The Italian's Ruthless Seduction

Sergio struggled to think. ‘I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.’

‘Everything was good yesterday. Maybe Mr Jeremy said something when she took him up the towels.’

‘What? When was that?’

‘Just before I go. He went upstairs to shower and I worry he might not have enough towels. I ask Bella to take him some more.’

‘You sent her up to Jeremy’s room with some towels?’ Sergio said, his mind racing as he tried to picture what might have happened.

‘Sì. Are you deaf now as well as stupid?’

Sergio jumped up from his chair. ‘That’s it. That has to be it!’ Excited and appalled at the same time, he raced upstairs and burst into Jeremy’s room without knocking.

‘Wake up, Jeremy! Wake up!’

Jeremy bolted upright in the bed with a startled gasp. ‘What the...? What’s going on?’

‘Go into the bathroom, close the door, then say something to me.’

‘Huh?’

‘Just do it!’

Jeremy staggered, naked, into the bathroom and closed the door. Sergio groaned when he heard his friend’s deep voice as clear as a bell. Without taking the time to explain, he ran to his room, grabbed a fresh shirt and his phone, then bolted for the garage. He was on the road to Milan within five minutes, his heart in his mouth but hope in his heart.

* * *

Bella was sitting in a quiet area of the first-class lounge, staring blankly through the large plate-glass window at the comings and goings of the airport, when a pair of black trousers materialised in the corner of her eye. She groaned silently at the thought some man was going to try to pick her up. It had happened before when she’d been waiting for a flight in first-class lounges.

‘May I join you?’ a very familiar voice asked.

Shock had Bella’s head jerking round and up, the silky hair of her red wig swinging around her ears.

‘Sergio,’ she choked out, thinking how dreadful he looked, his beautiful brown eyes all bleary and bloodshot. ‘What...what are you doing here?’

He sat down in the chair opposite her, his expression an odd combination of resolve and remorse.

‘I have come to tell you that I love you, Bella,’ he said in a heartfelt voice. ‘And I know you love me back. Maria told me so this morning in no uncertain terms. And she does not lie. I also finally worked out what happened yesterday. You took towels up to Jeremy’s room and overheard one side of our telephone conversation. You heard him say that I planned to marry a young Italian girl, plus other possibly damning things as well. What you didn’t hear, however, was what I was saying. I told Jeremy how much I loved you and wanted to marry you. I told him that that stupid plan about marrying an Italian girl had gone out the window within a day of your coming to the villa. He was the one who had doubts. Not me. Never me.’

When Bella absorbed the sincerity in his voice and saw the love in his eyes, she could not help it. She burst into tears, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed with happiness and relief. Sergio loved her. He hadn’t been using her. He loved her!

‘Please do not cry, my darling,’ Sergio choked out as he reached over and took her hands away from her tear-streaked face.

Her seeming distress sent lots of worried eyes swinging their way, one gentleman actually coming over to say something to Sergio in Italian, his voice sharp with disapproval.

Sergio said something back to him and the man smiled, before turning to speak to the other curious patrons. They all smiled then, with one woman actually clapping.

‘What did you say to him?’ Bella asked after she got her crying under control.

‘I told him I’d just proposed to you. And that you were crying with happiness.’

‘Oh...’

‘So now I had better ask you officially,’ he said, winding his fingers through hers. ‘Will you do me the honour of being my wife, my darling Bella?’

Bella struggled to swallow the huge lump in her throat. Blinking back a new rush of tears, she bent down to kiss his hands before glancing up at him with still-glistening eyes. But her voice was quite steady when she finally said, ‘Yes, my darling Sergio. I will.’

A ragged sigh shuddered from his lungs. ‘I am in danger of weeping myself. Which will never do. Let’s get out of here.’ And he pulled her to her feet.

‘But what about my luggage?’ Bella asked breathlessly as he hurried her away. ‘It’s already on the plane.’

‘Once I tell them that you won’t be on the flight they will unload it. I will get Luigi to pick it up later and take it to the villa.’