‘My home—do you like it?’ Jake was out of the car and holding the passenger door open for her.
Lexi, to put it crudely, was gobsmacked. She stepped out on to the paved yard, her violet eyes widened to their fullest extent. She gazed around her in awe. Gleaming white stucco with rough stone corners and arches—the villa was a work of art. Set into the hillside, long circular terraces curved around all three floors, a multitude of flowers and vines, hibiscus, and seemingly thousands of geraniums of every hue in huge ornate containers. It was how she imagined the hanging gardens of Babylon must have looked. She said nothing as Jake took her arm and led her up a wide stone staircase to the massive arched entrance door. The door was flung open and a small, dark-haired lady dressed completely in black burst into a voluble welcome in Italian.
Her footsteps halted in surprised astonishment as Jake returned the woman’s greeting. ‘I didn’t know you spoke Italian.’ She looked up into his smiling face, and was stunned by the obvious pleasure in his eyes at the sight of the old lady. Once Jake had looked at her like that. The thought stung, as the smile left his eyes when he turned his attention to her.
‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me; you were never that interested.’ Jake shrugged lazily, his broad shoulders flexing beneath his fine shirt.
He was right; when they were first married she had been too young, too much in awe of him to question him about anything, plus when they had been alone together they had spent most of their time in bed...
‘Lexi, my housekeeper, Maria.’
Lexi with a start realised Jake was speaking, and, glad to banish the memories of the past, she took the older lady’s outstretched hand in a brief handshake, but she got the distinct impression Maria was somewhat reluctant to accept her. She listened as Jake issued instruction for lunch to be served at one, and watched as Maria scuttled off to the back of the house, and Jake strode across the ornate marble mosaic floor to the foot of a large white marble staircase.
‘Come along, Lexi.’ A cool smile curved his hard mouth. ‘I’m sure you want to get out of those clothes.’ His dark eyes slid slowly over her face and throat, taking in the thrust of her breasts against the simple cotton shirt, the narrow waist and conservative straight skirt, and back up again to her face.
She felt as though he could see through to her flesh and she shivered, a sharp frisson of fear running down her spine, and stared at him in silence, incapable of responding.
Jake walked over to her. ‘Your uniform is unnecessary here, Lexi; we are here to relax,’ he said, and his long fingers closed over her chin and his thumb brushed along her bottom lip. ‘And I am going to make you forget every man you ever looked at, except me.’
Lexi flushed, but there was no heat in Jake’s eyes, she noted. She was looking at a stranger. His face was blank, hostile as he watched her; she felt the pressure of his fingers, the warmth of his body, and felt her throat tighten in fear.
‘After you,’ Jake drawled, and she heard the mockery in his tone as his hand dropped to curve around her back, propelling her forward.
Stiffly she moved towards the grand staircase. They climbed the stairs and walked down a wide corridor, their heels clicking like a death knell, Lexi thought fancifully, on the marble floors. Jake stopped at a door, opened it and urged her in. The room was bright and airy, flooded with the morning sun; the king-sized bed dominating it was covered with an intricate white lace bedspread.
‘The master bedroom,’ Jake drawled, and, going over to a door set in one plain white wall, he flung it open. ‘Through here, the bathroom. The rest of this floor is taken up with another bedroom and the nursery suite. The top floor houses three more bedrooms and the service flat. The layout for the ground floor you can see for yourself later.’
‘It’s very nice,’ she said politely. The room was obviously on the corner of the house, as two large windows were set in the wall to the right of her along with two long ceiling-to-floor windows that framed the huge bed. She walked across to the window directly in front of her and gasped.
The view was too beautiful for words. The tree-lined drive had disguised the exquisitely terraced gardens that marched down in row after row to end at what must be the edge of a cliff, and then the sea, glistening brilliant blue, the faint outline of Capri visible in the far distance. She let her gaze swing around in a shallow arc; to one side was visible the tiny port of Positano, the luxury yachts lying at anchor in the marina. It was picture-postcard-perfect. She clasped her hands together, suddenly nervous, as she felt Jake’s presence behind her. She could sense the undercurrent of sexual tension in the air around them. A bedroom was far too intimate a place to be with Jake.
‘How long have you owned this place?’ She turned to look at him, hoping by her simple question to break the tension sizzling in the air.
He stared down at her, his dark eyes brooding. ‘About a year.’
‘Why buy here?’ Had he wanted to be near her? the errant thought entered her mind.
‘It was left to me by my father.’
She raised her brows. ‘Your father? But I thought he died years ago.’
‘Well, you thought wrong.’ His blue eyes avoided hers, and for a second Lexi felt sympathy, until he added dismissively, ‘And I hav
e no wish to discuss it with you.’
She should have known better than to waste her sympathy on him, and, straightening her shoulders, she said, ‘Yes, well... If you will excuse me.’ She made to walk past him but was stopped as one long arm snaked out and curved around her waist, hauling her in hard against his body.
‘Not so fast, Lexi.’ His eyes darkened as he looked down at her. ‘You owe me for this morning,’ he said under his breath. ‘No woman leaves my bed without my say-so.’ She felt herself sway against him. ‘And certainly not to run to another man.’
Lexi stared at him, and swallowed hard on the lump of fear that lodged in her throat. His blue-black eyes captured hers, and there was no mistaking the predatory animal look she saw in his dark face. ‘I wasn’t running away...’
‘No...’ he drawled mockingly. ‘Then convince me...’
CHAPTER SIX
‘NO.’ LEXI lifted her hands, intending to push him away, but his strong arm wrapped tighter around her small waist, his fingers biting into her side as he turned her fully in front of him, his long legs pressing against her slender limbs. Her hands came up against the hard wall of his chest; she could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath her fingers. The heat of his body, through the fine fabric of his shirt, burnt the palms of her hands, sending electric sensations shooting through her entire body.
‘You want to, you know you do, Lexi. I saw it in those huge pansy eyes of yours last night when I kissed you. I could have taken you there and then,’ Jake’s deep voice husked beguilingly. ‘Why deny yourself the pleasure?’