He’d made it across the reception area before he realised Aislin had failed to follow him.
He turned to find her hovering with her back pressed to the wall beside the lift.
‘Are you coming?’
‘This isn’t some kind of joke, is it?’ she asked doubtfully.
‘No joke. There is nothing to fear.’
Her grey eyes held his for an age before she blinked and made tentative steps to the threshold.
When she crossed it the whisper of a gasp flew from her mouth.
‘Not what you were expecting?’
She shook her tilted head, eyes darting over the high-carved ceilings.
‘Wait until you see the rest of it.’ He pushed the double doors open and stepped inside.
Her gasp this time was audible.
‘You like it?’
‘I don’t know...’
Dante always enjoyed watching people’s reaction to his main home. He’d bought the first three adjacent apartments a decade ago then spent a year purchasing the other apartments until the whole street bar one ground-floor apartment was his. He hadn’t had to use the strong-arm tactics many of his compatriots with his wealth and power would have used to convince the other owners to sell. Offering twice the listed value for each apartment had produced the same results and allowed him to sleep at night. He now employed the elderly couple who had refused to sell to be his eyes and ears. The remaining ground-floor apartments he used as homes for his staff. Knowing protection was on hand if he needed it without having his personal space encroached also allowed him to sleep well.
All the apartments on floors one to five had been knocked through to create a sprawling home that was unimaginable from the outside. This was the place Dante called home. His other apartments had been bought for convenience and as investments.
She walked to one of the windows and peered out. ‘Where’s your garden?’
Of all the questions and reactions that usually followed a new visitor stepping inside, this was a first.
‘I don’t have one.’
The look she cast him with was more than suspicious. ‘No garden? Not even on your roof?’
‘There’s a terrace with a swimming pool on the roof.’ He’d had it enclosed to retain his privacy. If he wanted to wander around naked on the roof, he could, and no one on the surrounding streets would be any the wiser.
‘That’s handy in the winter.’
‘It’s heated, but if the weather gets too bad I use the pool on the first floor.’
‘You have two swimming pools but no garden?’
‘I have no need or desire for a garden.’
‘What if you have children?’
‘I have no wish for children.’ For Dante children went hand in hand with marriage and he had no intention of ever marrying.
‘Is that what we tell people?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re going to tell people we’re engaged. If the guests are anything like those who attend Irish weddings, the first thing we’ll be asked is when we plan to have children.’
‘If asked, keep the answer vague—we want to enjoy our time together and have children in the future. Now, let me show you to your room—hopefully you will find it more to your liking than the rest of the house.’