The Count's Prize

He looked down at her sharply from his vantage point on the first landing. ‘You’re already a friend of the family, Josie, so to you I’m Antonia’s brother. Just call me Dario. It really would be my pleasure to show you to your suite,’ he finished firmly.

Josie followed him, although she had her reservations.

‘Are you sure you can find it?’ she said drily as they walked through a warren of corridors. All the flawless white plaster and polished woodwork made them look alike to her.

‘I have been rattling around inside this place all my life. Hasn’t Antonia told you why these floors are so shiny?’

Josie shook her head, smiling at the incongruous image of Dario with floor polish in hand.

‘I’d tie dusters to her feet and push her up and down, along all these miles of corridors. No matter how upset she was, that could always make her laugh.’

‘It’s hard to think of anyone being unhappy in a place as beautiful as this,’ she murmured.

‘People forget—there is more to life than just a lifestyle.’ Dario sighed, pushing open the nearest door. They were in the oldest part of the castle, where a huge lookout tower had been built within the shelter of its thick stone walls. It had been completely modernised, with a circular staircase leading up to a self-contained suite arranged on three floors. The first floor was laid out for dining and relaxing, while the second contained a bedroom and en suite bathroom.

‘—and finally,’ Dario announced as he led her up beyond the second floor doorway, ‘there’s something I call the solar …’

They had reached the top floor and he stepped out into a large circular room with windows facing in every direction. There were glass panels set into the roof too, so the whole space was flooded with light. It felt almost as free as being outside, but with the benefit of a sophisticated air-conditioning system.

‘Wow …’ Josie breathed, but couldn’t say anything more. She walked around the sunlit interior, taking in its panoramic views of the Tuscan countryside. The atmosphere outside was as clear as vodka. Pencil-slim cypress stood out like exclamation marks against rolling fields of arid grass, sunflowers and the green corrugations of the estate’s vineyards.

‘You should see it after nightfall,’ Dario told her, waiting until she paused before strolling slowly over to stand beside her. ‘It’s a scene of black velvet, full of possibilities. Headlights streaking along the Florence road … is it a triumph or a tragedy, a baby arriving or a lover departing? It’ll be hard for you to pick out the little farmhouses scattered across my land until you know the area better, but by night Luigi’s house, Enrico’s olive grove and Federico’s farmhouse will all be recognisable.’ His voice dropped to a wistful note. ‘I come up here sometimes to sit in the silence and wonder what they’re all doing.’

He was standing so close to her, Josie could feel his presence as well as catch the delicious drift of his aromatic aftershave. It gave her a tremulous feeling deep inside her body.

What’s happening to me? I’ve come here to work, she thought in alarm, glancing up at him.

Dario was gazing out across the view, lost in thought. At that moment, as though feeling her gaze fall on him, he turned his head and their eyes met. Another sensuous ripple thrilled straight through her.

And, as if knowing what was on her mind, Dario granted her a slow, sweet, irresistible smile.

CHAPTER TWO

JOSIE’S mind and body churned as she almost drowned in Dario’s gaze.

It must have been like this with Andy and that woman at the university, she thought with a shiver. I can’t risk getting between this man and the girlfriend he’s bound to have hidden away somewhere.

After what felt like an eternity, she managed to regain enough control to step away from him, as if to take a tour around the room.

‘This suite is wonderful, Dario, but it’s way out of my league. Don’t you have anything smaller?’ she asked, desperately trying to bring them both back to earth.

He looked startled for a moment, then laughed.

‘This isn’t a hotel! As I kept telling Antonia, you don’t have to pay anything at all for your visit, Josie. As her friend, you have a standing invitation to stay here whenever you like, for as long as you like. Surely she passed on my message?’

‘She did, but I always pay my own way.’

‘And the local hospital fund was very grateful when I forwarded your contribution.’ Dario grinned. ‘So why don’t we pretend your generosity qualified you for a complimentary upgrade?’

Josie hesitated, but decided that she had made her point.

‘In which case, thank you, Dario. But I’m afraid you won’t get much chance to look out of these windows while I’m staying here,’ she told him, and herself, briskly. ‘This looks like the perfect place for me to spread out my finds and paperwork. It’s well away from everyone else, so we won’t disturb each other. Thank you for bringing me up here.’

Dario gave her a smile of silent amusement. The meaning in her clipped words was only too obvious. She wanted to be alone, so he slowly headed back towards the door.

‘You’re trying so hard not to let yourself go, aren’t you?’ he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

He turned to face her, and then grinned again. ‘That blush tells me you’ve been taking too much notice of Antonia’s stories, Josie.’ He chuckled, his rich Florentine accent making her name sound incredibly beautiful. ‘Be assured that, as my sister’s best friend, you are quite safe. From me, at least.’

‘Anyone coming on to me would be making a mistake, Dario,’ she said firmly, ‘and I’d be making an even bigger mistake if I fell for it,’ she added. Her voice stopped his smile in an instant.

‘I suppose that’s understandable, when you’ve seen what has happened to Antonia.’

‘And to me.’

His eyes flashed dangerously. ‘You don’t mean that waster Rick tried it on with you, too?’

‘No—no! I just assumed Antonia had told you about—’ Josie stopped, and mentally hugged her friend. Antonia must have been very discreet. ‘That is … I mean … I had a similar experience, though it was nothing compared to what Toni’s been through. At the time I tried to warn her, but it was hard when she was so happy.’

His expression turned into one she couldn’t quite identify. ‘Knowing Antonia, trying to warn her off was a rash move. And yet you’re still friends?’

‘Of course.’

Dario’s dark, finely arched eyebrows shot up. ‘Weren’t you afraid she would dump you for trying to make her see sense?’

‘Oh, yes, but I felt I had no choice. I couldn’t bear to stand back and watch her throw away all her hard work for a man who was nothing but a lightweight—if you know what I mean.’

Her glance flicked around the palatial surroundings of her suite. She hoped he wouldn’t take her words personally. Seeing all the brand new luxury decorating the age-old splendour of the Castello Sirena, Josie decided she was going to like staying here, despite its attractively distracting Count.

‘I most certainly do know. I get plenty of gold diggers prospecting around me,’ he said grimly.

Josie laughed. ‘The only digging I’m interested in is the historical sort. So if you’ve got any ancestral skeletons hidden in your wardrobe, I’m the one to find out where their bodies are buried. Your dark secrets are your own affair, though!’

She was still glancing idly around the room as she spoke. When he didn’t reply, she looked back at him quizzically. For a second, there was such a depth of feeling in his irresistible dark eyes that not even Dario could hide it. The instant she trapped his gaze, the look vanished. His expression was left as bland as any first-time house guest could wish for, but Josie wasn’t fooled for a second.

In that instant she had seen a genuine reaction from a man who must be as used to putting on a public face as she was. Somehow, Josie knew, she had touched Dario di Sirena on a raw nerve. The man was hiding something. She had no idea what it was, or what she had done to provoke him.

All she knew was that she would have to be on the alert from that moment on.

Dario rarely allowed himself to be anything but alert. He had been born an aristocrat, and now fell back on the full force of his upbringing. He kissed her hand again and covered his momentary lapse with his most charming smile, which usually distracted even the most stubborn woman. Except … it didn’t have that effect on Dr Josie Street. Right now her green eyes were as bright and hard as emeralds, and her long silky lashes could do nothing to soften her curious, intelligent gaze. For a moment, she’d forgotten to be shy. Then a lock of hair dared to escape from the band that was holding her severe ponytail in place and she snatched back her hand. The wayward strand was scraped irritably behind her ear and she turned her back on him to fuss with her suitcases.

Dario chose to take the hint. ‘Goodbye, Josie. I hope you enjoy your stay here.’

‘I’m sure I shall, Dario. Especially when Toni and Fabio get back here next week.’

‘You could still join them both in Rimini now, if you like.’ Dario lifted his tennis racket again and began idly spinning it over his palm. ‘I could arrange transport for you right away.’ For some reason, the thought of Josie and her all-too-perceptive gaze staying here for the week made him uneasy.