Italian Attraction: The Italian Tycoon's Bride / An Italian Engagement / One Summer in Italy...

She wished he wouldn’t say things like that. It probably meant nothing to him but it made her feel … odd. She shrugged. ‘He left us. That was hard to take. And when he went my mother got rid of our dog and two cats because my father had loved them. I loved them too but that didn’t seem to matter. I think from that time on I never felt the same about her again.’

She hadn’t meant to say all that. Maisie reached for her coffee but, as she did so, Blaine’s hand closed over hers. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘You have had a tough deal.’

Maisie’s throat tightened. He had said that as though he meant it. She knew she shouldn’t have agreed to come and sit in this warm perfumed velvety darkness and talk about things that were best left buried. She probably shouldn’t have agreed to come to Italy, if it came to that. Perhaps she was losing her mind? And he still hadn’t mentioned Francesca; all he’d done was to rave about his childhood. Not exactly fair, however you looked at it. Still, she couldn’t force him to come clean.

She slid her hand from under his and this time managed to reach her cup and saucer. Taking a long gulp at the fragrant liquid, she found it was scalding hot and winced as she swallowed. Great, now she was minus the roof of her mouth as well as her mind.

The dogs had been lying snoozing on the veranda when they had walked out of the house; now she felt Humphrey edge forward and position himself on her foot. Glad of the diversion, she bent forward and stroked the large silky ears. ‘Missing your mum?’ she said softly. ‘She’ll be back soon.’

‘I had better be going.’ Blaine finished his coffee and rose to his feet and Maisie stood up too. She wondered if he would try and kiss her again or suggest they go out somewhere over the next few days.

He didn’t. ‘Goodnight, Maisie,’ he said quietly. ‘Any problems of any kind, phone me. Liliana has my home and work numbers.’

She nodded briskly. ‘OK, but I’m sure everything will be just fine.’

Did he expect her to walk through the house with him and wave him off? Or would that seem presumptuous?

Liliana settled this in the next moment as she reappeared, saying, ‘You are not leaving already, Blaine? I came to see if you would like a liqueur with your coffee?’

‘I have an early start tomorrow morning.’ He took Liliana’s arm as he spoke and the two of them disappeared into the house, leaving Maisie standing on the veranda. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to follow them, but she didn’t. She sat down instead, pouring herself another coffee and drinking it slowly with Humphrey back on her foot as she heard them talking in Italian in the hall. After a while she heard a car start at the front of the house and a few moments later Liliana joined her.

‘Blaine has suggested he take me to see Guiseppe in a day or two if you feel confident to look after everything here for a few hours?’ Liliana said happily.

‘Of course, that’ll be fine.’

‘He is a good boy.’ Liliana didn’t seem to expect a comment from her as she bustled about clearing the tray and Maisie was glad of this because she couldn’t think of one.

Later, up in her room, Maisie sat for a long time by the open window, her brow wrinkled and her thoughts going back and forth until she gave herself a headache. Why had he kissed her? And, more to the point, after he had why hadn’t he come back for more? Even more to the point than that though, why had she longed for a repeat performance with every cell of her body?

Dangerous, dangerous man. She gave a mental nod to the declaration. And danger was the last thing she needed in her life after all the anguish of the last weeks. She was glad he hadn’t tried to kiss her again or suggest a date or anything like that. She ignored the cold little lump in the pit of her stomach as she stood up and began undressing. And she would make sure she stayed out of his way as much as possible while she was in Italy. No more cosy chats over dinner, no more silly fancies and muddled thoughts.

She didn’t bother to wash, just brushing her teeth and pulling on her nightie before she climbed into bed. Once under the cool cotton sheet she shut her eyes determinedly. She was not going to lie awake half the night doing endless post-mortems about the evening in her mind. She had to be up at the crack of dawn to see to the horses and the rest of the animals. Blaine Morosini was not part of her life. He never could or would be. And she didn’t want him to be.

She turned over, burying her face in the soft plump pillow, but, much to her irritation, it was still a long time before she eventually fell asleep.

CHAPTER SIX

THE next week or so was fairly uneventful. Blaine had fallen into the habit of dropping by each night to give Liliana a report on Guiseppe, but apart from that first evening he wouldn’t be pressed to stay for dinner. He stayed for a coffee with the two women but the conversation was always light and encouraging on his part; he often made Liliana smile by relating some funny incident that had occurred either at the hospital or during his day at work.

There were no more long looks and certainly no more kisses; in fact, Maisie thought that if she hadn’t been absolutely certain of the events that night when they had shared dinner together, she would have begun to think that she had imagined the whole thing. But she hadn’t. And for that reason she let Blaine and Liliana do most of the talking while she sat quietly listening to them. Actually, it was surprising what she learnt about Blaine this way, she told herself as she sat on the veranda one night when she had been in Italy nine days, the dogs spread out about her feet.

She now knew he was a man who only needed three or four hours’ sleep a night. She realised this when it had transpired he left his house every morning at five o’clock to fit in a full day’s work before, more often than not, calling in at the hospital to see his father before he came back to Sorrento. She also knew he hadn’t got a girlfriend and hadn’t dated for some time. This had been revealed during one conversation when Liliana had scolded him for being a workaholic.

‘I tell him he should have a little fun,’ the housekeeper had said in an aside to Maisie. ‘But it is all work, work, work. This is not good for a man, I think.’

Blaine had changed the conversation very firmly at this point and Maisie had wondered if it was because he had been worried Liliana might bring up the past and the reason he made work his life these days. Was it to do with Francesca? She rather thought it might be. But of course it was none of her business—not that that didn’t stop her thinking about it most of the time.

It didn’t help that Liliana had buttoned up about Blaine’s past love life either. Maisie was almost certain he’d warned the housekeeper to say nothing to her. She could be being paranoid here, but she didn’t think so. And she hadn’t imagined the reserve that was in his manner towards her now either. Obviously that kiss had been a complete nonentity as far as he was concerned. Which was fine, just fine, because she wasn’t on for a repeat either. It just rankled that she was clearly such a bad kisser that she’d put him off so completely, that was all. She didn’t have bad breath or buck teeth or weepy sores, so what was the problem?

Blaine had taken Liliana to see Guiseppe on two occasions now and each time Maisie had made sure she was in bed when he’d returned the housekeeper to the villa late at night. She knew he always came in and had a nightcap with Liliana but she wasn’t about to hang around like little orphan Annie. Tonight was the third time and as Maisie finished her coffee she rose to her feet, the dogs all jumping up too. They knew the routine now. After-dinner snooze on the veranda and then this new human always walked down to the paddock before she went to bed.

Maisie put the stable lights on when she reached the paddock. She had brought both horses into the stables from the paddock earlier because Iola hadn’t seemed quite right all day and she wondered if the mare was close to her time. She had telephoned Jenny’s vet for advice but he’d been unconcerned, merely telling her to keep an eye on the mare and call him if there was a problem. But Iola was young and healthy, he’d said, and he would expect the foaling to take place without him having to attend. Which was all very well in the normal run of things, Maisie thought, but when she was in sole charge of the beautiful and very expensive animal …

The stables were relatively new and luxurious by any standards; apparently the old ones had been knocked down and replaced a couple of years ago. Maisie had put the mare in one of the well-lit loose boxes with an empty one between her and Iorwerth, and she was glad of this when she saw the graceful animal straining and paddling her limbs. She had attended several foalings in her days as a veterinary nurse and she sensed immediately that something was wrong.

She ran back to the house and called the vet’s number again. The mare’s efforts were producing nothing; there were no little hooves protruding from the vulva, which could mean a malpresentation, possibly a breech. This wasn’t such a problem in a cow, but the vets she had worked with had always bemoaned the tremendous length of the foal’s legs in such cases.

This time when she spoke to Jenny’s vet he listened and was at the house within fifteen minutes. By the time Blaine brought Liliana home and came down to the stables, Maisie was doing what she could to assist the vet in what was indeed a breech delivery. She knew as well as he did that foals sometimes didn’t survive in such cases and she was praying like mad this wouldn’t happen here.

After ascertaining the situation, Blaine stood quietly by and watched proceedings and, for once, tied up in the fight for the foal’s life, Maisie was practically oblivious to his presence. It was half an hour before the vet managed to bring the tiny animal’s legs round and move it into the correct position for birth and immediately Iola sensed the obstruction was gone. She gave a great heave and the foal shot out on to the thick bed of straw Maisie had prepared, jerking convulsively and very much alive. In the next few moments it was shaking its head and snorting out the placental fluid it had inhaled, Iola seemingly forgetting all her pain and displaying a fond interest in her baby.

‘Whew.’ Maisie knelt back on the straw and beamed up at the vet. ‘Thank you so much, Mr Rossellini.’

‘No, thank you, signorina. Time was of the essence and you did not delay.’ He turned to Blaine as he wiped his hands with the towel Maisie had passed him as he added, ‘Your mother has much to thank this young lady for. She is a capable young woman.’

‘I’m aware of that.’ Blaine smiled at her, his eyes warm.

‘If ever you want a job, signorina, you come and see me, sì?’ Mr Rossellini bobbed his head at her. ‘I mean this.’

‘Thank you.’ Maisie had been in all kinds of awkward positions as she had helped the vet with the birth and now she found it hard to stand. Iola was nuzzling the foal, clearly delighted with what she’d accomplished, and Maisie stroked the soft muzzle as she murmured, ‘You’re a clever girl and you have a beautiful baby. Iorwerth is going to be delighted with his son.’

Blaine accompanied Mr Rossellini back to the house and Maisie let the two men go, content to stay with the new mother and her foal for a while. Iorwerth had been stamping about his box, clearly disturbed, but like the intuitive beast he was he now seemed to know all was well and was blowing gently down his nose. Maisie went over and talked to him for a while, reassuring him, before she returned to Iola and her baby. She stood leaning against the box, captivated by the sight of the mother and foal, the fragrance of the straw and the soft sounds from the horses magical after all the panic and worry of the last hour or so.

How long she stood there she didn’t know, but when she felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders and Blaine’s voice in her ear murmuring, ‘There’s not a more beautiful sight, is there?’ she knew she’d been expecting he would return. ‘Mr Rossellini is full of admiration for your ability,’ he continued, ‘as am I. You were so calm and capable.’

He wouldn’t think she was calm if he knew how her heart was beating like a tom-tom against her ribs. ‘It’s my job.’ She tried to ignore the tingles radiating down from her shoulders. ‘It’s what I’ve been trained for.’

‘Still …’ He turned her round, tilting her chin. ‘You were perfect. You are perfect.’

If she had just ducked away at that point, made some excuse, anything, she might still have been all right. As it was, she waited for his kiss and when it came she kissed him back. There were a hundred reasons not to and she didn’t care about any of them.

They stood locked together, swaying slightly, and as she felt the heady rush of sensation sending needles of pleasure into every nerve and sinew, she wondered what he had that made him so darn good at this. But it didn’t matter what it was; it was enough that he was kissing her.

Blaine was breathing hard as his mouth continued to move on hers, tasting her, fuelling and feeding on the reaction he was causing. His hands moved up and down her body and she trembled at his touch, shifting in his arms so that she could lift her hands to his shoulders and press more closely against the long hard length of him.

She could feel his heart pounding against his chest like a sledgehammer and it was incredibly exhilarating to know she could arouse such desire in him. His thighs were hard against hers as he moved her against the stable wall, his kiss deepening into what was almost a consummation in itself as his tongue took vanquished territory.

It was Liliana’s voice that broke into the madness which had taken hold, but even as it registered and she felt him stiffen it was still another sweet moment or two before he raised his head and drew away. She felt his going in every nerve in her body. ‘Liliana,’ he muttered hoarsely. ‘She’s fixing sandwiches and a hot drink.’

‘Right.’ She knew her voice was as bemused as his. ‘We’d better go then.’

‘Maisie …’ Her name was a caress on his tongue. ‘You are driving me mad. I sit at my desk and I see you in front of me, I talk to my staff and your face is there. What have you done to me?’

‘I don’t know.’ She shivered, under such a strong spell of sensual desire all self-protection had broken down. ‘But, whatever it is, I feel the same.’

The last was almost in the form of a plaintive protest and whether it was that which gave him the strength to straighten and put a few inches between them she didn’t know. He stared at her, his eyes glittering and almost opaque in the strong lights in the stable as he said, ‘This is wrong. I am taking advantage of you when you are at your most vulnerable. This man, your fiancé, has hurt you and taken away your self-esteem. You need to prove to yourself that you are still desirable.’

No, no that wasn’t it. Jeff was such a wash-out, so unimportant right at this moment that he didn’t even begin to come into the equation. She wondered how she could say that without sounding as if she was begging him to make love to her.