Million Dollar Christmas Proposal

“No. Definitely not.”

“Then we had best hurry.”

He did not take her hand again as they left the pool paradise.

CHAPTER TWELVE

TOBY WAS RIGHT on time.

Audrey barely managed to get her hair brushed into a neat if wet ponytail and to put pajamas on under the robe before he arrived. He teased her about using the pool without him, but was easily placated by the promise they would be indulging the next day.

Toby and the children thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon in the pool paradise. Toby was as impressed by the indoor jungle as Audrey, and he fell in love with the ocicats, but he really shone with Franca and Angilu.

The baby adored the water and decided Toby was his favorite playmate in it.

Vincenzo emulated some of Toby’s play with Angilu and seemed surprised but very happy when the baby responded just as well to him. All three of them had a blast together while Audrey and Franca worked on the little girl’s ability to float.

Both children were going to have to have age-appropriate swimming lessons if they were going to live even part-time in a house with a pool. They might not have access to the pool room, but children got into places no one thought they could.

Or so the parenting books Audrey had read suggested.

They didn’t see Giovannu Tomasi until dinner that evening.

“I do not understand why we are having dinner practically in the afternoon,” he complained to Vincenzo.

“It is six-thirty in the evening, hardly the afternoon. I have explained my dinner hour has been shifted to accommodate the children, so we can eat together as a family before their early bedtime.”

That had been one of Audrey’s suggestions and it made her happy he’d taken it and was clearly so protective of the change in his schedule.

Giovannu frowned. “That can hardly be convenient with your business schedule.”

“I make it work,” Vincenzo said with thinning patience.

“You cannot neglect your business responsibilities in order to play happy families, Enzu.”

Vincenzo grimaced and Audrey wanted to smack his father upside the head. “If you are very concerned, I am sure Enzu would appreciate you taking a more active role in running the bank,” she said.

“As his most recent and hardly his last lady-friend, you are hardly in a position to have an opinion on the subject, Miss Miller,” Giovannu said with a double dose of condescension.

Toby made a sound like steam escaping a boiling kettle, but Audrey shook her head at him. In a very real sense, Giovannu had a point.

“On the contrary. In our time together, Audrey has proved to have a better understanding of myself and my business than you have ever been capable of, Giovannu.”

The ice in Vincenzo’s tone would have frozen Audrey where she sat if it had been directed at her.

Giovannu simply waved his hand, as if dismissing Vincenzo’s words. “I have a vested interest in the continued success of the bank and your company.”

Vincenzo sat very erect, the blue gaze he directed at his father glacial. “First, let me be very clear, you have zero interest in my company. Neither you nor Frances will benefit financially, now or ever, from Tomasi Enterprises. Second, Audrey is absolutely right. If you are so worried about Tomasi Commercial Bank I will be happy to cede the presidency to you and you can run it into the ground for all I care.”

Vincenzo gave his father a chilling star.

“But do not think I will step back in to bail you out. It will not happen. Third, you will treat any guest I have invited to my table with the utmost respect, or you will lose the privilege of being a guest in my home at all. Do we understand each other?”

Giovannu stood up, his expression one of affronted pride. “Perhaps it is time I returned to my own home. I expect better treatment from my son than this.”

Vincenzo simply inclined his head. “Devon will arrange for someone to help you pack.”

His son’s agreement clearly shocked the older man. His mouth opened in slack-jawed disbelief.

It occurred to Audrey in that moment that Vincenzo had probably never stood up to his father like this. He’d made it clear that for the most part he practiced a live-and-let-live-with-an-allowance policy toward his parents.

Vincenzo was driven by his obligation and care toward his family. It would take a great deal to force him to show this ruthless side to those he felt responsible for.

She couldn’t help the way it touched her heart he was defending her role so mercilessly.

Audrey looked around the table to see how the children and Toby were taking this altercation.

While Franca sent worried glances toward the men, plainly aware of the tension between them, the actual meaning of their discussion had gone over the child’s head. She continued to eat her dinner while having a quiet conversation with Percy about the merits of fresh carrots with dip over the cooked ones on her plate.

Toby was busy playing with the baby, ignoring the argument to the point he’d deliberately turned his back toward Giovannu.

Audrey bit back a smile at her brother’s silent message of disgust for the older man. She shifted her attention back to Vincenzo. His eyes were on her. His father was standing silent dumbfounded to his right.

She winked at Vincenzo. He jerked back as if startled, but then a smile started at his mouth and spread like sunrise to his oh-so-compelling blue eyes.

“That won’t be necessary. There is no point in allowing a little tiff to drive a wedge between father and son,” Giovannu said, as if he and Vincenzo were still engaged in active discussion. “However, I do think I will have my dinner later. This early epicurean hour does not agree with me.”

Vincenzo just shrugged, his gaze never leaving Audrey. “If that is your wish.”

“Yes, well…” Realizing no one was going to ask him to stay, Giovannu left.

Toby sent Vincenzo a look of understanding. “No offence, but I think your dad and mine went to the same school for jerkwads.”

Vincenzo’s bark of amusement exploded into full-blown laughter and soon the whole room was laughing. Even the baby and Franca, though the confusion on her tiny face said she didn’t know why she was laughing.

Audrey, however, gasped out Toby’s name in admonishment. “Language!” she prompted.

He grinned and nodded, but the look he shared with Vincenzo said neither male was particularly repentant.

*

She’d just arrived at her desk on Wednesday morning when Audrey’s mobile made the sound of keys on a typewriter, indicating she had a text message.

Smiling, she grabbed the phone, and a small laugh fell from her lips as she read what it said.

R U packed? No PJs needed.

She hadn’t seen Vincenzo since Sunday night, but he’d been texting her. Early morning “wake-up” messages right after her alarm went off. Quick reminders to eat, or take her breaks.

Apparently Vincenzo and Toby were texting buddies now, too, and Audrey’s brother had ratted her out about skipping breakfast with her new early hours.

Vincenzo was a lot more fluent in textspeak than Audrey and sometimes she spent more time deciphering his messages than answering them.

She sent him pictures of Franca and Angilu from her afternoon visits with them. She shared little jokes about her day and was ridiculously pleased when he started doing the same with her.

The sexy texts had started Monday night, right around bedtime. One-word reminders of their time together on Saturday. Oblique promises of what was to come over the holiday.

Vincenzo had invited her and Toby to stay the four-day Thanksgiving weekend with him and the children at the mansion. Amazingly, the workaholic billionaire was taking almost the entire time off.

Hence his packed schedule leading up to it.

*

Audrey curled in the chair beside the window in her guestroom.

She was reading. Not watching for the arrival of Vincenzo’s car in t

he drive below. Not.

Percy had arrived with the children in the afternoon. Audrey and Toby had driven up after she got off work. If she’d been thinking, she would have put off their arrival until the following morning.

But Toby had been so excited to return to the mansion and Vincenzo’s indoor pool, not to mention the state-of-the-art workout facility. And maybe Audrey had hoped she would get to see Vincenzo.

He was supposed to arrive sometime tonight, after a video conference with one of his West Coast subsidiaries.

She’d had some vague idea about waiting up for him downstairs, until they had arrived and discovered that Giovannu Tomasi was still in residence. Not that he had joined her and the children for supper.

Giovannu had, however, asked Audrey to keep him company while he ate. Since she’d already helped Percy put Franca and Angilu to bed, Audrey had not had a ready excuse for turning him down. Mindful of what Vincenzo had said in regard to learning to deal with his parents, Audrey had realized she shouldn’t make up one, either.

It had not been a pleasant hour, but Audrey had not walked away bleeding, either. Giovannu had begun by pouring on the charm, apparently genuinely under the impression that he was utterly irresistible to the opposite sex.

She’d shut him down in a way guaranteed to get her point across: by pretending not to even notice the flirting and responding to him as if he was a particularly trying older uncle.

She’d dropped unsubtle hints that she considered him too old to be seen in that way. And wasn’t he lucky to have a wife of so many years? After all, many men of his advanced years faced a lack of companionship.