The Italian's Blushing Gardener

‘I’m not Amanda Barrett, and I’m not very happy!’ she confronted him, breathing fast. ‘Please keep your hands to yourself!’

The visitor recoiled instantly, but he was far too professional to give his horror free rein. Instead, his features became a mask. With a slow, careful dip of his head, he addressed her gravely. ‘Scusi, signora.’

Glaring, Kira took two steps backwards. His assault had been so swift and sure she hardly expected him to stop so suddenly. She had no idea what to do next. If this was Signor Stefano Albani, billionaire, then he was nothing like any of the rich men she had worked with in the past. They were predictable, humourless and would never have dreamed of such a stunt. In contrast, Stefano Albani looked ready for anything. He was fit and he was handsome in a tense, distracted way. Standing straight and tall before her, he seemed quite unfazed by her rebuff. He brushed his shirtsleeves down over his bare brown arms and fastened his unbuttoned cuffs.

‘I mistook you for someone else, I’m sorry. It was arranged that I should meet the property agent here. Do you know where I can find her?’ he asked in his softly accented English.

‘She’s probably at home by now, having dealt with at least two more clients in the time it took you to get here,’ Kira snapped, still unsettled by the unexpected embrace. Stefano’s face remained expressionless, but his eyes glittered, and suddenly Kira regretted her rudeness to this rather formidable man. Then his mouth curled with sudden humour.

‘Dio—it’s been a long time since anyone spoke to me like that!’

In that puzzled instant, years fell away from his face and he looked much younger. Kira was momentarily thrown off balance. His beautiful eyes and quizzical expression were almost too much to bear. She had to swallow hard before she spoke again, but she’d be damned if she’d let him walk all over her just because she couldn’t stop staring at his mouth.

‘I’m sorry, signore, but you have turned up over three hours late—without any apology—and flown ridiculously low over this valley, terrifying the wildlife and ruining a beautiful evening,’ she said firmly, quailing slightly inside as his expression turned stormy. Someone like this didn’t hear enough straight talking in his working life. He had just said as much himself.

‘If I have caused offence, I apologise,’ he said, slightly stiffly. ‘Not having the neighbours flying in overhead all the time is a big selling point as far as I am concerned.’ Then his features softened. ‘I am Stefano Albani, by the way. I’m interested in buying the Bella Terra estate. That’s why I assumed you were Miss Barrett, the agent. I thought you were welcoming me with cries of delight!’ he joked, searching her expression as he spoke, his mocking eyes somehow piercing her outraged manner and making it irritatingly difficult to stay angry.

‘Well, I wasn’t,’ Kira said, biting back everything else she felt like telling him. She had to tread carefully. Stefano Albani might have arrived late and lascivious, but there was, unfortunately, a chance he would become her new neighbour and there was no point in making it more difficult than it had to be.

Stefano compressed his lips at the note of accusation in her voice.

He has a really beautiful mouth, Kira caught herself thinking, before his frown dragged her attention back to the Mediterranean depths of his eyes.

‘A delay put me behind schedule, and I wanted to get here as fast as I could. That meant flying. Besides, the disturbance was over in a few seconds. I’m sure the valley has recovered from much worse over the years. People always try to imprint themselves on the countryside. The land shakes them all off, sooner or later.’

Kira’s alarm must have shown in her face. He quickly softened his tone and added, ‘You have my promise that it won’t happen again. There will be no low flying in this valley after I move in.’

His words were quite definite, but the essence of a smile still hovered around his lips. When he looked like that, it was impossible for Kira to look away. There was plenty to see. With the air cleared between them, his eyes were now the untroubled blue of a perfect Italian sky. His dark hair was a riot of soft curls, short enough to be neat but long enough to move slightly in the warm air rising from the parched earth at their feet. He was undoubtedly powerful, but it was the strength of steel hawsers rather than unsophisticated animal bulk. Unlike the millionaires Kira had worked for in the past, this man looked as though he used his body as hard as his brain. She could never imagine him parked behind a computer console. She wished she had paid more attention when Amanda Barrett had been rabbiting on about the wonderful Signor Albani. At the time, Kira had shut her ears. Thank goodness the estate agent wasn’t here now. She would have fallen for this man like a lead weight.

It’s all too easy to see how women must do that, Kira thought darkly. With bewildered fascination, she wondered why they didn’t see him for what he must really be—a rich pleasure seeker with no thought for anyone but himself. She could tell exactly the sort of man he was, simply by the way he brimmed with self-assurance. Kira watched him looking up at the grand old building as though he already owned it. She tried to ignore a shiver of apprehension, and told herself looks meant nothing. He hadn’t stepped over the villa’s threshold yet. How could he be so sure this was the place for him?

‘We’ll see—if you move in,’ she replied grimly, wondering if she held any influence over his purchase. Maybe it’s time to forget what I think about Stefano Albani, and start wondering what he might be thinking about me, Kira told herself. Stefano seemed like the kind of man who might actually thrive on opposition rather than avoid it. She decided to try and muffle her objections, for as long as it took this man to make up his mind about the villa and estate. She told herself sharply that this had nothing to do with not wanting to appear like an angry shrew in front of such a gorgeous man.

‘The fact is, signore, I was only waiting here with the estate details and keys, because I was confident you would never turn up,’ she told him. ‘I had my whole evening planned until you dropped out of the sky—’

‘And wrecked all your plans?’

Kira’s scowl returned. ‘I was going to say you gave me the fright of my life and apologise for the way I reacted,’ she replied frostily.

Stefano said nothing. Instead, he reached out his hand. Kira stared woodenly at his smooth, pale palm until she realised what he was after. She pushed the property details at him. They had been turned around in her nervous hands for too long, and he had to smooth out some creases before he could begin to read.

‘What did I stop you doing this evening?’ he asked after a few moments’ study. His eyes never left the printed page, so the question caught Kira off guard.

‘Nothing, as usual,’ she replied instantly, before remembering what she had said to him in the heat of her anger.

He looked up from the brochure with a smile that glittered like pearl against his golden skin.

‘In that case, why don’t you show me around this old place?’

The offer was so unexpected, Kira replied without thinking. ‘Oh, I’d love to!’

She regretted the words in an instant. This wasn’t her job. She had no business here. She had simply offered to hand over the details and keys, before disappearing. That was the deal—nothing more. She tried to backtrack. ‘Yes, I’d love to, Signor Albani, although I’m only a neighbour.’ She looked up at the lovely old house and heaved a long, heartfelt sigh. ‘I don’t really know anything about the place. I’ve only seen inside one or two rooms before—’

‘“It has been owned by an Englishman for many years,”’ Stefano read aloud from the notes. ‘Do you know him?’

‘Sir Ivan was my client. I was his landscape consultant. That’s all,’ she added hurriedly.

‘I suppose you two English people both “kept yourselves to yourselves,” in that well-worn phrase?’ Stefano’s wry smile made Kira feel defensive. However right he may be, she didn’t like that he assumed so much about her. Piqued, she ignored her impulse to refuse him.

‘I’ll gladly show you around outside, signore. There’s no one who knows more than I do about the estate and the gardens here, but you’ll be better off with the brochure when it comes to viewing the house.’

‘You’re a landscape consultant, you say?’ His smile dimmed as he looked her over with a different intensity. Kira reddened as he studied her working clothes of dusty jeans and simple white shirt. Seeing her reaction, his generous mouth lifted in a grin.

‘But why are we wasting time out here talking, when we could be looking around this beautiful house? If I know English women—which I do,’ he said in a way that needed absolutely no explanation, ‘I’m sure you are as keen as I am to get inside the villa and have a good look around. So come with me now. What do you say?’

There was nothing Kira could say. He was talking about a tour of the house she had spent two years dreaming and wondering about. She had been trying to pluck up the nerve to have a peek inside before he arrived, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Now he was inviting her in…

Without waiting for her answer, he started forward. Holding the Bella Terra brochure in one hand, he touched her waist lightly with the other. Kira found herself drawn gently towards the big old building. His pat of encouragement was enjoyable in a way she did not want it to be. Putting on a little more speed, she moved fractionally ahead of his hand. She reached the steps of the house just in front of him. Then there was a pause as Stefano used the great iron key to unlock the door. Standing aside, he let Kira enter first. Still she hesitated. She was desperate to poke around the villa, but on her own. Quite apart from him possibly becoming the villa’s next owner, exploring such a beautiful place with Stefano Albani felt somehow much too intimate.

Stefano had none of her misgivings. His hand connected with her waist again, gently urging her to enter. A little sigh left Kira’s lips. It felt dangerously like the sound of her scorn softening around the edges. He stayed where he was, but inclined his head politely. ‘After you. I need to see everything, so I’m afraid this may take some time.’

He spoke softly, but with absolute authority. He was acting as though the house already belonged to him. Kira coloured guiltily. She had enjoyed the run of this valley for so long she considered it to be her own private haven. Now she finally had a chance to look around the villa at its heart, but the company of such a man added an extra frisson of excitement. If she was honest, it was the surprising intensity of this feeling which was making her hesitate.

What if she couldn’t think of enough to say? She had got out of the habit of small talk. Flustered, she looked around wildly for help. Why, she had no idea. There was no one for miles. She had never felt so alone. This man scrambled her brains. He had totally blown away all her common sense. She looked into his eyes and saw things she recognised from the reflection in her bathroom mirror each morning. His blue eyes spoke words that never reached his lips, and she knew that look. Aside from his dangerously smooth assurance, there might be a deeper, darker reason to beware. He might have secrets like hers hiding beneath that sophisticated surface. Unaccountably, she felt the need to peel away his seductive veneer and find out the truth beneath the image.

The weight of Stefano’s hand began to rest against her a little more noticeably. At first it had been the merest brush of his fingertips. Now his palm settled gently in the hollow of her back, like falling snow.

With terrifying clarity, Kira imagined it sliding around to encircle her waist again. It felt so good, it had to be wrong. Swallowing hard, she suppressed every wild, unfamiliar instinct and announced quietly, ‘Please don’t touch me, Signor Albani.’

His hand fell away. He stepped back, surprised.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m positive.’

He stared at her, trying to puzzle out her expression. Kira willed herself to return his look blandly.

‘That’s interesting,’ he murmured at length.

After studying her face, he let his gaze drift at leisure over her body.

‘First you answer me back, but now you’re as nervous as a kitten,’ he mused, his eyes hooded with thought. ‘I came to look at property. It seems that’s not the only thing around here that might be worth investigating.’

Chapter Two

‘DON’T flatter me, or yourself,’ Kira muttered, beginning to fuss with the belt of her jeans. It felt wrong to be exploring such a place in her dusty work clothes; somehow she felt that the villa demanded a sense of occasion. He was standing so close to her that the temptation to study him was next to irresistible. Instead, she concentrated on brushing herself down, removing any stray grass seeds before she crossed the threshold of the grand house.

‘Don’t worry. It’s a villa, not the Vatican!’ He chuckled, again exhibiting a disquieting ability to read her thoughts. ‘You look fine. You’re one of those women who look good in anything.’