“I’m sorry if I don’t quite get the concept of healthy confrontation. To me there’s nothing healthy about shouting at each other or hurling insults. In the end someone always ends up getting hurt because one person doesn’t know when to stop.” She said it all in one breath but couldn’t look at him while she did it. And she steeled herself, willing away the shaking that happened every time she thought about Robert. Knowing he was out there somewhere, and free.
Something clicked in Luca’s head. A seed of an idea that was suddenly so clear he didn’t know why he hadn’t put two and two together before. Maybe because he’d been so focused on his job that he hadn’t given it priority.
Mari had been hurt. Someone had hurt her and now she was afraid.
It made sense. He’d missed the signs, but he could see them now. Her aversion to touching, to arguing. The way she’d looked at him in the attic, the way she stood now, by the door, like she was ready to flee. The way her eyes wouldn’t meet his, keeping her distance. In his family, arguing was something done often and passionately, the same as loving. One didn’t negate the other. He couldn’t live life with his sister and father and not argue, it was part of who they were. But he’d been right about the loving, too. As much as he chafed at his father’s control of Fiori, it didn’t stop the love between them. It was the love that had made them safe. But he could see now that somehow, with Mari, someone had taught her differently. Someone had taught her that love hurt.
But he couldn’t broach the topic. They hardly knew each other. He was her boss, and it would be crossing a personal line. But he couldn’t help but wonder what—or who—had made her so afraid. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him. He was no threat.
“Mari, I’m sorry. I certainly didn’t mean to upset you. We’ve both been under some stress.” He decided a little insight into himself wouldn’t hurt, to put her at ease. He smiled at her. “I’m Italian. In my family we argue as passionately as we love each other. We know that we’ll be there for each other, no matter how much we disagree. I didn’t think that perhaps not everyone is the same way.”
She turned her eyes on him and he was caught for a brief moment. The same as that day in the attic, her eyes shone like gray dawn at him and he saw there was much more to Mari than he’d imagined. He could see the pain. The pain she thought she kept hidden inside behind the wall she’d built around herself. He’d seen that kind of ache before. In his father’s eyes, and in his sister Gina’s. It was, he realized, the look of the death of hope. As hard as he’d tr
ied over the years, he’d never been able to make that look go away for them completely. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
Her voice was soft. “And I lost my temper before and owe you an apology.”
“Accepted.”
They couldn’t go on being at each other’s throats all the time. It wouldn’t be good for the hotel, or the staff, or for either of them. And the first step was for him to offer her an olive branch. “It’s a beautiful day outside and from what I hear, one of the last. Let me treat you to lunch. Now that we’ve cleared the air.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He began to hold out his hand but pulled it back. He normally would have taken her hand in his, but he remembered her aversion to touching.
“I’m offering a truce, Mari. I would like us to be friends. I’d like for you to be comfortable enough with me that you can feel free to offer an opinion. You know this area. You know the staff far better than I. You are a great asset to The Cascade, Mari, and it won’t be good for either of us if we cannot find a way to work together. We can’t have more arguments like we did today. It’s counterproductive.”
“Luca, I appreciate the gesture, but I have a list of phone calls to make, not to mention the actual running of the hotel. We’re shuffling so many things around I’m having to adjust everywhere…”
“You need to take a break and come back refreshed. A little relaxation now means higher productivity later. Besides, I’m hungry. You have to eat. I insist.”
For someone who didn’t like orders, she seemed to understand them well enough. He saw her capitulate as her shoulders slumped slightly.
“Oh, all right.”
He smiled, his mind already working. She was still uptight; they both were. This wasn’t finished. The best plan was to get away from the hotel altogether, somewhere they could meet on middle ground. He wanted her to look at him without the guard she put up all the time.
He wanted her to trust him.
“Meet me in the courtyard. And bring a sweater.”
“The courtyard?”
He went to her, reaching around and opening the door. “Fifteen minutes, si?”
Mari stepped outside into the courtyard, her boots making dull sounds on the cobbled walk. Luca was standing by a bench to the right, by the remains of the rose garden. Now that most of her anger had dissipated, she felt that unfamiliar crawl again. No matter how hard she tried, he pushed her buttons. Either one extreme or the other. And she didn’t know which was more difficult—fighting with him or fighting the attraction that seemed to be budding. He’d been completely right this morning, and then had offered an apology. To her recollection, no man had ever apologized to her before. Damn it, she was starting to like him.
He was talking to another couple—Mari recognized them as the Townsends, the anniversary couple—and it took a lot of effort not to turn around and go back inside. The morning, combined with their argument and then apology had left her exhausted and off balance. She wasn’t sure what to say.
He’d apologized for arguing with her. He wanted to establish a better working relationship. And she knew by Christmas he’d be gone back to Italy and everything would go back to normal. It was only for the short term. It all should have made her feel much better. But it didn’t.
She approached with a smile. “Good afternoon.”
“Ah, Ms. Ross. You’ve met Mr. and Mrs. Townsend?”
She appreciated Luca using her surname. She held out her hand. “It’s nice to see you again. Are you enjoying your stay with us?”
Mrs. Townsend beamed. “We are. It’s just beautiful here. And that dinner the other night…what a lovely way to celebrate our anniversary. Thank you so much.”