Hired:The Italian's Bride

She risked a look up. He was watching her steadily and she knew there was something very personal between them, like it or not. Something she refused to acknowledge further than she already had. She wasn’t equipped for more than accepting there was a small level of attraction. Anything more would be pointless.

“I assure you, it has nothing to do with you.” And the bottom line was, it didn’t. It had to do with her and with Robert and that was all.

“Then I won’t take it personally. I merely wanted to be sure you were all right.”

“I am, and thank you for asking.”

When she smiled this time it was without the frosty veneer. He had accepted what she’d said with politeness and grace. She was touched that someone cared enough to be concerned about her. No one worried about her, because she’d reinvented her life that way. But without even knowing her, Luca seemed to care. It was unexpected, and though she suspected he’d hate the thought, it was sweet.

He stepped forward and laid the key on her desk. “I thought you might want this back.”

She left it where he’d placed it and he stepped away.

He was nearly to the door when he turned back. “Oh, and Mari, I’d like for you to sit in on the meeting with Dean once I’ve given him the tour and my initial ideas. We’ll work up a preliminary budget and tentative schedule, get the ball rolling so to speak, and that’s your forte. I also would like us to send out a joint memo before then to all the staff. Something to say that over the next months there will be changes and adjustments, but that no one will lose their position. That every effort will be made to make this as seamless as possible for both staff and guests. I keep my promises, Mari. I hope you remember that.”

He was keeping his word. It pleased her that he remembered. When she least expected it, he showed consideration to those around him. Perhaps he was more than she’d initially suspected. Perhaps the playboy from the glossy magazines had a little more substance than she’d given him credit for.

“I’ll draft one up today and e-mail it to you.”

“Thank you, Mari.”

She got up from her desk finally, knowing that she owed him something, even if she didn’t know what. She picked up the key and held it out. When he reached with his hand, she pressed the key into his palm.

“Keep it. I have another somewhere.”

His fingers closed over hers slightly as he cupped the key in his hand. She tried very hard to ignore the tingles shivering up her arm at the warmth of his fingers.

“You’re sure?”

Mari remembered his face as he’d walked into the attic. She’d put up walls because she’d resented the easy joy he’d had, seeing the dusty antiques. She didn’t let herself feel things like that anymore. It would be petty to deprive him of it. It was his hotel, and he was keeping his end of the bargain.

“I’m sure, Luca. And when Mr. Shiffling arrives, we’ll meet and discuss how best to approach the changes to come.”

“Then I’ll hear from you later today.”

He pulled his hand from hers and pocketed the key. He walked back to his office, and moments later she heard the door click. But she stood in the middle of her own, wondering how on earth she was going to handle the roller coaster that was rapidly becoming her life.

Luca Fiori got to her. In every way.

CHAPTER FOUR

“I THOUGHT we were storing the furniture in the Green Conference room, and the rest in the storage area off the south corridor.”

Mari looked up, knowing she looked harried because she was. Yesterday she’d received another letter. She’d hardly slept last night thinking about what it said. Hating how the past still had this hold over her.

Now, this was the second time Luca had interfered with clearing out the lounge. He stood beside her, not a bead of sweat or hair out of place or a wrinkle in his trousers or his chocolate-brown shirt, calmly issuing edicts.

“You said the other conference room. The Mount Baker.” She knew it was hard for Luca to remember, but all the rooms were named after peaks in the Rockies and she was determined to use the proper names, not identify them by color.

“The Mount Baker is being used for meetings.”

“When did that happen?”

“When I scheduled them.”

She took deep breaths to hold on to her temper. Everything was in flux and it was starting to get to her. Now he was changing his mind and she was just supposed to go with it.

“You scheduled them? Why not use another room?”

“Because the company I hired to renovate our spa wanted a room where they could use a projector.”

Her head spun. A spa? They’d have to discuss that one, but not now. Now she had a dozen employees moving furniture and putting it in the wrong place.