Кристина Холлис – Irresistible Bachelors: The Count of Castelfino / Secretary by Day, Mistress by Night / Sweet Surrender with the Millionaire (страница 12)
Meg knew she would have to try and turn his interest to her advantage. With a supreme effort, she forced out a few coherent words.
‘Acting as an ambassador for you will be a great opportunity to show my skills to a wider audience. I’ll be able to network with people who can be useful to us both. I think it’s a great idea, Gianni. Do you have any other suggestions about what I should wear?’
For the second time in as many minutes he was visibly surprised by her words. His scrutiny became slightly less seductive, but much more wary.
‘Hmm…I’m beginning to think I may have misjudged you, Megan. If you’re so uncertain about clothes, you need specialist advice. I’m not running the risk of you turning up in chain-store chic, no matter how
He stood up and went around to sit behind his desk again. After making a quick request through his intercom, he folded his hands on his desk. In that position he looked every inch the successful businessman. Meg could only marvel at the transformation from seducer to tycoon, but nothing could stop his true spirit gleaming through his patina of ruthless efficiency for long.
‘There—I’ve had the best shops in Florence put on standby. I’ve got accounts with all these…’ opening a drawer in his desk, he pulled out an indexed folder and dropped it onto his blotter ‘…and I send women in there all the time to treat themselves to pretty things,’ he said airily.
Meg hoped he meant business-wear for the girls from his outer office. The secret smile playing around his lips as he peeled the top copy from a pile of papers made her doubt that very much.
‘Any one of these places will soon fix you up with something sexy but suitable.’
He slid a single sheet of paper across the desk towards her. Meg picked it up and looked at the neatly printed list of designer names. The only place she had seen them before was in glossy magazines in the dentist’s waiting room back in England. She stared at it, wondering how she would have the nerve to cross the threshold of any of the shops on his list.
‘Any thoughts?’ he said nonchalantly.
Meg didn’t know how to put them into words. Her parents’ debts had indirectly cost her the job of her dreams. Now she had worked her way up to an even better career, was it going to bankrupt her?
‘All these places sound pretty…exclusive,’ she said carefully.
‘You don’t think I’d bother opening accounts with anywhere less than perfect?’
Meg pursed her lips. She had managed to persuade Gianni not to sack her once. If she disagreed with him over this, he might change his mind. Her fear of snooty shop assistants looking down on her fought with her terror of poverty. She had seen how that could wreck lives. It wasn’t something she could face a second time. Her wages for working on the Castelfino estate meant she would be able to send impressive amounts of money home each month. Although the Imsey family’s plant centre was thriving now, Meg knew how narrow the line was between comfort and disaster. Her mother and father had teetered along that tightrope for too long in the past. She wanted to make sure they had plenty of funds to withstand whatever life might throw at them in the future. This job was a magnificent opportunity to build up a nest egg for them. That way, she could be sure bankruptcy wasn’t lurking around every corner.
‘Of course not—and that’s what worries me,’ she confessed. ‘I need every penny of my wages. Shops like the ones on this list probably charge a fee for looking in their windows!’
Gianni leaned across his desk toward her, wrinkling his brow. ‘That’s what accounts are for, Megan. Everything will be charged to me. You won’t pay a cent.’ He used the slow, carefully enunciated speech usually reserved for speaking to small children.
She almost collapsed with relief. Then she realised she might be walking straight into a trap. The bait was sweet as honey, but she had one exceptionally good reason not to take it. Exactly how thankful would Gianni expect her to be? Her body wanted to get closer to him, there was no denying that. This would give him the ideal opportunity to tempt her further. That was why her mind was determined to hold her back. Her experiences with ex-boyfriend Gavin had given her a taste of what some men were like. She knew from experience that a man who spent money on a woman thought he had a say in her life. Accepting Gianni’s generosity might lead to all sorts of things…
She looked once again into the deep, dark pools of sensuality that were his eyes. There wouldn’t be any harm in accepting his generosity, her body cooed. A smile was already warming her face as she raised her eyes from the list in her hand.
‘That’s more than I ever expected, and very kind of you, Gianni,’ she said, and was rewarded with a laugh that enclosed her in a warm, protective force field. It gave her enough courage to face the curiosity of his fearsomely glamorous assistants in the outer office again. Assuming her audience with him was finished, she stood up. As she turned to go he checked his watch.
‘Wait—I’m about to leave for the Florence office. I can give you a lift. While I’m busy, you can shop. We’ll meet up again afterwards, and I’ll bring you home.’
Meg stopped. Those few words sent her into total meltdown. Time alone with Gianni in his office was one thing. Travelling with him was something else.
‘Fine, b-but I’ll need to change first!’ she stammered, already halfway to the door.
‘There’s no time. You look great as you are,’ he announced, although Meg noticed he didn’t actually look at her as he said it.
‘And then there’s my work—I can’t just disappear without telling my staff what’s happening, Gianni! Why don’t you arrange a car, while I go back and leave some instructions for the men?’
He grinned and pulled a jangling collection of keys from his pocket. ‘Oh, no, you don’t! I know all there is to know about women. If I don’t keep my eyes on you, you’ll head straight for Garden Cottage and spend the next two hours delaying me while you get ready. I’ll come with you, every step of the way.’
Meg wasn’t about to stop him. His presence at her shoulder kept her nerves singing with anticipation. He shadowed her as she went back to the kitchen garden and completed all her meticulous checks. All the time, Meg knew he was watching. She felt his gaze running over her like quicksilver. It only slid away whenever she tried to catch his eye.
‘What is happening to Imsey’s Plant Centre while you are enjoying yourself here in Italy?’ he said as they walked out through the garden gates and went to find his car.
‘I ring home every day to find out. On my mobile, of course,’ Meg added hurriedly so he wouldn’t think she was running up a bill on the estate account. ‘Mum and Dad say they are coping, but I’m still worried. I’m afraid they don’t tell me everything. That’s what happened last time.’ She bit her lip.
‘It seems strange to take a job far away from home when you’re so devoted to them.’ Gianni snapped off a tall stem of ornamental grass in passing and rubbed the embryo grains between his fingers.
‘I had to.’ Meg stared at the seed head in his hands, remembering. ‘When your father offered me this job, it was the perfect opportunity. Helping them so successfully gave me the confidence to look for another challenge. I could strike out on my own, and begin building my career afresh.’
Her words slowed as she thought back to the one thing that had really kick started her new life. It was the night at Chelsea, when she had first met Gianni. For weeks afterwards she had fantasised about him. Then her life had turned upside down with the offer of this job, and now she was walking through a Tuscan estate beside him. It was a dream come true…almost. She tried not to notice the sunshine glittering over his raven-dark hair, or the beautiful cast of his features. It was becoming really difficult to keep work at the forefront of her mind.
‘I’d secured Mum and Dad’s business, and it was my time to shine again,’ she added, dragging herself back to reality.
‘And then out of the blue I received your father’s letter, giving me the chance to pitch for the position of his Curator of Exotic Plants. He’d been impressed with me. We spent a very long time talking together at the flower show. I never dreamed you were related, but, thinking about it, that must have been his handwriting in your notebook.’
‘That’s right. He sent me to seek you out, so he must have been impressed.' Gianni nodded.
‘Mum and Dad said they didn’t need my help any more at the nursery, so here I am.’
They reached his car. The sleek black Ferrari crouched on the gravel like a wild cat. It was a great distraction from her problems, and she couldn’t resist smiling.
‘I’d never been close to anything like this until I came to Italy,’ she breathed.
‘Why? What do you drive?’