‘My children will be my priority, although I’ll be interested to see how your family fares with being shown that things can be done differently. The right way.’
He watched her digest his response, watched the shadows he was beginning to detest mount in her eyes. He decided against probing further. There’d been enough turbulent emotions today. He suspected there would be further fireworks when she found out the new business negotiations he’d commenced this afternoon.
That a part of him was looking forward to it made him shift in his seat.
Since when had he craved verbal conflict with a woman?
Never. And yet he couldn’t seem to help himself when it came to Eva.
He was debating this turn of events as their plates were removed when a throat cleared next to them.
The man was around his age, with floppy brown hair and a cocky smile that immediately rubbed Zaccheo the wrong way.
‘Can I join you for a few minutes?’ he asked.
The no that growled up Zaccheo’s chest never made it. Eva was smiling—her first genuine smile since he’d walked in—and nodding. ‘Mr Preston, of course!’
‘Thanks. And call me Ziggy, please. Mr Preston is my headmaster grandfather.’
‘What can we do for you, Ziggy?’ Zaccheo raised an eyebrow at the furious look Eva shot him.
The other man, who was staring at Eva with an avidness that made Zaccheo’s fist clench, finally looked in his direction. ‘I came to pay my compliments to your girlfriend. She has an amazing voice.’
Eva blushed at his words.
Zaccheo’s eyes narrowed when he noticed she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. ‘Eva’s my fiancée, not my girlfriend. And I’m very much aware of her exceptional talent,’ he said, the harsh edge to his voice getting through to the man, who looked from him to Eva before his smile dimmed.
‘Ah, congratulations are in order, then?’
‘Grazie,’ Zaccheo replied. ‘Was there something else you wanted?’
‘Zaccheo!’ Eva glared harder, and turned to Ziggy. ‘Pardon my fiancé. He’s feeling a little testy because—’
‘I want her all to myself but find other things standing in my way. And because you’re not wearing your engagement ring, dolcezza.’
She covered her bare fingers with her hand, as if that would remove the evidence of the absence of his ring. ‘Oh, I didn’t want to risk losing it. I’m still getting used to it.’ The glance she sent him held a mixture of defiance and entreaty.
Ziggy cleared his throat again. ‘I don’t want to play the Do-you-know-who-I-am? card, but—’
‘Of course I know who you are,’ Eva replied with a charming laugh.
Ziggy smiled and produced a business card. ‘In that case, would you like to come to my studio next week? See if we can make music together?’
Eva’s pleased gasp further darkened Zaccheo’s mood. ‘Of course I can—’
‘Aren’t you forgetting something, luce mio?’ he asked in a quietly lethal tone.
‘What?’ she asked, so innocently he wanted to grab her from the chair, spread her across the table and make her see nothing, no one, but him. Make her recall that she had given her word to be his and only his.
‘You won’t be available next week.’ He didn’t care that he hadn’t yet apprised her of the details. He cared that she was smiling at another man as if he didn’t exist. ‘We’ll be on our honeymoon on my private island off the coast of Brazil where we’ll be staying for the next two weeks.’
Her eyes rounded, but she recovered quickly and took the business card. ‘I’ll make time to see you before I go. Surely you don’t want to deny me this opportunity, darling?’ Her gaze swung to him, daring him to respond in the negative.
Despite his irritation, Zaccheo curbed a smile. ‘Of course. Anything for you, dolcezza.’
Ziggy beamed. ‘Great! I look forward to it.’
The moment he was out of earshot, she turned to Zaccheo. ‘How dare you try and sabotage me like that?’
‘Watching you smile at another man like that fills me with insane jealousy. It also brings out the jerk in me. My apologies,’ he growled. Her mouth dropped open. ‘Close your mouth, Eva.’
She shook her head as if reeling from a body blow.
Welcome to my world.
‘Where’s your ring?’ He stared at her, his control on a knife-edge.
Perhaps sensing the dangerously shifting currents, she pulled up the gold chain that hung between her pert, full breasts. His ring dangled from it.