left the apartment a short while later, quite unlike the nausea she felt at the deal she was striking with the devil himself.
RAMONES WAS A tiny restaurant in Times Square, bursting to the brim with diners. As Gabriele had promised, the paparazzi were stationed outside.
Once inside, Elena understood why.
‘Is that Gary Milwake?’ she whispered as they were led past a couple chatting happily in a booth by the window.
‘It is,’ he confirmed. ‘And that’s Serafina de Angelo with him.’
Gary Milwake was the breakthrough movie star of the year, his dining partner the star of the biggest-selling box set of the decade.
‘They’re waving at you.’ She tried not to screech.
‘That’s because Gary’s an acquaintance. He drove a Mantegna supercar in The Long Drive By. I took him for his original test drive.’
She took her seat, trying in vain not to look too excited at all the other familiar faces. While Gabriele ordered a bottle of wine for them, she couldn’t stop herself staring. There was a pop star dining with a man who she didn’t recognise but was definitely not the man she was reported to be dating, and she said as much.
‘Eating here guarantees publicity,’ Gabriele said, opening his menu. ‘Tomorrow the Internet will be abuzz with gossip about her. That’s all that matters—publicity.’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘How sordid.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s business for them. Column inches matter. Now stop staring at everyone and look adoringly at me.’
‘If this is our first date then I wouldn’t look at you adoringly,’ she contradicted, speaking off the top of her head. Never mind looking at him with adoration, every time she looked at him she felt a snake uncoil itself within her and want to launch at him. ‘This is the evening we play “getting to know you”.’
‘A fair point. However, even on a first date people who are attracted to each other lean in closely together and speak intimately. They do not spend their time star spotting.’
She smiled and tried fluttering her eyelashes. ‘I’ve never met a star before.’
‘Your family has always mingled with celebrities. And you look like you have something in your eye.’
‘I’m trying to look adoring.’
‘Just lean towards me and remember, whatever you say, say it with a smile on your face.’
She rested her arms on the table and leaned closer to the face she found more handsome every time she looked. Smiling brightly, she said, ‘Is that better, you savage bastard?’
Mimicking her actions and with a full-wattage beam, he replied, ‘It’s a start, you poisonous viper.’
‘Is that the best you can do? My brothers have much better derogatory names for me than that.’
‘They’ve had many more years of practice. Look at me,’ he added when her attention was taken by another passing film star.
‘Sorry.’
‘How can you be so star struck when your family have partied with celebrities for years?’
‘My father and my brothers have. You forget, I run the European division. I have nothing to do with what happens in the US and the rest of the world.’
‘By choice?’
‘I started off working in Rome then gradually progressed to take over Italy, then the rest of Europe.’
‘Nepotism at its finest.’
‘That’s rich coming from a man who took the same route through his family firm.’
‘The difference is I’ve enhanced what we already had. When I joined Mantegna Cars we had a turnover of half a billion dollars. Within five years of me joining that figure had tripled because of the diversifications I put in to trade on our name.’
Her smile dropped a fraction as she tried to think of what she’d personally done to enhance her division and boost Ricci Components’ profits. Nothing sprang to mind.
‘Now we are one of the top car manufacturers in the world,’ he continued, ‘even with the battering we took at the hands of your father’s fraud and lies.’
She couldn’t stop the glare from forming and had to fight hard to paste another smile on her face.
Thankfully, the waiter returned with their wine. After a glass had been poured for them both and they’d given their food orders, Gabriele raised his glass to her.
‘To the start of a wonderful new relationship and to the best of nepotism.’
She chinked hers to it and smiled as she said, ‘And here’s to revenge, which everyone knows is best served cold.’
‘I prefer my revenge to be scalding hot but cold serves my needs equally well.’
With mutual antipathy, they both sipped their drinks, both smiling, both firing ice and loathing from their eyes.
As a way to toast their new relationship, Elena thought it very apt.
* * *
Gabriele surprised himself by enjoying their meal out. There had been more than a few occasions when he had laughed out loud at the barbs coming from Elena’s tongue, all of them dressed with a sweet smile.
Now they were back at his apartment and the slight relaxing of her demeanour in the restaurant might never have been. Elena was back to being as tight as a coiled spring. She’d even stopped throwing barbs at him.
As soon as they’d left the car, thanked his driver, and taken the lift to his apartment and were alone for the first time since leaving, she’d turned to him.
‘I’m not sharing a bed with you tonight. The contract stated we share a bed and...’ her cheeks turned scarlet but she carried on regardless ‘...and, do what needs to be done when we’re married. We’re not married yet. Your housekeepers have the weekend off so there is no one for us to convince of our blossoming romance.’
‘They will know if a guest bed has been slept in.’
‘I don’t care. Not everyone jumps into bed on a first date. They’ll assume one of us has some morals.’
He arched a brow. ‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning they work for you so it’s doubtful they associate morals with you or the people you call friends. You’re a convicted criminal, remember?’
‘Are you deliberately trying to anger me?’ he asked slowly, holding onto his temper by a whisker.
‘What, by
