Page 26 of Hired By The Forbidden Italian
For the first time in his life, Niccolo had reluctantly been forced to acknowledge that he was interested in a woman who didn’t seem disposed to return the favour.
Did she fancy him? He was sure she did. He’d read it in her eyes the evening before, had felt that swift intake of breath and noted the way she had moved towards him, their combined heat suddenly turning the space between them into a furnace until he’d broken the connection.
Thankfully, she had stepped back at the same time, as keen as he had been to move away from a potentially awkward situation.
That said...
Niccolo realised that he’d grown to take it as a given that a woman, in receipt of any show of positive encouragement from him, would pursue him even if he’d had a change of mind.
Since when, he thought wryly, had he become such a spoiled brat when it came to the opposite sex? Had he reached a place where he stamped his feet if a woman he happened to fancy decided to give him the cold shoulder? In this case, the cold shoulder waspreciselywhat was needed!
He should have been breathing a sigh of heartfelt relief that he wasn’t in the position of having to deflect unwanted attention! Or worse...sack his aunt’s friend for inappropriate behaviour.
Far from breathing any sighs of relief, however, Niccolo was frowning, already deciding that he would make sure whoever was at hand to wait on them the following day was not a young, red-blooded guy who would not be able to resist Sophie’s obvious appeal.
‘There’s no need,’ he drawled now, ‘to be cooped up in your quarters with Annalise for the duration of the night. Every single member of my staff has been vetted and the majority are permanent employees on this yacht as well as at my villa in Costa Smeralda. I know several who would be delighted to help out with Annalise so that you have a bit more freedom of movement while you’re here.’
‘I’m not here to have freedom of movement,’ Sophie said, turning to him with some consternation. ‘I’m here to look after Annalise. That’s my job.’
Niccolo didn’t reply. Instead he lazily reached down to where he had tossed the shorts he’d worn over his swimming trunks and pulled out his mobile phone to make a quick call. Within minutes, a young woman, introduced as Julia, was on deck with them. She was smartly uniformed with dark hair tied back and a pleasant, friendly face.
Niccolo told her what he wanted, and Sophie listened in mounting dismay as she heard him instruct the young woman to take over.
Annalise was flagging and seemed content enough to head off with Julia, who, it transpired, she had actually met some while back when she and Evalina had gone to Niccolo’s villa for a holiday.
‘She might show you something special if you’re good...’ he said as he smiled at his daughter.
‘What?’ Annalise had sprung to her feet, eyes immediately bright.
‘You’ll see. Word of warning, though...’ He was still smiling, and Annalise had moved to stand to attention in front of him, hands behind her back. ‘Fifteen minutes of play there and then it’s dinner for you and bed. It’s been a long day.’
‘Will you...?’ She hesitated. ‘Would you listen to me read for a bit? I’ve started a new book with Sophie...’
Keeping to the background, Sophie smiled and gave her small charge an encouraging nod and a thumbs-up sign. She’d forgotten that this was something they had chatted about a couple of days ago. Having observed his hesitancy in being hands-on, which seemed so strangely at odds with his keen sense of protectiveness for his daughter, she had figured it was a good idea to help encourage more time together to help rebuild their bond.
Just thinking along those lines calmed her, enabled her to shove to one side the intrusion of physical responses she didn’t want.
‘She’s doing brilliantly with her reading,’ Sophie added warmly. ‘She’s started a book I can remember reading when I was her age. You’re enjoying it, aren’t you, Annalise?’
Annalise was nodding with enthusiasm while Sophie wondered how she would spend the remainder of the evening if Julia was going to take over night duties.
The yacht was so large that there was no end to places she could explore, but of course the last thing Niccolo would want would be for her to keep popping up like an annoying jack-in-the-box wherever he happened to be with his clients.
He answered her question before she had had time to mull it over in depth by saying, sotto voce as he headed off with Annalise grasping his hand just in case he chose to wander off, ‘I would very much like you to join us for dinner tonight, Sophie. There will be a total of fourteen people and it’ll all be very informal, so...’ he looked at her wryly ‘...no need to worry about not having the right thing to wear. A pair of shorts and a T-shirt will do the trick.’
‘But...’
‘Drinks at six-thirty and dinner to be served at seven-thirty.’
‘But won’t you want to discuss business...to work?’
‘Today has been very successful on the “discussing business” front.’ Niccolo shot her a slow, curling smile that made her think that he could read every objection racing to the surface in her head and would be keen to discuss each and every one of them. ‘So it’s all about relaxing this evening. It won’t be a late one. The head of the clan likes his early nights. I’ll knock on your door at six-fifteen. Doesn’t give you a huge amount of time to play with but, like I said, there’s no dress code, so just wear the first thing that comes to hand.’
And that was the end of the conversation.
In a hurried daze, Sophie took the opportunity to grab some clothes while Annalise was being shown whatever surprise she had been promised. Then she raced through a shower, using the facilities by the pool, where everything was at hand, including towels and shampoos and scented body wash, all in a space that was as luxurious as the most expensive scented spa. It was preferable to jostling for space in her quarters, where Niccolo would be bonding and Julia would be hovering, waiting to take over.
She had five minutes to kill before a knock on the door signalled Niccolo’s arrival.
