuggled contraband through a highly volatile airport Customs on red alert after the less than overjoyed way Luca had reacted to seeing her again.
That magical night in Milan seemed like the most incredible dreamlike fantasy when she considered the mistrustful and disapproving air he was treating her with now. And if he were already suspicious of her motives for being there, what would he be like when he heard the astounding news she was waiting to reveal?
The revelation was something Kate had wanted to tell him about, but she had not been able to because she had simply had no way of contacting him. After getting a job in the States, her friend Melissa had unexpectedly left Italy, and had not yet contacted Kate with her new address or phone number. And she had been unable to recall the full address of the mansion where the party had been that night—let alone the place of work where Melissa had been employed! All avenues leading to contact with Luca had been closed to her, it seemed, and Kate had told herself time and time again that it was her own stupid fault for not leaving him a way to contact her.
Back in the present, she forced herself to deal with the tasks in front of her and knew she would have to bide her time as far as choosing the right moment to break her news to Luca. The thing was, apart from anything else, she really needed this job and had no intention of failing his little ‘trial’. The agency was paying her the top rate for this particular assignment, and the extra money would definitely come in handy given the situation that faced her. In fact that was an understatement. She’d been trying to save as much as she could, but living in London was expensive, and the amount she had squirrelled away so far would hardly help her exist for a month without a job, let alone for the foreseeable future! The dilemma had already given Kate many sleepless nights.
Putting her worries aside, it didn’t take her long to find her usual professional stride, yet there was no let-up as far as her stomach was concerned. Her insides continued to turn over like some demented Ferris wheel, not letting her forget for even a second that she was effectively living with a ticking bomb until she spoke to Luca.
‘Come into my office, would you?’
Luca didn’t wait for Kate to rise from her desk. After briefly putting his head round the door he immediately returned to his room. The plush domain, with its modern, state-of-the-art furniture and its tastefully framed prints of grand public buildings and luxurious homes clearly designed for a fabulously wealthy clientele, proudly reflected his firm’s impressive architectural achievements and the fact that they were amongst the top echelon of the experts in their field. Lucy—the employment agency manager—had been eager to point out how incredibly successful the De Rossi empire was when she had outlined the details of the job to Kate.
Quickly collecting her notepad and pen, Kate was conscious of not wanting to keep her boss waiting.
‘Sit down,’ he commanded without preamble.
It was hard to maintain a purely professional focus when the cologne Luca wore so potently underlined his devastating appeal. Little tingles of highly erotic awareness sizzled up and down Kate’s spine as she detected musky notes of sandalwood and amber. The scent was a stunning and provocative reminder of the sensual, beautiful night they’d spent together and how amazing he had been as a lover. Everything about the man had enthralled Kate. From the expensive way he smelled to his rich, lightly accented voice, and the way every silk-skinned, taut and toned muscle in his incredible body had flexed so unforgettably beneath her awed fingers.
Because she feared he might somehow guess what was in her mind, she could hardly bring herself to meet the disturbing blue gaze that seemed to have no such hesitation in frankly appraising her.
‘My friend Hassan has been in touch with me, and I am just about to leave to go to our meeting. I am glad to see that you are wearing a formal jacket over your dress and that the length of the garment is a respectable one, because I need you to accompany me,’ Luca remarked, turning the gold fountain pen he held between his fingers over and over again, as though too much restless energy was pouring through his veins to be easily contained. ‘Although Hassan is quite a westernised Saudi, first impressions are everything, and I need my PA to reflect the professionalism and cordiality we absolutely pride ourselves on in this firm.’
Indignant heat flooded into Kate’s cheeks that Luca obviously felt the need to emphasise points she naturally took as read—and with a look that seemed close to disparaging. ‘I’m not unfamiliar with Saudi culture!’ she replied heatedly. ‘I once worked for an oil company in Dubai for six months, so I do know what is expected! Apart from that, I naturally know how to conduct myself in a professional manner when it comes to dealing with my boss’s clients. I would not have lasted this long as a personal assistant if I didn’t!’
A dark eyebrow quirked skywards in the sardonic face at the other side of the desk. ‘You are full of surprises, Katherine. I see that I cannot take anything for granted where you are concerned. But I know that to my cost already…do I not?’
‘Was there anything else?’ Deliberately biting her lip on a retort, Kate desperately renewed her silent mantra to keep calm and not lose her cool. Although Luca might take perverse pleasure in baiting her, apparently believing her to be deserving of nothing but his scorn, she wouldn’t add to the already simmering tension between them by rising to it. There was still the most important topic of all to discuss, and it hovered over her like an avalanche poised to do its devastating worst. Sooner or later Kate was going to have to call upon even deeper emotional reserves and just say it.
‘Yes. You might want to freshen your make-up a little and tie your hair back before we leave. I would not want that unruly mane of silk to prove distracting to my client and friend when we are in the throes of discussing important business!’
Kate stared at Luca in disbelief. He made it sound as though she was deliberately wearing her hair loose to provoke and allure! She was aware by now that he would probably take every opportunity he could over the next two weeks to belittle and mock her in any way that presented itself to his richly creative imagination, but descending to personal levels of criticism was a step too far in Kate’s book. Okay, her hair did have a tendency to defy any attempt to control its unruly wave, but she always kept it at a manageable shoulder length and made sure it was clean, shiny and healthy!
Unfortunately, his reference had provoked an unhappy childhood memory in Kate. Sometimes less than kind classmates in the grammar school she had attended had taunted her as a ‘scruffy little gypsy’. Just because she’d lived in a council flat and not in one of the wide leafy avenues where many of their own more affluent homes had been situated! It was fair to say a sense of not being good enough had definitely dogged Kate throughout her life because of her negative experience at school, but no way would she let this privileged, arrogant man relegate her to that insecure intimidated child again just because he held a grudge against her!
Gripping her notepad hard between her fingers, Kate sat up even straighter in her chair, anger overtaking the hurt that still lingered in her mind. ‘I really don’t appreciate such personal comments about my hair! And, for however short or long I work for you, you had better keep your thoughts on my appearance to yourself! For your information I’ve been a PA for nearly eight years, and in all that time I’ve never had one word of complaint about the way I wear my hair or how I look!’
‘I do not doubt it! But then I suspect that most of your bosses have been men, have they not?’
‘What exactly are you implying?’
‘You do not need me to spell it out for you, do you Katherine?’ Shifting in the luxurious leather chair so that it creaked with the movement, Luca leant forward and pierced her with the unsettling vivid glare of his sky-blue eyes. ‘Of course no healthy heterosexual male with hot red blood in his veins would voice a complaint about how you look! Privately they might find it somewhat of a challenge to have a girl with such—shall we say—distracting assets around. But I’m sure you realise I mean that in a complimentary way, and not as an insult.’
She didn’t want his compliments… Not when they were edged with such obvious underlying resentment towards her. Kate swallowed hard.
‘So. When are we leaving?’ Pushing to her feet, she was surprised when Luca followed suit. Again she felt at a disadvantage next to his imposing height, as well as from being the recipient of an arrogant glance that was surely meant to make her feel even smaller!
‘My car will be out front in ten minutes’ time,’ he told her, his flawless diamond gaze travelling almost insolently up and down her body.
She was wearing the smartest dress and jacket she possessed. Of course he would immediately see they were not of the same quality of his own expensive attire, Kate realised, but his glance was disturbing for another reason. Smart clothes were little protection from the inescapable idea that Luca’s knowledge of her body was already the most intimate possible, and her sense of vulnerability in his company increased uncomfortably.
Feeling heat prickle at the back of her neck and in the sensitive tips of her breasts, she self-consciously drew the edges of her jacket together, as if the neckline of her dress was too revealing. It wasn’t.
‘I’d better go and get ready, then.’
Just as she reached the door, Luca addressed her again. ‘Leave your hair. I have changed my mind about it. Do not trouble yourself tying it back. I will collect the necessary architectural plans and see you outside by the car.’
And with that he picked up the telephone receiver and snapped out an impatient order to the poor, unsuspecting receptionist at the desk on the ground floor…
Luca paused for a moment in mid-discussion of plans for a new, spectacularly modern hotel his friend Hassan was having built in his home city of Dubai. Although Luca was responsible for the initial design, there were two senior colleagues who had been with him in the original discussions who would be overseeing the build in the city itself. Right now they were both out of the country until the weekend, so naturally Hassan wanted to deal with the chief architect and his friend—Luca himself.
Luca had momentarily paused in what he was saying because the older man was none too discreetly staring at the woman who sat at the far end of the triangle of sumptuous armchairs in the floral-scented meeting room, taking notes. Observing the other man’s undoubted interest, Luca was unprepared for the scalding burn of jealousy that made the muscularly lean wall of his taut stomach harden like steel. Not that he could blame what he knew to be his friend’s notorious roving eye for alighting with such blatant speculation on Katherine. For just over three interminable months Luca had alternately been taunted and frustrated by the memory of her exquisite beauty, and had privately acknowledged that there had been something about her other than just an unforgettable face that made all men long to know her and possess her. But he had not allowed himself to speculate too deeply on the subject. All he knew right now was that no other woman could beguile so emphatically simply by wearing a shop-bought dress and jacket, the minimum of make-up and with no evidence of jewellery of any kind adorning her.
The admission did not help improve his mood. Frustration had been building in him ever since Katherine had walked into his office, and although his desire seemed to be acting independently of his will he was wary of being made a fool of by her a second time. He cleared his throat and Hassan glanced back at him, completely at ease and not at all abashed at being caught out ogling Luca’s PA.
‘You were saying, Luca?’ He smiled.
Briefly catching Katherine’s eye in silent rebuke, as if it were all her fault that the other man was so frankly appraising her, Luca seamlessly resumed from where he had left off. But he had to seriously tamp down an almost irresistible urge to wish the meeting at an end so he could whisk her back to the office, where he could at least be alone with her again.
Knowing he was feeling both predatory and possessive, he should have despised himself for a weakness that could only bring him more of the bitter pain he had been living with for too long—but his ego urged Luca not to let Katherine run out on him a second time before exacting some kind of payment in kind from her for her unexpected desertion that morning….
An hour later, the meeting at an end and Luca’s friend’s concerns and questions about the proposed new hotel satisfactorily appeased, the wealthy Arab took the younger man aside in the elegant lobby of the hotel. ‘Luca…I have to ask. Your secretary…she is a single woman?’ He glanced over at Katherine, standing patiently near the exit, waiting for Luca to finish his business and join her. ‘I observed no wedding ring on her finger.’
For a stricken moment the most unwelcome thought of all shook Luca out of any semblance of equilibrium left to him. He had considered it before, of course, and now he was forced to consider it again. What if Katherine was married, and that was why she had left him without explanation in Milan, leaving no way for him to contact her? Had she regretted her adultery with him and, overwhelmed with guilt, fled before he could discover any personal details with which to incriminate her? He sensed himself frown deeply, felt his stomach tied in knots.
‘No,’ he said clearly, hoping fervently it was the truth. ‘She is not married.’
‘Then is there a man in her life? Someone serious, I mean?’
Feeling the twisting knots in his insides lock tighter, Luca kept his expression as impassive as he was able. ‘I am not aware that Katherine is seeing anyone else, my friend, but I can tell you that she and I do have some unfinished business shall we say? Does that answer your question?’
The Arab’s large coal-black eyes widened in surprise. Beneath his elegant designer suit he shrugged his massive shoulders and grinned. ‘I can see you are indeed the dark horse, my friend!
But then your interest in her does not surprise me! Who could blame you for taking advantage of the chance to be with such innocent loveliness?’
In unison, both men moved their gaze to where Katherine still stood. Her slender yet shapely figure in her navy blue polka-dot dress, her beautiful eyes and dark gleaming hair were drawing other admiring glances besides their own, Luca observed with another helpless flash of jealousy.
‘I would give much to experience just one night with such a woman!’ Hassan slapped Luca heartily on the back. ‘No offence intended, my friend,’ he added quickly, seeing that the Italian’s mouth had firmed in what was clearly disapproval. ‘You are a lucky, lucky man!’
That was a matter of opinion, Luca thought in bittersweet reflection, glancing across at Katherine.
‘That aside,’ Hassan continued cheerfully, ‘I look forward to seeing you tonight at the little party you have most kindly arranged at your house for me and my business associates from Riyadh. They are most keen to talk to you about the incredible work you do, and if I am not mistaken, and things go well, you will no doubt have another valuable commission by the end of the evening!’
* * *
Unable to ignore the pangs of hunger that gripped her for another minute, and having forgotten to pack the dry biscuits she’d grown accustomed to carrying with her of late, Kate knocked lightly on the opened door between her office and Luca’s to get his attention.
‘What is it?’
His less than friendly response might have been intimidating if Kate wasn’t already getting used to it. Stepping inside the larger room, she saw that he was poring over some architectural drawings on the huge desk in front of him. The knot of his dark silk tie had been pulled a good three inches away from his pristine white shirt collar, and the tousled appearance of his thick dark hair also suggested that the work he faced was perhaps momentarily getting the better of him. The man worked like a Trojan, Kate observed. It was half past two in the afternoon and she’d seen no indication of him being even close to stopping for lunch or even a cup of coffee.
She frowned. ‘I wonder if I could pop out to get myself a sandwich? I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather hungry. Perhaps I could get you something too?’
He stared at her…really stared. As the silence in the room became almost deafening, Kate’s feet seemed rooted to the floor by his disconcerting examination.
‘Did you hear what I said?’ she asked, her throat tightening with tension.
‘My friend Hassan asked me if you were married,’ Luca drawled, his blue eyes once again travelling slowly and deliberately up and down her body.
Kate’s hunger pangs were instantly demolished. Instead, hunger of a very different kind clawed at her. His lascivious glance made her feel as if he was physically touching her, and it made her shiver with want. But then the full import of his question finally found its way to central control in her brain, and a sense of deep shock rippled through her.
‘Are you married, Katherine?’ Luca asked.
‘No! I’m not! And why should that be any concern of your client’s?’
‘You must have seen how he looked at you?’
‘I was busy taking the notes of the meeting!’
‘Anyway…it is not my friend’s interest in the answer that I am concerned with. It is my own. So, if you are not married, what about a boyfriend?’
‘I have none! Is that what you thought? That I was two-timing someone when I was with you?’
‘It did occur to me, not long after I woke up and found you gone, that perhaps too much champagne the night before at the party had made you—possibly a married woman—a little reckless, shall we say? That maybe you were just looking for a good time and when opportunity knocked…you took it. In the morning, discovering what you had done, you were perhaps overcome by guilt and regret and decided to flee before you incriminated yourself further…’
‘Well, you’re wrong! It was nothing like that at all!’
Feeling distressed at the idea that Luca had even considered that she had run out on him because she was married or involved with someone else, Kate crossed her bare arms over the silk bodice of her dress and despairingly tried to straighten her thoughts. How could he think such a thing? she asked herself. Had she imagined the bond they had shared? A bond that she’d firmly believed had transcended the merely physical?
‘Then how was it, Katherine? And this time perhaps you will do me the courtesy of telling me the truth of why you ran out on me that morning?’
The truth. How simple that sounded… And yet the reality was that it wasn’t simple at all. It was a terrible, never to be repeated, embarrassing…mess.
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