Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss

By

Jennie Adams
Rescued In A Wedding Dress

By

Cara Colter

www.millsandboon.co.uk

From business plans to seating plans, contracts to confetti, these bosses swap management for marriage!

The Brides of Bella Rosa continues in:

PASSIONATE CHEF, ICE QUEEN BOSS

by Jennie Adams

And here comes the boardroom bride in:

RESCUED IN A WEDDING DRESS

by Cara Colter

For the gentle men in my life. For walking with dignity and grace. For your strength and integrity and giving. Most of all for your love. Right back atcha!

Family Tree

Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss

By

Jennie Adams

Australian author JENNIE ADAMS grew up in a rambling farmhouse surrounded by books, and by people who loved reading them. She decided at a young age to be a writer, but it took many years and a lot of scenic detours before she sat down to pen her first romance novel. Jennie has worked in a number of careers and voluntary positions, including transcription typist and pre-school assistant. She is the proud mother of three fabulous adult children and makes her home in a small inland city in New South Wales. In her leisure time Jennie loves long, rambling walks, discovering new music, starting knitting projects that she rarely finishes, chatting with friends, trips to the movies, and new dining experiences.

Jennie loves to hear from her readers, and can be contacted via her website at www.jennieadams.net

Chapter One

‘LORENZO, I sent a message requesting your presence in Luca’s office for a meeting ten minutes ago. Did you not receive it?’ The words were calm. Professional. They stated the facts and requested an explanation of the man’s absence, nothing more or less.

Yes, Scarlett Gibson wanted to tug in frustration on the hot-pink ribbon adorning her ponytail of shoulder-length black hair and, yes, that reaction annoyed her. She hadn’t seen Lorenzo for five years. For the next two months she would be working with him. Scarlett had hoped she would be able to do that without caring much about anything to do with him. After all, that was the state she had been forced to reach after he broke her heart five years ago.

Well, Scarlett hadn’t become a top financial advisor in Australia by losing her control the first time something annoyed her. But she also hadn’t come back to Italy to help out at her uncle Luca’s Rosa restaurant, only to have her authority thwarted by the head chef on her first day at the job.

The source of that thwarting stood inside the kitchen of Rosa with his back to her. A slim, muscular back in a fitted black shirt. He wore black trousers, black shoes on his feet. Did he still wear the gold medallion?

Not that Scarlett cared, though she supposed such thoughts were bound to surface. But, surely, they were no different from her wondering if the stranger on the tram beside her back in Melbourne had her coffee made on full milk or skim!

As Scarlett glanced about the kitchen different things began to register. The scents of rich, melted chocolate blended with the warm heartiness of yeasty savoury bread stuffed with tomato and herbs, onion and garlic and olives. Several loaves of the bread were cooling on trays on a bench. Those scents probably explained why Scarlett’s tummy suddenly felt a bit odd. She’d have to watch that. She didn’t want to eat her way through the next two months. In any case Lorenzo certainly wasn’t the reason for her tummy-consciousness.

Three kitchen hands were at work. A woman who looked to be in her thirties, and two men. Scarlett had bumped into the woman inside the restaurant as she appeared to be arriving for work, and had asked her to let Lorenzo know that she wanted to see him in Luca’s office without delay.

The woman glanced up now and met her gaze. She didn’t look at all guilty or forgetful, which led Scarlett to believe that she had, indeed, passed her message on to Lorenzo.

So what was Lorenzo Nesta’s game? Yes, he appeared to be working with great concentration and, yes, there appeared to be quite a bit going on in the kitchen right now. Various desserts in different stages of production littered the bench space around Lorenzo in what appeared to be a very organised kind of chaos.

Scarlett registered this fact, but it was still quite early in the morning. Lunchtime diners were a long way away. Lorenzo should be able to leave his kitchen hands unsupervised at this time of day, with tasks to keep them going, and give Scarlett the time she needed.

Scarlett’s sherry-brown eyes narrowed. If Lorenzo thought she would chase after him any time she wanted a few words, he needed a lesson in the order of authority in this restaurant. Scarlett’s uncle Luca came first. He was the owner, though he’d told Scarlett that during her time here he didn’t intend to come in, just let her get on with what had to be done.

Cousin Isabella had been managing the restaurant a lot of the time anyway. Isabella was gladly taking a step back to focus on her relationship with her newly found reclusive prince, Maximilliano Di Rossi.

Then came Scarlett in the role of business manager.

And then came the head chef/assistant manager, Lorenzo Nesta. In other words, where Lorenzo was concerned, Scarlett was the boss!

Scarlett gave a determined nod of her head, only to feel a recalcitrant lock of hair slip loose of its beribboned ponytail.

Confound it all.

Scarlett frowned and blew the lock of hair off her cheek, and glared at that stretch of shoulders in her line of vision.

She had every right to glare. The man was a love rat.

Lorenzo twisted his upper body and glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘Just one minute more.’

‘Just one more—?’ As though she had nothing better to do than stand about and wait for him? Scarlett’s brows went up even as she forced her teeth together over the words that wanted to pour out.

Lorenzo held a slender, hollow stainless-steel tube in his hands. He rotated it with long, deft fingers and Scarlett got a view in profile of a manly cheek already darkened with a hint of beard shadow, a strong nose and chiselled lips pursed in concentration, and the downward sweep of thick lashes over eyes that she knew were the deepest, richest shade of brown.

Not that Scarlett had any particular kind of obsession with dark brown. Well, with the possible exception of it swirling around in a mug with a marshmallow melted in the top of it.

‘Actually, Lorenzo, I’ve been waiting ten minutes already.’ Scarlett uttered the words in a calm tone that nevertheless held a hint of steel within it. ‘You know the way to Luca’s office. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t keep me waiting any longer.’

Scarlett wheeled about and made her way back through the kitchen’s swing doors, through the rear of the indoor dining area past several potted plants and a nook filled with a warm colourful display of bottles of oils and relishes and sauces, and into the corridor that housed Luca’s office.

Mixed feelings walked with her. This return trip to Italy was important to Scarlett for many reasons. She wanted to enjoy Isabella’s company and bond with her again and maybe get in a better place with all of her family here. If that was even possible after so long? Helping Uncle Luca out felt like a good step towards that. She’d hesitated when Isabella had asked her, and that had been because of Lorenzo. But then Scarlett had decided if she was facing down old demons she could just as easily face down this one at the same time. How hard could it be?

‘Scarlett, good morning.’ Her cousin Isabella approached as Scarlett put her hand on the office door. ‘All set for your first day on the job?’

Scarlett stopped, and regrouped. And smiled, because this was Izzie and they had grown up together. They’d had a lot of girlish fun together before she and Scarlett had done something incredibly silly. The ramifications of which were only now settling. Scarlett had punished herself and had moved to Australia, away from her Italian family and friends to get to know her father and his side of her family.

‘Hi, Izzie. Yes, I’m ready for my first day. I didn’t expect to see you in here today. You look glowing. How’s your prince?’

‘Princely as ever.’ Isabella blushed a little, but she also smiled and held out her arms. ‘I’m rather pleased that I’ve found him.’

‘He’s made you happy, so I’m pleased too.’ Scarlett stepped into Izzie’s hug.

There was an ache in the middle of her chest when she let go.

Coming back here always tugged at her emotions. This time she was here to try to help the family out, with a hope of reconnection hiding some place deep inside her that was perhaps unrealistic.

If it was going to make her feel all mushy whenever she came across a family member, Scarlett had better get that reaction right under control, and fast. ‘I have Lorenzo coming in for a meeting. Since you’re here, I’d like to speak with you after that, if possible.’ Her full lips tightened before she went on. ‘I’ll probably have questions for you after I’ve grilled him.’

‘Grilled? You won’t upset—?’ Isabella cut herself off and forced a smile back to her face. ‘You’re the boss. Of course you should manage things here however you feel is right.’ Isabella drew a breath. ‘I’m here to put together a batch of Papa’s special sauce, so I’ll be around for a while. I can speak with you when you’re ready.’

‘Let’s say in about half an hour, then.’ Luca’s secret recipe sauce was a mainstay of the Rosa restaurant’s authentic Italian cuisine. Scarlett wondered what kind of reception she would get when she wanted an accounting of the ingredients list so she could cost-base it.

A hands-off we’re-not-telling reception, she imagined, from both Luca and Isabella. Well, perhaps they could tell her the costs, but not the ingredients?

‘It’s nice to have you back in Italy, Scarlett, and I really appreciate all you’re going to do for Rosa.’ Her cousin’s expression tightened. ‘The money issues are worrying. Max was prepared to invest a cash injection to get Rosa back in a strong financial position, but of course that would have offended Papa and it wouldn’t have really solved anything in the long term. I couldn’t have let Max do that, either, much as I love him for wanting to.’

‘Quite right.’ Simply throwing money at things wasn’t the answer. But with the right changes and improvements, success could be grasped. That was what Scarlett believed, and had proved in her own career path as she climbed the ranks to a highly successful financial advisor in Australia, advising some very respectable companies. She wanted the same for Rosa. She wanted the restaurant to run at a profit and be self-sufficient and successful.

Isabella disappeared and Scarlett stepped into Luca’s office. It would be her headquarters for the time being, though she didn’t intend to be the kind of manager who sat behind her desk all day and didn’t watch what was going on around her. Despite her hope to not need much to do with him, she might have to watch Lorenzo Nesta very closely. Particularly if he thought he could get away with stunts like ignoring her summons when she sent it!

‘Scarlett—’

And speaking of her nemesis, there he was, standing in the doorway of the office looking a little prickly beneath the surface though she could see he was trying hard to mask that. And, she supposed, somewhat attractive.

Not that he appealed to Scarlett any more in any particular way. He’d killed that reaction in her five years ago. Her heart rate had jumped a little just now, but that was as a result of preparing to do battle if necessary.

‘Lorenzo.’ She gestured to the visitor’s chair on the other side of the desk. And really, wasn’t she the one to have the right to some prickliness? She’d only just started here, and already he’d put her morning’s schedule off centre. ‘Please be seated. I want to speak with you about how things have been running here at the restaurant, and how they’ll need to be run from now on. But perhaps you’d care to start by explaining why you ignored my request for this meeting.’

‘I didn’t ignore the request, I just couldn’t drop everything and come to you immediately.’ His chest expanded beneath the black shirt before he carefully exhaled. Scarlett caught sight of a glint of gold around his neck. Was it the chain that he’d had when they first met?

Not that you care, Scarlett.

‘Why couldn’t you leave your staff for a few minutes?’

‘It’s not always possible to walk out of a busy restaurant kitchen without consequences.’ His words were respectful, but also firm. ‘You gave me no notice, just a message that my presence was immediately required.’

‘At this early hour of the day I would have thought you’d be able to spare some time.’ Scarlett tried to keep her gaze locked on his eyes, yet it wandered to the curve of his lips, the strong nose, the very old, small scar over his left eyebrow and despite her determination, a memory stirred.

He’d held her in his arms one day after they’d made love, and had made up outrageous stories about how he got the scar as a child. Each one had been sillier than the last until Scarlett had needed to hold her sides to try to contain her mirth. The truth was that he’d fallen, not very far or excitingly, off a piece of play equipment at school.

That day, Lorenzo had said something strange to her. Sometimes the scars you see are better. I’m happy to wear this one. At least it bears no shame. His gaze had sobered and for a moment Scarlett had felt as though he’d pushed her away, even though she still lay snuggled in his arms. She’d opened her mouth to ask, she hadn’t been sure what, but he’d kissed her again and the moment had passed…

Well, that was then, and what was she doing thinking about this now anyway?

Scarlett wasn’t laughing now. Nor did she want to reminisce about the far distant past of her life. She couldn’t afford to be distracted!

‘We’re very busy in the kitchen today. It’s good that Isabella came in. I’ve asked her to supervise until I can get back.’ Lorenzo drew a deep breath. ‘At least that’s something.’

Did he say that as though Isabella wouldn’t know what she was doing in there?

‘My cousin has worked in the kitchen of Rosa for a long time.’ Isabella could do a just fine job of supervising the staff, or making the meals for that matter. ‘Whether she has a whole lot of bits of paper to say so or not, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s a more qualified cook than you are.’

Lorenzo made a sound in the back of his throat. ‘Of course I trust Isabella in the kitchen. That’s not what I meant.’

‘Whatever you meant, we’re wasting time.’ Scarlett glared at him across Luca’s desk. If her anger was somewhat of a shield, she wasn’t about to admit it.

Lorenzo stared back and whatever thoughts he had disappeared in his eyes. ‘By all means, please go on with what you need to say.’

‘I will.’ Another curl of Scarlett’s hair slid from its moorings and lay against her cheek. Scarlett gritted her teeth and asked herself how a few minutes in his company could get her so worked up so easily. She’d just finished telling herself she would treat this in a calm, professional manner.

Lorenzo’s gaze clung to her hair for a moment before he raised it to meet her eyes.

Dark brown to sherry brown.

Five years older to aeons wiser.

He’d be thirty-two now. Scarlett was twenty-eight. That extra layer of maturity…flattered him.

‘Do you understand the reason for my presence at Rosa?’ Scarlett didn’t know what Isabella had told him. She doubted Luca would have said much. Her uncle had hidden the state of Rosa’s finances even from Isabella for as long as he could. It had taken effort to get Luca to the point where he was willing to have Scarlett come in to try to clean things up here.

Lorenzo made a ‘Who knows?’ gesture with his hands. ‘You’re here as Financial Manager for the time being. Isabella has relinquished her management to you, though she’ll still be actively involved in the restaurant in other ways. In other words, you answer only to Luca himself, though he’s been quite scarce here of late.’

‘Good. You understand, then.’ In fact he had a better grip on his knowledge of events than Scarlett had imagined.

Lorenzo examined her face. Maybe he was searching for her response to him? Or maybe he saw a different woman five years on from the one he had known? Well, he’d helped Scarlett to become that woman. Self-contained, determined, career-focused and beyond guarded in some ways. She’d been halfway there before she even met Lorenzo.

‘As Head Chef and Assistant Manager you will answer directly to me. Everything you do will be under my scrutiny, and I expect your full co-operation with any changes I decide to make to improve the financial bottom line of the restaurant.’ This was what needed to be said.

‘I run a good kitchen and do my best with the resources Luca has allowed me.’ He spoke the words and then clamped his lips together before he added, ‘All of us have had to work within the framework of Luca’s feelings about employing and buying locally and treating the staff in some ways as a big family.’

And Luca loved to be generous and giving. This was something Isabella had brought up and, though her cousin hadn’t gone into much detail, Scarlett had wondered whether this had caused problems for Isabella in her management efforts. Scarlett would look into it.

‘I’m accustomed to co-operation, Lorenzo. This morning, by your actions, you communicated to other members of the staff here that I can wait until it suits you if I request a meeting.’ She drew a breath. ‘I don’t want to have to make changes to the staffing here, but I also will not work with a head chef who doesn’t respect my authority.’

Scarlett’s message was clear, and clearly received if the tightening of Lorenzo’s expressive mouth was any indication.

‘We received a special order—’ He cut the words off and shook his head. ‘My apologies for not attending you immediately. It would be great if in future you could give me a little notice so I can leave the kitchen without any negative impact on the work there, but if you can’t, you can’t. I will still co-operate with you to the fullest.’

He held her gaze with a level one of his own. ‘I value this job. Every step I take is aimed at making the best of Rosa that I possibly can.’

‘Then I’m sure we understand each other and will get along just fine.’ Scarlett’s fingers closed over a typed list on Luca’s desk. ‘I’d like to discuss the current staffing policies with you. I understand from Isabella that you’ve been given a fairly free rein to make decisions about the number of kitchen hands employed at any given time, how you roster them, that sort of thing.’

‘I have enough kitchen hands to meet the kitchen’s needs. Some of them, Luca has speared into the positions when I…might not have chosen them for the work, but I do my best with the workers I have.’

It wasn’t a negative statement. Scarlett got the impression it was an honest one.

Lorenzo named staff members. He explained whether they were full or part time, hours they worked and what their roles were. ‘There is room for all of them to improve their skills in one way or another. I work on that on a daily basis.’

For a restaurant the size of Rosa, the staffing levels seemed appropriate. ‘I’ll want to examine your kitchen roster some time in the next day or two.’ And the wages and staff conditions, but those weren’t Lorenzo’s responsibility.

There had to be reasons why Rosa didn’t make a better bottom line financially. Scarlett would turn the restaurant inside out to discover those reasons and fix them.

For now she needed to know: ‘How economical are you with your cooking methods? What are you doing to reduce ingredient wastage? How often do you have Isabella in to supervise the making of the special tomato sauce?’

‘Within the guidelines I have to work with, I believe I’m being quite economical.’ Lorenzo stared into Scarlett’s sherry-brown eyes and assured himself he could and would finish this interview in a calm relaxed manner no matter how many questions Scarlett threw at him or how less than happy to see him she might appear to be. And no matter how concerned he felt about his job security with Scarlett now in a position to decide his fate.

He didn’t need any more ripples in his work record, but what could he do besides work hard and perform to the best of his ability?

Regret tugged at him. It wasn’t easy to look into Scarlett’s lovely face and keep memories at bay. That was a problem he’d worried over since he first heard she would be coming to Rosa to act as Financial Manager. He wanted to ask how she’d been—was she happy? So many things. He couldn’t ask any of those questions. It was all long gone, the mistakes and missteps were made. He couldn’t fix the past. And his present.

‘I maintain a high standard in my kitchen.’ Best to stick to these things with her. Best not to notice her too much, and he was trying not to notice how lovely she looked in the prissy cream blouse. She’d teamed it with a deep crimson and cream pinstriped skirt that had clung to her hips as she stalked out of the kitchen minutes ago.

The clothes were businesslike yet still practical for Italy’s summer weather. But did Scarlett think the outfit made her look severe? Remote? If so, she didn’t have much idea. Her hair slipping from its moorings put paid to that, as did the bright pink ribbon that adorned the silky black mass.

That and the softness that she couldn’t quite hide, deep in the backs of her guarded eyes. She might play the tough boss lady, but it was clear she still had…her softer side.

‘My reputation and that of the restaurant are on the line with every meal produced.’ His tone wanted to soften. He forced it to remain businesslike. His job could be on the line here, which meant he couldn’t let himself indulge in memories of the past when, for a time before it all went wrong, he and Scarlett had been happy together.

He forced the words out. ‘If a dish is substandard it’s thrown away, but my ultimate goal is to ensure everyone on my team works hard enough and carefully enough to always produce a dish worthy of the standards of Rosa.’

‘Throwing meals out at all—that’ll have to stop.’ Scarlett leaned forward in her chair.

‘Sometimes things happen even in the best kitchens, Scarlett.’ Did she really imagine that could be otherwise?

‘Well, I suppose so.’ Scarlett’s pretty nose scrunched.

‘Now and then a patron will throw a fit over a perfectly good meal, too, and send it back.’ From time to time, this happened. ‘It’s important to maintain goodwill, even when we know the restaurant is in the right.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Scarlett drummed one slender set of fingers on the desk before she stopped the movement abruptly. ‘I want to be brought in on it if I’m here and a diner carries on like that.’

So Lorenzo could hide behind her skirts while she took care of things for him? Pride rose up. He pushed aside all knowledge of the edge of shame that went with it. What did they say?

If you don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t exist.

His father was certainly good at that. Well, at ignoring Lorenzo’s existence much of the time, now that his son had ‘dishonoured the family with his behaviour’. Lorenzo wasn’t in a position where he could explain himself to his family.

And now was not the time to dwell on any of that!

‘I assure you I am quite able to deal with any difficult patrons here.’

‘Well, I know that.’ She said it as though any other option was ridiculous.

And Lorenzo realised he might have overreacted. He could thank his past with Marcella for that. Well, he could thank that past for a few things, couldn’t he? ‘Regarding Isabella making the trademark sauce, I keep her informed of the supply. She tops it up when needed so we make sure we never run out.’

Maybe if he made it clear to Scarlett that he had a good knowledge of the restaurant’s workings, she would feel more able to work with him to achieve whatever she needed to here. Lorenzo needed to know just what her goals were and what she would expect of him.

He’d worked closely with Isabella, and she’d handed plenty of responsibility to him. That had suited him, but what did Scarlett want? ‘Is the restaurant in real trouble? Are jobs secure? Isabella only said you’d be working to improve our bottom line. She didn’t cover the why of it.’

Scarlett hesitated for so long, he’d almost decided she wasn’t going to answer. Finally she said, ‘The restaurant has been running at a loss, I believe for quite some time.’ The moment the words were out, she glared at him. ‘You’re being trusted with that information because I need your co-operation and full disclosure from you to enable me to do my work here properly and get Rosa back in the black. If you discuss this fact with anyone, or if you hold anything back—’

‘What kind of man do you think I am?’ Lorenzo’s nostrils flared.

But they both knew the answer, didn’t they? To Scarlett, Lorenzo was a man who had let her down. The answer shone in her eyes for a moment before she glanced away.

‘You won’t lose your job due to financial reasons.’ Scarlett uttered the words in a low tone. ‘Luca and Isabella both speak highly of you and want to keep you here. I am determined to turn the restaurant around so it starts making a profit, and continues to do so. If you prove to be good for Rosa as they are saying you are, and you’re respectful to me and my authority, then I’m sure your job will be quite safe, too.’

Her assurance helped somewhat. Scarlett might feel angry towards him because of their shattered past love affair. But if she said his job wasn’t in jeopardy provided he continued to work well, Lorenzo should be safe. He wished it didn’t have to matter so much to him, but it did. He needed every Euro of his wages to help him save for his ultimate future. That future was a long way away, years still, but he was doing his best.

So now he only had to make sure Scarlett didn’t fire him for any other reason, and he hoped, over time, that she would see his commitment to Rosa.

Scarlett seemed to make an effort to centre her thoughts once again. ‘I’m sorry for all the questions, but your answers will help me prioritise how I approach change here.’ She drew a breath. ‘What are the most popular dishes and how do they stack up in terms of profit margins? Do you buy one hundred per cent only local produce?’

‘We always use local produce if possible, otherwise I shop nearby for other things.’ The restaurant had a small van for that purpose. He listed the most popular dishes. Many of them used Luca’s secret sauce. ‘As Luca’s rules about local produce have been hard and fast, I haven’t looked into how much money we might be losing by buying locally but there are times when I think there would be a substantial difference.’

‘I see. Well, thank you. I can see I have a lot of things I need to look into.’ Scarlett got to her feet in a single, lithe movement.

Meeting over, apparently. For a moment he wondered if she would shake his hand. But she simply strode to the door in the cream pumps that matched her blouse exactly.

Lorenzo dragged his gaze upwards away from tanned slender legs. ‘My history in restaurants has taught me a lot. If you want to discuss any aspect of Rosa at any time—’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ Scarlett’s brows drew together and she took a half-step towards him before she stopped and tugged the door wider. ‘I’ll let you get back to work.’

Lorenzo stepped forward too, until he was even with her. The scent of her perfume filled his senses, catapulted him back to happy times between them before the complications of his life had wrecked everything for both of them. Could either one of them hope to truly get through her working here, and just ignore all that? ‘Scarlett, the past—’

‘Is irrelevant between us now.’ She acknowledged its existence and dismissed it with a wave of one hand, all in the space of seconds. ‘I can assure you, from my perspective it is long forgotten!’

He might have believed it, he supposed. That Miss Scarlett Gibson quite frankly didn’t give a damn.

Yes, Lorenzo might have believed that if he hadn’t seen the burn of hurt deep in the backs of her eyes that had nothing to do with Rosa or now or here, and everything to do with that past.

‘I’m glad to hear you’re okay with that.’ Lorenzo turned on his heel and went back to his kitchen where he at least had the hope of telling himself he was somewhat in charge and in control. He needed that. Marcella’s treatment, her behaviour towards him, had left him with the need to…find self-esteem within his work. It was a cliché, he supposed, but Lorenzo was honest enough to admit it about himself.

As for Scarlett’s position here as the new boss, Lorenzo wanted to believe the two of them could work together without things turning catastrophic. Surely they could.

Couldn’t they?

Chapter Two

‘YOU know there’ll be fallout for you once Lisa learns that you’ve moved yourself out of her villa.’ Isabella put the middle-sized suitcase of Scarlett’s set of three down in the centre of the small bedsit, and turned with raised brows to face her cousin. ‘And I’d have loved to have—’

‘I know. And…thanks. But I would have felt I was intruding.’ It was the next morning, early. Max had driven them here, helped them to unload Scarlett’s luggage, and had then disappeared with a promise to meet Isabella in the village later.

Or should Scarlett say the prince had driven the princess into town? The romance between his cousin and the reclusive prince was a little like a fairy tale. Scarlett stifled a small grin and wondered how she could be so cheerful when a part of her very much did not want to face another day at the restaurant with Lorenzo working under her nose, and making her feel uncomfortable and overly conscious of him by turns.

Not that he’d been trying to do that, to be fair. Being in contact with him had turned out to be more difficult than she had anticipated, that was all. Scarlett dumped her overnight bag and laptop case beside the suitcases. ‘It’s not up to Mum to decide where I stay while I’m working at Rosa.’ Lisa wasn’t in Monta Correnti just now anyway. ‘Though I do appreciate her inviting me to stay at her villa.’

Isabella raised her eyebrows. ‘You mean inviting you in a way you felt powerless to refuse.’

Her accompanying smile reminded Scarlett of girlhood days.

‘Maybe Mum did sort of coerce me into agreeing to stay there. But I found a way to get out of being under her scrutiny, even if it was only the second-hand scrutiny of her house staff.’ Scarlett had tugged on her ribbon before she thought about it. It was a gold and black polka-dot ribbon today, which she felt nicely offset her black and yellow A-line, knee-length linen dress.

‘And anyway, with no offence meant to anyone, I prefer to be here.’ Scarlett let her gaze rove over the room. It was small, simply furnished with a sofa that pulled out into a bed, a tiny dining table with two chairs, a kitchenette and a bathroom with a washing machine tucked behind a door at the far end.

Certainly Scarlett’s apartment back in Melbourne had been much roomier, and her mother’s villa heaps roomier again. Well, she’d sublet her apartment.

And this little bedsit tucked onto the end of a widow’s house was clean and neat and serviceable. It would meet Scarlett’s requirements for her stay in Italy. Most of all she could be private here at the end of the day. Scarlett wanted to reconnect with her family, but she needed some kind of bolt hole! ‘I need my own space sometimes, Izzie. Anyway, by the time Mum turns up again I could be halfway through my stay. What she doesn’t know…’

‘Won’t cause an outburst?’ Isabella shook her head. ‘Have you really forgotten that much of what it’s like to be part of a big family with all the related tensions and nosiness and everything else? I know you have your father and his relatives in Australia, but have you also forgotten what Lisa can be like when she unleashes her sharp tongue? Your mamma will hear about you moving out within days, if not sooner.’ A hint of annoyance leaked into Isabella’s tone.

It wasn’t directed at Scarlett, and Scarlett knew this. They were all less than happy with Lisa after the way she’d behaved towards her brother Luca recently.

‘I haven’t forgotten. Mamma hasn’t spoken with my father, even on the phone, since I turned eighteen, but I remember a few of the calls before then. Mum shouting and my father looking as though he’d like to tear his hair out by the end of it.’

Dad had made a good home for her when she decided at twelve that she wanted to go to him in Australia. It had taken time for Scarlett to let herself really love Brad Gibson. She’d been an unhappy, upset child at the time, but they’d got there. Her father was a good man.

Scarlett went on. ‘The bedsit is perfect, Izzie.’ She gestured about her. ‘It’s literally less than five minutes’ walk from Rosa.’ Scarlett walked to the opened door and glanced out. ‘In fact, you can see the restaurant from here, if you stand in the part that isn’t screened by the overhead lintel and all that flowering creeper. Anyway, shall we go? I need to get to work. I’ll unpack tonight.’

Scarlett reached once again for her laptop computer and purse. She perched a pair of sunglasses on her nose. With her eyes shielded from view she felt somewhat better.

‘I have an errand to run before I drop by the restaurant.’ Isabella gave a soft smile. ‘It’s just a little something I’m picking up. A photo of me that I had framed.’

‘To give to your prince when you meet up later?’ Scarlett asked teasingly, and smiled when Isabella blushed.

Isabella smiled, too, and while she was still smiling she said, ‘Speaking of photos, Jackie’s got heaps of her daughter now. You should—’

‘I don’t have time to look at photos.’ The rejection shot out of Scarlett’s mouth before she even realised how trapped Isabella’s suggestion had made her feel. Scarlett found it hard to think about the daughter her sister, Jackie, had given up for adoption.

Because she’d thought, and thought, and thought about it over the years and the more she did that, the deeper her guilt seemed to lodge itself. Scarlett had avoided contact with Izzie and Jackie for years because of this.

Now they were back in contact, and Scarlett did want to be closer.

But a part of her also wanted to demand to know if her cousin truly thought getting over something like that long separation and loss could be so simple for Jackie? So easy? That Scarlett’s sister would miraculously have forgotten all the years of feeling as if there’d been a hole left inside her just because now she had her lover back in her life, and some contact with her daughter, Kate? After all, Scarlett and, to a lesser degree, Isabella, had caused Jackie’s loss!

Before Scarlett could speak or do otherwise, the sound of a motorcycle echoed through the square.

‘I didn’t think he’d be in this early.’ How stupid, to get all breathless just from the sight of Lorenzo across the square. It must be because he’d made it necessary for her to assert her authority yesterday.

‘You recognise him from that distance?’ Isabella seemed surprised.

‘Who else would it be?’ Scarlett dodged having to explain that she and Lorenzo had known each other five years ago, and had more than simply known each other. They’d kept the relationship secret and Scarlett wasn’t about to reveal anything about it now. ‘I mean, he’s gone to the restaurant, it’s a man and he is reasonably recognisable even at this distance.’

‘I suppose so.’ Isabella followed Scarlett’s glance. ‘Lorenzo did well yesterday, didn’t he?’

Praise for the head chef wasn’t quite what Scarlett had been expecting. She said carefully, ‘The diners seemed happy enough with their meals.’

‘Oh, I’m sure they all would have been.’ Isabella waved a hand as though to dismiss this. ‘But I meant with that special order for lunch for twelve people. It was very last minute, but Lorenzo was sure he could pull it off. I wouldn’t have been able to. Not with the things on the menu.’

Oblivious to Scarlett’s surprise, Isabella went on. ‘The movie star was happy, though. One of the kitchen hands made the delivery and Lorenzo said at the prices he insisted on to do the catering, the restaurant will have cleaned up on it financially.’

A movie star?

A last-minute order for a special lunch for twelve people?

This was the reason why Lorenzo hadn’t come immediately to yesterday’s meeting?

Why hadn’t he said so? Scarlett stared at her cousin as yesterday’s impressions realigned themselves. ‘I wasn’t aware—’

‘I thought Lorenzo would have explained it to you. He’d just finished tempering the chocolate rolls when he asked me to take over while he had his meeting with you. I was a nervous wreck even in that short span of time. I can cope with our regular menu, but that?’ Isabella’s eyes glazed over as she started listing dishes.

‘Chocolate tart, limone mousse, a chocolate and hazelnut gateau, vanilla and raspberry chiffon cake, lime-custard-stuffed profiteroles, built into a profiterole tree if you please, and that was only one course of the menu.’ She drew a breath. ‘Even with the meeting with you in the middle of it, Lorenzo managed and got flawless results.’

‘Oh.’ Scarlett found herself in the rare position of feeling as though she hadn’t really behaved appropriately in relation to her work, that she’d perhaps brought personal issues into it and allowed those to colour her judgement. That she’d been hard on Lorenzo and hadn’t really given him a chance to explain things. That was bad management on her part, and, no matter what her personal feelings might be towards him, he’d shown dedication and commitment to Rosa.

‘Well, I’d better get going.’ Isabella gave her a quick hug again. ‘See you in a while.’ She walked off.

‘Yes. See you.’ Scarlett frowned and started towards the restaurant.

It appears I may have misjudged you yesterday, Lorenzo. Scarlett practised the words in her mind as she pushed open one of the kitchen’s swing doors. Lorenzo might have played her false five years ago, and Scarlett wasn’t about to forget that. But when Scarlett made a mistake in her work, she admitted it. Now she just had to find Lorenzo, and say those words to his face. Then she could get on with the real work of the day with her thoughts at peace.

It only took a second for Scarlett to realise that her hopes of catching Lorenzo alone were not to be. Two seconds later she comprehended that the conversation being conducted beyond a bank of open shelving was not a happy one.

Lorenzo and another male stood with their backs turned to her. They were unaware of her presence. They spoke in Italian in muted voices that seemed all the more intense for that fact. The young kitchen hand had a backpack dangling from his hand, and Lorenzo plunked two bottles of some kind of spirits down on a work surface before he turned back to the boy.

From the stiffness of Lorenzo’s back, and the guilt Scarlett could see written all over the boy even from this distance, it was clear Lorenzo had caught the young man trying to steal the bottles. What was the teenager’s name? Scarlett ran her mental list from yesterday’s ‘meet the staff’ moments. Dante…

Scarlett’s brows drew together. Was this where Rosa’s profits had gone? Taken by light fingers? She wanted to wade in, and yet something in Dante’s posture and expression, and the way Lorenzo was holding his emotions in, made her hesitate. And the boy was young. He couldn’t have worked here all that long. Certainly not long enough to sink Rosa financially through petty theft, even though this was a very serious thing to have happen.

As Scarlett stood there Lorenzo’s low words carried to her.

‘This stunt—’ He gestured towards the bottles. ‘I can’t believe you’d do such a thing. You’re not a bad boy, Dante. Not everyone on this team is here by my choice but you’re someone I’ve really wanted to keep. You try hard; you’re keen to learn. You’ve always made your shifts without any problems at all. You’ll take direction and you have a natural flair in the kitchen. You have it in you to become a good chef one day.’

‘I’m sorry. I know this was stupid. Mamma has this new boyfriend—’ The boy cut his words off abruptly and for a moment looked trapped. ‘I knew taking the bottles was wrong and I’ve never done it before. I promise you.’ The words were passionate. ‘Please, don’t fire me.’

‘You’re the only child at home, if I remember rightly?’ Lorenzo said the words as though they meant nothing, yet Scarlett could see enough from the view of his profile to understand that he wanted to know more.

‘Yes. I’m an only child.’ The boy confirmed this.

‘You took Luca’s hidden spare key yesterday and came in to steal the wine this morning.’ Lorenzo made the statement flatly. ‘Weren’t you worried I might catch you? Everyone knows I start earlier than my shifts and often work later, too.’

‘I don’t know.’ Dante shrugged skinny shoulders and then seemed to almost wince as he stopped the movement. ‘I guess I didn’t think about that.’

But Lorenzo was thinking about that.

And Scarlett thought about that.

Why would this boy, who seemed clever and capable and able to plan such a thing in the first place, plan it for this late in the morning?

If a part of Dante had hoped to be caught, then Scarlett was inclined to believe he hadn’t done this before and hadn’t really wanted to do it now. Was his behaviour a cry for help?

Even so, how to deal with such a thing? Should she step forward? Intervene? Before Scarlett could decide or announce her presence, Lorenzo spoke again.

‘Trouble in here is the last thing I need right now, Dante. The last thing any of us needs.’ He tugged his chef’s jacket into order. ‘Our new financial manager will want an accounting of every Euro that comes and goes in this kitchen. You couldn’t have picked a worse time to try to steal.’

The boy looked stricken. ‘If you speak with her—’

‘She may be just as cold about this as her mother would be. Scarlett Gibson is Lisa Firenzi’s daughter. Don’t think for a moment that Scarlett isn’t equally capable of the same level of business-minded lack of emotion.’ He drew a breath. ‘I don’t know if I can protect you from where Scarlett might want to take this.’

Until then the boy had still maintained a small amount of youthful expectation that the ‘real grown-up’—in this case, Lorenzo—would be able to fix this for him. That expectation faded to outright concern now.

In tandem with Dante’s reaction, anger inside Scarlett began to bubble up. So she was the ogre of the piece now? The one who could single-handedly destroy this boy, who clearly simply needed someone to help him get back on a straight path?

Scarlett would have Lorenzo know that she had…Never dealt with anything quite like this.

Scarlett drew a deep breath, but it still didn’t help her to dispense with the tight ache in the middle of her chest that had come from Lorenzo saying she was cold.

Could he really believe Scarlett could have no feelings for those around her?

Scarlett’s hand crept up to touch her ribbon, to let her fingers absorb its soft feel.

She wasn’t like that. Not really. Not deep down inside herself, and Lorenzo had known her well enough to know that. Scarlett hated that this man still had the power to cause her hurt. She’d healed from that. She’d moved on whether she now happened to be back in his actual realm of existence, or not.

‘You won’t get another warning.’ Lorenzo glared at the boy. ‘I won’t discuss this with Scarlett at this stage, but don’t break the rules here again. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Yes. We’re clear. I’m sorry.’

‘You’ve got a chance to straighten yourself out, Dante. Don’t mess it up, okay?’ Lorenzo reached out to lay his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

They’d both turned as they spoke, so Scarlett clearly saw the flinch, quickly disguised as a shrug when Lorenzo’s hand landed on the boy’s shoulder.

What—?

‘You’re bruised. What happened?’ Lorenzo’s brows drew down as his gaze examined Dante’s shoulder where his shirt had pulled open a little.

And Lorenzo’s expression was really odd. His face had paled. He looked sick. He had an expression in his eyes that Scarlett had…seen before? Why did that expression look like concern…and some kind of shame?

‘I went mountain cycling. I fell off.’ The boy uttered the words in a rapid stream as he tugged his shirt back into place. ‘On the weekend. I fell into a bush.’

The words were so clearly a lie. But…why?

Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed before he hurriedly rearranged his face into a mask of agreement. ‘Injuries can happen in all sorts of ways.’

Like Lorenzo getting bruised and scratched falling from his motorcycle. He hadn’t owned it long when Scarlett met him, and he’d told her while they were seeing each other that he’d taken several spills.

But Dante—Dante was hiding some kind of physical damage that he didn’t want to tell the truth about, that hadn’t happened riding his bike in the mountains.

Dante was unhappy at home suddenly. Unhappy enough that he’d resorted to stealing with the intention of drinking his unhappiness away?

Was Lorenzo thinking what Scarlett was thinking? Was that why Lorenzo looked sick to his heart?

‘You’re growing up, Dante.’ Lorenzo said this with a careful air of mild interest. ‘Maybe you should think about moving out of home, spread your wings a little, eh?’ He forced a laugh. ‘You might meet a nice girl. You won’t want to have your mamma looking over your shoulder when you do that.’ He drew a breath. ‘In fact, I know of a woman who takes in boarders. If they’re willing to help her out around the place she’ll board them cheaply.’

‘I’d be interested, if I could afford it.’ The boy all but jumped on the suggestion. ‘If she didn’t want too much.’

Lorenzo shrugged as though he’d already lost most of his interest in the topic. ‘She’s always up early. You could see her now, before you have to come back for your shift later.’

Dante nodded. ‘Yes, that would be good, if I could see her now.’

‘I’ll write the name and address down for you.’ Lorenzo walked to the bench and took an order pad and stub of pencil and started to scribble on it.

Scarlett realised her presence would be noted very soon if she didn’t move. It was too late to disappear so her best bet was to pretend she was just arriving. She gave the door a push behind her and allowed it to bump against her back.

A couple of noisy steps forward and both their heads turned. Chirpiness was beyond her. Lorenzo’s hurtful words still echoed inside her, as did concern for Dante. Scarlett felt sick, too. If Dante was being abused, that was a terrible thing.

‘Lorenzo.’ She nodded towards Dante, too, but for his sake didn’t make any attempt at eye contact before she turned back to the head chef.

‘I just thought I’d let you know my plans for today. I want to observe, speak with employees as I see fit, and start my study of the account books.’ There would be times they would have to liaise, but Scarlett had made the decision in the past few minutes to ensure those times were kept to the absolute minimum.

Let Lorenzo think she was cold and emotionless and say ‘just like her mother’. Scarlett knew her heart. She wasn’t about to let Lorenzo stomp all over it, though! ‘Please ensure any receipts, requisitions forms and any other money-related paperwork you might have lying around is delivered to my office. Can you do that before noon?’

She’d intended to apologise for yesterday’s assumptions about his work commitments. A concession to his need for time was the closest he would now get.

Lorenzo’s gaze locked on her face and searched her eyes, her expression. Scarlett knew what he would see. She’d seen it enough times herself in a mirror. A somewhat different version of Lisa’s facial features in full chill-mode. How else could she protect herself?

Scarlett heaved a deep breath and slowly released it.

‘I’ll bring you everything I have.’ Lorenzo handed the written note to Dante, but his gaze didn’t leave Scarlett’s face. ‘Did you hear—?’

‘Thank you. I’ve only just arrived but I really need to get to work so I hope you’ll understand if I don’t hang about right now. Excuse me.’ She walked away before Lorenzo could do a thing about it. Not that she wanted to speak to the man now.

He might have helped Dante, and Scarlett was genuinely glad this had happened. By the sounds of it the boy needed all the help he could get.

But Lorenzo had also said some cutting things about Scarlett’s personality in the process.

She didn’t feel like dwelling on that, or discussing it, or anything else other than getting on with the job here and ignoring the existence of one Lorenzo Nesta and his capacity to upset her.

He shouldn’t even possess that capacity.

Not at all any more!

Chapter Three

‘THANK you all for staying back for this meeting.’ Scarlett uttered the words and let her gaze travel over each of the employees present. It was the end of her second day at Rosa’s restaurant. The dinner hour was over, tables and chairs stacked, the kitchen clean and tidy. For the next few minutes it would be the site of their meeting.

Scarlett’s office was not tidy. It was covered with bookwork, sheaves of account invoices and receipts. Amongst it were Lorenzo’s records of kitchen expenditure. He was very thorough, and in fact so far his bookkeeping was the easiest to understand of all of this.

When Lorenzo had delivered his bookkeeping records to the office, he’d apologised for his words about her that morning. He’d clearly figured out she’d been standing there, had heard it all. He’d explained he’d wanted to scare the boy into behaving better but not make him feel as if he didn’t have a friend in Lorenzo if he needed one.

Scarlett had…admired him for that and realised he hadn’t been out to hurt her feelings with his words. She’d suggested the police needed to be called in to try to make sure the mother was safe. Lorenzo had surprised her with his wisdom in the matter.

Let Dante get out of there first. Once he’s safe, I will make the call to the police myself. I’ll ask them to check on Dante’s mother when they’re certain the boyfriend won’t be around, though it’s quite possible he isn’t harming her.

He had seemed extremely uncomfortable with the topic.

Well, this understanding man was part of the Lorenzo Scarlett had known and…

Scarlett reached behind her and twisted her hair ribbon through her ponytail before she forced her hand back to her side. What she’d felt or hadn’t felt about Lorenzo in the past was irrelevant now.

‘I know it’s late and I’m sure you’d all rather be at home now so I’ll keep this as brief as possible.’ When she felt certain she had the absolute attention of everyone there, she went on. ‘I’ll repeat this meeting with the remaining staff tomorrow.’

Scarlett reached for a small sheaf of papers on the bench and handed it to the nearest person. ‘If you’d take one of those and pass the rest down the line?’

While her printouts circulated, Scarlett drew a breath and squared her shoulders. Her gaze, whether she wanted it to or not, shifted to Lorenzo. He stood right at the end of the group and was the last to receive his copy of her printout.

Why did he get to look not even slightly dishevelled after a long shift at work? And why was she noticing how Lorenzo looked anyway?

‘Everyone, what you have in your hands is a new streamlined roster, and two pages outlining expectations of you as a staff member of Rosa.’ From her discussions today with Isabella, Scarlett suspected much of the necessity for change in these areas came down to Luca being too lenient in certain respects.

In the end, the how of it didn’t really matter. Scarlett had Luca’s agreement that she was to set things straight here, and she would.

Her gaze fell briefly on Dante. She wished the boy had got his bruises falling off his bicycle, as Lorenzo had done taking spills from his motorcycle years ago. At least Lorenzo had worked out Dante’s problem. He’d done his best to give Dante a lifeline without harming the boy’s pride. That had been kind.

You mustn’t soften towards Lorenzo just because of that act of kindness. He’s still a love rat.

‘Work conditions, pay conditions, holidays and negotiation of time off in this establishment have all been extremely generous to this point.’ Scarlett made a concerted effort to keep her thoughts on the task at hand. ‘The conditions have been far more generous than the accepted norm in restaurants in this country.’

If there’d ever been written employment contracts Scarlett hadn’t been able to find them. She suspected Luca would have made verbal arrangements and felt those were enough. Only by studying the rosters and what people were getting paid for hours of work, what paid holidays they received and so on, had Scarlett pieced together that her uncle had indeed been giving away too much too easily around here in his commitment to ‘treating his staff well’.

Lorenzo seemed to be the only one who worked properly for his entitlements, and, in his case, he kept meticulous time sheets and never asked for overtime despite working longer hours than his weekly wage suggested he should. Since starting here four months ago he’d yet to take any extra day off that he wasn’t fully entitled to.

Muttering started from a few people as they looked at the rosters.

Scarlett had expected that, but it was best to make these changes now rather than later. They wouldn’t salvage Rosa in and of themselves, but they were one step in the right direction at least. ‘I’d encourage you to take your handouts home and examine them. I’m certain when you do that, you’ll see that the conditions are on a par—’

‘This roster means I have to start an hour earlier.’ The woman who made the comment spoke over Scarlett’s words. She was a waitress who worked lunch shifts only. Late thirties, with high-school-aged children and a husband who ran a small farming concern not far out of Monta Correnti.

The woman turned to Lorenzo. ‘It doesn’t suit me to be here earlier. I have to do my housework after the family leaves for school and work each day. When you tried to change this, Luca said—’

‘Excuse me.’ Scarlett said the words firmly and waited for the woman to glance her way. ‘I recall speaking with you earlier today. In fact, I’ve spoken with each and every staff member, explained my presence here and let you all know that, for the extent of my stay, Luca has handed the reins of control of Rosa to me.’

Did this woman think she could turn to Lorenzo and usurp Scarlett’s authority? It sounded as though she’d already used Luca’s generous outlook to undermine Lorenzo’s authority, too.

That can’t have been easy on the head chef, Scarlett admitted silently. She held the woman’s gaze. ‘I am your boss now and, while you are always welcome to discuss any concerns with our head chef in his role as Assistant Manager, it’s not appropriate to do so as you’ve just done, ignoring my authority in the process.’

‘Well, I merely wanted—’

‘Miss Gibson is quite right.’ Lorenzo seemed to be having his own battle. His fingers were clenched about the copy of the paperwork he’d received as his gaze took in the small group of faces. ‘If changes need to be made here, perhaps it’s best to be grateful that you still have a job. I’ve only been made aware of these changes now, as you all have, but, at first glance at least, they still seem fair and equitable to me.’

His eyes gentled as he looked at the other woman. ‘Perhaps you can rearrange your schedule so you clean your home after your shift instead of before it.’

When the woman looked ready to argue again, Scarlett spoke. What was her name? ‘Maria, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t suit Rosa to have one of the wait staff arriving to start a lunch shift when everyone else is run off their feet already and your presence was needed an hour earlier. Are there special circumstances for why you absolutely can’t make it earlier?’

The woman dropped her gaze and muttered beneath her breath, but eventually shook her head.

‘All right.’ Scarlett let her gaze travel over the group. ‘Across the board I’ve streamlined the rosters to maximise staff availability at the busiest times of the day. As staff are paid on a Thursday, this new roster will start straight after pay day, this Friday.’

She drew a breath. ‘Within the next week we’ll be getting ourselves up to date with written employment contracts for all staff members. It’s in your best interests, as well as Rosa’s, to have these in place so you know things will have to go through due process if there are ever problems.

‘You’ll all see that I’ve made it part of your conditions here that you don’t try to swap rosters at the last minute unless there’s a case of genuine emergency. Those will be assessed if and when they arise. Rosa will function best if we run a tight show.’

That about covered the roster side of it. ‘Please read the written conditions. You’ll be expected to adhere to those from now on. Cuts in the number of paid holidays et cetera simply bring Rosa into line with industry standards.’

Scarlett wound the meeting up. ‘If any of you wish to discuss any aspect of the new conditions after you’ve read them, you are most welcome to book a meeting with me to do so. Thank you, and goodnight.’

They filed out. Good staff, many of them, and possibly a few less than great ones. Let them go to their homes, read the conditions, take the time to absorb them and hopefully realise they were, indeed, quite reasonable.

Lorenzo was the one person who didn’t file out with the others. ‘That was unexpected.’

Scarlett drew a breath. ‘These steps have to be taken. I thought you understood that.’

‘Of course.’ He spread his hands. ‘As your assistant manager, I could have supported your cause better if I’d known your plans. That’s all.’

Scarlett had forged ahead without consulting him or asking for his support. She admitted this. Emotionally, she didn’t trust him and yet, when it came to Rosa, Isabella trusted Lorenzo. Luca trusted Lorenzo. The other staff seemed to trust Lorenzo. Could he be a wonderfully supportive assistant manager to Scarlett? Could they work together like that, despite their past history?

‘I will try to keep that in mind in future.’ In this moment, that was the best she could come up with.

Tomorrow. She would force herself to totally assess all of this tomorrow. Scarlett cast a longing glance at the door. ‘It’s, um, it’s getting late. We should be going.’

Scarlett needed to go, so she could stop being aware of the fact that they were here alone. Alone, together, for the first time in five years. She was pushing that knowledge down as hard as she could, but it was still there.

Why couldn’t she simply respond to him in the same way she responded to anyone? Only treat him as a co-worker. Her tummy was suddenly in knots and…

‘I’ll walk you to your bedsit.’

He already knew of this? ‘How do you know—?’

‘This is Monta Correnti.’ He gestured to the restaurant. ‘And this is Rosa, which is owned by Luca, who is a member of your family, which makes your presence here the topic of a great deal of interest amongst staff and patrons alike. Did you think the news that you’d moved out of Lisa’s villa and into your bedsit wouldn’t travel all through the restaurant in minutes?’

He shook his head. ‘All the family gets talked about here, Scarlett. A week ago, it might have been “The Angel of New York’s” baseball career, but your presence gets its degree of attention, too.’

Scarlett had not as yet met Luca’s sons, Alex and Angelo, born to an American woman. Her Italian family certainly knew how to keep life complicated, though Scarlett wasn’t at all sure that she wanted any time under the Rosa staff’s microscope!

‘Actually, I hadn’t thought that news would travel through the restaurant at all.’ She tugged so hard on her ribbon that it came out in her hand. Scarlett compulsively threaded it through her fingers and decided it wasn’t fair that she had dressed for success and got through a big day, only to be startled by the strength of the gossip mill right at the end of it.

‘Your nose is scrunching,’ he said softly. This observation was followed by a frown that seemed self-repressive before he quickly turned his gaze away and headed for the door. ‘It’s less than five minutes’ walk to your bedsit. I’m sure you can deal with my company for that long, despite your efforts to avoid me today.’

‘I did not.’ She had, though, and why did a tingle go over Scarlett’s skin and her breath catch in her throat at the thought of him walking her home, for goodness’ sake? ‘As for moving to the bedsit, it’s not that I wasn’t happy at Mamma’s villa.’

‘Happy to the degree that you chose to move yourself into a bedsit after just two days there? And that was with your mother not even in residence in her home at the time.’ He shook his head. ‘You left her at age twelve, preferring to move to the other side of the world and live with your father, Scarlett. I haven’t forgotten that you told me that, or of your inability to feel close to her.’

He hesitated. ‘I also hear plenty about Lisa in terms of her ownership of Sorella. Your mother’s restaurant is our key rival for business here.’

‘Well, at least this way I avoid any conflict of interest.’ Scarlett dropped her guard a little. ‘I’m sure Mum would understand. Working for Luca, I couldn’t allow that. Really, I should have thought of it before I came over here.’

‘Certainly. I’m sure your mother should understand this.’ A twinkle in his eyes showed that he could see the strategy in Scarlett’s outlook. A moment later his smile faded to a more serious expression. ‘Scarlett, this morning I said things about you—’

‘It’s all right. You explained why you made me the ogre of the piece.’

He shook his head. ‘I could have thought of a better way to handle that. Realising Dante’s situation…threw me off. Enough that it took all my attention to not let him know what I’d worked out.’

‘You allowed him to keep his pride.’

‘Sometimes pride is all a man has left.’ The moment the words emerged, he clamped his lips together.

There were shadows in the backs of Lorenzo’s eyes as Scarlett searched them. But he quickly shielded those eyes with long silky lashes.

‘Will Dante be able to move into that boarding accommodation?’ She needed to focus on that, not on her rising consciousness of Lorenzo.

Anyway, it had to be a ‘workers co-operating for the better good’ kind of affinity that Scarlett was feeling. Anything else would be quite insane.

Lorenzo nodded. ‘He did so this morning.’

‘That’s good.’ Scarlett glanced behind her to make absolutely sure they truly were alone. ‘I can get alongside him; watch him for a while to make sure he’s okay. That that horrid man, whoever he is, isn’t still—’

‘You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll keep a close watch on Dante.’ Oh, his voice was so deep, so soft.

As was the expression in his eyes as he looked at her. Out of nowhere a sense of affinity rose between them. Scarlett opened her mouth and spoke straight out of that fellow feeling. ‘I trust you to do that.’

She realised that she did. Without any hesitation, she knew she could trust Lorenzo with that. He might have hurt her, let her down five years ago, but she just knew this.

He’s a good head chef, Scarlett. Isabella had said this.

When Luca discussed Lorenzo, he’d gone even further. I have great faith in him.

Maybe it was the faith of Isabella and Luca that gave Scarlett this belief in Lorenzo. Or maybe it was what she had seen of his work practices and ethics in the past two days. But they didn’t seem to compute with the ‘love rat’ image Scarlett had carried of him for the past five years.

As Scarlett really didn’t know how to address these thoughts, she turned her attention elsewhere. ‘You said this morning that Dante had taken a key that Luca kept as a spare? That Dante used that to let himself into the restaurant?’

‘Yes. Luca had a secret hiding place where he kept a spare key in case he ever lost his.’ Lorenzo drew a key chain from the pocket of his chef’s pants. There were two matching keys on it. ‘I knew about it, but I thought Isabella and I were the only ones aside from Luca who did. I should have thought better of that assumption.’

He shook his head. ‘In any case, that hiding place is no more. Would you like the second key?’

‘No, I have one from my uncle.’ Luca had run Rosa with a naive degree of trust in some respects. This became more and more clear to Scarlett the more she learned about the restaurant.

‘Then perhaps we should go.’ Lorenzo uttered the words quietly.

‘Yes.’ Scarlett glanced up. The expression in Lorenzo’s eyes made her breath catch in her throat.

Awareness, consciousness, memory. They were all there and for one brief moment they were all inside her, too. The feelings were so unexpected, and so opposite to what Scarlett had believed she felt towards him for five years, that she froze.

He drew a breath and stilled for a moment too before he blinked and got his feet moving and led the way to the kitchen doors. He pushed one open and stood back for her to precede him.

Somehow they made it outside and somehow she managed to say something about work as they headed across the square towards her bedsit. Her landlady had told her she travelled a lot, which suited Scarlett just fine. ‘I hope the staff will realise they’re not being given unreasonable conditions with the changes I’ve handed to them tonight.’

‘If you continue to make and implement all your decisions without informing me before you put them into action, you’ll make your job here harder than it needs to be.’ His words were a soft murmur as his gaze travelled once again over her face, her eyes, and dropped…to her mouth before he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

Scarlett forced herself to breathe carefully and evenly and not allow herself the same examination he had just taken. ‘You feel that, as Head Chef and Manager, we should join our forces more?’

She had wished she could avoid him as much as she possibly could for the duration, but even Scarlett could admit that wasn’t very practical when he was her assistant, and the most pivotal employee of Rosa.

‘I don’t want to usurp your authority here, but, yes, I do feel we need to work together.’ His expression told her he wanted co-operation between them. ‘I believe your likelihood of success will be better if we combine our efforts.’

He held out one hand, palm up. ‘We would present a united front to the rest of the staff, if nothing else.’

‘It would make for smoother sailing, provided you can accept my—’ Authority? Her being further up the employment ladder than him? Scarlett didn’t quite know how to put it, and she’d never worried about that kind of thing before!

‘Provided I can accept your leadership in this workplace.’ He turned, just a little turn towards her, but it made the difference between two people talking from their safe distances as they faced forwards and walked, and something just that little bit more intimate.

Scarlett doubted he was even aware he’d done it, and she could have taken one step away from him in any direction to put an end to that feeling, but instead she continued to walk exactly as close as she was to him.

Scarlett shoved her ribbon into the pocket of her dress and told herself to get over it.

Whatever it was, exactly.

Well, she supposed ‘it’ was this strange feeling she had that felt like a combination of history and remembering and becoming conscious of Lorenzo all over again in ways she hadn’t anticipated and didn’t welcome.

Except that no matter how much you tell yourself you’re not, there’s a part of you that is aware of him.

‘I’m prepared to discuss things with you, but my decisions about the finances here are still final, no matter whether you agree with them or not.’ Even so saying, she felt the need to temper her statement. ‘I can see that two heads might be better than one with some of this. I suppose we can at least try.’

She had to do what was best for Rosa. If she felt this was best, such a decision didn’t have to feel dangerous to Scarlett, dangerous to her emotional well-being. She wasn’t about to fall in love with Lorenzo again, for crying out loud. They could work side by side for the betterment of Rosa. In fact, doing so would be really good for her because it would prove to her that she could remain completely emotionally distanced from him.

And physical attraction, Scarlett?

These few moments this evening of feeling a little too conscious of him, well, they were probably just a couple of old memories surfacing. They didn’t mean anything and would be long gone and forgotten by tomorrow morning when she met him again at work.

Scarlett drew a breath that filled her lungs with the blunted scent of his aftershave lotion and realised they were somehow walking even closer than they had been. Their shoulders were leaning towards each other. He smelled familiar and…she was far too tired for this right now. Her defences were not as strong as they should be.

‘Thank you. I want to help you, Scarlett, not get in the way of what you’re trying to do here.’ Lorenzo drew a deep breath.

They arrived at her bedsit and stepped into the lee of the door lintel.

‘Goodnight—’

‘Thank you for seeing me—’

He reached for her hand, perhaps to shake it.

Scarlett took a step towards the door as he did so, and they each stepped into the other’s path. Lorenzo’s hands came up to cup her elbows, perhaps to hold her still while he stepped around her.

Instead she glanced up. He glanced down into her eyes and a moment later, their lips met.

Chapter Four

‘GOODNIGHT. I—thank you for seeing me home.’ Scarlett uttered the words through lips that wanted to deny what had just happened.

Wanted to deny a kiss that had lasted less than a second, a mere brush of lips against lips before she and Lorenzo had both…broken away. They’d each stepped back as though they’d been burnt. ‘I have to—’

She couldn’t make calm words come out, couldn’t do anything to downplay something that shouldn’t even need to be downplayed and yet, to Scarlett, the entire world had stopped and then started up again and now it was spinning strangely and nothing felt quite right because of Lorenzo’s kiss…

Barely even a kiss, Scarlett.

Somehow she got her key straight into the lock, twisted it and got the door open. Her feet carried her through and she closed the door. She didn’t look back, and then through the closed door she heard his footsteps taking him away in a rapid stride that went, and then half missed a step, and then kept going.

He’d hesitated.

And as that happened Scarlett had leaned her shoulder against the closed door and shut her eyes and silently willed…What? For him to stop? Keep walking away?

She should have said something. Scarlett shouldn’t have allowed that kiss to happen in the first place. And that was the problem. Scarlett didn’t believe either one of them had anticipated the kiss happening. It hadn’t been planned or thought about. How could she protect against the possibility of something she simply hadn’t expected?

For one little blink in time, five years had dropped away and they’d simply reached for each other. That should not, even for a second, have seemed the natural thing to do.

This had shocked her.

Perhaps it had also shocked Lorenzo.

Then maybe you should ask yourself how it’s affected you now that it’s happened?

Scarlett shook her head and went to the wardrobe to pull out her workout clothes of knee-length fitted black pants and lime-green vest-top and trainers. She clipped on her iPod, turned the music to a mind-numbing set, and began her Pilates routine.

Forget being kissed by a man who had no right to kiss her, before they both realised the insanity of their actions, and stopped. Forget how it had happened or why it had happened or anything else about it.

Scarlett was here for Rosa and her family and she only wanted to think about those issues. She forced her brain to the tricky issue of pulling Rosa into an utterly profitable financial position, and kept her thoughts there as she stretched and twisted and limbered away the tensions of her day.

Over the next five days, Scarlett forced aside what she chose to refer to in her thoughts when she couldn’t avoid acknowledging it altogether, as ‘that regrettable moment’. And indeed for the most part, she did a very good job of forgetting/ignoring/not confronting the issue in a tizzy of busyness at the restaurant.

She worked hard, visited often with Isabella and sometimes with other family members. She also co-operated with Lorenzo in terms of the running of Rosa where that co-operation was needed, and he co-operated with her. Scarlett felt quite certain that Lorenzo also didn’t give the matter of that one, tiny, completely insignificant slip that had occurred outside her bedsit a single thought.

She frowned and dipped her hand through the cool, clear swimming pool water. Today was Monday and the restaurant was closed during the main part of the day while the town observed a partial religious holiday. For those so inclined there’d been church services earlier. Rosa would staff up at four p.m. and open for business for the evening.

For now, Scarlett, Isabella and Scarlett’s sister Jackie were lazing in this sheltered swimming pool that was available to townsfolk who belonged either as students or teachers to the study faculty that owned it. It was a hot day, and quiet and restful here. Getting away for this had been a very welcome idea.

Scarlett dipped her shoulders beneath the cool water. Her hair was up in an untidy knot on top of her head, secured with a hair band and a thick red ribbon that exactly matched her high-cut one-piece red suit. She was not obsessive-compulsive about her ribbons. Scarlett simply enjoyed finding new ones and matching them to her clothing.

Lorenzo has looked at each change of ribbon. His gaze goes often to your hair. He used to enjoy sifting it through his fingers…

Oh! Scarlett pinched her lips together. She was having a rest. Thinking about the head chef of Rosa was not on her agenda for right now. For at all! She turned to Jackie and forced a smile. ‘This is nice. Thanks for talking me into joining you and Izzie.’

‘You’ve been hard to pin down for any one-on-one time since you came back to Monta Correnti.’ Jackie’s words were not accusatory, simply honest. ‘When Romano said he needed to come out here, I thought why not make a little pool party of it?’

Had Jackie chosen an event where Isabella would be present to make this a little easier for her sister? Scarlett didn’t know what to say. Of all the family, Jackie was the one she found it most difficult to spend time with.

Her guilt over her sister’s loss of her daughter, Kate, for so many years ate at her. Scarlett…didn’t know how to deal with that. And she realised now, as she looked into Jackie’s eyes, that she had been avoiding her sister because of this issue.

Before Scarlett could speak, and she didn’t know what she would have said anyway, Jackie went on.

‘Romano had to come out here anyway for a meeting. He only teaches an evening class once a week, but now that he’s on the board of teachers things like that come up periodically.’ Her voice softened as she spoke of the man who’d been her teenage lover and also the father of the baby that Jackie had given up for adoption. ‘I figured we’d all be grateful for some time in the water, anyway.’

That was true. It was a hot day.

‘Do you suppose we should actually make some appearance of swimming, just so we look like we belong in here?’ Isabella asked the question without moving a muscle.

‘Oh, I think somnolent suits us fairly well, don’t you?’ Scarlett inserted this quip and was proud of her effort. She wanted…to feel closer to Jackie, and to feel comfortable with her sister overall. That would be nice, but it wasn’t going to happen while Scarlett kept putting off self-protective prickle vibes every time they were near each other.

Isabella seemed to have dealt with any guilt that she felt over Jackie’s loss. Why couldn’t Scarlett do the same and put all that behind her?

‘Well, I’m not moving an inch until Romano finishes his meeting with the others and comes to join us.’ Jackie laughed and settled her arms more firmly back against the edge of the pool.

Isabella raised her brows in Scarlett’s direction. ‘You never said what the phone call was about from your mother yesterday at the restaurant, Scarlett. Is it anything I should know about, or tell Papa? I know we’ve put you in charge but I wouldn’t want you to think you have to deal with everything all by yourself. If there are any issues with Sorella—’

‘No, it wasn’t about either of the restaurants.’ Her mother and her uncle Luca owned a restaurant each. Their rivalry when it came to those restaurants was long-standing, though from the viewpoint of the staff actually working at Rosa, at least, Scarlett wasn’t really picking up that vibe. They just wanted to get on with the job. It wouldn’t surprise her too much to learn that the staff at Sorella felt the same way.

‘As predicted, Izzie, Mamma wasn’t happy to know that I’d moved out of her home.’ Scarlett shrugged. ‘She wasn’t pleased initially to know that I was going to work at Rosa, either. I thought, when she invited me to stay at her villa while I was here, that she’d got over that.’

‘I wish she and my father could just get along.’ Isabella shook her head. ‘I hope her call didn’t upset you too much, Scarlett.’

‘No. That’s just Mamma. Her reaction just concreted it in for me that I’d made the right decision in moving out of her villa.’ Scarlett let her glance encompass Jackie. ‘As for my working at Rosa, that’s my decision. It’s got nothing to do with our mother.’

Jackie dipped her chin in acknowledgement. ‘That sounds very fair to me.’

It was. And Scarlett appreciated the support. ‘Mamma said that Elizabeth would never move out of her own mother’s home making the entire town assume that home wasn’t good enough for her.’

Jackie stared for a moment and then threw her head back and laughed.

Scarlett shook her head in bewilderment. ‘What?’

‘Lizzie might be the one of us who gets on the best with our mother, but Lizzie is also living in Australia! It’s not as though she’s right in Mamma’s pocket all the time to test the friendship, so to speak.’ Jackie’s smile widened. ‘It’s just that you’re the one who looks exactly like Mamma when you pull that intolerant, fed-up-to-the-gills expression.’

‘Oh, thanks very much!’ Scarlett flicked water at her sister and received the same treatment back.

Izzie, caught in the middle, squealed and ducked right under the water, which somewhat defeated the purpose if she’d been trying to avoid being splashed.

Scarlett and Jackie grinned at each other over Izzie’s head as she resurfaced, and Scarlett’s grin faded as that inexplicable ache started up in her chest again. She forced the smile to return and said as lightly as she could manage, ‘I spent a little time getting to know Lizzie better over the past few months. We exchanged some emails and spent some time together in Melbourne one weekend.’

Scarlett and her eldest sister had sort of bonded. ‘I wish I’d connected with her a lot sooner. We were both living in Australia. It would have been nice—’ She broke off, not wanting to make Jackie feel left out.

When she searched her sister’s face, Scarlett couldn’t help but comment on something else she’d noticed about Jackie. ‘You have a real glow about you, Jackie. Every time you fall silent your face gets this soft look.’

It was as though when her sister disappeared inside her own thoughts, whatever she found in there lit her up like a thousand candles all burning at once.

‘Romano’s a big part of the reason for that, of course.’ Jackie’s smile was indeed soft and glowing as she spoke of him, but it wasn’t…all that Scarlett had seen in her sister.

‘But Romano tells me the same thing any time I’ve been to visit with our daughter or we’ve had her over to spend time with us.’ Jackie’s mouth softened and love and happiness poured out of her. ‘We know we can’t take the place of the parents who’ve raised her. We wouldn’t try. We’re thrilled that Kate has been happy!

‘But Kate has such a generous heart. She’s let us in, let us be a second set of people who love her. I’m so happy to finally have even a “piece” of my daughter. The only problem is one of her sets of adopted grandparents. They’re having a hard time accepting me, or Romano, as part of Kate’s life.’

A fierce expression crossed Jackie’s face. ‘I wouldn’t trade anything for having Kate back in my life, and just let anyone try to get in the way of that. I’m being polite but if anyone messed this up for me now and somehow took Kate out of my life again, I’d never forgive it.’

She cast a horrified glance at Scarlett. ‘I didn’t mean that to sound as though I can’t—’

Forgive Scarlett for taking Kate out of her life?

‘It’s all right.’ Scarlett’s tummy twisted. ‘I understand what you meant.’

But why shouldn’t Jackie be angry anyway? And stay that way for as long as she wanted? Maybe never truly be able to forgive Scarlett way deep down where it mattered? Scarlett was the one whom Jackie had entrusted many years ago with a letter to Romano telling him about her pregnancy. And Scarlett had let that letter go into the river and never told…

Jackie bit her lip. ‘I’m so happy. A part of me sometimes fears I could lose it all again. It’s just that I don’t think I could cope with that.’

‘It won’t happen, Jackie. Of course it won’t.’ It was Izzie who reached out and took Jackie’s hand, who held it and seemed able to keep Jackie’s words in some kind of perspective that Scarlett, in this moment, tried to but couldn’t.

All Scarlett could do was feel her sister’s loss, deep down inside her soul, and acknowledge that loss was her, Scarlett’s, fault. She’d run from truly acknowledging that for a long time.

Izzie went on. ‘Kate loves you way too much to let that happen. You have to remember she’s a grown-up girl with a mind of her own, just like you.’

Jackie shook her head as though to shake the dark thoughts away. ‘I know. I get silly over it sometimes, too protective of what I’ve been given back, I guess.’

Izzie nodded. ‘And you’ve had a lot of emotional ground to cover, getting back together with Romano after all this time as well, him learning of Kate’s existence.’

And Jackie having to deal with being told that Scarlett and Izzie had caused all those barren years in her life by throwing her letter away that day instead of delivering it as Jackie had asked Scarlett to do.

A part of Scarlett wanted, quite desperately, to climb out of the swimming pool, claim some urgent and only just remembered prior engagement or something, and…run away. But she’d done that once already, had run all the way to Australia.

She’d gone to see her father. To get to know her father.

No, Scarlett. You ran away from the emotional upheaval of what you’d done. Getting to know Dad, being loved by him, was an unanticipated bonus.

‘I’ve got some lovely photos of Kate, Scarlett.’ Animation swept back into Jackie’s face as she said this.

Beyond them, the door of the nearest building swung open and a small group of men stepped out. Scarlett’s glance caught on one of them, half hidden from her view behind the others.

She was dreaming up Lorenzo’s presence everywhere. Just because whoever that was was dark-haired and had a slender build and looked about the same height. Oh, maybe she just felt too overwhelmed in too many ways at the moment. And she couldn’t just ignore what Jackie had said.

Scarlett had to stop this nonsense, otherwise Jackie might start to think she wasn’t happy for her and that truly would be awful. ‘Izzie mentioned that you’d got some great photos of–of—Kate.’

‘I’d like you to see them.’ Jackie’s eyes softened. ‘At least that way you can start to feel as though you know her a little. Do you know, I can see Romano in her eyes and the shape of her nose.’

Jackie went on, enthusing about her daughter’s physical features. To hear Jackie tell it, her daughter was the most beautiful girl ever to exist.

It hurt Scarlett to hear it, even though it made her happy for Jackie, too. ‘I’d…love to see the photos, Jackie.’ What else could she say?

‘I’ll put a CD together for you.’ Jackie glanced towards the approaching men and raised her voice. ‘Romano. Come swim!’ She started to swim towards the other end of the pool to greet the love of her life.

Izzie laid her hand on Scarlett’s arm. ‘Are you okay, Scarlett? Jackie’s fine, you know. She’s bound to have these moments, but you heard her. Her life is so happy overall.’

‘I can see that.’ And Scarlett was happy for Jackie for that. Of course she was. ‘But she’s also dealing with old grief, and with feelings about family that you and I can only try to understand. She’s got a very generous heart, to be able or even willing to brush aside my part in all that the way she is.’

‘And mine.’ Isabella’s face tightened. ‘I was as much to blame.’

‘Not really. I’m the one Jackie entrusted that letter to.’

Isabella drew a breath and the tension faded from her face. She raised her arm to wave. ‘Lorenzo, I didn’t know you were out here. Come join us.’

Scarlett froze. She wanted to look, but she didn’t want him to know that she was interested.

Excuse me, you’re not interested!

But Scarlett turned her head just as there was a quiet splash. And there was Lorenzo slicing through the water towards them. Vaguely, Scarlett registered Romano and Jackie and another man in the water at the other end of the pool, talking. And Isabella talking.

‘We should do this more often, Scarlett. I could talk to Jackie about another visit here.’ Isabella’s voice went on.

But Scarlett wasn’t really listening. And all she could see was Lorenzo. Bare-chested, his lithe body slicing through the water as he moved with neat strokes until he surfaced at their end of the pool, a little to Isabella’s left.

He seemed…more comfortable with his body nowadays. Maybe maturity had brought that to him? Because back then he’d never liked to swim publicly, or even take his shirt off in front of others. He’d hated Scarlett to even see it if he’d had one of his spills and had a bruise or a scratch. At other times he’d been fine…

‘Scarlett? Did you hear me?’ Izzie asked the question in a puzzled tone.

What her cousin might have said prior to that, well, actually Scarlett had no idea. ‘Sorry, Izzie?’ Scarlett dredged her mind. ‘Oh, yes, it would be fun to come here again.’ The pool was shaded with beautiful trees and the whole complex was set halfway up a quiet hillside with a beautiful view over a lush green valley.

Scarlett had to act normally. She had already seemed quite out of it to her cousin. And she could be normal around Lorenzo. Of course she could. He was just a man!

He’s the man you had an affair with five years ago when he was still married.

Well, yes, but Scarlett hadn’t known about that until it was too late.

And she didn’t have those feelings about him any more. Being in his company simply made her uneasy because of past history, that was all.

‘Hello, Lorenzo.’ There. You see? She sounded perfectly normal.

Scarlett’s hand rose to pat at the ribbon in her hair. It got halfway to its goal before she stopped herself and let her arm fall back into the water.

It wasn’t helping that Lorenzo was practically naked, and look how tanned he was, and muscular, and he was wearing the medallion…

‘It’s a lovely day for a swim.’ Scarlett pushed her lips up into a very, very natural and completely relaxed and not at all overly conscious of him smile. ‘Do you teach classes out here or something?’

‘The board wanted to discuss that possibility with me.’ His eyes were narrowed.

Against the sun, Scarlett told herself, and refused to acknowledge that his gaze had followed the movement of her hand, had tracked the rest of the way to touch on her messy knot of hair before it travelled gently over her face and bare shoulders.

‘Um, well, that sounds interesting.’ She glanced at her cousin, whose gaze was passing from her to Lorenzo and back again.

‘With what they wanted, I’d have considered it a conflict of interest against my work at Rosa.’ He gave a shrug. ‘So unfortunately I had to turn the offer down.’

‘I see.’ Scarlett should have thought of the possible threat to Rosa straight away.

Well, it would be nice if she could think anything beyond wanting to swim over to him and speak at a much closer level, wouldn’t it? One that involved ignoring the presence of the others in the pool, and preferably allowing their lips to meet…

So much for telling herself that first kiss had been some random thing, like tripping over and falling onto his mouth or something. Maybe she should have examined that first kiss and its impact on her, rather than trying to pretend it hadn’t happened. Would that have better equipped her for now?

Failing that, Scarlett had another highly appropriate plan to implement. ‘I must take advantage and do some laps before we have to leave.’

She uttered the words as though to Isabella, and made an odd waving motion with one hand. ‘Excuse me. Do feel free to talk amongst yourselves.’

And with this obscure blessing handed to Izzie and Lorenzo, who both probably stared after her as though she’d lost her mind at the bottom of the swimming pool, Scarlett set off to do laps.

Perhaps until she swam herself into oblivion.

At least until she would no longer be conscious of Lorenzo’s presence in such an everything-else-fades-to-black kind of way.

Izzie wouldn’t have noticed anything all that odd in Scarlett’s reactions to Lorenzo, would she?

Scarlett increased her pace, churning through the water as though by doing so she might somehow escape all of her thoughts.

She decided Izzie would not have noticed, and, not only that, Scarlett didn’t have to think about anything. Not Lorenzo, not family, not her guilt over Jackie, not sending herself to Australia for years and years and then coming back here with all sorts of hopes apparently tucked away inside her like unexpected add-ons that she shouldn’t have stuffed into her mental suitcases.

Stroke, breathe. Stroke, breathe.

Scarlett focused one hundred, no, two hundred per cent of her attention on her movements through the water.

And pushed every other distraction right out!

Chapter Five

‘THERE has to be an answer somewhere. I just know it’s there, but I can’t zero in on it.’ Scarlett murmured the words beneath her breath, mostly in the hopes of getting them out of her head.

Her swim earlier this afternoon felt aeons away. Night had fallen outside the restaurant while she slaved away in Luca’s office inputting financial information onto a computer system to bring Rosa’s paperwork side of things—kicking and screaming if necessary—into the twenty-first century.

Well, it had been a big day. Scarlett had come out onto the terrace that adjoined with Sorella’s terrace for a breath of air, even if that air was still quite warm and balmy.

There was nobody out here at this time of night, and in fact, though the terraces joined, there was an air of disuse about both of them.

She had to stop this nonsense when it came to Rosa’s head chef. She had to stop it right now, if not sooner. It just wasn’t right that she still could react to him that way when he’d broken her heart, let her down so badly.

Yes, but he’s also been the epitome of a fabulous head chef since you’ve been at Rosa. He’s committed to the restaurant. You saw how wonderful he was with Dante and that whole situation. Isabella thinks the world of him.

Maybe Lorenzo had changed.

And, well, five years on…

She’d heard on the rumour-mill, during her last trip over here that the new head chef at Rosa was single, so he’d done the right thing in the end and got out of that loveless relationship. That meant he was free now.

Just what do you mean by that, Scarlett? Free for you to get involved with a second time? Are you nuts?

She wasn’t crazy but Scarlett was still somewhat attracted to Lorenzo. That didn’t have to be an issue, though!

‘Here you are. I thought you might have still been holed up in Luca’s office.’

Lorenzo’s words were low-pitched, in tune with the quiet atmosphere out here. Scarlett’s reaction was for her pulse to skip before she turned slowly to face him.

‘I came out for a breath of air.’ She had been working in Luca’s office for a lot of hours.

‘Well, now you can have something to refresh you at the same time. Don’t worry.’ He pressed one of two glasses of red wine into her hand.

Their fingers brushed as Scarlett automatically took the drink from him. She tried not to notice the warmth of his fingers, the familiarity of taking a glass from him. The quiet of the night around them or how it felt good to stand here with him, just the two of them. ‘Worry?’

‘About the expense.’ He gestured with his glass. ‘I’m not costing the restaurant money. A patron bought this whole bottle, had us uncork it, and then ended up leaving without touching it.’

‘Oh. Yes. Very good. Well, thank you for the drink.’ She said it rather assertively and took a sip. Scarlett would not reach for the ribbon in her hair. It was navy blue this evening, velvet and soft and…comforting.

Not reaching.

Don’t need to feel comforted.

Doing just fine holding up all by myself.

Not tempted by Lorenzo, either.

Totally not thinking about being kissed by him and how that one brief kiss only made me want—

Nothing. Scarlett wanted nothing from Lorenzo aside from good cooking. ‘I thought you’d be in the kitchen. Has the clientele eased off already?’

‘Not only has it eased off, the evening is over, Scarlett.’ He sipped from his own glass of wine.

‘Really?’ Scarlett’s gaze dipped to the strong column of his neck, to the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed the rich red.

What was she doing? Letting herself enjoy Lorenzo’s company? Lorenzo’s words finally got through the fog of what she decided must be over-tiredness messing up her normal thought patterns.

Scarlett frowned. ‘Has the restaurant closed?’

‘Yes. It’s just as well I check the building thoroughly before I leave. You might have ended up spending the night out here.’ He leaned one arm against the railing that edged the terraced area. ‘Did you even eat the meal I sent in to you earlier?’

‘I did. Thank you.’ Every day Lorenzo made sure she ate. He took care of her that way, even when she had her head down for hours and hours, like today. ‘I want to get Rosa into a truly successful position and keep the restaurant there.’

‘You’ve implemented changes, and smoothed ruffled feathers of various staff members when necessary.’ He sipped his wine again. ‘Bringing staff conditions into a more sensible place has to be a good start.’

‘A good start, yes, but it’s not going to be enough.’ Working on the books had made that abundantly clear. ‘We need to lift our client base and keep it lifted.’ She didn’t notice the change in her speech from ‘I’ to ‘we’.

As the days passed, Lorenzo had worked quietly to support her efforts. And somehow through that, Scarlett had started to trust him and rely on him.

Only as the head chef here. Well, as the assistant manager and head chef.

‘I’ve stopped you from going home. I’m sorry. I lost track of the time.’ That had happened while she turned her mind inside out trying to find a larger overall solution to Rosa’s financial issues.

Now all Scarlett could register was Lorenzo’s closeness. She had to pull herself together!

‘Maybe you should tell me what brought you out here in the first place.’ He said it as an invitation, not a challenge.

And Scarlett found herself responding. ‘I have to find a way to let the general public know the true value of Rosa.’ She let her gaze meet his in the dimness.

His eyes gleamed with interest in what she was saying, but there was more, too, and Scarlett went on a little breathlessly.

‘There has to be a way to make Rosa stand out against a neighbour like the glitzy, internationally flavoured Sorella.’ She had sent out a feeler for one idea that might help.

Scarlett would have elaborated on that.

But he chose that moment to lay his hand on her arm. ‘If there is any other way I can help—I can work longer hours—’

‘You already give of your time and don’t claim the overtime you should.’ This was also something that had bothered Scarlett. Of all the staff that Rosa employed, Lorenzo was the one who should be paid more.

She tried not to react to the knowledge of his hand against the bare skin of her arm, tried not to want more of his touch. Yet when he finally dropped his hand away, she missed it.

‘That’s not important at the moment.’ He turned his head away, almost as though her comprehending his generosity had embarrassed him.

‘You—you made us some money catering to that movie star for her special lunch.’ Oh, Scarlett wanted to rest her hand against his arm, to touch him and feel his warmth.

‘Maybe we need to find a way to bring Hollywood to Rosa’s front door.’ He smiled a little as he said it.

‘Yes, why not? We’ll move the entire tinsel town here. Do you think anyone would notice it had gone missing?’ Scarlett returned his smile. They fell silent and finished their wine and…he was so close. She could smell the scent of his cologne, and old memories suddenly got all tangled up with the here and now.

She dropped her gaze away from him. The goal that had been to think about the future of Rosa and see if a break from the office would rattle loose any other ideas inside her mind faded in the face of her awareness of him.

Why was Lorenzo different from any other man? Surely, lots of men could kiss her and make her feel the same way he did. Or even better. Not that Scarlett had kissed a whole lot of men in the past years, and not that any of the candidates she had kissed had stacked up.

She’d been busy building her career. For that reason she hadn’t involved herself in a great amount of dating.

And so what if none of them had swept her away?

These thoughts were not productive, especially at this time of night when she was obviously weary and not able to think clearly.

‘Has it been hard for you, Scarlett? Coming back like this?’ He turned and somehow their fingers were brushing, just gently touching on the railing. ‘You seemed unhappy when I first saw you today at the swimming pool with your sister and Isabella.’

‘I didn’t think you’d see.’ What had he seen? She searched his gaze, and somehow in the dim quietness the words came out. ‘It’s no secret now, that Jackie had a daughter a long time ago. What most people wouldn’t know is that I all but single-handedly separated them back then. This afternoon at the pool, when Jackie was talking about Kate, I felt guilty for the way I’d hurt her.’

Scarlett felt emotion clog her throat, and she was appalled. She shouldn’t have let this out. ‘You mustn’t say anything to anyone. That’s…’

‘Your business, and Jackie’s business.’ He shook his head. ‘I won’t say anything. I…understand about secrets.’

Until he said those words, Scarlett had thought he might pull her into his arms, hold her, and perhaps try to kiss those painful emotions away.

She would have let him.

In fact, somewhere deep inside she admitted she might even have wanted that.

But his admission about secrets hung between them, a thinly veiled reference to his past marriage.

‘Well, I’m being a bit dramatic all of a sudden.’ Scarlett made as light of things as she could manage. ‘I shouldn’t have brought that old history up. Jackie just wants to forget it now that she has Kate in her life again. And, it’s late. We should go in. I’m sure you’d like to leave. I’m sorry I held things up daydreaming out here.’

Scarlett turned for the inside of the restaurant. She hadn’t exactly been daydreaming, but he would know what she meant.

‘Yes, of course we can go.’ Lorenzo looked at the tight set of Scarlett’s shoulders. She had on a simple light tan sheath that looked cool and comfortable, and brought out the beauty of her bone structure and the golden glow of her skin.

That glow had been in her face, too, until he stupidly brought up her earlier unease in her sister’s company.

Yet he couldn’t really regret it, because Scarlett had given him a gift just now. The gift of her trust for just a few moments before her openness made her uneasy and she wished she could have taken it all back.

He had wanted to comfort her but he’d drawn back from that, too. How could he do that when the guilt of his past plagued him? The guilt of his past and…the complications of his present.

‘I’ll see you home.’ He’d walk her over and walk away. That was all he could do with Scarlett. What else did he have to offer her? Nothing. Lorenzo was not free to offer Scarlett anything.

And of course, after all this time, he didn’t still want to. It had to be their past that made it difficult for him to maintain equilibrium in his thoughts where she was concerned.

‘No, thanks.’ She walked ahead of him through the restaurant, glanced back over her shoulder. ‘By the time you finish locking up and get on your motorcycle I’ll be there. I’ll be fine, Lorenzo. I don’t need you to go with me.’

She left him there, and he did watch to make sure she got home safely while her words rang in his head.

They didn’t need each other.

That had to be the truth of it.

Didn’t it?

‘You’ll understand if I ask you to explain your reasoning for whatever choices you make today?’ Scarlett asked the question quietly as Lorenzo drew Rosa’s small van to a stop outside a set of shops in a nearby larger township.

‘Of course.’ Lorenzo wasn’t concerned to know that Scarlett would spend this morning scrutinising his work practices. He had nothing to hide.

They were on a buying expedition, and both of them were in a mellow mood.

A cooling breeze had driven the worst of the heat away. The day was clear and fresh. It was nice to be away from the restaurant for a little while. Isabella had taken charge to free Lorenzo for his expedition. He’d climbed into the van and Scarlett had joined him so she could see what one of his buying trips consisted of. When he’d turned the key in the ignition, old rock music had blared out of the van’s speakers.

Scarlett had thrown her head back and laughed and he’d…laughed with her. He’d turned the volume down a little and they’d made the trip with the windows down, the wind whipping through their hair and against their faces. It had been…fun.

Lorenzo glanced at Scarlett’s flushed face, and couldn’t help the soft smile that came to his lips. ‘You can cross-question me all you like. I want Rosa to succeed as much as you do.’

Lorenzo got out of the van to stride around the front and open Scarlett’s door with a bow and a flourish. ‘Shall we go?’

For a moment she froze, but then a smile came over her face and she held out her hand and lifted her nose into the air at such a haughty angle it was a wonder it didn’t catch on the top of the doorframe. ‘By all means let us go, but you should know, I’m not carrying the basket for you.’

‘Actually, I have string bags, and I’ll be doing the carrying myself.’ He gripped her hand and helped her out, and their hands slid away from each other with a slow glide of fingers.

They went shopping. Lorenzo made his choices as carefully as he always did. These were ingredients and items he couldn’t get for the kitchen locally in Monta Correnti.

Scarlett observed, questioned his brand choices, and nodded her approval as he carefully explained how each item would be used.

When they’d finished the shopping for Rosa, he gestured towards another small shop. ‘If you don’t mind me taking the time, I’d like a few things from in there for my home stores. They can wait if you’d prefer.’

‘No, that’s fine.’ Her eyes had lit up as she realised what they were looking at. It was a chocolate wholesaler. She turned to glance at him with her brows raised. ‘I know you make fabulous desserts. You were working on some the first day I started at Rosa, but I wouldn’t have pictured you with a sweet tooth for it.’

‘Then picture again.’ He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. ‘I occasionally make them at home. Partly to keep my hand in and my capabilities sharp, but mostly—’ he smiled ‘—so I can eat the results. Maybe one day I could cook a dessert for you.’

‘Maybe.’

A little silence fell. It wasn’t awkward, exactly, just both of them realising that they’d let their conversation drift into something it perhaps hadn’t started out to be.

That perhaps wasn’t particularly appropriate, and Lorenzo tried to remind himself of this as he gathered up his purchases and the items were tallied.

He managed, sort of. Well, except for his imagination taking him to making chocolate desserts for Scarlett and feeding portions to her somewhere quiet and romantic.

You’ve managed not to feel romantic about anyone else for five years.

Lorenzo hadn’t been celibate, but those encounters had been occasional, and emotionally meaningless.

‘Lunch.’ He needed to shift his thoughts away from the concepts of Scarlett and romance. ‘We, ah, we agreed that we’d eat at the most popular restaurant, check out the competition.’

‘My guess would be that one.’ Scarlett gestured to a small, cosy restaurant tucked into the corner of the square. It wasn’t the largest, but it was clearly busy. ‘Shall we go there?’

Lorenzo tucked their purchases into coolers in the back of the van, and they made their way on foot to the restaurant.

‘The demographic they’re getting is different here from Rosa.’ Scarlett leaned forward to say the words quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard by other diners. So no one would know they were being studied and picked apart. ‘We get some tourists, but not as many as we have locals.’

To be fair, she and Lorenzo were picking apart the food, table service, ambiance and everything else as well. That was why they were here. To examine all of it.

She took a small sip of her wine. ‘It’s a decent red. Nothing outstanding, but I don’t think you’d do better for a table-wine price.’

‘Yes. The wine is good value.’ Lorenzo’s lids drooped and his gaze stilled on her lips.

Scarlett was trying hard not to be too aware of him, too conscious. And yet with each moment that passed, her awareness seemed to increase.

They’d laughed together this morning as they drove here. Played silly old music in the van and let themselves relax. Scarlett had let her guards down. She couldn’t seem to get them back up again.

‘They’re catering to at least a fifty-per-cent tourist clientele here.’ Lorenzo leaned in a little closer. ‘These are people who won’t be back again and again. They just want to eat and leave.’

‘It can be a tricky one, the tourist versus locals issue.’ Scarlett tried to give the issue the most careful thought she could manage.

That wasn’t a full hundred per cent, she had to admit. How could she fully concentrate on business when all she could hear was his voice? When all she could feel was the fact he was so close she could raise her hand and touch his face?

And he was looking at her as though, regardless of their purpose here, he saw only her.

Scarlett cleared her throat. ‘You, ah, with your shopping earlier—the Rosa part of it.’ Yes, that was good. Rosa was what they needed to speak about, even if Scarlett now had an almost compulsive need to be in a kitchen with him somewhere and watch him create a chocolate masterpiece.

For her?

No. Of course not.

Well, it would be rather special.

I repeat, Scarlett, no, of course not!

It would not be special. It would be dangerously intimate.

‘Um, where were we?’

The liquid brown of his eyes darkened as he gazed at her through a screen of silky black lashes. ‘We were discussing my shopping for Rosa.’

‘That’s right. We were.’ Scarlett forced a nod, but all that did was make her ponytail bounce and the forest-green ribbon brush against the skin of her back. A sleeveless sundress in a matching green had seemed a good choice this morning, but now Scarlett wondered if maybe she should have dressed in something more workmanlike. Well, workwomanlike, if she wanted to be exact about it.

Maybe a suit that buttoned up to the neck. With tights. Boring, sensible ones. And low-heeled pumps. And no ribbon in her hair. Definitely no ribbon from her collection of ribbons that Scarlett anticipated wearing each day now for that moment when Lorenzo let his gaze wander to her hair.

‘I’ve studied the way you run your kitchen, Lorenzo.’ She drew a breath that she hoped would help to steady her before she forced herself to go on. ‘From this morning’s shopping, the only noteworthy issue was that we could purchase a lot of our goods from here on a regular basis and get them for less than we’re paying to local producers from Monta Correnti and its surrounds.’

His fingers lifted as though he might attempt to smooth the puckered expression from her lips, but he dropped them back to the table and instead gave a nod of agreement. ‘You’re quite right, but Luca’s policy has been to support local business.’

‘Yet recently I saw you in a heated discussion with a local olive supplier when he brought a case of olives to the restaurant.’ Scarlett had meant to follow up on that, but had become immersed again in account records and, truthfully, had forgotten. She shouldn’t allow issues to slip away from her that way. Everything counted!

It was Lorenzo’s turn to frown. ‘The olives that grower brought wouldn’t be fit to put on a cheap mass-produced pizza from some foreign country that doesn’t have a clue!’

Scarlett grinned. She couldn’t help herself. ‘Are you having a go at my country’s food-chain pizza makers? I’m sure the last time I had an olive on one of those pizzas, it was quite satisfactory. But then, Australia produces some good olives.’

She was teasing him.

And he was looking all affronted but with a twinkle in his eyes, letting her.

Scarlett was shocked at her own behaviour, and thrilled and happy and a little giddy from his company, all at once.

Oh, she had allowed herself to relax too much with him today. That was the problem. Relax and unwind and for a little while, though the entire purpose of her presence with him was to dig into yet another aspect of Rosa’s doings in hopes of finding another edge she could trim off their bottom line, she’d simply had fun.

‘Why can’t I still loathe you, ’Renz?’ The old pet name for him slipped out without her even realising it. The question slipped out, too, straight from her confusion and interest in him. It also came from a degree of caution and the belated realisation that she really had let this day get out of her control. ‘You hurt me so much.’

‘That is something I have regretted every day for five years.’ He didn’t say that he wished he could have fixed the situation, made it better. That he wished he could have done things differently back then.

Scarlett noted that. Oh, she heard that fact loud and clear. And even then, she still couldn’t.

Had she ever hated him? Or had she only thought that she did, because being angry had been easier to deal with than the pain of losing him? The pain of him not caring for her enough to leave his wife and give Scarlett the future with him that she had hoped for?

A future that Lorenzo had promised and then not followed through on? She hadn’t known he was married at first. She’d let herself fall in love with him before he told her. He’d been going to leave Marcella. He’d done that since. Why couldn’t he have done it then? ‘It was a long time ago and maybe we both have grown up since then.’

Maybe growing up was what allowed Lorenzo to finally get out of a marriage that had made him unhappy. At least he’d done that for himself.

And Scarlett had moved on, too. Perhaps they just hadn’t been meant to be together.

When she searched his eyes she thought she would see agreement. Perhaps softness. Maybe still that hint of teasing. She didn’t expect to see shadows. Such shadows that her breath caught in her throat and she uttered his name with a question in her voice. ‘Lorenzo?’

What is it? What’s brought that hurt into your eyes?

He swallowed and opened his mouth and for some reason her breath stilled as though she was bracing for something. But he just shook his head and gestured to her plate. ‘Are you finished? If so we should probably make our way back. There’s a lot of work still to do before the day is over.’

‘Y-yes. I’m finished.’ So, apparently, was this conversation if she didn’t try…‘If you need—’

‘I’m fine, Scarlett, but we do need to head back.’ He didn’t reject her care. The gentle expression in his eyes made it clear that he appreciated it. But he shut the conversation down, just the same.

Scarlett nodded. She wanted to think about his reaction, what it could mean, but he gestured for their bill and then there was that to settle.

They were on the road again in minutes and he talked about the pros and cons of paying more for local produce, and did it with enough commitment and interest that Scarlett had to throw herself into the conversation with him.

Really, he was only being sensible, doing what Scarlett should have done from the outset today. He was trying to keep them on a business footing.

So why did Scarlett feel that with each moment that passed the tension and consciousness between them, rather than lessening, became stronger until everything between them seemed to be exaggerated a hundredfold?

She could hear each breath he took. The radio was silent. Her own breathing sounded loud to her ears. Each of Lorenzo’s words felt like the brush of his hand against her skin. When they fell silent, Scarlett remembered times in their past that they had shared such silences. Companionable, sweet silences.

If she thought this was only affecting her, maybe she would have had a good chance of squashing it back, but it was in his eyes each time he glanced her way. It was in the clench of his hands around the steering wheel and the tight set of his shoulders as he tried so hard to keep their conversation moving and work-focused.

And safe.

When Lorenzo drew the van to a stop in the parking space at the back of the restaurant, Scarlett turned and gave him a subdued smile.

She was trying. She wanted to be wise. If he could try for that then the least she should do was meet him halfway.

Anything else was sheer madness anyway, even if her mind all but refused to consider this fact right now. ‘Thank you for the trip, and for letting me bounce all my thoughts off you. That was really helpful.’

Scarlett was proud. The words were coming out and making sense. Later she would be able to really and truly examine all the things they’d talked about. For now she said, ‘There are clearly some things I still need to address.’

In fact, she could even think of one of those things right now. ‘I need to speak with Luca about these issues with purchasing local goods. What happened with the olives in the end, by the way?’

And see? A sensible, interested question to arm herself with knowledge about that issue, too.

‘The grower replaced them with a decent grade and got a warning not to pull a stunt like that again.’ Lorenzo stepped from the van and, again, came around it to open her door for her.

His words were clear and to the point and if she hadn’t looked into his eyes Scarlett might have believed they could just be friends.

‘Good. The grower had better do the right thing next time.’ Lorenzo would see that he did. Scarlett felt quite confident of this. Confident enough that she didn’t feel the need to manage the situation herself. ‘I’m learning to trust you again.’ She uttered the words without forethought.

Perhaps they surprised him enough that he didn’t think to step out of her path.

Because Scarlett stepped down from the van and all but into his arms. They ended up practically chest-to-chest there in the rear area behind the restaurant. It was quiet and still out here, the van parked close to the back of the building. They stood between the van and a windowless section of wall.

She looked up into his eyes and he looked down into hers and…that was the end of it. The end of days of working with each other and suppressing all sorts of things and today not managing to suppress them.

Scarlett didn’t know who kissed whom. She didn’t know who made that first infinitesimal move or whether they both did.

All she knew was their lips pressed together in the seclusion of the back area. Lorenzo made a soft sound in the back of his throat.

Their hands rose and arms locked around each other. This wasn’t a one-second press of lips against lips and a hurried and startled breaking away. This was the rest of that first kiss. The completion of that first kiss. A giving and taking and offering and receiving that seemed to touch on so much more than a shared attraction or a past closeness.

Scarlett kissed Lorenzo and completely forgot where she was. She forgot her position as Financial Manager of Rosa, forgot that potentially someone could happen along out here. She forget everything except the taste and the touch of him as they held each other close and he kissed her as though he had starved for the taste of her, had needed this intimacy with her. Had to have it for the sake of his soul.

Oh, these were dangerous thoughts for Scarlett to have. Dangerous, wanting-to-leap-to-conclusions-that-she-shouldn’t-leap-to thoughts. They dissipated anyway into pure sensation before Scarlett could do more than feel the drift of them through the recesses of her mind. Her hand rose and her fingers cupped the nape of his neck. Strong muscle shifted beneath her fingertips as she stroked them softly over his warm skin.

Lorenzo’s hands firmed at her waist and their kiss deepened, became an expression of urgency and need that felt more immediate and necessary than ever before.

‘I have missed your taste, the touch of you, the scent of you.’ He murmured the words as he pressed kisses to the column of her neck, the side of her jaw and across her cheek. Finally, before his mouth closed over hers, he added, ‘I have missed you, Scarlett. More than I understood. More than I understand now.’

‘Lorenzo.’ His words were beautiful to her ears and Scarlett gave herself up to kissing him, to the belief in his need for her. She gave and gave and Lorenzo gave back to her, worshipping her mouth with his lips, gently caressing her arms and back and shoulders until she wanted to stay in his arms and never leave.

Would Scarlett have ever thought to stop that kiss?

It wasn’t a question she could answer because a sound nearby broke them apart like…guilty lovers. In that first moment, Scarlett realised it was only a bird rustling through the branches of a tall bush at the edge of the area.

And then her mind began to function again and she became truly aware once more of their surroundings. She’d kissed Rosa’s head chef in plain view of anyone who might have happened out the back door of the premises. She’d kissed Lorenzo and Lorenzo had kissed her right back, as though all of their past hadn’t happened and she hadn’t been forced to navigate her way through the pain of him totally betraying her back then.

What on earth had she been thinking?

‘I—I need to work on the books.’ Scarlett uttered the words without any real idea of what she was doing or saying. She needed to escape. That was all she knew.

From what had just happened, from dealing with how it had made her feel, from addressing the issue of…this, whatever ‘this’ was, altogether.

She didn’t wait for him to argue the point or question her or anything else. Something told her he wouldn’t have. That he felt just as surprised and taken aback by their actions as she did. They were actions they might have taken five years ago when stealing kisses and being together had felt so exciting to her. And then she’d had to deal with his revelation that he was married, his explanations about the broken state of that marriage.

His promise to make all things right in his world so he and Scarlett…

Not now. You’re not thinking about that now.

Scarlett glanced every which way about her to ensure as best she now could, after the fact, that they had indeed not been observed in that compromising few moments, and she hurried into the restaurant by the rear door and shut herself in Luca’s office, where she proceeded to bury her head in bookwork.

Deeply!

To the point where she had no space to think about anything else whatsoever!

And can you continue to ignore all your thoughts and hope that will be a true answer to anything, Scarlett?

To not only the issue of Lorenzo, but of family, too? Do you want to be close to them, or don’t you?

Yes, she did, and Scarlett was trying. These things took time!

Chapter Six

‘OH, NO!’ Scarlett stared at the e-mail she’d just dug out of the spam folder in her Internet mail program. ‘How could this have ended up in the mail trash? What date was it sent? Why didn’t they contact me when I didn’t respond? What if I’ve missed out on the opportunity?’ As these questions popped out another question followed. She opened the e-mail and started to scan its contents. ‘What date have they said they want to do this?’

It was Friday evening. She’d been just about to pack up in Luca’s office and to be honest she had felt a true sense of achievement.

She still didn’t have all the answers for making the restaurant completely self-supporting and guaranteed to always run in the black, but the changes she’d made were starting to pay off and she wasn’t at the end of her stream of ideas by any means.

This was only the beginning of what Scarlett could do. One of the things she’d tried was to canvas the local promotional body for Monta Correnti to see if she could interest them in granting publicity and media coverage to Rosa for a weekend cook-up. The body had a budget for community-related events, and Scarlett had hoped she might be able to interest them.

Scarlett had logged onto her e-mail account at the last moment just now to check for a response. Because she’d asked about it and time had passed with no answer, she’d all but given up on the possibility. But she had found her answer, sent almost a week ago and hiding out in the mail program’s trash file!

She quickly skimmed the contents of the e-mail. The promotional group not only loved the idea she’d put to them, they’d taken it further and brought in a second restaurant so the two could run a ‘friendly’ cook-off contest. ‘Oh, please tell me it’s not—’

Sorella.

But of course it was, because they were side by side in the square. The local co-ordinators couldn’t imagine anything more exciting or convenient. They anticipated a high degree of interest, advertising would commence…Scarlett read the date and her eyes widened. Advertising would commence today. And the contest itself would run next weekend with TV and newspaper coverage!

‘That’s only seven days away.’ A lump of panic lodged itself in Scarlett’s throat, and doubled in size when the remaining implications made themselves felt. ‘And they’ve set us up to compete against Sorella.’

According to this e-mail, Sorella’s owner had been more than delighted to front up for a contest to see which restaurant could prepare the best dishes and be declared better than the other.

Oh, Scarlett, what have you got Rosa into? And the family into by letting this come about?

Scarlett’s mother would thrive on this kind of competition. It didn’t surprise Scarlett that Lisa had agreed to the contest. That was enough of a problem. Scarlett could imagine Lisa hustling her restaurant staff by remote control over the phone from wherever she happened to be at the time, to ensure they did a good job in the contest. If Lisa didn’t have other more important engagements, she might even turn up for some part of the weekend.

Unfortunately, Luca might be a little more enthused about the possibility of ‘beating’ Sorella in a cook-off than anyone in the family would want as well.

Isabella, Jackie, Lizzie and some of the others had all been trying to get things on a better, less confrontational footing between the various branches of the family and specifically between Lisa and Luca.

More rivalry was the last thing they needed and yet now Scarlett had single-handedly set the family up for a cook-off war.

Scarlett dropped her head into her hands where she sat at the desk. ‘I can see it now. Front-page news. Rabble-raising Restaurants in Fantastic Food Fight. There’s no way this can work out well. Either one restaurant loses the challenge or the other one does.’

‘If you have a moment.’ The words came from the office doorway.

They were tight, low, spoken in a very familiar male voice and they held a decided edge of ‘unimpressed’ about them. The words were Lorenzo’s, but they didn’t come from the relaxed, helpful Lorenzo she’d worked with in recent days.

Days in which they’d almost felt as though they were in some kind of holding pattern to Scarlett. They’d kissed beside the van after parking it behind the restaurant. Scarlett had melted into his arms and he’d seemed to need their kiss as much as she had. Since then she hadn’t been able to get those moments out of her mind. But nor had she been able to draw any conclusions about them, decide what she should do about them.

In fact, Scarlett had asked herself whether there might be some way that she and Lorenzo could, perhaps, pursue these feelings now.

The thought wasn’t an easy one for her to have. He’d broken her heart five years ago. Scarlett had never expected to feel anything again for him other than contempt and anger. But working with him here at Rosa had changed that. They’d developed a mutual respect for each other. Scarlett might have wanted…If Lorenzo had seemed to want to pursue…

Well, so far he’s done a good job of not pursuing anything. Maybe he’s forgotten all about the kiss. Maybe he kisses women like that all the time.

And maybe her head chef was a little upset right now and Scarlett had better deal with that. He stepped into the office and slapped down a copy of today’s newspaper.

One brief glance showed her the feature piece.

Restaurants will break out their competitive spirits for a weekend cook-off next weekend!

‘Um, about that.’ She really could have done with a few minutes to try to figure out how to present this to him in the best light, now that there was nothing she could do to change the course of events.

It was the end of the day. Why couldn’t she have discovered this earlier? Had Lorenzo known about it earlier? ‘When did you find out?’

‘Just now. None of us had time to look at the paper today.’ His gaze held an accusing edge. ‘I don’t know whether to say it’s just as well a patron didn’t tell one of us earlier in the day, or wish that they had. At least there’d have been a bit more notice.’

Scarlett forced a smile to her face and hoped it was a placatory, calm, very professional one. ‘Would you mind if I took a look? I didn’t know this was going to be in today’s edition of the paper so I haven’t actually seen it yet.’

That sounded suitably under control and not totally panic-stricken. Didn’t it?

Lorenzo silently pushed the newspaper her way with the tip of one finger. He still looked ready to pitch a fit over the topic. She should feel defensive about that. No, she should be aggressive about it, in an ‘I’m in charge here and this is just another aspect of performing your tasks for the restaurant so don’t bother complaining about it’ kind of a way.

Instead, she kept thinking how strong and manly he looked with his muscles locked that way and irritation and displeasure stamped on his face.

‘Right, well, let me just take a quick look.’ Scarlett had never skimmed a piece of print quite so quickly. As she did so she felt Lorenzo glowering down at her. She finally forced her gaze up, to meet stormy brown eyes. ‘Um, maybe you’d like to shut the door while we discuss this.’

‘Shutting the door isn’t going to make a bit of difference, Scarlett.’ His words weren’t shouted, but they were strong enough that they would carry. ‘I’m done here for the night, anyway. If you want to maintain some privacy on the topic of an article that I hadn’t even heard about, I suggest we take this elsewhere.’

Right. Well, that seemed like an eminently sensible idea. Scarlett shot to her feet. That was, she rose gracefully, and calmly gathered her laptop into the all-purpose carry bag that housed her room key and other necessary items a girl couldn’t do without, and stepped confidently towards the door.

And through it.

Without revealing even slightly that her heart was racing in a highly unprofessional way.

Oh, she wasn’t scared of him.

She just hadn’t had time to absorb the implications of this arrangement, and therefore didn’t exactly have a plan in mind for dealing with Lorenzo’s feelings about the whole matter. And she had this compulsive and extremely unprofessional urge to offer to rub his shoulders or in some other way unruffle his clearly ruffled feathers for him.

‘We’ll go to my bedsit. It’s close and the owner is away so I know we’ll be quite private even if you need to express your sentiments…’ Loudly? Vociferously? With gusto? Scarlett decided it might be wiser not to finish that sentence.

Instead she strode through the restaurant ahead of Lorenzo, and they walked in silence across the square to her bedsit. She let them in quickly, set her laptop down carefully against the wall inside the door.

Lorenzo drew a deep breath and advanced two steps into the centre of the room.

Which also brought him two steps closer to Scarlett who happened to be standing just shy of that same centre of the room herself.

‘Why is this the first I’ve heard of a cook-off that’s to take place between Sorella and Rosa? What do you hope to achieve from this? Have you thought of the possible ramifications?’

He was unapologetically irritated. And yet his eyes stayed gentle.

Scarlett frowned. Not at Lorenzo, but at her own thoughts. Now was not the time to take stock of Lorenzo’s eyes, or to feel that she wanted such gentleness from him.

‘The response from the local body handling my application ended up in my e-mail spam folder almost a week ago and I didn’t find it until today.’ Scarlett would contact them to find out just why she’d received no follow-up when she had failed to respond to the e-mail. It really wasn’t appropriate for the matter to be settled upon and advertised when one of the restaurants hadn’t actually agreed to the terms!

‘And don’t you think that as Head Chef I might have been made aware that such a cook-off event was a possibility in the first place?’ His hands came up to perch on a set of lean hips. ‘What if I didn’t want to participate in a cook-off?’

‘Well—’

‘And not only that.’ He paced from one end of her very small living area to the other and back again. ‘I’ve effectively got six days to get ready to do this, and try to make sure that when I participate, Rosa wins. It’s not going to look great if we don’t, for the restaurant or for my career. I can’t afford to lose another job, Scarlett. I’d hoped this job would be different, that I’d have a chance to prove myself and not be judged by rumours spread by Marcel—’ He broke off and turned his face away for a moment before he whipped it back. ‘This whole thing—’

‘Is going to be just fine, despite the fact that I messed up by not following up on my approach to this local body, and by only finding the e-mail in my spam file tonight.’ Scarlett owned her mistake without hesitation, and injected all the assurance and confidence into her tone that she could possibly muster.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.