Kate Hardy – Once A Playboy...: Resisting the Sicilian Playboy / Her Playboy's Proposal / The Playboy's Proposal (страница 16)

Leo stood up, then remained deathly still, his breathing laboured and heat high on his cheekbones. ‘You’re the one who walked over to me, Dara.’

‘I didn’t kiss you like—like that,’ she stammered, trying desperately to get her ragged breathing under control.

‘Are you angry because I kissed you or because you liked it a little too much?’

‘We barely know each other. I don’t do things like this.’

It wasn’t a lie. The thought of casual sex was an entirely foreign concept to her. But right now her panic had nothing to do with morals and more to do with the thought of getting close to any man again.

‘I make you lose control, Dara. That’s what you don’t like. I don’t know why you’re so afraid of letting yourself have pleasure.’

‘Don’t assume that you know me—or how I feel.’ She shook her head.

He didn’t know what it was like to have your life plan taken away without warning. To have a man you trusted shatter your entire self-worth to pieces. She could very easily use sex with Leo to unwind and forget about the memories bubbling to the surface. But she wouldn’t, and that was her choice to deal with.

Leo shrugged with finality, clearly done with arguing over the matter. ‘Fair enough. Let me know when you change your mind.’

She walked to her bedroom door, looking back one more time to where he stood like a Greek god in the middle of the ornate living room.

‘I won’t.’

* * *

‘It’s so nice to have our Leo back—isn’t it, girls?’

The Lucchesi family sat together in the formal sitting room of their historic Palermo villa. Umberto Lucchesi was known for collecting what he perceived to be pieces amongst his country’s greatest treasures. His love of historic architecture was inherited from his aristocratic lineage.

Gloria smiled indulgently as her two teenaged daughters nodded politely in unison, and Leo laid his hand on top of Dara’s, feeling her tense slightly. Her face belied her discomfort but she smiled at him—a warm smile no doubt intended to display affection.

He could see the confusion in her eyes, sense how distant she had become since last night. His night had consisted of a very cold shower and a much needed glass of whisky.

She had enjoyed kissing him, and what had followed afterwards, much more than she’d intended to. He remembered the way the soft curves of her breasts had felt beneath his palms. She was a well of heat under all that ice. But now, knowing how good her skin tasted, it made it even more difficult to sit close to her without throwing her over his shoulder like a caveman and finding the nearest bed.

The only problem now was that he wondered if he would ever get enough. She was intoxicating. Since they had arrived at dinner he’d found himself touching her at every excuse. He had no doubt that she would come to him before the night was through—he could see it in the sultry way she kept regarding him every time she thought he wasn’t looking. She was at war with her precious rules, but he had a feeling he knew who would win out.

She shot him another glance as he laid his hand against the warmth of her back.

His uncle interrupted his erotic thoughts. ‘Leo, let’s take a cigar outside and let the women chat.’ Umberto gestured for him to follow him out onto the back terrace.

Leo regretfully closed the door behind them, leaving Dara inside to talk with his aunt and cousins. It was clear that his uncle knew why he was here. He had gotten him alone...now all he needed to do was appeal to the man’s logic and speed up this deal. Then he could focus on Dara.

‘So, nephew. You’ve played your hand well.’ Umberto lit a cigar, letting the smoke billow in the air between them. He offered one to Leo.

Leo refused with a wave of his hand.

Umberto huffed out a cloud of smoke, looking up at the darkening evening sky. ‘So, tell me, is using the blonde a vital part of your plan or just a little extra fun while you’re here?’

‘Dara and I have been seeing each other for a while now.’

‘Spare me the lies, Valente. You know I don’t take well to them.’ The older man scowled. ‘She’s too good for a low life like you. She’s got character.’

Leo felt a prickle of unease at the back of his neck. ‘Umberto, whatever happened between my father and you is history. I am the furthest thing from him there is.’

‘I can tell by your reputation that you have no value for family. That was Valente’s worst trait. A Sicilian man puts his family first.’

‘My choice of lifestyle is irrelevant. I am the most obvious choice for your development. It’s clear to everyone around you and yet you refuse to cut me in. I have the expertise and the resources.’

‘I’m not talking about the womanising. Although I do prefer to do business with family men who know the true meaning of responsibility.’ Umberto narrowed his eyes, glowering at Leo with a look of unbridled anger. ‘You want to know why I’m blocking this deal? I refuse to do business with someone who treats their own flesh and blood like dirt.’

Leo felt the comment cut him deep. He knew Umberto was alluding to his mother. To the way she had been treated by his father—and by Leo, to a certain extent.

‘Your father sent my sister into an early grave. The Valente name means nothing to me but selfishness and betrayal.’

‘My mother put herself into that grave, Uncle. She committed suicide. She was not the woman you think she was.’

‘She was not perfect, no. But she deserved better than to be locked away like a dirty little secret.’

Leo felt the pain of his uncle’s words cut to his core. His mother had deserved better—they both had. The only person to blame for the life they’d led was his father. But he refused to argue over a bunch of ghosts when his goal was within touching distance. Memories belonged in the past, where they couldn’t hurt anybody.

‘I’m not here to talk about ancient history. I’m here to talk about the Isola project. I thought that by coming here peacefully, healing the rift between us, we could finally see each other as equals.’

‘We will never be equals as long as a Valente owns Lucchesi land.’

Leo thought of the castello in Monterocca. His mother’s family had owned Castello Bellamo for hundreds of years until she’d married a Valente and signed it away.

He spoke quietly, aware of Umberto’s unbridled anger at what he perceived to be yet another slight on his family name. ‘I am half-Lucchesi, remember?’

Umberto shook his head.

‘My mother would not be happy to know her brother was treating her son this way, Zio.’

Umberto raised one silvery brow. ‘Don’t play on my sentimentality. It doesn’t exist.’

Leo was exasperated. The man was just throwing block after block at him, leaving no room to negotiate. ‘What must I do to prove myself?’

‘You know what I want. The same thing I told your father I wanted the day he put my sister in the ground.’

Leo ran a hand down his face. He’d had a feeling it might come to this. ‘The castello is my birthright.’

‘It was built with Lucchesi blood. My family have far more right to Bellamo.’

‘You’re asking me to part with the place I called home for most of my childhood.’

‘If it holds such sentimental value for you why have you left it to rot? You want in on the Isola project? You know what I want.’

The older man walked back inside, leaving Leo alone on the terrace with nothing but the sound of the waves rushing against the rocks in the gulf.

Too much quiet made him irritable, and he was grateful when Dara came to find him moments later.

‘How did it go?’ she enquired.

‘As well as I imagined it would.’ He shrugged. ‘He has made it clear what it will take to let me in on the deal.’

‘Is it something you can do?’ she asked innocently, handing him a glass of wine.

‘It would complicate a lot of things. Upset some people.’

He thought of Dara’s face when he told her of his plan for the castello. He had heard her on the phone to her client, confirming their contract details. He had offered Dara a complete solution to her problems—a chance to further her business to the next level and avoid ruin. How was he going to tell her that he had to take it all away?

Their contract had loopholes in his favour—he had made sure of that in case it came to this. He had known there was a possibility that Umberto was using the Isola deal to leverage him into signing over the castle, but he hadn’t planned on caring about who it might affect.

Dara looked at him thoughtfully. ‘You want that deal badly enough to have accepted my event pitch. I don’t see what can be so important that you would consider walking away from it now?’

Leo knew she had no idea what she was talking about, but she was right. They didn’t know each other well enough for him to take her feelings into account. He had no reason to feel guilty. The loss of the venue might cause her trouble, but he would pay her off. Make sure he lessened the financial blow.

He wouldn’t tell her straight away. He would wait at least until he had made his decision.

* * *

Dara noticed the stern set of Leo’s jaw as they got into the limo. It had been a long evening of polite conversation. The kind of conversation that arose when there was a lot of tension in the air. She noticed that the air of mischief that normally surrounded him had evaporated, to be replaced with a brooding distance.