AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Issy tried to ignore the bubble of excitement under her breastbone. She had to get a grip on this thing…whatever it was. Now.
Maybe she could justify giving in to her hormones once, in the circumstances. She’d been stressed to the max in the last few months, hadn’t dated in over a year, and Gio had always been able to short-circuit her common sense and make her yearn for things that weren’t right for her. But she was not about to do the wild thing with him again. No matter what her body might want.
Gio was now officially the answer to the theatre’s prayers. Which would make sex with him even more indefensible than it was already.
‘Why?’ she asked, hoping he wasn’t about to suggest what she thought he was about to suggest.
‘You need the money by next week, right?’
She nodded, still unable to believe that the theatre’s problems could be solved so easily. And so completely.
‘There’s a ton of paperwork to sign, plus you may have to give a presentation to the board before I can release the money. It makes sense for you to come over. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days. The snag is, I’m leaving this afternoon. The helicopter’s due here at two to take me to London City Airport, and then I’m taking the company jet back to Florence.’
‘Oh, I see,’ she murmured, disconcerted by the way the bubble had deflated at his businesslike tone. ‘I’ll ring my assistant Maxi. She can pack me a bag and meet us at City Airport. Don’t worry. It’s not a problem.’
This was good news. Fantastic news, in fact. Gio had committed to sorting out the theatre’s financial situation. And she could think of worse things than spending a few days in Florence—especially after the hideous stress of the last few months. She had earned a break. And they could spare some of the theatre’s money on a guesthouse now they were going to have plenty. She might even find time for some sightseeing.
‘Arranging leave will be fine,’ she said, managing to be businesslike and efficient at last. ‘The sooner we can make it official the better.’
She and Gio probably wouldn’t see that much of each other, she thought, dismissing the prickle of disappointment. ‘Is it okay if I have a shower?’ she asked, keeping her tone polite and impersonal.
‘Go ahead and use the en suite,’ he said, just as impersonally. ‘I’ll take the bathroom down the hall.’
But as she stepped into the bathroom she caught a glimpse of Gio’s naked behind as he walked to his dresser, and realised her pheromones weren’t being nearly as businesslike and efficient as the rest of her.
Gio grinned as the door to the en suite bathroom clicked closed. The offer to scrub her back had been close to irresistible. But he wasn’t twenty-one any more—and he didn’t plan to rush into anything he couldn’t control. He would have to make sure Issy understood exactly what their little trip to Florence meant, and what it didn’t, before he made his next move.
And once they’d got that settled he planned to indulge himself.
He pulled jeans and a T-shirt out of the dresser, listened to the gush of water from the shower and imagined Issy’s lush, naked body slick with soapsuds.
After ten years, and two bouts of mind-blowing sex, he was finally going to get the chance to seduce Issy Helligan without anything between them. No guilt, no responsibility, no hurt feelings and preferably no clothes.
And he intended to savour every single second.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘THAT guy’s your Duke?’ Maxi whispered loudly, as she passed Issy her battered wheel-around suitcase. Her eyes remained glued to Gio’s retreating back as he disappeared into the sea of passengers at the airport’s security checkpoint. ‘How could you have kept him a secret all this time? I mean, look at that backside.’
‘Max, close your mouth. You look like a guppy,’ Issy said testily. After the strain of the last few hours she was feeling more than a little out of sorts—and she didn’t want to deal with Maxi’s regression into a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl.
Frankly, she was having enough trouble dealing with her own vivid fantasies about Gio. They’d done the wild thing. Once. And that had been quite enough. For both of them. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about doing it again? Especially given that Gio had made it crystal-clear he wasn’t in the market for a repeat performance.
After a twenty-minute shower she’d arrived downstairs, to find Gio in a meeting with the landscape architects and Jack Bradshaw assigned as her chaperon.
Jack had graciously invited her to share a buffet of delicious antipasti dishes with the group
of young architects and engineers working on the Hall project. But her stomach had tied itself in tight little knots as she’d fielded a barrage of questions from Gio’s team about their shared childhood at the Hall. Did they all know about her private appointment in his bedroom earlier? If only he could put in an appearance so she didn’t have to deal with their avid curiosity all on her own.
But Gio hadn’t appeared. Thankfully Jack had whisked her off on a tour of the Hall after lunch, so she hadn’t had too much time to examine why she felt so disappointed.
It hadn’t stopped the strange and inexplicable feelings that had sprung to the surface as she and Jack had strolled through her childhood home and he’d pointed out all Gio’s improvements. She hadn’t needed Jack’s running commentary. She’d seen for herself the remarkable changes he’d made. And the tight little knots of disappointment and embarrassment had quickly turned to giant knots of confusion as she marvelled at the brilliance and artistry of Gio’s redesign.
The forbidding, cramped and suffocating rooms had been turned into light, airy spaces by knocking down partition walls and reinstating windows that had been boarded up. Old carpets had been ripped out to reveal beautiful inlaid mosaic flooring, a new staircase had been constructed using traditional carpentry to open up the second floor, and the grimly unappealing below stairs kitchen had been turned into a state-of-the art catering space any master chef would have been proud of by digging out the basement and adding yet more light with a domed atrium.
Gio had brought the Hall back from the dead. But, more than that, he’d given it a new lease of life. And she couldn’t help wondering why he would have gone to all this trouble.
He’d left the Hall all those years ago, and to her knowledge had never come back. Not once bothering to contact his father or even attend the Duke’s funeral. She’d always thought he hated this place, so why had he restored it so sensitively? Had he wanted to prove something?
