the team. They were likely to run straight to the press.
‘I came here to work at the Villa Castelfino, not to become a source of entertainment for you,’ she said firmly, in case he was still in any doubt.
Gianni said nothing, but let his hands slide reluctantly away from her body. She looked down to see him bury them deeply in his pockets.
‘I’ll take that as your agreement, Gianni.’
He paused before replying. ‘Think of it more as a qualified acceptance, binding on neither side,’ he said with a flash of roguish humour.
The nerve of the man took her breath away.
‘There really is no arguing with you, is there?’
‘No. As you will soon discover from the rest of my staff, Megan, when it comes to work, it’s my way or the highway. I wanted to find out exactly how keen you are to keep this job.’
Despite the lightness of his tone, Meg detected a sinister meaning behind his words. From feeling flushed and excited, she went hot and cold with dread.
‘Does that mean…you’re going to sack me after what’s just happened?’
Gianni looked genuinely shocked. ‘Of course not! That would be illegal. But, far more importantly as far as I’m concerned, it would be immoral. This is the twenty-first century. I may be your employer, but that doesn’t mean I can force myself on you, against your will. What do you think I am?’
Meg’s eyes opened wider than she thought physically possible. Gianni looked as innocent as a priest as he stood in front of her, his hands now outstretched in a gesture of disbelief. Yet only a moment ago he had treated her to a ten-second burst of absolute temptation.
When she didn’t answer, he clicked his tongue in exasperation. Then he reached out and touched a wayward lock of her hair gently back from her forehead.
‘I’m interested in having a good time, but pleasing women is a big part of my enjoyment, Megan.’ His fingers trailed from her brow, lingering around the smooth curve of her cheek before falling away with obvious regret. ‘Blackmail and bullying have no place in my life. If you’re not scared off by what just happened, but you don’t want to sleep with me, then that’s fine. It’s your problem, not mine. ‘
He gave her a crooked smile of rueful acceptance. Meg was lost all over again. She desperately wanted to throw herself back into his arms, but found she couldn’t move. The look in his eyes riveted her to the spot. Then he spoke again, and burst her bubble of temptation.
‘Originally, I came out here to warn you that Cook will be arriving in peace. She won’t expect you to declare Round Two, so be careful not to take your sexual frustration out on her, won’t you?’
With that, he strolled away.
As Meg watched him walk nonchalantly along the greenhouse path a terrifying truth surged through her body. She did want to sleep with Gianni Bellini.
She wanted it more than anything she had ever wanted in her entire life.
From that moment on, Meg’s excitement at working in a totally alien environment took a back seat. Thoughts of Gianni Bellini coloured her days and haunted her nights. He had totally bewitched her at their first meeting. As a fantasy lover he was ideal. With those devastating looks and charm, he had no drawbacks. The spell he held over her refused to be broken. Despite her dream becoming reality, his power over her increased rather than dimmed. Although their paths rarely crossed, from that moment on Meg was in heaven. All she dreamed about was their torrid kiss, but as far as Gianni was concerned it might never have happened. He showed no signs of wanting to repeat their wonderful experience. He spent most of each day shut away in the Castelfino estate office. Meg spent virtually all her time out in the gardens and grounds. That meant her chances of catching sight of him were remote. That didn’t stop her keeping a keen lookout for him. His words circled her mind in a torrent of temptation. ’…pleasing women is a big part of my enjoyment…’ Her mind continually played with everything that might mean. Gianni had accused her of being sexually frustrated. If she was, it was because of him. With only one long-term relationship in her life, Meg was no expert when it came to romance. She used study to save her having to mix with people. Until her first meeting with Gianni, Meg hadn’t realised how much she was missing. He had set light to the fuse of her desire. Now everything about him made her desperate to find out more.
Gavin, her only serious boyfriend, had been too heavy-handed. He was fine as a friend, but he had kept trying to push Meg further than she had wanted to go. On top of that, he had tried to monopolise every second of her free time while she had wanted to study. Meg had resented that. After watching her parents struggle to pick things up by experience, she knew the value of gaining proper qualifications. She was in no hurry to curtail her career by making a serious romantic commitment, either. Or so she had always thought in the past…
Gianni Bellini had come into her life and thrown all her careful plans into chaos. He was like no other man she had met before. Always in her thoughts, he wasn’t often in her sight. Once or twice she saw him pacing around the cypress walk, deep in conversation on his mobile phone. While he was totally absorbed like that, she watched him. It was wonderful. She indulged herself, gazing at him for seconds on end. That was so much more satisfying than the quick glimpses she got when he strode out to inspect the estate with one of his tenants or managers.
Evenings presented Meg with some of her greatest pleasures, and her worst tortures. Her new home stood not far from the villa’s driveway. She always knew when Gianni was going out for the evening. His frighteningly fast Ferrari was just getting into its stride as it accelerated past Garden Cottage. The first time she heard it, the unexpected roar made her drop a plate of freshly baked cookies. The sudden noise was more terrifying than the RAF’s low-flying exercises at home in England. She soon got used to it, but it was a different matter whenever Gianni returned in the not-so-early hours of the morning. There was never any chance of getting back to sleep after being woken like that at three a.m. Guiltily, she would slide out of bed and creep to her window. Then she hid in the shadows, hoping for a glimpse of him. There was always a tiny window of opportunity, between the moments when he sprang from his car, leapt up the front steps and dived into the main house. Each night Meg held her breath, fearing the worst. Gianni had the villa to himself, so she expected him to bring a whole harem back home, every night. It never happened. He always returned alone.
Meg would have been relieved, if it hadn’t been for one disturbing fact. Gianni always looked up at her bedroom window before he disappeared into the villa. She was careful to stand well back, and tried everything to avoid being seen. It was no good. His last gesture was always a quick glance at her house. It seemed to be directed straight at her. Meg was mystified. Something must alert him, yet he never confronted her about spying on him. That was stranger still. She knew enough about him by now to sense he wouldn’t keep a concern like that bottled up. He would have sought her out at work and said something. It didn’t happen. Meg suffered in silence, but it was no hardship compared to the alternative. That would be to give up her nightly vigils, which she would never—could never—do.
Lying in bed listening to Gianni’s footsteps would be no substitute for watching the living, breathing reality of her fantasy man.
Meg lived on in an agony of suspense for several more days. She supervised the last adjustments to the magnificent range of greenhouses she had designed without any more visits from Gianni. It was only when she was putting the finishing touches to the planting plan inside the greenhouse that the axe fell. Her mobile phone interrupted her while she was wiring some young orchid
