that she should have been in when he arrived home. ‘I didn’t realise I had to keep you informed of my movements. Actually I’ve been to see my sister. You did say my free time was during the day.’
‘I thought I’d take you out to lunch.’
Penny couldn’t hide her shock. ‘Me? Why?’ A nanny lunch with her boss? It was unheard-of, especially with a man such as Santo.
‘Because we didn’t finish our conversation last night,’ he answered. ‘But if you’d rather not, then…’ He lifted his wide shoulders in a careless shrug.
‘I’m sorry about last night; I—’
Santo cut her short. ‘The subject’s closed. Go and get rid of your bags. We’re leaving in ten minutes.’
Meaning he didn’t want to talk about his loss. And she could hardly blame him. People dealt with their grief differently. Santo clearly wanted to shut his away.
Penny scurried to her room. It didn’t seem right lunching with him, but who was she to argue? She ran a comb through her hair but didn’t bother to change. She was already wearing a long brown skirt and a pretty peasant blouse, both fairly new purchases and perfectly suitable. All she did was change her sandals to a pair of high heels and with a touch of lip gloss and a splash of perfume she was ready.
Was her heart racing because she had rushed? Penny wondered as she ran lightly down the curved flight of stairs towards Santo, standing in the huge hallway. Or was it racing because she was about to dine with him?
The hall below was elegant and beautiful with a polished wooden floor and a centre table holding a bowl of sweet-smelling roses cut straight from the garden. There was a rocking chair in one corner and ornately framed mirrors on two of the walls.
But at this very moment she saw none of it; she saw only Santo’s unsmiling face. Unsmiling but indescribably handsome. She couldn’t believe that she was actually going out with him. In all her years of being a nanny nothing like this had ever happened.
On the other hand she had never worked for anyone like Santo before. This was a man apart. And because he was different her heart was hammering so hard that it felt painful against her ribcage.
When the agency had asked if she’d take this job she had said yes without any qualms. What they hadn’t told her was what Santo De Luca was like. They hadn’t said he was one of the richest men in the country. They hadn’t told her that he was gorgeous-looking. They had told her nothing. Maybe if they had she would have run a mile. Or she might have been so intrigued that she’d have taken the job anyway.
Santo watched Penny as she descended the stairs; he watched each step she took. He looked at the way she pointed her toes, he looked at her slender ankles, at the soft material of her skirt as it brushed against her thighs. His blood whistled through his veins. He watched the movement of her breasts beneath the flowered cotton top and his heart missed a couple of beats. Then he looked up and caught her eye.
She was smiling.
She looked as though she was happy to go out with him. Which both surprised and pleased him. Last night he had spoken harshly and regretted it immediately afterwards. She had caught him on the raw.
One day he might tell her that he and his wife had been divorced for almost four years, that any love he had ever felt for her had been killed long before then. And that Helena hadn’t even told him that he had a daughter! If he’d known he’d have helped out, he’d have got to know his daughter, he wouldn’t be in the helpless position he was in now.
His feelings when he’d discovered the truth were of sheer disbelief and outrage. He’d found it hard to accept that she had done such a thing to him. He’d never realised how much she had hated him. Even thinking about it, reliving that moment when he made his discovery, twisted his guts.
Thank goodness for Penny. Fiery and spirited without the least interest in him, which made a refreshing change. He was so used to women hanging on to his every word, fighting to make themselves noticed, trying to trick their way into his bed, that Penny was like a breath of fresh air.
No doubt she thought him an uncaring father, but the truth was he felt simply helpless. He didn’t know the first thing about bringing up children. He’d had no contact with kids since he had been one himself. They were a mystery to him.
‘Good,’ he said, ‘a woman who doesn’t take hours to get ready. I’m impressed.’
‘I haven’t changed, I hope I’m all right. We’re not going anywhere too posh, are we?’
She seemed faintly worried and Santo smiled reassuringly. ‘You’re not to worry about anything; you look incredible.’ Had he really said that? He’d have to watch himself. This wasn’t a date. She intrigued him and he was looking forward to finding out more about her but that was all. Even then she didn’t have to tell him anything about herself if she didn’t want to.
Except that he wanted to know!
He’d summoned his chauffeur while Penny was getting ready and he led her out to the waiting Bentley, smiling to himself as her eyes widened, well aware that his wealth impressed her.
She slipped into one side, he into the other, and they sank into the luxurious cream leather. The light floral scent of her perfume was evocative, teasing his nostrils like nothing else. And he knew that forever afterwards this particular perfume would always remind him of her.
Penny was on edge, her hands clasped firmly in her lap, her knees and feet together, her back straight. She hadn’t expected the limousine and the chauffeur or she definitely would have changed. This was very alien, and she prayed that he wasn’t going to take her somewhere equally classy.
‘Relax,’ he growled softly in her ear, ‘I won’t bite, I promise.’
Penny edged away, unable to stop herself, missing his frown but aware that he didn’t approve. It was that infinitesimal stiffening of his body that gave him away. He wasn’t used to a woman moving away from him, rather the opposite. Part of Penny, a large part, didn’t want to move away. Heaven help her, but she wanted to find out what it would feel like to be held against his hard, hot body, bound to him by arms of steel, but she knew where such pleasures could lead. She was entirely out of his league; he would use her and then discard her, the way Max had done. And she had no wish to go through that again.
Men didn’t have the same sort of feelings that women had. Their emotions weren’t involved when they embarked on affairs. They could walk away at the end without getting hurt. Not so for the female sex.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, and was horrified to hear the husky throb in her voice.
‘To one of my favourite bistros.’
A bistro. That wouldn’t be so bad. Her breathing got easier. ‘Why aren’t you driving?’
He gave one of his twisted smiles where his mouth went up on one side and his eyes crinkled at the corners, making him look almost boyish. ‘Because of parking. You know what London’s like.’
‘We could have taken the tube.’ And then she laughed at his shocked expression. ‘I presume you never take the tube anywhere?’
‘Not these days,’ he admitted.
Not
