his life in the city must always take precedence, because it was here that he cared for his sister and ran a business upon which countless families depended for their livelihood. This thought was only underlined when he noticed Annalisa’s fiancé, the Prince, ignoring the wait staff as he strode out of the restaurant, surrounded by his cronies.
‘Where is he going?’ he asked Annalisa as she stared after the Prince with concern.
‘To a club, I think...to celebrate our engagement,’ she added quickly when he stared at her, frowning.
‘The very least the staff deserve after such a marvellous evening is a word of thanks. And shouldn’t you have a lift home? Don’t worry, I’ll take you,’ he said, seeing Annalisa’s crestfallen expression. Why such a generous-hearted woman should attract such selfish men was utterly beyond him.
He made up for the Prince’s oversight by giving the staff the recognition they deserved, and he enjoyed talking to each of them in turn to thank them personally for making the evening so special for his sister. His only irritation was that when it came to showing his appreciation to the woman who’d saved the night, Sadie was nowhere to be found.
* * *
Resting back on her narrow bed in the attic room above the restaurant, Sadie sighed with relief and contentment...marred with just a little bit of racing heartbeat, thanks to a pair of dangerous dark eyes that kept flashing back and forth inside her mind. At least she could report to Chef Sorollo that everything had gone well. And now that she was back in her safe place, she was confident she would never need anything more than this.
Except relief from images of the Duque de Alegon, Sadie concluded with an impatient huff as she punched her pillows into submission. Turning over repeatedly also failed to banish the all too vivid picture of Alejandro de Alegon. It was ridiculous. She’d probably never see him again. Which would be far better for all concerned, Sadie concluded. He stirred such turbulent feelings inside her, and she’d learned as a small child that passion was a destructive force that led to nowhere but anger and violence. Witnessing her parents’ unhappy relationship had more than proved that.
Closing her eyes, she turned her thoughts determinedly to what had been an astonishing evening. What a setting! What a night! The team had really proved their worth. And then there were the looks she’d shared with Don Alegon...she’d remember those for ever.
So much for blotting him out of her mind!
Alejandro...
She murmured his name out loud, for the pleasure of tasting it on her tongue. Imagining his firm lips on hers, and his lean, bronzed hands leading her towards the type of pleasure she couldn’t even imagine, was inevitable.
And that’s enough! she told herself firmly. However wonderful the evening had been, she would wake up in a few hours, shower and change, ready to prepare lunch.
* * *
Service in the restaurant at lunchtime the next day didn’t go as smoothly as Sadie had anticipated. It seemed incredible that, yet again, a crisis had stopped everyone in their tracks.
‘Oh, my God, no!’ Sadie exclaimed, incapable of hiding her feelings when she heard the news. Gripping the stainless-steel countertop to steady herself, she tried to take in the newsflash on a colleague’s phone. Complete with lurid pictures, it showed a car crash, and the text underneath read that Alejandro, the Duque de Alegon, and his sister, Annalisa, had been innocent victims of a pile-up on their way home from a party last night at El Gato Feroz.
Seeing Annalisa so happy only hours before, and Alejandro so vital and strong, she hardly dared to ask the question. ‘Are they badly hurt?’
One of her fellow chefs was quick to reassure her. ‘They were relatively unscathed, it says in a later bulletin,’ he explained, showing her the screen on his phone. ‘It’s a miracle, some are saying, especially as Don Alegon risked his life, saving his sister from the smoke-filled car. They’re keeping them in hospital as a precautionary measure only, it says here.’
‘His sister would be dead if the Duke hadn’t been such a hero,’ a waiter added. ‘Apparently, he barely had time to free her before the car exploded.’
‘Sadie, are you okay?’ a colleague asked with concern. ‘Shall I get you a drink of water?’
‘It’s fortunate the Duke drank water last night, unlike the Prince and his friends,’ one of the waitresses chipped in. ‘Don Alegon drank one beer, and then he was on water for the rest of the night.’
‘It says so here in the report,’ Sadie confirmed as she read the screen over her fellow chef’s shoulder. ‘The police have confirmed that Don Alegon had not been drinking to excess and was in no way responsible for the crash.’
‘Look, here’s a picture of the party,’ one of Sadie’s colleagues exclaimed excitedly, holding up her phone. ‘There’s a picture of you, Sadie, when you came out of the kitchen and everyone applauded. What great publicity for the restaurant. Chef Sorollo will be thrilled.’
‘Yes,’ Sadie murmured as the phone was pushed under her nose. She blushed to see Alejandro’s black gaze fixed on her face. ‘Maybe we could send him some food from the kitchen,’ she murmured distractedly, hoping no one else had noticed Don Alegon devouring her with his eyes.
When her colleagues chorused, ‘What a good idea,’ she progressed the thought. ‘Some delicacies,’ Sadie mused out loud, already working out a menu in her head. ‘Something to tempt the invalid.’ A voice in her head suggested Don Alegon would not be a typical invalid but would rail against his enforced confinement.
However bad a mood he was in, he’d saved his sister, and that was good enough for Sadie. She would prepare a feast that even Alejandro at his angriest would find impossible to resist.
* * *
‘What the hell is this?’ Lifting the red-and-white gingham cloth that had been so carefully arranged over the wicker basket, Alejandro lost no time in firing the contents into the bin.
‘You ungrateful brute!’ his sister railed at him, eyes blazing with fury. ‘How could you?’
‘Whoever sent this must think I’m not capable of ordering in!’
‘Chef Sadie sent it,’ Annalisa fired back. ‘It was a very kind thought. You should be ashamed of yourself,’ his sister finished with an angry gesture worthy of any great actress.
Sadie had sent this? He scanned the delicacies in the bin, regretting now that he’d been so hasty. His customary good manners had utterly deserted him, thanks to this enforced stay in hospital. It didn’t help his temper one bit—having imagined himself invincible—that Annalisa had been discharged from hospital before him.
‘If you weren’t my brother and you hadn’t saved my life, I’d be ashamed of you,’ Annalisa now assured him. ‘I am ashamed of you. How dare you throw this kindness back in Sadie’s face? Who else would send you food?’ Shoving a stiff white card under his nose, she commanded, ‘Read this. She’s signed it and so has every member of staff at El Gato Feroz. I hope it makes you feel as bad as you should, you monster.’
‘Back in bed!’ The sharp voice from the doorway startled them both. It was the ward sister making her rounds. ‘You breathed in a lot of smoke, Don Alegon,’ she told him, ‘and what you need
