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Nicolo sighed. “You are going to feel very foolish when this little scene has run its course, Caroline.”
“Oh, no, I won’t! If you think there’s anything you can say that will change my mind about—about—”
“You are at a loss for words.” He smiled. “In that case, let me help you.”
“You can help me by stepping away from that door!”
“What is it you think I have offered you, cara? The chance to spend the night with me?” His smile grew more angular. “Why would I have brought you all this distance for one night’s pleasure, hmm? Attractive as you are, Caroline, there are hotels in Milano that would have served my purpose—if a night with you had been what I wanted.”
Caroline’s smile was fierce and chill. “But you want me for more than one night.”
He nodded.
“You want me to be with you indefinitely.”
“True.”
“What have I missed? That I’ll have my own rooms? A car at my disposal? A charge card?”
Nicolo frowned. “I had not thought of the card,” he said. “Although now that you mention it, I can see where it would prove useful. You might need to make some purchases to augment your own wardrobe.”
Caroline tossed her head. “I hate to hurt you, Nicolo, but none of this is terribly original. Every one of your pals—”
“My what?”
“Oh, come on, you don’t really think you’re the first man who’s issued me this kind of invitation?” She batted her lashes. “‘Be mine, cara,’” she said, cruelly adopting a Continental accent, “‘and I will satisfy your every wish’.”
“Well,” he said with a modest smile, “I will try.”
“You’re wasting your time. I’d sooner sleep with a snake!”
He laughed. “Caroline, really. Don’t you think you should wait to hear my offer before you make such a judgment?”
“I told you, I’m not interested! Try another agency. Try another girl. Try—”
She gasped as he reached out and clasped her shoulders. “Basta,” he said, and all at once his smile was gone. “Enough of this foolishness, Caroline. I have no wish to make you my lover.”
“Sure. And cats have wings.”
Nicolo frowned. “I have an offer to make you. A serious offer.”
“Lucky me!” Caroline glared at him. “You want to make me your mistress! Well, it will never happen! Never! This trip was a waste of time and effort. You showed me all your rich man’s toys—the cars, the plane, the palace—and none of them impressed me.” She tossed the hair back from her face. “Read my lips, Nicolo. I—do—not—want—to—sleep—with—you. Do you understand?”
“That is good news,” he said coldly. “Because what I am asking you to do is become a paid companion to la Principessa.”
Caroline’s mouth fell open. “What?”
“You do remember la Principessa, do you not?” He gave her a smile even colder than his voice. “Or has your self-absorption swept the reason you came here from your mind?”
A flush swept into her cheeks. “Would you mind telling me what in blazes you’re talking about?”
Nicolo’s hands dropped from her shoulders. “I shall, now that you are ready to listen to reason.” He paused for a moment, as if to gather his thoughts. “Your visit to my grandmother seems to have been most beneficial.”
“So you said.”
“It is what she needs,” he said impatiently. “Some conversation, a little laughter…” He scowled. “And I wish her to have it. So I am asking you to stay on in Rome until her recovery is complete.”
Caroline stared at him in disbelief. “You’re—you’re serious, aren’t you?”
He stalked away from her to a cherrywood desk in the far corner. “Absolutely,” he said, flinging himself down into a chair behind it.
“But…” She shook her head as she moved slowly toward him. “But I’m not a nurse.”
“She has a nurse. She has the best medical care.” He drew a breath, then puffed it out. “What she needs is not contained in a prescription bottle. I told you, I saw how much your visit did for her. You—remind her of someone.”
“Arianna.” Caroline nodded. “I know. And—I wish I could help her. But becoming her companion is out of the question.”
“Why?”
“Why?” She stared at him. “What do you mean, why? Hasn’t it occurred to you I’ve a life of my own to lead?”
“My grandmother is ill,” he snapped.
“I know. And I’m sorry. But—”
“But you would sooner return to la dolce vita than stay here and help her get well,” he said coldly.
“That doesn’t really deserve an answer,” she said angrily. “But I’ll give you one, only because of how much I respect your grandmother. What I must return to is my job.”
“Your job!”
He made a dismissive gesture that infuriated her. She slapped her palms against his desk as she bent toward him.
“That’s right. My job. My responsibilities. Are you so trapped in a time of royalty and titles that you can’t envisage a world in which a woman has obligations?”
His mouth twisted. “A world in which you must beg for your money, you mean. That was why you went to see Silvio, wasn’t it? To get him to pay you what the agency owes you?”
She drew back. “How would you know that?”
He shrugged as he shoved back his chair and got to his feet.
“I was there for some time before you arrived, Caroline. I heard the receptionist fielding phone calls, all of them from girls demanding their pay.” His scowl deepened. “Why do you go on working for such a firm?”
Caroline sighed. “I’ve no choice. I’m on contract to them. And anyway, I need to support myself. I have to work, or—”
“Or is it a man you hurry back to? Not Paolo, but someone else?”
The look on his face, and the sudden change in topic, caught her short. He was accusing her of having the morals of an alleycat again, and she was tired of it.
Last night, even earlier today, it wouldn’t have mattered. Who was Nicolo Sabatini, anyway? Another self-centered, self-serving leftover from another age, that was who. She had been content to stand by and watch him dig his own hole with a shovel. Now, more than anything, she wanted to point him toward that hole and push.
It was time to rub that handsome Roman nose of his in the dirt.
Caroline drew herself up. “I know this is going to come as a grave disappointment,” she said icily, “but there’s no man waiting for me in Milan.”
There was the slightest flicker of light deep within his sapphire eyes, but when he spoke, his voice was as chill as hers.
“Isn’t there?”
“No. There isn’t.”
“Perhaps, then, that is your reason for hurrying back to Milano.” A harsh smile came and went on his mouth. “To search out the next candidate, I mean. If you are between lovers—?
?
“Can’t you understand?” Caroline flung her arms wide. “I haven’t a man in my life because I don’t want one. My life is quite busy enough, thank you.”
He gave her a tight smile. “I see.”
“I doubt it. You’re like every other man I’ve ever met, you assume a woman who looks like me can’t feel complete without a man, but, as a much wiser woman than I once said, a woman needs a man about as much as a fish needs a bicycle.”
“What about in bed, Caroline?” His voice had gone very soft. “Would you like me to believe you have no need of a man there, either?”
Color bloomed in her cheeks. “That’s none of your business!”
He shrugged. It was a deceptively lazy movement, considering the way he was looking at her.
“Or do you, perhaps, get your pleasure at a distance, by putting your sexuality on display and then treating a man who reacts to it as if he were a leper?”
Caroline’s color heightened. “That’s what you think, is it?” She thrust out her hand and pointed a finger at him. “Well, let me tell you something, Prince Sabatini! Any man who’s fool enough to believe that a model’s doing anything but her job on the catwalk—” His laughter stopped her in midsentence. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“Silvio was right. You don’t enjoy modeling very much.”
It was Caroline’s turn to laugh. “That’s the understatement of the year.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“I already told you why. It’s to pay the bills—but then, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Her eyes flashed to his face. That curious flicker was in his eyes again; he was watching her with an intensity that was unnerving.
She swung away from him. Why had she lost herself that way? She never did; she was always in control, it was one of the things she prided herself on.
“Go on,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft. “I am listening.”
Caroline took a deep breath, fixed a polite smile to her face, and turned to face him.
“Look, I’m flattered you think my presence might help your grandmother.” Her smile softened. “I like her. Very much. But—I can’t stay, Nicolo, even if I’d like to.”
