The Italian's Blushing Gardener

chapter Nine



ONE long, luxurious bath later, Kira slipped into the single evening dress she had packed. It was a silky little emerald number she had worn for the most recent Chelsea gala night.

I’ll show Stefano that when it comes to his charms, I can be chilled steel. I can resist him, she told herself a hundred times.

The mirror told a different story. Her eyes were dark with arousal. The tip of her tongue rested against the glossy cushion of her lower lip as she pinned her mane of auburn hair up into a sophisticated coil. The sight made her smile. She looked good, and knew it. Loose tendrils danced over the creamy curves of her neck and shoulders. Her dress was a sumptuous slither of sequinned silk. Its opulent shade of green complemented the rich tawny of her hair. With every movement it shimmered like the sea.

As she twirled and swirled in front of the full-length mirror, Kira went on deceiving herself. Instead of trying to put Stefano off by dressing like a drudge, she would make this evening still more of a challenge by making herself irresistible. Then, when he tried to seduce her and failed, her triumph would be complete. After all, when we met I was only dressed in dusty jeans and look what happened then! It’s not the clothes he should be interested in, but what is inside them, she told herself, managing to limit her self-delusion right at the end. There was absolutely no point in imagining he was only interested in her brain. To her horror, the reflection looking back from the glass smiled instead of frowned. Stefano Albani was all man. He had proved it to her any number of times during their fantastic night together.

She checked her appearance again. Her smile faltered, and then returned with added self-assurance. She loved this dress, and for once the torture of a social occasion was going to be sweet, sweet, sweet.


She added one last finishing touch. It was truly spectacular. With her first impressive pay cheque, Kira had spoiled herself with a real diamond necklace. It contained the smallest stones in captivity, brilliantly cut and cleverly set to make them look larger. Tiny they might be, but she was really proud of her necklace. It didn’t matter to her that she never went anywhere she could wear it. That wasn’t the point. It was beautiful, and it was hers.

She laid the galaxy of tiny stars against her skin and fastened the catch. Then she took the matching earrings from their royal-blue velvet bed. It had taken her a further two years of careful saving to add them to her collection, and this was the first time they had been out of the box. Finally, glittering like moonlight on the sea, she set off on the nerve-racking walk to Stefano’s bungalow.





Her nerves were tuned to a high C of tension by the time she reached his apartment. They weren’t helped by movement sensors switching on a battery of security lights. Startled by the sudden blaze, a deer shot away through the undergrowth. It leapt like her heart as it dived into cover. That close shave did nothing for Kira’s nerves. Feeling like a prisoner on the run under all the lights, she started up the front steps. Raising her hand, she knocked hesitantly. Five…ten…fifteen seconds passed with no reply. Then she noticed the bell. The bungalow was so large, the chances were that Stefano hadn’t heard her nervous tapping. She leaned on the bell, and heard it echoing through the building beyond. He must have heard it, but it still felt an awfully long time passed between pressing the button and seeing the bungalow door open.

‘Kira.’

Stefano loomed in the doorway, dressed in an immaculate white shirt and dark trousers. He looked magnificent, but it was his expression that snatched her breath away. He was looking at her with the same illicit pleasure she had seen in her reflection only a few moments before. ‘You look incredible.’

‘Thank you!’ she said breathlessly, relying on the glittering diamonds, sequins, lipgloss and nail polish to speak for her. It was a risky venture. There was a fine line between untouchable beauty and come-hither.

He stepped back from the door with an inviting gesture. ‘Come in and make yourself comfortable.’

Kira followed him into the bungalow. The building smelled of new money and even newer paint. It was as tasteful as her own apartment, and just as soulless.

‘I’ve given most of my staff the evening off.’

Kira stared at him. He returned her look with one that danced with silent amusement.

Escape was still not impossible. She could have reached out and touched the door from where she was standing. All it needed was a quick goodnight. She could make some excuse and slip out into the safety of darkness, beyond the security lighting.

She didn’t do any of those things. Instead, she looked around. Rather than cowering by the door, she began to unfold like a flower. After all, she told herself, there’s no triumph in running away. She had accepted Stefano’s invitation. If she took up the challenge of treating him like a trustworthy employer rather than a casual lover, that was even better.

Stefano began moving around the room with careful deliberation. Under Kira’s gaze, he shook sofa cushions and dragged scattered magazines into a pile.

‘Now you’ve had time to settle into your own apartment, why don’t you have a look around here, and tell me what you think?’ he asked her as he prowled around.

‘I think you have a beautiful house, on a lovely island. The peace and quiet here make it almost as perfect as the Bella Terra valley,’ she said simply.

‘Almost?’ Stefano asked.

Kira didn’t answer him. The large main room of his apartment had been painted pale ochre, with the woodwork a slightly lighter shade. It was sparsely furnished, with polished boards rather than carpet on the floor. They gave it a rather hollow feeling. The whole atmosphere was light and bright rather than warm and welcoming. It echoed the impersonal touch that seemed to follow Stefano around, but she didn’t know how to explain it to him. Instead, she went to investigate two long leather couches and a beautiful large glass coffee table while he headed for the sound system.

‘Make yourself comfortable while I set things in motion. We’re dining on the mainland, so I’ll alert the launch.’ He walked towards the nearest telephone.

‘Oh…I thought we’d be eating here?’ Kira could not keep the disappointment from her voice. ‘Leaving this paradise and plunging back into the chaos of city life doesn’t appeal in the slightest.’

Stefano had been studying one of his works of art with a critical eye. When she said that, he stopped and looked straight at her instead. A slow smile spread across his face ‘Squisita! You are an unusual woman, Kira. Not everyone would choose a simple dinner rather than air-conditioned luxury.’

‘Well, I would,’ said Kira firmly. ‘You are so lucky, being able to escape from everyone and everything whenever you like.’

His art collection forgotten, Stefano’s attention was now firmly riveted on Kira. One hand in his pocket he strolled towards her, his eyes intent on her face.

‘Is that what you think?’

Kira looked askance. ‘Why would I say something I didn’t mean?’

‘You’d be surprised how many people do. All of the women I speak to, as a matter of fact. With one notable exception.’ He inclined his head to her, interest very obvious in his beautiful eyes.

‘That’s what living does for you.’ Kira was hardly aware of what she was saying. Only one thing mattered, and that was the lovely warm feeling that came from basking in his appreciation. ‘It’s easy to forget what life is actually about.’

‘And what do you think that is?’ He was looking at her with intensity and his expression demanded nothing less than the absolute truth.

‘I’d love to be able to say home and family, but I’ve only got experience of half that equation. I’ve got the home. It’s better than I ever dreamed it would be, but I’ve never known what a happy family feels like. My idea of what it must be like is hopelessly romantic. Please shoot all my delusions down in flames by telling me your Italian family background is full of fights and bad feeling, and not a bit like the cheerful stereotype!’ Kira tried to joke past the pain, but she wasn’t the only one with issues. For the first time in heart-stopping minutes, Stefano avoided her eyes. It was a painful reminder that she might not be the only person in the world hiding inner turmoil.

Walking over to the fully stocked bar that stood in a far corner of the room, he spooned ice cubes into two tall glasses. ‘What would you like?’

To take back the last thing I said, Kira thought, wishing she hadn’t rattled on so cheerfully. ‘I’ll have a St Clement’s, please,’ she muttered.

As a distraction, it worked perfectly. Stefano left the bar and stepped through a pair of French doors. Kira watched him reach out and select the ripest fruit from big old citrus trees shading the veranda. When he returned, so did his smile. In one hand he held a spray of polished, dark green leaves. Nestling at their heart was a cluster of waxy white blossoms and purple-stained buds. He held it out to her gallantly.

‘This is for you, to make up for the bouquet that would have been waiting for you at the restaurant in town.’

‘Thank you!’ she whispered, glowing with pleasure. The heavy, sweet fragrance stole through the warm evening air between them. ‘It’s lovely!’

‘Then it is exactly the right gift for you,’ he said quietly, moving in still closer. ‘Let me see how it can be fixed…’

‘No!’ Kira leapt back in alarm. It was already hard enough keeping him at arm’s length. When he lavished her with flowers and soft words, it was impossible. ‘I mean, no, thank you. The perfume is so powerful I’d rather have them in a vase on the table.’ And I can pretend to be looking at them, when I’m really looking at you! The words raced desperately through her mind as she watched him walk back to the bar. He halved all the fruit and extracted the juice with powerful but deft movements. Then he presented her with a perfect cocktail.

‘That’s really impressive. You handled that knife like a professional.’

‘Call it the legacy of a wasted youth,’ he said, mixing himself the driest of dry martinis.

‘I know all about that,’ she said with a shiver as the ice rattled enticingly in her glass.

Stefano’s shoulders visibly relaxed, as though he had ordered them to. Until that moment Kira had assumed he was always perfectly at ease. Now she knew better. The change in him was noticeable. The mask was back in place.

‘I doubt that very much, but we can discuss it over dinner. What would you like? Name it, and my chef will make it for you.’

He must have been through this routine with a thousand women. Kira heard the ring of fine crystal echoing again across the glade from his kitchens. No doubt they were getting ready to serve a meal fit for the latest princess of Silver Island. She had no intention of being a temporary attraction. The reason she was here was to stake her claim to something much more important than that. Caviar and champagne counted for nothing if it lacked one simple ingredient. She wanted Stefano’s respect. That was more important than any amount of cordon bleu cookery, and she intended to get it. Leaving her drink on the bar she strolled away to admire a piece of glass sculpture so that he would not see her smile.


‘Do you know what I’d really like, if it’s not too much trouble?’

‘Dressed in silk and diamonds? Do you want me to offend your sense of decency?’

Regarding him with a cool, steady gaze she said slowly, ‘I’ll tell you what would make my evening complete. Something utterly simple. No distractions.’

‘No oysters or asparagus?’

‘Aphrodisiacs? I don’t need them,’ she said simply.

He laughed, but for the first time the amusement never reached his eyes. As he phoned through to the kitchen, Kira watched him with intense interest. Moving restlessly beneath her gaze, he showed her into the dining room.

‘I’ll bet you can’t remember the last time you shared such a simple meal with a girl,’ she said idly.

There was nothing half-hearted about Stefano’s reaction.

“On the contrary, I’ll never forget it.’

His tone was so strange Kira shot a quick look at him. In profile he had a gaunt, distracted look she had never noticed before. As she watched, he collected himself and added, ‘She was a girl who knew her own mind, too. That’s the reason she’s not here to share all this, tonight.’ He pushed a hand out to indicate the luxury surrounding them. Kira could not help thinking of the svelte, glamorous Chantal.

‘Someone else who wouldn’t stand for your womanising ways?’ she said slyly. ‘So that makes two of us.’

‘No, only one.’

That must mean she won’t put up with it, but he thinks I will! Kira thought indignantly.

She was about to spring to her own defence, but the words died on her lips. Something about the way Stefano abruptly turned his back on her warned her to keep quiet. He walked over to the long, highly polished dining table. Closing his long sensitive fingers around one of the chairs, he pulled it out for her to sit down.

‘And now, no more questions. You accepted my invitation to dine, so it’s up to me to play the part of charming host.’ The tension drained from his voice as he watched her shimmer into her seat. Candles set in silver candelabra stood in the centre of the table. Stefano lit them. Instantly, a million sparkles danced over the diamonds at Kira’s throat. The same cold fire ran over her silken dress. It melted the frown creasing Stefano’s brow. She actually saw him catch his breath, and it was wonderful.

‘Kira…you have never looked lovelier,’ he murmured.

She couldn’t answer. Deep in her heart she hoped it was true, and wished she could believe him. While she was preening in front of her mirror, the thought of him had transformed her. Now he was working his magic on her in living, breathing reality. She felt fantastic, and he was telling her she looked it, too.

I have to put a stop to this. Right now, Kira told herself desperately. She was only here to prove to herself that she could resist him, that this was an adult, business relationship only…

But when Stefano looked at her in that way, only the first part of her brave statement was true. Business was the very last thing on her mind. The idea of a hot, very adult relationship with Stefano pushed everything else out into the cold.

Only a discreet knock at the door saved her. Swift, sure staff presented dinner on silver dishes and the finest china plates. Kira barely noticed the food. She could think of nothing but the tussle between her body’s needs and her common sense. Stefano was trouble; she knew it.

‘This is spectacular!’ she laughed as the waiters poured her a chilled glass of pinot grigio.

‘My guests always enjoy the best.’

‘Is this how you entertain all your women?’

‘No.’

Kira paused and looked along the table to where he was sitting. He looked up and met her eyes.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Then what do you do?’

His puzzled frown was exactly that—puzzled. However hard Kira tried to be suspicious, she couldn’t spot anything shifty in his expression.

‘Why this sudden obsession with other women?’ His gaze was equally searching.

‘You said I was only the second woman to stand up to you.’

He laughed. ‘Yes…’ He paused, clearly turning something over in his mind. ‘If you must know, each time you answer back you remind me of my little sister, Maria.’

‘Oh…I thought you were comparing me to…’

Kira’s voice sounded very small suddenly, as she became aware of how little she really knew this man. His eyes burned with cold fire.

‘No. Never.’

Kira’s mind worked with the speed of light. She pieced together enough hints to know this was a delicate area.

‘Were you very close to your sister?’ she risked, pretending to be busy with her meal.

‘We were inseparable. We had to be, on the streets. She had no one else to protect her.’

He dropped his fork with a clatter. Kira looked up sharply. Elbows on the table, his fingers were netted in front of his mouth as though to stop any more words escaping.

‘Maria was very lucky to have a brother like you looking after her,’ she said, hoping to sidestep the awkward subject. Stefano was not so tactful.

‘It was people like me who made the streets dangerous in the first place,’ he muttered.

‘I don’t think so.’ Kira tried to pacify him, but she was desperate to hear more. ‘You must have been different, even then. You told me how you started your own business.’

‘Maria’s death was the only reason I changed.’

He stopped talking, and looked up to meet her eyes. He saw only sympathy and willingness to listen. Taking a deep breath, he continued, his voice hoarse and seeming to force the words out. It was the first time he’d told anyone the truth for more than twenty years. ‘She was killed when a raid on a shop went wrong. She hadn’t wanted to go—I convinced her, saying it was “for the good of the family.” It was my fault. From that moment on I vowed to turn my life around, and I did.’

‘Maria would be really proud of you now.’

Stefano exhaled so heavily all the candle flames fluttered.

‘I’m not so sure. When I decided to go straight, I made a clean break. Since her funeral, I haven’t spoken to any members of my family. I turned my back on them all when I abandoned that way of life. It was the only way to get out. The last time I saw any of them was when I was acting as a witness for the prosecution.’

Oh, why did I have to open my big mouth? Kira thought desperately. She wanted to reach out and comfort him, but didn’t dare. Where would that lead for either of them? Placing her knife and fork carefully on her plate she hoped for inspiration. None came. Instead, Stefano sprang to his feet when he saw she had finished. Collecting the remains of their meal, he carried it out to the kitchen. Kira fought the impulse to follow him. She desperately wanted to apologise for raising the subject, hold him, share his pain and tell him everything would be okay. It was impossible. Stefano wasn’t that sort of man. Expecting an agonising wait, she was relieved when he came back almost immediately with a confection of tropical fruit sorbets. They glittered like jewels set in crystal dishes.

‘There are sponge cakes and wafers, too, in case you share Maria’s appetite as well as her temper,’ he told her, sounding perfectly normal. There was no trace of the anguish she expected. All the self-control was back in place. Astonished, Kira looked up into his gaze. He was expressionless again, but something in her questioning face seemed to relax him.

‘You’re right, Kira. There are plenty of things about my life of which Maria would be proud. I’d never thought of that until you said it.’

‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ she said as he placed the delicious dessert in front of her.

‘No. I’d genuinely never considered it. All I focused on was losing her, and then the rest of my family. I knew there had to be more to life than crime and handouts. I made myself master of my own destiny. Working gave me an outlet, and an escape. I channelled all my frustrations into learning as much as I could about my own city, and then other places, as I climbed the ladder to success. That single-minded toil dulled the pain, but it left an awful void. Maybe that’s why I’m never satisfied.’

He drew back from her suddenly. ‘I’ve never told anyone that before,’ he added, with such an air of surprise Kira couldn’t help smiling.

‘Then thank you,’ she said softly.

On impulse, she stood. Before either of them knew what was happening, she kissed him on the cheek.

Coming to her senses like a sleepwalker waking from a dream, she dropped straight back into her seat. Until a moment before, she had been ready to resist him. Now she didn’t know how she felt. In that same instant, Stefano made her confusion worse. He reached out and squeezed her hand.

‘Let’s live in the present and future, not the past, Kira.’

With a final pat he left her side and went back to his seat at the far end of the table.





Much later, Kira lay back on one of the long, cream leather couches and felt a huge smile creep across her face. A threatened disaster was turning into the best evening she had ever spent. The rest of the night had passed in a glorious blur of conversation—the best kind. Sharing true thoughts and ambitions and dreams. She felt filled with utter happiness.


A sound from the doorway made her sit up quickly. Stefano stood there, coffee in hand, looking at her.

‘I didn’t mean to wake you,’ he said softly. Suddenly the sensual tension which had been disguised with words drew taut again. His gaze was serious, clouded and full of desire.

‘It’s okay. I wasn’t asleep.’

She stretched into a sitting position as he came towards her.

‘You don’t have far to go,’ he said simply.

Kira watched him placing things on the glass surface beside her. He wasn’t looking at her any longer, but her body jangled from his nearness. He turned his head suddenly and she was caught in his gaze, almost trembling.

‘Kira, tonight has been fantastic. In fact, I can’t remember a night like it.’

‘Nor me.’ She sighed. ‘Before I met you, I was uptight all the time. You’re quite a role model.’ Taking the cup and saucer from his hands, she looked reflective. ‘I really wish I could be like you all the time, Stefano.’

He chuckled and sat down a little distance away from her, cradling his coffee. ‘What—cold, calculating and immune to human feeling?’

‘You need a little of those qualities to really succeed in business. Loss, and an unhappy childhood, forces that tough shell onto people. I know all about that.’

‘I do, too—although your background is still a mystery to me.’ He watched her sip her drink. ‘I’ve got every qualification the school of hard knocks can deliver, but what can have been wrong with your childhood? You told me it was full of Cotswold Christmases.’

‘I was the big problem in my childhood,’ she told him glumly. ‘My adoptive parents wanted a porcelain doll, but they ended up with me instead. I’ve always liked doing things. They simply wanted me to be. I’ve never been happy, acting the part of a dim ornament.’

‘I can imagine.’ He smiled with a warmth that encouraged Kira to open up a little more.

‘But that’s all in the past. Now I’m earning a decent living, my stepparents can forgive me anything—as long as I keep sending the cheques home.’

He grimaced. ‘Maybe you’re lucky to have a family to spoil?’

She wriggled around to face him as they sat together on the settee. ‘I wish that was all they wanted.’

He leaned forward and lifted the plate of sweet treats up from the coffee table. As he offered it to Kira, she got a tantalising hint of his evocative aftershave. She breathed deeply, but despite the distraction could not resist a piece of crystallised pineapple. Stefano selected a strawberry dipped in dark chocolate before putting the plate back on the table.

‘The problem is, settling debts comes right at the bottom of my stepparents’ list of priorities. I can’t bear to think of them being without heat, light or transport so I bail them out—at least in theory. In reality, they use most of my money to send more invitations around the country club.’

Stefano made lazy circles in his coffee with a silver teaspoon. ‘Why don’t you offer to settle their debts direct?’

Kira was aghast. ‘What—go behind their backs? I couldn’t do that!’

‘Then you’ll have to be tough with them, Kira, and say “no more,”’ Stefano said sharply. ‘It will hurt in the short term, but will end up saving you a lot of grief. I should know,’ he finished darkly.

Kira rolled her lip, wishing she could take his advice. ‘It’s all right for you. You’re always so self-assured.’

He looked at her long and hard before replying. ‘You don’t do so badly. In fact, I would say you are an unusually forthright woman. You were certainly very decided about our plans tonight.’

Kira laughed. ‘I’ve told you before. I like simple pleasures. You can have too much of a good thing!’

‘I know, but I never expected to find anyone who agreed with me.’ He sipped his coffee in silence, and then slowly and deliberately put it down on the table. ‘Am I one of your simple pleasures, Kira? Or too much of a good thing?’

Her eyes remained on his hand. He drew it back from his cup, and rested it lightly on his thigh.

She bit her lip. ‘I don’t know. I can’t decide.’

He hitched his shoulders in a casual gesture. ‘You accepted my invitation and came for dinner.’

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done.’

‘Yes, you should, and I know you enjoyed the evening. I did, too,’ he said, so quickly that she couldn’t possibly doubt it. But worrying was a tough habit to break.

‘Are you sure, Stefano?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘I’m positive.’

Her willpower started to wobble. Nothing had happened…so far. When Stefano seduced her the first time, it had simply been physical, if spectacular. Now, having spent the evening with such a sweet, funny, charming man, she was terribly worried. If he loved and left her after this, she would never be able to bear it.

‘I’m not sure at all. I can’t trust my own judgement any more, Stefano,’ she confessed. Surely it was best to tell him the bad news straight out. ‘I give money to lost causes. I made a fool of myself over a man and got my name all over the papers as a result. It was hell, and I’m so afraid of it happening again.’

The words escaped from her in a rush. She looked down at her lap, stunned to hear herself speak the words she had held back for so long. Beside her, she sensed Stefano tense. Her fingers twisted painfully as she waited for the questions to start.

‘It’s no wonder you send out mixed messages,’ he said quietly. ‘I wanted you from the moment I spotted you from the helicopter. When you put up barriers, I held back. Normally, I’d simply walk away, but something about you keeps me coming back. What happened? Tell me.’

His concern was so genuine. Kira was touched. Still staring at her hands, she spoke in the hope that sharing her pain might soften it somehow. ‘I made an idiot of myself while I was at university. If I’m honest I knew there was something wrong about Hugh Taylor from the start. He only gave me his mobile number, saying he didn’t have a landline at home. We never went back to his place, which should have been the decider. When I discovered he was married, I was too weak and stupid to drop him like the rat he was. To my shame I let the affair limp on, but I didn’t know the half of it. It was left to his poor wife—or rather, one of them—to expose his double life. He was already a bigamist when he moved to Oxford, and started on me. The story was horrible enough to make the papers, and ruin me.’

There. She had said it. All the shame and embarrassment rushed over her again. She covered her face with her hands, unable to bear Stefano’s gaze and sure she would never be able to look him in the eyes again after this.

‘I was such a fool…’ she went on through her fingers. ‘I’d led such a sheltered life. I didn’t know any better and took his bait. To know everyone was talking about me behind my back was awful. And my stepparents won’t let it rest, even now…There was no way on earth I could have carried on with my course after that. The shame was unendurable.’

Oblivious to everything but her pain, she had been rocking backwards and forwards. It was only when a light touch fell on her shoulder that she came to her senses. When Stefano spoke, she almost lost them again.

‘How could anyone treat you like that?’ he whispered.

‘It’s what people do. They use you, and then walk away,’ she muttered, overwhelmed by the grubby scandal of it all.

‘Yes. Life is hard for the weak.’ Stefano’s voice cut through the silence like a knife.

Kira dropped her hands and turned a simmering stare directly on him. If there was one thing she found more painful than self-hatred, it was someone else’s pity.

‘I am not weak,’ she said, with absolute conviction.

‘I know.’ His reaction was equally unexpected. ‘I was blaming myself for things I did, long ago. Seeing you like this has made me put my own past under the microscope. It isn’t pretty,’ he said grimly.

‘You aren’t a bit like Hugh!’ She frowned.

‘I was. I am,’ he persisted. ‘I may not have deceived my lovers—we had fun, but that was the extent of it. Sometimes I know I have left broken hearts behind me through not resisting temptation. You knew that when we slept together, didn’t you?’ he looked for her agreement.

‘Yes. I’m under absolutely no illusions about you, Stefano,’ she agreed. An odd expression flashed in his eyes for a moment, but then he continued.

‘That’s just as well. While I was on the streets I saw too many relationships driven apart by abuse and desperation. I was determined not to be like that, so I’ve never made any promises I can’t keep. Giving a woman overwhelming pleasure is one thing. Promising to bind myself exclusively to her—never.’

‘I understand.’ Kira nodded. ‘For me, you’ve always been Stefano the Seducer. Nothing more—and most definitely nothing less.’

The crease between his brows deepened a fraction.

‘It almost sounds as though you approve of what happened between us, Kira.’


Unable to stop her memories warming her voice, she smiled. ‘I can’t help it. I do.’

Stefano’s frown eased, and she corrected herself quickly.

‘That is…I mean…I did.’

‘You don’t sound very sure?’

Slowly, almost hesitantly, his hand moved towards a curl of her hair that had strayed out of place. Coiling it over her shoulder, he smiled.

It was her turn to frown. ‘I’m not.’

‘Then let me help you to make up your mind. What you mean is, that as long as we are both completely honest with each other, no one will get hurt. Is that right?’

She nodded.

‘I’m not sure I agree,’ he said softly, shaking his head. Then his voice dropped to a whisper. ‘For example, if I told you now that my deepest desire was to take you to bed, and you said that was the last thing you wanted to do, I would be crushed. Absolutely.’

His hand was still hovering near her hair. His eyes were very blue and clear.

Kira could barely breathe. She tried to speak. ‘B-but then, if I said that, I would be lying…’ she began, but could not finish.

Stefano anticipated what she was going to say. With the urgency she craved so much, he reached out and brought her within the circle of his arms. She could offer no resistance, and didn’t want to. Stefano drew her towards him until their lips met in a kiss that swept away all her worries. She relaxed into the delicious warmth of his embrace. While his kiss held her captive, he drew his hand slowly up over her ribcage. As his fingers brushed the curve of her breast she shivered with anticipation.

‘That is exactly the type of persuasion that can lead a girl astray,’ she murmured.

‘I know. Now, where would you like me to lead you—to your place, or mine?’ he whispered, lifting her into his arms.