She had enjoyed the run of this valley for so long she considered it to be her own private haven. Now she finally had a chance to look around the villa at its heart, but the company of such a man added an extra frisson of excitement. If she was honest, it was the surprising intensity of this feeling which was making her hesitate.
What if she couldn’t think of enough to say? She had got out of the habit of small talk. Flustered, she looked around wildly for help. Why, she had no idea. There was no one for miles. She had never felt so alone. This man scrambled her brains. He had totally blown away all her common sense. She looked into his eyes and saw things she recognised from the reflection in her bathroom mirror each morning. His blue eyes spoke words that never reached his lips, and she knew that look. Aside from his dangerously smooth assurance, there might be a deeper, darker reason to beware. He might have secrets like hers hiding beneath that sophisticated surface. Unaccountably, she felt the need to peel away his seductive veneer and find out the truth beneath the image.
The weight of Stefano’s hand began to rest against her a little more noticeably. At first it had been the merest brush of his fingertips. Now his palm settled gently in the hollow of her back, like falling snow.
With terrifying clarity, Kira imagined it sliding around to encircle her waist again. It felt so good, it had to be wrong. Swallowing hard, she suppressed every wild, unfamiliar instinct and announced quietly, ‘Please don’t touch me, Signor Albani.’
His hand fell away. He stepped back, surprised.
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m positive.’
He stared at her, trying to puzzle out her expression. Kira willed herself to return his look blandly.
‘That’s interesting,’ he murmured at length.
After studying her face, he let his gaze drift at leisure over her body.
‘First you answer me back, but now you’re as nervous as a kitten,’ he mused, his eyes hooded with thought. ‘I came to look at property. It seems that’s not the only thing around here that might be worth investigating.’
Chapter Two
‘DON’T flatter me, or yourself,’ Kira muttered, beginning to fuss with the belt of her jeans. It felt wrong to be exploring such a place in her dusty work clothes; somehow she felt that the villa demanded a sense of occasion. He was standing so close to her that the temptation to study him was next to irresistible. Instead, she concentrated on brushing herself down, removing any stray grass seeds before she crossed the threshold of the grand house.
‘Don’t worry. It’s a villa, not the Vatican!’ He chuckled, again exhibiting a disquieting ability to read her thoughts. ‘You look fine. You’re one of those women who look good in anything.’
Kira glanced up sharply at his unexpected compliment. He laughed as their gazes connected. She couldn’t stop staring at him, and when he caught her eye it sent a confusion of signals through her body.
‘You’re right. I’m only looking around a house, that’s all. It’s nothing more than that,’ Kira murmured, trying to stake her claim to innocence. This Stefano Albani was strangely magnetic. Leaving him to investigate on his own might mean she never saw him again. If she followed him, she would delay the moment of parting and get to view the property of her dreams, too.
‘So if you are ready, signore, shall we make a start?’ she added with a bit more confidence.
He laughed again. ‘Suddenly so businesslike! I’m making the effort to leave the world behind for a while. Why don’t you do the same? I suspect it would do us both good to live a little, for once.’ His gaze was uncomfortably direct and Kira shifted under it. ‘In fact, it occurs to me that I don’t even know your name. So, as we begin, why don’t we start with some simple introductions? You know who I am, but who are you?’
Kira had often wondered that herself. ‘That isn’t important, Signor Albani.’ She shook her shoulders irritably.
‘Of course it is!’
‘No, really. I’m nobody.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ His smile showed signs of fading. ‘Everybody is somebody. Your name is your own. You can give it to me.’
Kira stopped. Ignoring this danger sign, Stefano didn’t.
‘Go on. You know you want to, and it won’t hurt!’ he teased her gently.
His question revived all Kira’s pain. The isolation of Bella Terra meant she didn’t have to introduce herself more than once or twice a year. That suited her. Every time she spoke her name, it reminded her of the shame she had left behind in England.
‘It’s Kira Banks,’ she muttered. Head down, she tried to cross the threshold but Stefano blocked her retreat.
‘You don’t sound very happy about it.’ His air was light, but she saw interrogation in his relentless blue gaze.
Blast him, what was wrong with the man? Kira was used to people backing off, becoming bored when met with her reluctance to talk about herself. In her experience most people preferred to be talking about themselves in any case. It appeared Signor Albani was used to having his questions answered.
‘Why is that?’ Stefano persisted quietly in the face of her continued silence.
Kira wanted to stare him out but her features lost the struggle. They were moving of their own accord. Her lids would not obey. She lowered her lashes, unable to struggle against the depth of his gaze. Making up some excuse for any other person would have been easy enough, but Stefano Albani was looking down at her with a fiction-piercing stare that demanded nothing less than the truth.
She gritted her teeth and muttered, ‘I came here to escape. I wanted to live in a place where no one knows my name.’
He drew back from her a little.
‘Okay, I’ll let it go at that…’ he relented, although his face told a different story. ‘For now…’ he added with a smile.
Kira mastered her features and managed a bland smile.
‘Don’t say I have stumbled on a master criminal, living in her bolthole in Italy?’
He was teasing her again. She managed to lift her eyes to challenge him, but knew she couldn’t afford to rise to his bait. Her pain hovered too close to the surface. She didn’t need him to aggravate her injuries. There were other people only too willing to do that.
‘Why I’m here is nobody’s business but my own.’ She tried not to snap, but it was difficult. Only his steady gaze softened her reaction. ‘In any case, the reasons would take far too long to explain, Signor Albani. Some things are best kept private. Why don’t we stop wasting time, and start looking around this lovely house?’
Purposely keeping her voice casual, she jerked herself out of his grasp. She could not escape his expression so easily. It was like a caress. It took all her determination to break eye contact with him. She managed it by concentrating on the breathtaking photograph on the cover of the property brochure in his hand. It was the only sure way she could distract herself from the delicious dangers of this man. Stefano gestured for her to walk across the entrance hall first.
