throw a bucket of cold water over you.’
She pulled a face. ‘That doesn’t sound nice. For me or your carpet. Can’t you think of something else to do with me?’
Crush his mouth to hers and kiss her until they were both crazy with it?
Strip off that outrageous dress and find out if the rest of her was as soft as her arms?
His gaze dropped from hazy blue eyes to the perfect curve of her soft, pink lips.
His mouth had moved dangerously close to hers when the door opened.
Matteo released her instantly, but not before he’d seen the surprise in her eyes—surprise he was fairly sure was mirrored by his own expression.
Fury mingling with exasperation, he turned.
His brother’s fiancée, Allegra, stood there, her face pale.
Struggling to balance without Matteo holding her, Izzy took a wobbly step backwards, her expression concerned. ‘Ally, are you all right?’
‘Izzy, how could you?’ Allegra kept her voice low but if anything that show of restraint intensified the emotion behind her words. ‘What did you think you were doing?’
Matteo was asking himself the same question.
What had he been doing?
Half a minute later and he would have done something both parties would have lived to regret.
Relieved to have been rescued from a course of action that was not only uncharacteristic but would have ended badly, Matteo watched as a shocked flush spread over Izzy’s rounded cheeks.
‘I was going to sing you a song.’ Her tone was defensive and hurt. ‘It was something that I—’
‘I wasn’t talking about the song, although that was embarrassing enough because normal people don’t just walk up to someone and grab the microphone. I’m talking about the way you spoke to His Royal Highness.’ Allegra’s mortified gaze slid to Matteo and she sank into a respectful curtsey. ‘I beg your pardon, Sir. My sister isn’t used to being around royalty.’
‘So I gathered.’ He tried to ignore the thought that it was precisely her freshness and lack of stilted conversation that made Allegra’s sister so dangerously attractive.
Izzy’s heavily made-up features were stiff. ‘Don’t apologise for me,’ she said flatly. ‘If there’s any apologising to do, I’ll do it myself.’
‘If?’ Allegra breathed deeply. ‘Of course you should apologise. In fact, if the story in the press tomorrow is about you then you’d probably better make a public apology.’
Matteo watched as Izzy wrapped her arms around herself in a protective gesture that was too much for the dress and another scarlet sequin sprang loose and landed on the priceless Aubusson carpet.
‘They say whatever they like, regardless of whether it’s true. I don’t care. And normally you don’t care either.’
‘Well, I care now! It will be another bad story about the Jacksons. It’s always awful but this time it’s doubly embarrassing because you’ve dragged the royal family into it. This engagement party was supposed to introduce the Jackson family to the people of Santina. It was supposed to be about Alex and me. The headlines were supposed to be Prince in Love but now they’re more likely to be Hospitality Better at Burger Bar.’ Allegra threw a mortified look of apology to Matteo before turning back to her sister. The girl stood rigid as a flagpole.
‘I was just singing. Not the greatest crime known to mankind.’
‘They had a singer! And you pushed him out of the way because you just had to be the one in the limelight. You need to stop this stupid singing obsession and get a proper job!’
‘Singing can be a job.’
‘Singing is a dream and dreams don’t pay the bills.’
The only sound in the wood panelled room was the deep, resonant tick-tock that came from the eighteenth century clock dominating the ornate mantelpiece.
Pale as milk, Izzy picked at her nails. ‘Some people turn a dream into their job.’
‘How many? How many people manage that? Thousands, millions, of people try and only a handful make it. Stop kidding yourself. Look around you. See the competition.’
Her sister’s chin lifted. ‘It’s only over when you give up. And I won’t give up.’
‘So you’re going to throw away your whole life? You’re deluded, Izzy. Ruin your own life if you have to, but I beg you, don’t ruin mine.’
Izzy looked shattered, like a delicate vase that had been dropped onto concrete. ‘It’s not my fault that the press follow me around. It’s not like I ask them to.’
Her voice sounded strange and Matteo felt a flicker of concern because he’d never seen anyone look quite so fragile. Standing in those towering heels she swayed like a reed in the wind and he instinctively shifted his weight, ready to catch her if she fell.
Was it the drink causing her balance problems or those ridiculous shoes she’d insisted on wearing?
Either way, she was as white as the marble statue she’d mocked and it was obvious that she was seriously upset.
Matteo took control. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll sort it out.’
Relief spread over Allegra’s face but Izzy’s expression shifted from miserable to mutinous.
‘I’m not an “it” and I don’t need “sorting out.” I’m more than capable of sorting myself out, thank you very much! And if what you want is for me to avoid the press then that’s what I’ll do.’
Remembering the urgency in his brother’s voice, Matteo walked Allegra to the door. ‘This is your week. The press should be focusing on you and Alex. That’s what we all want. If I take your sister back to the hotel, they’ll be staking her out, so I’ll get her out of here in my car.’ And if part of him knew it was madness to put himself in a position where he’d be spending more time in the company of the most disturbing woman he’d met for a long time then he ignored it. He was a man who prided himself on his self-control. He’d exercise it. The priority was to see his brother safely married and fulfilling the role of Crown Prince. ‘My palazzo is heavily guarded and the grounds run straight to steep cliffs and a private beach. No press.’ He’d made sure of it. The place was like a fortress. ‘It’s isolated.’
Allegra’s face relaxed with relief as she pondered that solution. ‘It sounds perfect. It will give Alex and me a chance to … be together.’
‘It sounds like hell!’ Izzy’s face was white as a bride’s veil. ‘So I’m just going to move in with you? Well, that’s cosy. Lucky me. I just know we’re going to live happily ever after. It’ll be like a perfect fairy tale.’
Matteo ignored her and addressed his remarks to Allegra. ‘Go back to Alex.’
‘Hello!’
