Master of Bella Terra

by Christina Hollis

  Lifting his glass of wine to her in a silent toast, he treated her to a devastating smile.

  ‘Yes, but there’s no need to restrict ourselves, Kira.’

  Colour rushed into her cheeks. The days fell away and once again she was in his arms, her hands hungry for his perfectly formed body. The powerful bulk of him was so close she could have reached out and touched him. Right now his body was hidden beneath the beautifully tailored lines of a white shirt and business suit, but the look in his eyes concealed nothing. He expected to take her to his bed. He demanded nothing less—and Kira wanted nothing more.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHE fought to remain calm. Stefano wanted her, she wanted him—but she didn’t need all the problems that would bring. He had affected her deeply from the moment they met. Bitter experience told her that was dangerous. She didn’t want her illusions about him shattered by getting too close. He was bound to break her heart. She knew it. What happens when he dumps me—as he will, sooner or later? she asked herself. When he moved into La Bella Terra he would be living only a few hundred metres from her front door. Becoming the heartbroken doorstop of a faithless philanderer was definitely not on her ‘to do’ list.

  Obviously deciding he’d let her suffer for long enough, Stefano seamlessly changed gear.

  ‘How do you feel about house-hunting? With access to my contacts, the world really is your oyster. If you see anything that takes your fancy, let me know. There’s no limit.’

  Just as Kira felt herself taking off, Stefano’s words brought her back to earth. Grateful for the chance to nail her feet back to the ground again, she interrupted him quickly.

  ‘I hope you aren’t trying to buy me out again. I’m happy living right where I am, in the house I’ve made my own, in the perfect position.’

  Stefano said nothing, but his slowly widening smile was enough to make her body move uneasily beneath its warmth.

  ‘You are a stubborn woman. You have integrity and determination. Work with me and I can assure your future. It isn’t only a matter of beautifying my own properties. My company, Albani International, has a charitable arm which is involved in all sorts of exciting projects. I was deeply impressed when I saw the work you have done at Bella Terra. Once you have finished working on my homes, you can start bringing your influence to bear in many other places.’

  ‘I’m glad you’ve got such confidence in me.’ Kira blushed, her clear skin for a moment matching the intricate strawberry meringue the waiter set before her.

  Stefano’s sensual lips parted in a half-smile as he saw Kira’s delight in the summery confection of pinks and white on the dish laid in front of her.

  ‘Look, why don’t we visit my apartment after we finish here? You can see where you’ll be working, if you decide to sign that contract. I told Prince Alfonse not to expect you back today.’

  ‘Oh, you did, did you?’ Kira said archly, inspired by a sugar rush. ‘I hope you also told him we’re out on business.’

  Stefano didn’t answer. His expression was telling Kira everything she didn’t want to know, but her conscience was clear. For the moment, at least.

  ‘As it happens, I think visiting the site is a very good idea,’ she added coolly. ‘I never accept a job until I have made a thorough study beforehand.’

  ‘Good. I’m all for close scrutiny,’ he said. With a nod of his head he summoned the head waiter, who brought a bottle of chilled champagne to their table. When it had been poured out, Stefano lifted his glass to her in another toast.

  Kira remembered the last time he looked at her like that. It was in the split second before he kissed her. His eyes had a way of stripping away everything from her soul. She tried telling herself that he must size up every one of his female conquests like this, but a viper’s nest of conflicting responses writhed within her body. His smile held out all sorts of possibilities. That was what made him so dangerous. At least she had no illusions, and could be on her guard.

  ‘To our new partnership,’ he said, his voice a sensual growl of anticipation which immediately created answering ripples in the pit of her stomach. Determined to quell them, she snapped

  ‘Are you always so openly provocative?’

  He broke the tension with a sudden laugh. ‘I’ve never met another woman quite so woundingly honest! I can’t help it, I’m afraid. Some men are born to it, while others need to be coaxed out of their shell by a loving, sensitive hand.’

  Kira felt colour riot in her cheeks. Before she could explode, Stefano turned his statement into a warning.

  ‘I am most definitely not one of those men.’

  Stefano’s town house was such a short distance from the restaurant he didn’t bother calling up his driver. They walked. Kira had difficulty in keeping up with his long strides as he led her through the narrow streets. Without a word he fell back in step with her. Crossing a sunlit square, he directed her into a narrow canyon between two impossibly high and ancient stone walls. Kira looked around nervously as they left the sun-drenched crowds and plunged into shady solitude. Suddenly she realised he was no longer at her side. With a start, she swung around. He stood beside a pair of large wooden gates, let into the anonymous wall. With one hand he turned the wrought-iron handle in a small pass door and pushed it open.

  ‘We’re here. Go ahead.’

  Kira cast one last apprehensive look up and down the narrow alley.

  ‘Why are you so nervous? This is the best part of town.’ He chuckled. ‘Anyone would think I was trying to abduct you.’

  A crazy vision of Stefano sweeping her away into the desert on a spirited Arab stallion flashed into Kira’s mind. That threw her into confusion, but her mind cleared the instant she stepped into his courtyard. It was like standing at the bottom of a dry well. High walls irregularly perforated by small barred windows closed in on every side. This was a place the sun only reached when it was directly overhead. The building was ancient and beautiful, but putting a garden here would require imagination and skill. When he first mentioned a town house, Kira’s mind had started playing with the idea of a private sun terrace. This place offered all the privacy anyone could want, but none of the rays.

  ‘Good grief,’ she whispered to herself, before adding aloud, ‘This is going to be a challenge.’

  He looked concerned. ‘If you think it’s going to be too much for you, tell me. I’ll get someone to steam clean the whole place and leave it at that.’

  ‘No!’ Kira left his side and began pacing out the stark, stony area. ‘There’s nothing I enjoy more than a challenge. I’m not a quitter. If something can be imagined, it can be achieved.’

  ‘Like a holiday home on Mars, maybe?’

  Kira ignored him. Rummaging in her bag for a notebook and pencil, she began scribbling instead.

  ‘I’ll tell you what I like—’ Stefano began, but she shook her head.

  ‘This will only work if I tell you what is feasible first. Then you can choose which plants from my list you prefer.’

  Stefano lodged his hands on his hips. ‘What happened to “the client is always right”?’

  Kira snapped her notebook shut, looked up and stared at him. He stared back. Despite her flinty expression, her mind was moving like quicksilver. This was one argument she could not afford to lose. Stefano could be infuriating, but he was offering her a series of lucrative contracts. He was also close to irresistible, and very easy on the eye. As long as she could harden her heart to stay out of his clutches, this would be a dream appointment. This site presented huge problems, but Kira would enjoy overcoming them. It gave her an unbeatable feeling to see a satisfied client, especially when it was a job other firms might consider too difficult. And she would be working for Stefano. The idea remained deliciously dangerous. She decided on a trial run.

  ‘Fine. You’re right—I’m not going to argue with you,’ she announced. ‘As long as you settle my bills, I’ll do whatever you want. I can’t guarantee you will be perfectly happy first time, though. The
only plants that have a chance of surviving here are the sorts chosen specifically for these conditions. Unless you do as I say, you may end up with plants that have to be replaced every few weeks, because they die.’

  ‘That’s not a problem.’ He shrugged.

  ‘It is for me. I’m no tree hugger, but I can’t stand the thought of all that waste. I’d rather we worked together as a team from the start and got this right straight away. Wouldn’t you?’

  ‘When you put it like that…’ he reasoned.

  Kira smiled. ‘Great. My own website has a facility for choosing the right plant for the right place. I’ll take you through the process, and then you’ll be able to download the selection and spend as long as you like choosing what you want. The final decision will always be yours.’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘I know. That’s why I’m looking forward to co-operating with you. Why don’t we go inside? I can check out your suggestions, and try to soften a few of your rough edges at the same time.’ He showed her towards the main door of his house.

  Stefano ordered coffee and invited Kira into a stark, brightly lit office on the ground floor. It was full of the best and most expensive computing equipment, and the school-room stink of exam papers, solvents and printing ink. She recoiled. It was too sharp a reminder of the days when every exam success meant she was subject to more sneering at home.

  With a computer logged in, Stefano stood to let her take his place at the keyboard. Kira called up her website. The moment he saw it, he looked impressed. That gave her confidence a big boost.

  ‘I want to feel the same affection you have for your own home,’ he said, leaning over the back of her chair. ‘I enjoy property, yet somehow it never turns out to be the pleasure I expect it to be. Whenever I buy anything, it is a rock-solid investment,’ he said, but with an unusual lack of enthusiasm.

  Kira was so surprised by the note in his voice, she swivelled her chair around to face him.

  ‘You don’t sound convinced, and I can’t say I’m surprised. I don’t care what my cottage on the Bella Terra estate is worth, but I suppose it will be a lot less than I paid for it.’

  ‘You’re right. For once, I don’t seem to care about the money. It’s something far more important that concerns me, Kira. I want Bella Terra to be much more than simply a run-of-the-mill investment.’ He grimaced, and twitched a shoulder.

  Kira turned back to the computer screen. He sounded like the typical spoiled billionaire, bemoaning his idle lifestyle.

  ‘Ah, the curse of great wealth!’ she muttered.

  ‘I’ve told you—this isn’t about money.’ His retort was swift and sure. ‘You are a case in point—the first time I looked across the valley from the Bella Terra villa I assumed your cottage would be nothing but a horrible reminder of everything I was trying to leave behind. And yet when you let me get closer, I got a different angle on your little garden and the homely touches inside. I envy you, Kira.’ He stopped abruptly and straightened up. ‘But maybe that was a case of giving you too much information.’

  She felt the exact opposite. ‘Why in the world would you envy me? I’ve got nothing, while you’ve got everything anyone could ever want!’

  He modified his smile, and the angles of his fine face became acute. ‘Is that what you think?’

  Kira swung back to her screen. Tapping a few names over the keyboard, she accessed her file of planting suggestions for shady places. ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘Then I’ll shut up. When I lived and worked on the streets, I spent too long listening to financiers and ex-pats moaning. I was a tour guide, not an agony aunt—not that you would have believed it.’ He put his coffee cup down beside hers.

  ‘I’ll bet you only guided the women!’ Kira said with sly humour.

  ‘That depended on where they wanted to be led,’ he replied with an equally wicked grin. ‘I gave a top-class service to everyone, whoever they were—every time. And that is how I got here.’ He gestured around the IT suite of his impressive house. ‘I saw that tour guides were always in demand, and they were invariably a rip-off. There was a gap in the market for a first-class service. I set myself up with a second-hand suit and the right attitude, and cleaned up. The sky was my limit, and it still is. My firm has branches all over the world, publishes travel guides—’

  He stopped abruptly and frowned. ‘And to think— I’ve had all that success, yet so little satisfaction.’

  He leaned against the table beside the keyboard. Kira kept her eyes on her hands as she tapped over the keys.

  ‘I want to be as happy in my houses as you are in your home, Kira,’ he announced, and then chuckled. ‘That’s a tall order, but I believe you can give me answers to all my problems.’

  Kira looked into his blue eyes and trembled to think how much she wanted to do that. Attempting to sound crisp and businesslike, she said, ‘Rest assured, I’ve never disappointed a client yet. If I work for you, I’ll do my best to make all your dreams come true.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KIRA blushed as she realised her words could so easily hold another meaning. She held her breath. Once again she had said exactly what she thought, and that was the problem. Her words were intended to be a promise to make all his desires for his properties come true. Instead, she might as well have told him her deepest feelings. He was watching her intently. Surely it was only a matter of time before she betrayed herself to him? She wanted to give this her best, but felt the need to hide her true emotions. As usual, work came to her rescue. She hit Return on the keyboard with all the force she would have liked to use on herself. The screen leapt into life again. Simulated raindrops falling on the surface of water became a display of plant photographs.

  ‘Almost as beautiful as you,’ Stefano said.

  Kira thanked him tersely. His words reminded her of Chantal’s patronising smile, and the way he could take his pick from all the lovely women in the world.

  ‘I’ll key in the details of your courtyard—its aspect, an estimate of the hours of sunshine it can expect—’

  ‘There won’t be much of that, I suspect.’

  ‘I have a few ideas that can help,’ Kira rallied. She always felt more confident when she could bring the subject around to the plants she loved. Dwelling on her own thoughts and feelings, and speculating on the way he might respond, made her uncomfortable. ‘Some discreetly placed mirrors will bounce light into the shadowy places.’

  ‘It sounds like the effect you have on me.’

  He was leaning over her, only inches from where her fingers played on the keyboard. The subtle fragrance of his nearness was intoxicating. It was totally impossible to ignore. Kira felt her temperature rising as she logged all the details she had taken down so carefully. She tried to keep her eyes riveted on the screen, but within moments the effort was too much. They were constantly drawn back to Stefano’s face. As though to prove he was able to ignore the effect he was having on her, he kept watching the rapidly developing images on the computer screen. Anticipation rose in Kira like a column of mercury. When she was almost at the point of screaming with need for him, he turned his clear blue eyes on her with a smile of sheer innocence.

  ‘So you are confident you can give me what I want?’

  His words were warm drops in a dipping pool of desire. He had chosen them with care. Knowing they were calculated for effect was the only thing that made it possible for Kira to resist him.

  ‘While I’m working for you, that’s all I’m interested in.’

  Her voice was faint and strangely unsteady. Stefano continued to watch her, waiting for more signs that her resistance was weakening. Kira willed herself to return his gaze with equal candour, but she was powerless to stop a blush rippling over her skin. It was a firestorm of feeling. She needed distraction, and looked for it in a new computer image.

  ‘Here’s a mock-up of your quadrangle, with the rough shapes of some suggested plant groupings added.’

  With one final flourish on the keyboard, she sat ba
ck and steadied her nerves with a sip of coffee. Stefano had drawn away slightly while she was typing, but now he leaned forward again. This time, Kira was strangely disappointed to find he was intent on the screen, rather than her.

  ‘That’s impressive.’ He nodded slowly, his clear blue eyes flicking back and forth between the sidebars of text and the interactive graphics of the screen.

  ‘It’s only my first thoughts.’ She basked in his approval, but tried not to show it. ‘The final version will take a lot more work. And this is only the courtyard. I seem to remember you mentioned a roof garden?’

  He nodded. ‘There are some stark, flat areas resulting from repairs and building work done in the sixties. I like the idea of a hidden sanctuary that no one else knows about but me.’

  ‘And me, as your designer,’ Kira reminded him.

  ‘The best secrets are those we are willing to share.’

  Picking up on his enthusiasm, Kira smiled. ‘Why don’t we go up and inspect what you’ve got to offer?’

  ‘I thought you’d never ask,’ he said, already heading for the door.

  Stefano’s town house rambled over several floors. It was a warren of unexpected twists and turns. Kira always enjoyed the thrill of seeing how successful people ran their lives. She took in every detail when she visited their workplaces. This satellite branch of Albani International was no exception. Despite her solitary nature, whenever she took on a grand new job Kira spent her time idly wondering what she would tell her grandchildren. Today was different. There was nothing remotely idle about her thoughts. This wasn’t just any grand house, owned by a faceless billionaire. It was where Stefano Albani lived. He worked and walked about here, and today he was strolling along beside her. The sensation was so powerful it had an immediate effect on all her dreams. Her fantasy grandchildren gained names, parents and inherited their grandfather’s beautiful blue eyes and dark, dashing curls.