come and pick you up and take you home. I will ring him now and he will be downstairs in just a few minutes. Please do not be long. If you are too long I may fear that you are not coming back at all.’
The way he said this made Bliss feel as though she had just agreed to a secret tryst with him in the moonlight. His tone held a surprisingly possessive note that made all the fine hairs on the back of her neck sit up straight. How was she supposed to maintain a very necessary emotional distance from this man when such a riot of forceful feeling was flooding through her? She had to get a grip, that was what she had to do, and remind herself that she was here to do a job and that was all. There was no place in her life for futile crushes or romantic attachments of any kind.
Bliss might not be sure exactly what she wanted out of life, but she was certain of one thing—it wasn’t a relationship. Experiencing the tragedy of her parents’ marriage at first hand, seeing two people who’d started out loving each other withdraw into their own private hell, unable to even care for their child because they were so wrapped up in their own misery, Bliss had seen just how bad relationships could get. Who needed the heartache? Her mission right now should be to focus on her career and stop going down old roads that held no prospects and no opportunity of improving her situation.
‘My bag is already packed. All I have to do is pick it up and bring it with me.’ Although her voice was even, her gaze pulled away from Dante’s with more difficulty than he would ever know.
When she returned in the black limousine that had been her ride back to Chelsea Harbour, Dante led Bliss straight into the living room where Renata was seated on a cushion in front of the big wide-screen television, watching children’s programmes. Catching her completely unawares with a guilty but lethally sexy grin, Dante shrugged his magnificent shoulders and dropped his hands to his tight lean hips. ‘We have been watching cartoons together. Such a simple pleasure, but one I have been enjoying immensely. It is a joy to spend time with my niece and have the pleasure of hearing her laugh. It is the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.’
She felt like a ninepin just knocked down by a bowling ball. For several seconds Bliss could do nothing but stare at him. Her jaw went slack, and her rising sense of panic made her seriously wonder if he’d put her into some kind of trance, because she couldn’t have torn her gaze away from the joy in that beautiful face if someone had paid her with gold bars. With his strong, accentuated jaw line, straight, aquiline nose, a mouth that hinted equally at arrogance and strength and now humour, and those intensely disturbing emerald eyes, his sensual power alone packed such a punch that Bliss was amazed she was still standing. Team such a weapon with his clearly passionate kinship to his sister and her little daughter and—well, resistance was useless, wasn’t it?
‘Spending time with children, sharing the kind of things that they enjoy doing…it can remind you of what it was like to be a child.’ Dropping her leather holdall onto the maple wood floor, Bliss smiled up at him, thoroughly disconcerted when his expression seemed to grow more serious and his eyes all but made a meal of her on the spot. That look wasn’t anything to do with memories of being a child. On the contrary, it was a look that was everything to do with a virile adult male at the height of his sexual prowess, and who could blame Bliss for feeling as if she’d mentally been stripped naked by an expert?
‘You brought your things, that’s good. Come, I will show you where you will sleep tonight.’ Dante broke away before Bliss did, his manner suddenly abrupt and businesslike, and she was left staring at his back as he exited the room, her heart pounding. In fact it was pounding so hard that she told herself she was this close to needing medical help. Irritated with herself for behaving so completely out of character around an attractive man, Bliss combed her fingers impatiently through her hair, took a deep breath, picked up her bag and obediently followed him out into the light airy corridor, warning herself to pull herself together as she did so.
‘Chocolate, yummy.’
Back in the living room a few minutes later, Bliss lay on the floor with Renata seated astride her chest, dropping chocolate buttons one by one into her laughing mouth. Dante had disappeared somewhere else in the apartment to make some phone calls, he’d told her, and so for now at least Bliss could relax. She was having fun with her small charge, relieved to be spending her time playing rather than working at a job she’d rapidly been growing to hate, and worrying about what she was going to do next.
When she experienced a sudden tingling of awareness at the back of her neck, she realised that she and Renata were not alone. Quickly pushing up into a sitting position, she clasped the child firmly around her small waist and smilingly declined any more chocolate buttons. Then she gave her small charge a peck on the cheek and rose carefully to her feet, taking the little girl with her. Leaning an arm against the doorjamb, Dante stood in silent contemplation of them both.
‘You might have indicated you were there!’ Bliss said accusingly, unsettled by the fact that he’d been watching her when she hadn’t known it. Seemingly unconcerned by her outburst, Dante parted his lips in a surprisingly unperturbed smile.
‘Bliss, do you not know that to deny an Italian male the opportunity of gazing at such sublime beauty is like starving a deep-sea diver of oxygen?’
Her embarrassed blush the same eye-catching hue as raspberry jam, Bliss took refuge in the sweet baby scent of the toddler in her arms rather than concentrate her attention on her uncle. ‘Yes, the baby is lovely. Of course you’re allowed to gaze at her. When she grows up she’s going to be a real heartbreaker, aren’t you, sugar? I only wished you’d warned me you were there. You took me by surprise, that’s all.’
‘I did not just mean the baby.’
This time Bliss did drag her gaze back to Dante and as his words lit up her insides like the fifth of November she silently warned herself of the folly of being flattered by them. Dante was Italian. Italian men were famous for their flirting—they learned it at their mother’s breast. He was only doing what came naturally and probably acted the same with all women whether they were nineteen or ninety. She most definitely shouldn’t take it personally.
‘Anyway…you look like you wanted to tell me something.’ Anxious to change the subject, she jiggled Renata up and down against her hip, deciding to concentrate purely on the child and only speak with Dante when she absolutely had to. That way he would see that she was completely professional about the job he had hired her to do and would not be seeking to ingratiate herself in any way with him.
‘I thought you might like to come in and say ciao to Tatiana. She is awake and wants to see you and little Renata.’
Relieved more than she could say for such a timely intervention, Bliss nodded immediately. ‘I would like that very much. Thank you.’
Tatiana Ward lay propped up against a pile of crisp white pillows, her shoulder-length dark hair left softly loose around her shoulders. Her face, devoid of make-up, was pale and fine-boned, her riveting sapphire eyes commanding both admiration and attention in their jewel-like intensity. As Bliss followed Dante into the lovely room with its calming décor and riverside views she saw Tatiana pull up the embroidered cream counterpane over her blue silk nightdress and knew that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous about being introduced. Murmuring something in Italian for his sister’s ears alone, Dante leaned across to place a small kiss at the side of her head and Bliss saw Tatiana reach out briefly to squeeze his hand as if to thank him for his support. Then she lifted her gaze to Bliss and held out her arms for her little daughter to come to her.
Bliss immediately passed Renata over, taking the bag of chocolate buttons and laying them on the lacquered Chinese cabinet beside the bed, her heart swelling at the sight of mother and child holding each other close. Then, almost shyly, Renata pulled away to sit up in
