eyes as he got to his feet. She was five-foot-nine without heels, so it was a bit of a novelty to have to crane her neck for a change.
He had a thick head of curly dark hair but it was cut close to his scalp, as if he was a person who liked control. His jaw and chin were determined, if not a little forceful, and yet his smile was easy and involved his dark eyes in a totally compelling way.
‘Why not?’ she suddenly found herself replying. What had she got to lose? After the harrowing afternoon she’d just been through visiting her younger brother, a drink with a perfect stranger who knew nothing of her past was just what she needed. Besides, what was that quote: ‘Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die’?
‘What would you like to drink?’ he asked, leading her to one of the plush chairs in a quiet corner.
Nikki vaguely registered the hint of an Italian accent in his slightly formal use of English. How incredibly ironic, she thought. ‘Champagne,’ she said, and because she was feeling uncharacteristically reckless added, ‘But not the cheap stuff, it gives me a headache. I want the best there is.’
‘Then the best you will have,’ he said, and signalled for the bar tender.
A couple of glasses later, Nikki ended up agreeing to have dinner with him, enjoying his company in a way she hadn’t expected. She had been on very few dates; she hadn’t been all that comfortable in the company of men other than her brother. But Massimo was charming and polite, amusing and attentive, and she couldn’t help lapping it up while it lasted. But whenever the subject drifted into the territory of her background she papered over the cracks of her conscience with the parcel of lies she had constructed ever since the day her mother had died and her brother’s life had been changed for ever.
‘I’m a personal assistant,’ she said, which at least was true. ‘I’m having a week off. I thought I’d do some shopping, have some beauty treatments—you know, pamper myself a bit, that sort of thing.’
‘You do not need beauty treatments,’ he said, running his dark gaze over her. ‘You are the most naturally beautiful woman I have ever met.’
A flicker of uncertainty momentarily flashed across her features. ‘Do you really think so?’ she asked in a soft, breathless whisper.
He leaned forward to take one of her hands in his, the curl of his fingers around hers sending shooting sparks of heat to her most secret place. ‘Of course I think so,’ he said. ‘I have never met a more beautiful or desirable woman in my life.’
Nikki pulled her hand out of his to reach for her champagne glass, her stomach still flip-flopping all over the place. ‘I’m sure you’ve met plenty of women much more attractive than me,’ she said, her mouth going down at the corners.
‘On the contrary, I have met very few that compare with your translucent beauty,’ he said. ‘Your blonde hair is like a skein of silk. Your eyes are the most amazing grey-blue and you are tall, slender and graceful. You are any man’s dream.’
She looked at him searchingly. ‘You don’t think I’m too tall?’
He gave her a reproving look. ‘You are surely not going to apologise for being tall, are you? You are doing my neck a huge favour. I do not have to bend down to hear what you are saying.’
Nikki giggled, which in itself was a novelty. She couldn’t remember the last time she had found anything or anyone amusing. ‘You’re the first man in ages that I’ve looked up to,’ she said, still smiling. ‘It’s quite a change, I can tell you.’
‘Is there a current man in your life?’ he asked.
Nikki hesitated for a fraction of a second. How could she tell him she was engaged to be married to a man twenty-five years older than her? A man who was offering her a passport out of the shame that had haunted and hunted her for so long.
‘No,’ she said, rationalising that for a week at least there was no one. She was a free agent until the following Saturday, and after that she was off the market for who knew how long.
‘I find that hard to believe,’ he said. ‘What is wrong with all the young men in Melbourne?’
She smiled at him again, and took another sip of her champagne. ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Are you currently unattached?’
‘Yes,’ he said on a little jagged sigh. ‘I was involved with a woman in Sicily a few months back, but it did not work out.’
‘Have you recently arrived from Italy?’ she asked.
‘I have dual citizenship,’ he said. ‘I travel back and forth a lot on business.’
‘What sort of business?’
‘I am building up an international investment portfolio. My plan is to seek ailing companies to buy and then resell them for a profit,’ he said. ‘With proper management teams in place, a flagging business can be turned around within a year or two, or even a few months.’
‘It sounds very interesting, but rather expensive and extremely risky,’ she commented.
‘It is,’ he agreed. ‘I have a meeting later this week to hopefully organise financial backing for a company takeover I have planned for years.’
‘You sound very determined,’ she said, reaching for her glass and taking a little sip.
‘I am.’ A frown brought his dark brows together as he reached for his glass. ‘The company I want to take over was launched using money defrauded from my father. He was swindled by someone he trusted as a friend. I am on a mission to get every cent of it back.’
Nikki felt a faint shiver run up her spine at the determination in his tone. His expression had darkened, his eyes losing their playfulness, and instead they had begun to glitter with hatred. ‘So you’re after revenge?’ she asked.
He nodded grimly. ‘It is all I think about. I want to take my father’s enemy down, and I will do so, even if it takes me a lifetime to achieve it.’
‘How will you take him down?’ she asked, her heart beginning to thud with alarm. ‘You’re not going to do anything…er…underhand, are you?’
He smiled at her worried expression. ‘Of course I am not going to do anything illegal. I am simply going to outwit him in business. It should not be too hard. The best tactic in any sort of successful campaign is to know your enemy. I know all his weak spots, and so it will be relatively simple to disarm him when the time is right.’
‘He sounds like a truly horrible person,’ Nikki said, suppressing a tiny shudder. ‘Is that why you’re here?’
‘Yes and no,’ he said, his expression clouding slightly. ‘I have some meetings to attend…’He appeared to give himself a mental shake and exchanged his serious expression for a smile. ‘But enough about my troubles,’ he went on in a lighter tone. ‘Tell me about your family.’
Nikki felt her stomach drop with all-too-familiar panic. ‘M-my family?’
‘Yes; have you any brothers or sisters?’ he asked.
She concentrated on the bubbles in her glass rather than meet his gaze. ‘I have a brother two years younger than
