‘Yes, really.’ He stared reflectively out at the sapphire sweep of the sea. ‘Mardivino is a small island which
needs to overhaul its tourist industry selectively. Its popularity is growing, and we have all seen the dangers of that elsewhere. When too many people come there is a risk that the original charm of a place will be destroyed. It is happening here, and it is happening now.’
‘That isn’t really my end of the market at all,’ she said coolly.
‘Then perhaps it should be,’ he returned. ‘I have had your company thoroughly investigated and I like what you do. I like it very much.’
‘Actually, I’m not looking for your approval, Nico.’ But she might as well not have spoken for all the notice he took.
‘Sometimes a relatively untutored eye can see what all the so-called “experts” cannot—you have both vision and imagination, Gabriella, and that is what I am looking for.’
‘Oh, hoist the flag! Declare a national holiday! Am I supposed to be pleased? Because I’m not! I never sought your approval and—’
‘And point two,’ he said, his words cutting through her protestation like steel lancing through soft flesh. ‘Please understand that I mean what I say. I do not want your assistant. I want you.’
‘Well, that’s tough! I’m not coming!’
The fight and her resistance was tantalising him to an unbearable pitch, but the tone of his voice remained clipped and emphatic. ‘I think that you will. Or rather, that you should. I am not used to having my requests turned down, and if you refuse then I am afraid that your business might…. How shall I putthis?’ There was another pause. ‘You might discover that there has been a sudden downturn in your fortunes.’
Quiet menace underpinned his words, and with a chilling certainty Ella knew that he spoke the truth. She didn’t know how he could damage her business, she just knew that he could. ‘Are you…are you threatening me?’ she demanded incredulously.
‘It is all a matter of perception, surely?’ he answered softly. ‘I am merely offering you a wonderful opportunity, one that it would be exceedingly foolish of you to turn down. It would be professional suicide,’ he finished.
He was a clever and perceptive man—damn him! For someone whose position must mean that he was largely protected from the world and all its problems, he knew about the value of a job like this. Or had he grown up knowing that he could have everything he wanted—just so long as the price was right?
Ella injected frost into her voice. At least that way she could stop it from trembling with rage. ‘And if I accept? If I do the job which you say you have for me—do I have your word that you will leave me alone?’
‘But I deal with tourism on the island,’ he said innocently. ‘It would make no sense at all for me to make a promise that I cannot keep, cara. You will, of course, have to liaise with me.’
He managed to make the word sound indecently sexual—which, presumably, had been his intention. And her impotent rage did not protect her from the sudden shimmering of sensation over her skin as she remembered with erotic clarity just how accomplished a lover he was.
‘I think we’re talking at cross-purposes here, Nico,’ she said softly. ‘And as for promises—I can make one that I have every intention of keeping, and that is that you will not get what it is you want.’
‘But you do not know what that is, do you, Gabriella?’ he mocked.
No, but she had a pretty good idea. She wasn’t stupid, nor was she completely inexperienced. She hadn’t been a virgin. There had been a couple of lovers in her past, but none of them had come even close to matching Nico. It was about so much more than technique—it had been as though she had never really made love properly before. With him it had been an experience that transcended anything she had ever felt in the arms of another man.
He had made it seem as if her body was boneless, weightless, melding with his as if it had been born to do only that. She had felt her heart beating beneath him and the hard heat of his body within hers. In his arms she had been helpless and yet powerful—and she had seen his face soften with a pleasure and a joy that had only added to her own. And they had tasted those pleasures for only one fleeting night—of course he would want to experience it all over again. Heaven only knew, just thinking about it now was enough to set her own body aching.
But things had changed. Even if he hadn’t deceived her—which he had—the relative innocence of what had happened between them could never be recreated. He was not who she had thought he was. He had kept his identity secret—and as secrets went it was a pretty big one.
Was his persistence due to the fact that she had sent him packing and that had never happened before in his privileged life? What other reason would he have for twisting her arm to fly to his island?
Well, he was in for a big surprise. Ella’s family had often accused her of stubbornness, and she knew that it could sometimes be a fault, but at a time like now it was going to prove very useful indeed—although she would prefer to define it as resolve.
‘So you are agreed, Gabriella?’ the soft, mocking voice prompted her.
She briefly thought about appealing to his better nature—but she could hear his steely determination. She thought about calling his bluff. Would he really go through with something as hostile as ruining her tiny company simply because she would not accede to his will? Might he not just shrug those broad, hard shoulders and accept what she wanted with something approaching good grace? There must, after all, be literally hundreds of other women who would leap to be his lover.
No.
Instinct told her that he was used to getting what he wanted—and he wanted her. Well, he could have her—but only on her terms.
‘Very well. I accept.’
‘Excellent.’
She could hear the triumph in his voice and clenched her free hand into a little fist. Oh, why hadn’t she slapped him properly when she had had the opportunity? She breathed in deeply, forcing herself to sound cool. ‘But first I need a little more information about precisely what it is I am expected to do.’