‘But I sense you are going to tell me anyway.’
She flushed at his sarcastic tone. ‘It seems a shame to let this grand old house fall to ruin. You grew up at Chatsfield, didn’t you? Surely you have happy memories of living here?’
‘A few, but I also have some not so happy memories.’
Sophie looked surprised. ‘I would have thought that living in a great big house with your brothers and sisters, and having the huge Chatsfield estate to play in and explore, must have been wonderful—running wild in the countryside, having picnics and coming home to your parents at the end of the day.’
‘It’s a nice fantasy,’ Nicolo said drily, ‘but my childhood wasn’t as idyllic as you seem to think. My parents weren’t around that much. My father was away in London running the Chatsfield Hotel business and my mother was—’ he hesitated ‘—unwell a lot of the time.’
He guessed depression was a form of illness. When he had been a young boy he had not understood the reason for his mother’s frequent crying bouts, or why she locked herself in her room and refused to see any of her children.
Memories resurfaced of him standing outside her bedroom, begging to be allowed in.
‘I want to see you, Mamma. I want to hug you, and then you will stop crying.’
‘Go away, Nicolo. Leave me alone.’
His mother’s rejection had hurt. He had thought perhaps he had done something wrong that had made her not love him anymore. Nicolo recalled how he had spent hours sitting on the floor outside his mother’s bedroom, because he had wanted to be near her.
‘So who took care of all the children in place of your parents?’ Sophie’s voice pulled Nicolo back to the present.
‘We had nannies. But none of them stayed for very long because our bad behaviour made them leave,’ he admitted wryly.
The baked trout was delicious, and for a few minutes Sophie concentrated on eating, but she was curious to learn more about her reluctant host.
‘What happened after you were burned in the fire?’ she asked tentatively, hoping he would not react angrily to her mentioning what had obviously been a traumatic event in his life. ‘Did your mother take care of you while you were recovering from your injuries?’
‘She wasn’t around by then.’ Nicolo’s jaw tightened as he relived memories that were still as raw as his burned flesh had once been. ‘My mother left the family when I was twelve years old. She did not know about the fire—or if she did hear she did not care about me enough to come and visit me during the many months I spent in a specialist burns unit.’
‘Oh, that’s awful.’ Sophie’s reaction was instinctively sympathetic. She knew from Christos that Liliana Chatsfield had walked out on her husband and children and had not been seen by any of the family again. Surely if Liliana had known her son had been badly burned she would have rushed to be with him?
The circumstances were different, but she understood what it felt like to be abandoned by a parent. True, she had remained in contact with her father after he had left. Her cancer had been in remission when James Ashdown had announced that he was leaving his wife and daughter to start a new life with his mistress. But Sophie had been devastated by her father’s decision. She could imagine the sense of rejection Nicolo must have felt when he had been lying injured in hospital and had desperately needed his mother.
‘You must have missed her,’ she said softly, ‘especially while you were in hospital.’
His expression was shuttered and Sophie had a strong sense that he disliked talking about his past.
‘She couldn’t have done anything to help,’ he said curtly. ‘I owe my recovery to the doctors and the nursing staff who looked after me. I didn’t need my mother fussing around me.’
Sophie found that hard to believe. She had certainly needed her mother’s support during her illness, and in a funny way her cancer had brought them closer together. While she had been growing up, her mother, Carole, had been busy with her career and Sophie had spent more time with her father. But when she had been diagnosed with cancer her mother had cut down on her work to be with Sophie while she was in hospital.
Had her father felt pushed out by the close bond that had developed between mother and daughter? Sophie wondered. Was that why he’d had an affair with another woman, which had ultimately broken up the family and broken Sophie’s heart?
She pushed the thought away and focused her attention on Nicolo. He had sounded dismissive of his mother, but Sophie sensed that he was adept at hiding his emotions and, in fact, had been deeply hurt by Liliana’s desertion and her failure to visit him when he had been injured.
‘How did the fire at the hotel start?’ she asked curiously.
‘I don’t know,’ he growled. ‘Why are you so interested? It was a long time ago. Trust me, Miss Ashdown, it is better to leave the past alone. I am growing impatient with you poking your nose into things that don’t concern you.’
Oh, dear, they were back to him calling her Miss Ashdown again. Clearly the slight thaw in Nicolo’s attitude towards her was over. Sophie regretted her curiosity. She had been trying to gain a better understanding of Nicolo but she’d hit a brick wall.
‘I’m just wondering why you are so opposed to helping restore the Chatsfield name to what it once was,’ she murmured. ‘The brand used to be synonymous with elegance and good taste, but that is no longer true. Frankly, every time the Chatsfield name features in the press it is usually followed by reports of scandalous behaviour by one of your siblings.’
Ignoring Nicolo’s deepening frown, Sophie continued, ‘It’s not surprising that your father wants to change the way the business is perceived. Gene is trying to do what is best for the Chatsfield. You might not understand the reason for some of his decisions but I truly believe he has acted the way he has because he loves his children and wants to help them. That is why he has appointed Christos as CEO. Because he thinks Christos can turn the hotel business’s fortunes around. But Christos needs the support of the shareholders—which means you. Surely, out of respect for your father, you should attend the shareholders’ meeting?’
‘My father is to blame for many of the company’s problems,’ Nicolo bit out. ‘It was his behaviour that first tarnished the Chatsfield name, and it was because of what he did that my mother …’
‘Your mother—what?’ Sophie broke the tense silence that had fallen. ‘And what did your father do? I don’t understand.’
‘You don’t need to understand.’ Nicolo scraped back his chair and stood up. ‘None of this is any of your concern.’
‘But you should be concerned,’ she said intently. ‘If you refuse to cooperate with Christos your father has threatened to disinherit you and withhold the allowance you receive from the Chatsfield family trust fund.’
‘I don’t give a damn about the bloody money.’ Nicolo put his hands flat on the table in front of Sophie and leaned in close so that she was forced to meet his glittering gaze. ‘Giatrakos was right about one thing. I’ve made a fortune on the financial markets. I don’t need handouts from my father and I don’t care what happens to the Chatsfield Hotel chain.’
‘But you do care about your brothers and sisters, and especially Lucilla,’ Sophie said intuitively. ‘You say you’re not interested in the Chatsfield, but Lucilla cares about it, and for her sake you should consider attending the shareholders’ meeting.’
‘It seems to me that the best way I can help my sister is to refuse to go along with what Christos wants. I have no problem with being a thorn in his side,’ Nicolo said harshly.
He trapped Sophie’s gaze and she felt swamped by the force of his powerful personality. ‘You’ve lost the argument, Miss Ashdown, and tomorrow morning you can trot back to your boss and tell him that my answer hasn’t changed. I will not be at the meeting.’
He moved abruptly away from the table and Sophie released her pent-up breath on a shaky sigh as she was freed from Nicolo’s magnetic spell. She was shocked by her reaction to him. While
he had been leaning across the table her eyes had zeroed in on his mouth and she had found herself fantasizing about him slanting his lips over hers. Her instincts warned her he would not be a gentle lover. There was something faintly barbaric about the stern line of his mouth and she sensed his kiss would be fiercely passionate and mercilessly demanding.
No way was she interested in Nicolo, Sophie assured herself as she watched him stride out of the room. The men she dated were liberal, open-minded and completely comfortable with equality between the sexes—definitely not the kind of men who would haul a woman over their shoulder and carry her off in the manner of a primitive heathen.
She collected up the dinner plates and carried them out to the kitchen. As she loaded the dishwasher her thoughts returned to Nicolo, and she gave a rueful sigh. She doubted he had even heard of the term New Man. She was annoyed by her inexplicable fascination with him. It wasn’t as if she was looking for a man. She was no longer in love with Richard, but she could never forget the reason why he had ended their relationship and the hurt had not completely faded. Her inability to give Richard the family he wanted had made her feel deficient, and the sense of abandonment she had felt when he had broken off their relationship had brought back memories of how she had felt abandoned by her father.
Her attraction to Nicolo was simply sexual chemistry, Sophie reminded herself. She had no intention of giving in to the disturbing feelings he evoked in her. Dangerously sexy highway-men were fine in historical romance novels but they had no place in real life.
* * *
Sophie did not know what had woken her. For a moment she felt disorientated. The intense darkness in her room was thick and muffling, as only the darkness of the countryside was without the gleam through the curtains of car headlamps or street lights that polluted the night sky in towns and cities. The luminous dial on her watch showed that it was 3:00 a.m. From far away she heard a low rumble of thunder. Maybe that was what had disturbed her?
She settled back down on the pillows, but now that she was awake she was conscious of strange noises in an unfamiliar house. The tick of the grandfather clock on the landing seemed overly loud, and she prayed that the scrabbling sound from the wardrobe wasn’t a mouse. Her heart missed a beat as she became aware of another noise.
Someone was in her room!
She could hear heavy, panting breaths coming closer to the bed.
Tense with fear, she put out a hand and groped for the lamp on the bedside table. Her fingers came into contact with something hairy and she stifled a scream as she felt hot breath on her face.
Frantically she managed to locate the lamp switch and turned it on.
‘Oh, heavens! Dorcha!’ she gasped when she saw the dog. Relief flooded through her as the huge hound nuzzled her arm. ‘You terrified me. I thought …’
She had thought all sorts of stupid things. Only children were worried about ghosts and things that went bump in the night, Sophie acknowledged ruefully. ‘Go back to your basket,’ she instructed the wolfhound. ‘I’m going to try and get to sleep.’
But as she reached to turn off the lamp she heard loud shouts, followed by a dreadful groaning that chilled her blood.
It sounded as though someone, or something, was in terrible pain. The groaning came again and Sophie knew she had not imagined it. Apart from Dorcha, only she and Nicolo were in the house. Silence fell, and she held her breath. But then it came again, this time a cry of such raw agony that she could not bear it. Jumping out of bed, she did not waste time pulling on her dressing gown as she hurried out of her bedroom and along the landing.
She did not know where Nicolo’s room was, but the groans were coming from the far end of the corridor. Sophie hesitated outside the bedroom door as another desperate cry came from within, and it occurred to her that maybe a burglar had broken into the house and was attacking Nicolo.
Swallowing, she picked up a heavy pewter vase from the bureau and, gripping it tightly, she turned the door handle.
The moon was on this side of the house and it cast faint grey light through the chink in the curtains. Sophie could make out a shadowy figure lying on the bed, but there was no one else in the room. Nicolo gave a low cry that sounded as though it had been torn from his soul. What hellish place was his mind trapped in? she wondered as she stepped farther into the room.
‘Nicolo …’ she said softly.
‘Get out!’ He shouted harshly. ‘For God’s sake, go!’
‘All right, I’m going. I’m sorry.’ Sophie shot out of the door, hot-faced with embarrassment. Clearly she had been wrong and he hadn’t been asleep and dreaming. Heaven knew why he had been making those blood-curdling groans, but she wasn’t going to go back in and ask him.
She scuttled back along the landing, but his shouts followed her.
‘Get out! If we don’t get out, we’ll die.’
Nicolo was asleep, and having a nightmare, Sophie realised. She was reluctant to return to his room but his harrowing cries made her turn back.
This time she entered his room and walked across to the bed. As she drew closer she saw that he was lying on his back, one arm thrown across his face. In the moon shadow she could make out his long dark hair on the pillow.
‘Nicolo, wake up.’
He groaned again.
Desperate to rouse him, Sophie touched his shoulder. ‘Nicolo …’
She let out a startled cry when he suddenly gripped her wrist and gave a forceful tug. Caught off balance, she fell on top of him.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Nicolo—it’s me, Sophie.’
‘Sophie?’ His deep voice was slurred.
‘Sophie Ashdown—remember me? You’ve been dreaming….’
There was silence for a few moments. ‘I grew out of wet dreams a long time ago,’ he drawled finally. ‘This is no dream. You feel very real to me, Sophie.’
To Sophie’s shock he tightened his hold on her wrist and moved his other hand to the small of her back, pressing her down so that she was acutely conscious of his muscular body beneath her. Only the sheet and her nightdress separated them. Sophie could feel the hard sinews of his thighs. She caught her breath as she felt something else hard jab into her stomach. Nicolo was no longer caught up in a nightmare; he was awake, alert—and aroused.
She hurriedly reminded herself that it was a common phenomenon for males to wake up with an erection and it did not mean that Nicolo was responding to her in a sexual way. The same could not be said for her body, however.
‘For goodness’ sake, let me up,’ she said sharply, frantically trying to ignore the throb of desire that centred between her legs. To Sophie’s horror she felt a tingling sensation in her nipples and prayed that Nicolo could not feel their betraying hard points through the sheet.
The pale gleam from the moon highlighted the hard angles of his face and the cynical curve of his mouth. Trapped against him, Sophie breathed in the spicy tang of his aftershave. It was a bold, intensely masculine fragrance that evoked an ache of longing in the pit of her stomach. Nicolo was the sexiest man she had ever met and she was shocked by her reaction to his potent masculinity. ‘You were having a nightmare,’ she insisted. ‘I was trying to wake you. What other possible reason would I have for coming to your room in the middle of the night?’
She flung out a hand and by lucky chance found the switch on the bedside lamp. Nicolo blinked in the sudden brightness and his brows lifted in surprise when he saw the pewter vase in her other hand.
‘Were you were planning to do some flower arranging, or knock me out with that thing?’
Sophie flushed, wondering how she had forgotten she was holding the vase. ‘I thought you were being attacked by a burglar,’ she muttered.
‘And you came to defend me? I’m touched.’
The mockery in his voice was the last straw. Using all her strength, she jerked out of his grasp and slid off him.
Nicolo sat up, and the sheet slipped down his body. His sardonic smile faded wh
en he heard her swiftly indrawn breath, and following her gaze he glanced down at his chest covered in mottled red scars that ran from his hip up to his neck.
His eyes narrowed as he saw Sophie recoil from him. ‘I apologise if my appearance revolts you,’ he said harshly. ‘Perhaps you’ll think twice in future about stealing into a stranger’s bedroom without invitation.’
She swallowed, desperately trying to disguise her shocked reaction to the sight of the terrible scarring that covered the left side of his torso and the whole of his arm.
‘I didn’t steal in here. I heard you shout out in your sleep and was concerned and came to wake you.’
He gave a grim laugh. ‘And you discovered a monster. I hope the sight of my ugliness doesn’t give you nightmares.’
‘You’re not a monster,’ Sophie said shakily. ‘I’m not revolted by your scars. But I hadn’t realised the extent of your injuries. You must have been in agony in the aftermath of the fire.’
Nicolo instinctively rejected the sympathy he could see in her hazel eyes. He despised pity. In the almost two decades since he had been burned, countless women had seen him naked. He had grown used to witnessing the horror in their eyes when they saw his scars and he told himself he did not give a damn that Sophie looked sickened by the sight of his damaged body.
‘I don’t want your concern,’ he growled. ‘I suggest you get out of my room before the sight of you in your very fetching night attire makes me forget that I’m a gentleman.’
His mocking taunt reminded Sophie that she was only wearing a peach satin nightdress. Her nightwear was not especially revealing, but the gleam in Nicolo’s eyes made her feel as if she’d shimmied into his room wearing nipple tassels and a thong! Flushing, she crossed her arms defensively over her breasts.
‘If you were a gentleman you wouldn’t have thrown me out of the house like a bag of rubbish,’ she said tightly. She marched over to the door, but the memory of his desperate groans during his nightmare made her hesitate. ‘Do you need anything to help you sleep?’
His low, sexy laugh sent a frisson of awareness through Sophie. ‘What did you have in mind, Miss Ashdown?’
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