His expression shuttered.
Swallowing back tears when he didn’t deny it, she backed away, almost tripping off the terrace. ‘Well. Sorry. I can see why... I just wanted to say that I was wrong to accuse you.’
‘Thanks.’ Then, as Jade went to turn away, he added, ‘Actually, I’ve been kayaking.’
She blinked away tears to try to read his expression. ‘Kayaking?’ she repeated stupidly. ‘With Isabella?’ That was hard to picture.
His lips relaxed, if only by a fraction. ‘Erm... hardly her thing. I’ve only heard from her in texts to say Teddy turned up at the Black Falcon wanting to talk and she told him to leave. He said the police have seized his passport. I’ll probably have to make a statement.’ He shrugged, as if putting all that behind him. ‘My mate Bryce arranged the trip for his burnt-out managerial friends. I was the last-minute sub when some young executive’s annual leave was rescinded. The deal was to leave our phones at his house and go whitewater kayaking on the River Derwent. Living in tents. Leaving our usual lives behind. They were disconnecting from work, while I was getting my head on straight and deciding what I wanted.’
Jade was desperate to ask what that was, but didn’t really feel in a position to demand an explanation.
He ran his hand over his cropped hair, as if surprised to find a short pelt rather than tousled locks. ‘Is your insurance company sorted?’
Bewildered by this abrupt change of subject, she nodded. ‘Yes, they’ve seen sense, though now they’re huffing and puffing about wanting other quotes apart from Mario’s.’ Carefully, she added, ‘But if they hadn’t, I would have dealt with it.’
‘Good.’ Abruptly, he stepped back. ‘Scotch? I don’t have Ledaig, but I have Talisker.’
It was so unexpected that she remained where she was. Then heat burst into life in two places in her body – one her heart and one somewhere more primal and pleasurable. She glided past him, breathing in his musky male scent that told her he probably hadn’t showered yet after the flight. She didn’t care – she might even like it – because it was Leo.
Once she was inside, he closed the door behind her. ‘Guess what business I’m moving on to next.’
She halted, eyeing the open suitcase. It took her a moment to arrange her features into a smile. ‘Those apartments in Como?’ She didn’t hold out much hope.
He shook his head. ‘Already off the market. They were too good a deal to hang around for long.’ He stepped closer, his nostrils flaring as if catching and enjoying a familiar scent.
‘Casa Leonardo, in Riva?’ she asked with even less hope.
He edged closer still, until his heat enveloped her. ‘Someone else’s good deal. Not mine.’
She stood motionless, her gaze turned up to his as she waited, heart seeming to kick the breath from her lungs.
A smile jumped into his eyes. ‘You’ll never guess, so I’ll tell you. Mum and Papà want to retire, so Massimo asked if I’d come back to Villa Panorama.’
His words were so unexpected that they almost jolted her from her feet. ‘Seriously?And you said yes? But you never wanted tobe part of it.Ever.You wanted it so little that you not only left Como, but stayed away for sixteen years.’
He nodded, moving into the kitchen area and taking whisky from one cupboard and tumblers from another. ‘I was shocked when Massi put it to me. But in a weirdly good way. I’d been hanging back from committing to other projects. Even something perfect on paper never quite touched me here.’ He tapped his chest, over his heart. ‘Yet the second Massi made the offer, I wanted in. It felt right.’
He added a cube of ice to each glass, then emerged from behind the breakfast bar and passed a whisky to her. ‘That night when Massi and Sofi came to celebrate their scan,’ he went on, ‘I was about to tell you that we’d had a family conference and agreed that what had happened at Three Sisters when Mairead died was a lesson. When Massi and I inherit, it will be tricky if he’s manager here and yet I own half of it. Also, as Mum said, it’ll be different workingwithMassi to workingforMum and Papà.’
Clutching the small tumbler, she processed his words. ‘But you won’t have it all to yourself, with no partners to screw you over.’
His expression became pained. ‘I said all that in the aftermath of being royally shafted by Isabella and Teddy. Then, when I thought I’d lost everything because Teddy almost got away with my money, it made me re-evaluate. If I join the business, Mum and Papà can retire completely. Massi will have time to spend with his new daughter – it definitely is a girl, by the way. They’ve had another scan. We’re going to lay out clear lines of responsibility, so we don’t trample on each other’s toes. So I’ll be staying here, in Como, with a big wodge of money to spend on an apartment.’
While she tried to absorb this torrent of information, and adjust to the knowledge that he wasn’t leaving, either for Isabella or otherwise, he reached out and took her hand. ‘Have you eaten this evening?’
She shook her head. Then amended that to, ‘Oh, a cereal bar.’
He drew closer. ‘Can you stay for dinner? I’ll order something over from the hotel.’
Heart beginning to trot at the soft expression in his eyes, she nodded, hardly daring to believe where the evening was going after such an unpromising start.
‘And...’ His eyes gleamed. ‘Can you stay afterwards? Are those sisters of yours on the insurance now?’ With his other hand, he toyed with a bunch of curls dangling down her arm.
‘I’ve left the insurance company in no doubt,’ she said huskily, heart hammering. As he seemed to be waiting for her to react to him, she put down her glass and slipped her arms around his neck – tentatively, because it was hard to believe what she’d just heard after the last horrible days. ‘Are you propositioning me?’
‘Definitely,amore.’ He dipped his head and tasted her lips. Suddenly he pulled her hard against him, his voice husky. ‘I’ve spent the time away from you cursing myself as a prideful moron for marching out of Three Sisters rather than simply explaining. I knew the strain you’d been under, but I showed no understanding at all. I should have realised that you wouldn’t need me to rescue you, but if you did it was you I should discuss it with – not your sisters.’
‘And you didn’t call,’ she reminded him. ‘After I left you a voicemail.’
