‘No, thank you. I’ll be fine.’ She cracked a smile. He, of course, looked impossibly sexy in a pair of faded black jeans and a long-sleeved black, stretchy tee shirt that fitted him as snugly as a glove. Granted it was his jet, and he could have shown up barefoot and wearing a bin bag, but she got the impression that he was so sure of himself that, even if he had been travelling first class on a commercial jet, he would still have worn exactly what he was wearing now.
‘Well,’ He shrugged. ‘The offer’s there.’
‘Do many people who use this plane slip into pyjamas when they’re travelling?’ Ellie asked a little tartly and Niccolo grinned.
‘I have no idea. I either travel alone or else I’m with...a companion. And slipping into pyjamas isn’t usually an option because they generally don’t show up wearing suits and high-heeled shoes.’
A flash of white teeth and an amused smile left Ellie in no doubt that the companions in question were of the female variety and not there to discuss work related issues.
‘I must say,’ Ellie confessed, ‘That I’m surprised that you’re coming on this trip. I thought that you might have been too busy to spare the time. Will you...er...be staying for the full seven days? Because I just want to reassure you that there’s no need at all for you to think that you have to hold my hand just in case I’m out of my depth. I shall be perfectly happy to explore on my own and work what I observe into new material.’
‘Anyone would think that you didn’t want me around.’
‘Not at all! I just wouldn’t want to put you out. But,’ she hazarded hopefully, ‘I’m guessing that you’ll have lots of other things to be getting on with out there?’
‘Undoubtedly. This is a perfect opportunity for me to check on my little venture—make sure that all the nuts and bolts are in place. In fact, the first flurry of guests have already touched down. I feel it’s only good manners to introduce myself to them, although it has to be said that my team out there are superb.’
Ellie relaxed. If he was going to be busy checking nuts and bolts and entertaining his guests, then he wasn’t going to have much time to shadow her, a prospect she found unnerving to say the least.
‘That said,’ Niccolo drawled, ‘I wouldn’t want you to feel neglected. No, let me finish! You stand a far better chance of delivering what I want if I’m right there showing you first-hand the experience the guests in my hotel are subscribing to.’
‘Is there someone there who acts as matchmaker?’ Ellie asked as she tried to fathom exactly what variation of experience Niccolo could be referring to, when the only one on offer was casual sex if two people just so happened to be attracted to one another physically.
‘No,’ he said kindly. ‘This isn’t a dating agency. It’s a venue for meeting like-minded souls.’
‘Like-minded souls.’
‘The world can be a perilous place,’ Niccolo said coolly, ‘when a man or a woman with money puts themselves out there in search of a relationship. Gold-diggers come in all shapes and sizes and ending up having to deal with one is an experience most people would want to avoid. I’m setting the scene where, at least, some of the uncertainty can be removed.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t promise that the people who come to my resort shouldn’t still be cautious. There’s only so much one can do.’
‘Do you speak from experience?’ Ellie heard herself say, question asked before she had time to take it back. Dark eyes met her hazel ones and this time there was no easy charm just a cool, cool warning.
‘You’re not here to try and delve into my personal life,’ Niccolo intoned, his rich, dark voice threaded with just a hint of a warning.
‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t asking...’
‘Yes, Ellie, you were. My personal life is out of bounds.’
‘Yet you seem happy to quiz me about mine,’ Ellie pointed out, barely aware that the plane had long since taken off and the journey across the Atlantic had begun.
‘Have I done that?’
‘You’ve criticised me for being traditional in my outlook.’
‘I haven’t criticised you. I’ve been bemused, because it’s not often I come into contact with a woman who turns her nose up at a relationship that doesn’t have an engagement ring at the end of it. That’s not criticism, Ellie. That’s known as voicing an opinion. Were I to quiz you about your personal life, then, trust me, you would know about it.’
Ellie didn’t say anything but chose to give him a defiant, fulminating look from under her lashes. She felt all hot under the collar and the sensible outfit that she had chosen to travel in was already beginning to chafe at her skin.
The way he was staring at her, as if mentally working her out so that he could store the information in his computer banks, wasn’t helping either.
She ran a slender finger round the collar of her shirt and surreptitiously undid a button so that she could get some air to her heated skin.
Niccolo knew when to leave well alone. Now was that time. Unfortunately, he had no intention of paying attention to common sense, because for the first time in as long as he could remember he was enjoying himself. He’d expected his memories of her to have been fanciful and skewed. He had quickly discovered that they were neither.
In the wings, one of the two members of his crew who took care of the jet was waiting on standby in case anything was needed. He beckoned her across with just the merest of signals and on cue she delivered two glasses of champagne to them, along with a platter of delicious snacks which she placed on the table between them.
‘A sip of alcohol won’t hurt,’ he urged, handing her the glass. ‘It’ll relax you.’
‘As I said, I’m extremely relaxed,’ Ellie told him tightly, but she took the glass and sure enough, after a couple of mouthfuls, she felt a little less strung out.
‘That’s better! Now that we both understand that all matters of a personal nature are off the table, I’ve got a stack of work to get through, so I’ll leave you to your own devices. There’s ample food on board, including hot food, so give me a shout when you’re hungry.’ He thought for a bit. ‘Although, you’ll probably feel embarrassed to put your hand up and ask to be fed, so I’ll get one of the crew to bring something round in a couple of hours, and if you’re asleep or you’re not hungry then you can always send him on his way. How about that?’
* * *
Ellie’s skin prickled all over. He was so assured, so smooth, so urbane and sophisticated, that she felt gauche and awkward in his presence. She didn’t know how to deal with a layer of charm and charisma that was in a league of its own.
He had zoomed in and made assumptions about something that struck at the very core of her because, for all that she was focused on her career, and no matter that it was a goal in which she firmly believed, she truly did sometimes wonder whether life wasn’t passing her by.
She had compiled so many check-lists for the perfect guy—the guy who would be as grounded as she was, as uninterested in wandering the world, as focused on stability—that no one yet had come close to getting past the starting gate.
Her dream of the little house where she would be able to put down roots, roots that could never, ever be yanked up, with a man who would never grow bored with the joys of the ordinary, was in danger of becoming lost under the weight of her self-imposed restrictions.
Ellie had been out with several men over the years but none of those men had worked out, and it was frustrating, because they had all ticked the right boxes. Two had been teachers, as industrious and as caring as anyone could get, and the third had been a solicitor. They’d all fitted the bill and yet none of them had been quite right. The last time she had visited her parents, her mother had pulled her to one side and asked her, in that forthright manner she had always had, where the boyfriends were. Then, having given her a long talk about them not minding at all if her sexual interests lay in another direction, she had come right out and told her that, all things being equal, she was probably too fussy.
Ellie
had nearly burst out laughing. Too fussy? She had spent too many years observing the behaviour of men and women who weren’t fussy, and she’d take fussy any day of the week, thank you very much!
Although, her bed was still cold and empty, and every so often she caught herself wondering whether she wasn’t the one with the problem. Was she frigid? Surely, by now, someone should have ignited a spark, stirred her imagination, made her daydream?
Ellie had made herself stop thinking about the inadequacies of her personal life, and asking herself what was wrong with her—but now, with one stupid, flippant sentence, Niccolo Rossi had opened the door behind which her disappointment had been quietly hidden, and she hated him for doing that.
‘You’re right,’ she said coldly. ‘Let’s make a pact right now to steer clear of any personal questions. It’s not part of my brief to answer any.’
Niccolo gave her a long, measured look. She was putting up a ‘No Trespassing’ sign. Didn’t she know that there was nothing more tempting than a ‘No Trespassing’ sign? Especially for a man like him who enjoyed the thrill of a challenge. A man for whom challenges had become pretty thin on the ground of late.
‘As long as you’re willing to make a pact to be open-minded about my resort.’
‘That won’t be happening,’ Ellie told him bluntly. ‘But I can assure you that my personal beliefs will not affect the end result I’ll be able to show you.’
‘You need to stop assuring me of things. It bores me when you slide into agency talk.’
Ellie reddened and looked at him with helpless frustration. She was close enough to see the lines at the corners of his eyes, to appreciate the ridiculous length of his lashes, to feel that awful, confusing ‘sinking in quicksand’ sensation she seemed to get when she was in his presence.
He was so unlike any man she had ever met before. Seductively easy to talk to, he was the sort of person she suspected could sell ice to Eskimos but wouldn’t bother unless there was something in it for him. He was so successful that the ruthless edge would be there, underneath the lazy charm, but he was good at hiding that ruthless edge. She felt that he probably only brought it out when necessary. He was a man who got exactly what he wanted and, if the straightforward route there was blocked, he would never give up. He would just find a different way through.
And he was so unfairly gorgeous.
‘I wouldn’t dream of boring you.’ She sucked in a breath, then gathered herself, but it took effort. ‘In fact, you have to tell me the second I start doing that.’ She flashed him a bright, wide smile. ‘My job is to get you excited about my campaign. If I’m boring you, then I’m not doing my job properly.’
Niccolo didn’t say anything. The more she traipsed back to her job, the more he wanted to yank her away from it.
She looked about as relaxed as a plank of wood although her hair was beginning to break free of its confines. He wondered what she did for fun. She seemed so uptight. Did she ever have fun? Was fun allowed in her upward career climb? He’d never met any woman who didn’t have fun at the top of her agenda, especially when the woman happened to be in his company.
An errant thought flitted through his head and then out of it before he could pin it down.
This was the sort of woman his mother would approve of—the sort of woman who didn’t sell her story to a cheap tabloid, the sort of woman who didn’t think that the world began and ended with a well-stocked designer wardrobe and a flashy sports car.
Niccolo almost laughed out loud, because experience had taught him that there was no such thing as a safe bet when it came to women, and because one woman’s head could be turned by expensive jewellery and a flashy car didn’t mean that she was any less honourable than the woman who set her sights in a different direction.
Chances were high that they were equally dishonourable.
Which didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun with them. You just had to know when the fun was in danger of overstaying its welcome, and he was an expert when it came to that. Which might have led to the occasional awkward kiss-and-tell story but better that than leading a woman into thinking there might be more on the table.
‘Fair enough,’ he murmured, non-committal. ‘Now, I’m going to work. Don’t forget to ask for whatever you want and, if you do start to feel a tad uncomfortable in your office gear, the offer of something less starchy is there.’ He grinned and eyed her office gear with a leisurely appraisal that set Ellie’s teeth on edge.
Dismissed, she turned to the book she had brought with her. She was dreading the next few days, yet she couldn’t suppress a certain feeling of excitement, which she did her utmost to ignore.
If it bothered her that a fantastic and unexpected trip to the tropics made her anxious, which any other human being would have been looking forward to, then she grounded herself by focusing on the goals she had set herself over the years. Sensible goals. That was what mattered and, if Niccolo Rossi did weird things to her that she found unsettling, then she would have to find a way of dealing with it.
She refused to beat herself up over her reaction to him. He was going to be around for the next week and then, after that, they would both return to their normal routine and she probably wouldn’t see him again, unless by some miracle her agency did win the contract. This trip into unknown territory would be worth it if the deal was sealed and the job came to them.
She knew herself and she knew that, whatever he stirred up in her, it was because she was inexperienced and he was dangerously experienced. He wouldn’t even be aware of her reaction to him because his spellbinding magnetism and heady, mesmerising charisma formed part of his personality, and he would only notice a woman’s response if he was deliberately targeting her to get her into bed. Ellie didn’t know how she knew that. She just did.
Knowledge was power, though, and it soothed her to think that she had analysed the situation and was therefore protected from any fallout.
She would shut down any hint of personal conversation. It would be easy, because they would be surrounded by people, and, however much he threatened to hold her hand and walk her through the process of trying to get her to get with the programme and dump all her principles, he would be busy dealing with all the teething problems of his brand-new project. He wouldn’t have time to be annoying.
She would be safe from his flirting, which he wasn’t even aware he was doing!
Because she was the last person in the world a man like that would ever consciously flirt with.
Relieved to have everything back in perspective, Ellie closed her eyes and wasn’t even aware of the flight until she was shaken awake and told that they were due to land.
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLIE KNEW WHAT the resort looked like because she had been sent copies of some of the promotional shots. A low, tasteful villa housed the main administration area in addition to various bars and restaurants, and two infinity swimming pools that were serviced by separate bars. The guests stayed in individual villas. The most basic, judging from the pictures, still screamed ‘luxury’.
What she hadn’t banked on was the explosive heat that greeted them as they went from jet to SUV. It was a barrier that visibly pulsed and her clothes immediately reacted by clinging to her like glue.
‘It’s beautiful here.’ She managed to make some small talk as they were whisked off for the short ride to the resort. She fanned herself with one hand, very much aware that she would be looking far from her best because she was perspiring from every pore.
‘I picked the island because it’s sparsely populated,’ Niccolo commented, sprawling against the door of the car and swivelling his big body so that he was looking at her. ‘There’s a main airport, which can handle smaller planes that fly in from some of the bigger islands, but the airstrip here is big enough for a private jet, which is the form of transport that will probably be used by a lot of the paying guests.’
‘I had no idea there were that many rich people who couldn’t manage to find themselves a date w
ithout the help of an outside party.’
Niccolo smiled lazily, taking no offence. ‘How many wealthy people do you meet on a daily basis?’ he offered smoothly.
‘Not a lot,’ she admitted.
‘Which would explain why you can’t see the grey areas. In your mind, people who have money should find it easy to locate anyone they want, but many wealthy people are intensely private and very cautious. A lot of the men are strangely shy, particularly those who have made their fortunes in areas away from the public arena. We live in a world of dotcom billionaires. For some of those billionaires, chatting up women or men doesn’t come easy.’
‘But isn’t it going to be just as difficult chatting up prospective partners wherever they happen to be?’
‘Good question. No.’ He dealt her a slashing smile and caught her eye. ‘There will be the distraction of activities—snorkelling and all sorts of other water sports. The scenery on the island is amazing—densely forested in some areas with quite remarkable bird life. They may find that they net a bird in their hand while watching a couple in the bush.’
Undermined by his wit, Ellie raised her eyebrows and said with saccharine sweetness, ‘I thought you were aiming to avoid sleazy.’
Niccolo burst out laughing. ‘Omit that line in your campaign,’ he advised, and then, before he could take her down any more treacherous routes, he began chatting to her about the island, filling her in about the attractions to be found despite its relative size and isolation.
In a few short sentences, he built a more complete picture of the place in her head than any number of promotional shots could have done.
He pointed out a thousand different species of plants and flowers, until she said with a hint of grudging admiration, ‘You seem to know an awful lot about the area.’
‘I’m a man who believes in doing my homework,’ he returned. ‘Are you surprised? Did you think I was the sort who would dump money into setting up a resort on an island like this without first getting to know the place and the people so that I could construct something as best suited to their needs as possible?’
A Deal for Her Innocence Page 5
