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His eyes searched hers, then travelled down her delectable body and up again. It was a long time ago, and he’d never known her name. All he’d known was that she was Australian and that she’d worked as a masseuse at a neighbouring ski resort. Sven had raved about her and asked her to one of their after-competition parties. Leonardo’s retirement party, as it had turned out.
‘This might seem an odd question,’ he said, ‘but did you ever work as a masseur in a ski resort in Switzerland? About seven or eight years ago, it would have been…’
* * *
Veronica’s stomach flipped right over. She hadn’t expected him to recognise her. Not on such a brief acquaintance so many years ago. They hadn’t even been properly introduced.
But it seemed he had recognised her. Or almost had. What to do? Lie, or tell the truth?
She did so hate lies. Jerome had lied to her. A lot.
‘I didn’t think you’d recognise me,’ she said simply. ‘It was so long ago.’
He blinked his surprise, then smiled a rather rueful smile. ‘That’s how you knew I was a skier,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ she agreed. Not to mention a playboy.
‘Why didn’t you tell me we’d met before?’ he demanded to know, not angrily, but in a rather puzzled tone.
‘I thought you might find the circumstances…embarrassing.’
He laughed. Not a loud, in-your-face belly laugh. Or an amused chuckle. More of a harsh bark.
‘I admit, it wasn’t one of my finer moments.’
‘Really? I got the impression it was your usual après ski behaviour. None of the other people there seemed surprised.’
‘I can’t say I noticed. I was very drunk, Veronica. My career as a downhill racer had ended that day and I didn’t take it well. One injury too many, I was told,’ he added with a flash of remembered pain in his eyes.
She just stood there in a stiff silence, not prepared to excuse his behaviour that night so easily.
He laughed again, this time with a flash of dry humour. ‘I can still remember what you said to me. In your dreams, mate.’
‘Yes, well, when I go to bed with a guy,’ she said rather tartly, ‘I like to have his total attention. I’m not big on sharing.’ And wasn’t that the truth!
‘Believe it or not, I am usually a one-woman-at-a-time man.’
‘If you say so.’
He smiled a crooked smile. ‘You must have a very bad opinion of me. First, from that night. And then from what I told you about the business today in Rome.’
Veronica didn’t want to offend the man, but she was way past letting him whitewash his behaviour. It galled her to think he imagined she would fall for his ‘poor little me’ act.
‘Leonardo,’ she said firmly. ‘Let’s not pretend. Your reputation precedes you. It always has, even back in your downhill racing days. You’re a player. You change your girlfriends as often as you do your clothes. I’ve seen dozens of photos of you on social media. But never with the same girl on your arm.’
His eyebrows lifted, his dark eyes glittering with the most irritating satisfaction.
‘You checked me out on the Internet?’
Veronica heaved an exasperated sigh. Trust him to take her admission as a measure of sexual interest.
‘Of course I did,’ she told him in a matter-of-fact manner. ‘I’m not a fool, Leonardo. I wanted to know what kind of man you were these days. I wanted to see if you could be trusted.’
‘And?’ He still didn’t seem offended or worried, that twinkle staying in his eyes.
‘As a businessman, your reputation is spotless.’
‘But not as a boyfriend,’ he said with laughter in his eyes.
