to be able to speak perfect English. ‘And many thanks. You are a very good worker, Carlo.’
‘And you are a very good boss. Ciao.’
‘But still a stupid one,’ Maria said with rolling eyes once her husband was gone.
Sergio sighed. ‘I get the point, Maria. You don’t have to rub it in.’
She muttered something in Italian under her breath, then whirled and stalked off, leaving Sergio feeling disgusted with himself. Both Alex and Jeremy would have been disgusted too, if they’d witnessed the most classic faux pas of all faux pas when it came to seduction. Neither of them would have been so crass as to make a comment about a woman’s weight.
It was all Bella’s fault, of course. Whenever she entered his head, his brain got scrambled.
Think, Sergio. Think!
There were two courses of action he could take, he decided as he finished off the bruschetta and wine. He could adopt the patient approach. Just talk to her at first, like a friend. Ask her questions about her career. Show an interest in her life. Find out what she planned to do in the future. He’d often found that women liked men who were good listeners.
Alternatively, he could revert to the bad-boy approach, which would mean that the next time they were alone together, if the mood was right, he would make a pass. Not crass, of course. Something suave and sophisticated. Something original and clever. It would be a risk, but one worth taking. For Sergio suspected that he would quickly run out of patience with Bella sleeping in the bedroom next to his. He certainly wouldn’t get much sleeping done.
Laughing ruefully at this last thought, he stood up, dumped the empty glasses in the wine bucket with the bottle, gathered up the plates and carried everything into the huge kitchen.
Maria glanced up from where she was busy writing some sort of list.
‘What is so funny?’ she asked.
‘Life, Maria. Life,’ he said as he put the bottle in the recycling bin and the rest in the dishwasher. ‘Now go home. You’ve done enough for today. I don’t want to see you till lunchtime tomorrow. And before you start arguing, Bella and I are quite capable of getting ourselves breakfast.’
‘Have you booked the restaurant for dinner? It is Saturday night. Lots of people eating out.’
‘No. But I will. We won’t be eating till late. Bella is having a sleep first. Now go!’ he ordered, waving her off.
She went with some reluctance, Sergio relieved to see her go. He was tired of talking. Tired of thinking. He’d go have a shower and a sleep too. If he could sleep, that was. Normally, drinking wine like that in the daytime made him drowsy. But today was not a normal day.
Sighing and shaking his head at the same time, Sergio headed for the stairs.
BELLA TOSSED AND TURNED on the bed, jet lag plus a lack of medication making sleep impossible.
Yet she needed to sleep, quite desperately. Needed some peace from the thoughts plaguing her. She still found it hard to believe that she had fallen in lust with Sergio. Okay, so he was an impressive-looking man now, with a truly gorgeous body, a far cry from the lanky, skinny teenager she’d known all those years ago. But he was still Sergio, her one-time big brother, a truly kind man who’d generously let her come and stay here, despite her having turned her back on him and his father after the divorce.
Amazingly, he didn’t seem to hold any grudges against her; his manner over the phone had been quite warm and charming. She’d anticipated on the flight over that they would have a lovely time together, catching up on old times, totally relaxed in each other’s company, Bella looking forward to asking Sergio’s advice over what she should do with the rest of her life. She’d thought of him as sensible Sergio, not sexy Sergio.
She hadn’t for a moment imagined that she would be instantly besieged by a desire for him so strong that it made staying here impossible. Tears threatened, tears of exhaustion and frustration. For she wanted to stay. And she wanted Sergio. What on earth was she going to do?
Have a hot shower for starters, dummy, came that exasperated voice in her head that often piped up when she was frazzled or at her wits’ end. Or a cold one, if you can stand it. Just do something! Don’t just lie there, moaning and groaning like some drama queen.
Gritting her teeth, Bella headed for the bathroom where she stood under some soothingly warm water for ages, uncaring that her hair was getting soaked. When she finally emerged she felt a little better, though she looked a mess. Her long blonde hair was not at its best when wet. It kinked and curled and stuck out everywhere. Sighing, she gave it a brief dry with the hairdrier, then wrapped it up on top of her head before putting her new white silk PJs back on. She’d bought them at Mascot airport whilst waiting for her flight to be called. Bought a bikini as well.
By the time she cleaned her teeth and returned to the bedroom, the sun had sunk very low in the sky, its rays slanting onto the balcony and bathing the bedroom in a soft light. When the curtains ballooned out with a puff of breeze, Bella found herself making her way out onto the balcony, hoping that her still-jumpy nerve-endings would be soothed by the sight of the lake. Water was supposed to have a soothing effect, wasn’t it?
It was so beautiful, the lake, the water a dark blue-green colour, boats of all kind skimming over its near-smooth surface. Sailing boats. Speedboats. Ferries. Bella stood at the stone railing and watched the boats for a while, before lifting her gaze to the other side of the lake, where more magnificent villas dotted the shoreline, some of them half hidden by tall trees. Her eyes lifted to the mountains that stretched high into the clear blue sky, the highest peaks snow-capped despite it being summer. Despite the view her thoughts continued to return to Sergio.
‘I see you can’t sleep either,’ the man himself said as he materialised next to her.
Bella steeled herself as she turned her head to look at him, guessing already that Sergio wasn’t wearing any more clothes than he had earlier. She’d glimpsed bare arms as he’d reached out to grip the railing.
She’d been right. A lot of him was still bare. Bare arms. Bare chest. Bare legs and feet.
The black satin boxer shorts he was wearing weren’t as revealing as his swimming shorts. But it was obvious that he was naked underneath them. Bella’s PJs weren’t much better, made up of shorts and a sleeveless shirt top with a low V neckline.
‘I’ve been having trouble sleeping for some time,’ she told him truthfully enough. She could hardly say that he was the reason. ‘I usually take a sleeping tablet but I forgot to bring mine with me. You wouldn’t have any, by any chance?’ she added, sneaking another glance his way. Oh, Lord, what a masochist she was!
‘Sorry,’ Sergio replied. ‘Don’t believe in them. Not that I usually have a problem with insomnia. I work out quite a bit and swim a lot. On the odd occasion I can’t sleep—like now—I try Mother Nature’s sleeping tablet.’
Bella turned and stared at him, frustration making her voice sharp. ‘Well, I’m sorry, Sergio, but I don’t think a cup of chamomile tea is going to do the trick.’
He laughed, his dark eyes glittering with humour. And something
