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The call ended and she looked over to where he sat, his long legs stretched out on another chair, his dark eyes scanning the grounds as a prisoner’s might, as if looking for a way to escape. She could almost feel his restlessness, Antonietta thought as she headed out onto the balcony to finish her work.
‘That was Nico,’ he said, though he had absolutely no need to do so. ‘Checking that I’m being looked after. He suggests that I take a wander into the village.’
‘There are nice cafés there,’ Antonietta said, and deliberately kept her voice casual. But there was a flip in her stomach at the thought he might be bored. ‘Have you been down to the temple ruins?’
‘No—that is where Pino suggested I ran.’
‘And the ocean is glorious,’ Antonietta said, and then stopped herself. It was not her job to sell the village to a reluctant guest.
‘You live in the village?’
‘No. Nico and Aurora have been very good to me. They knew coming back would be difficult...’ She briefly closed her eyes, instantly regretting revealing so much, and then hurriedly spoke on. ‘So they gave me a cottage in the grounds.’ She pointed in the vague direction of the helipad, over to the far side of the Old Monastery.
‘That must be very...’ He hesitated, not wanting to sayisolated.
Already, for Rafe, no matter how spacious and luxurious the August Suite, no matter how glorious the grounds, cabin fever was seriously hitting. This place really was in the middle of nowhere, and he’d been considering checking out later today.
Yet he was starting to change his mind.
Rafe wanted more of her smile, of her conversation—much, much more of her.
It was not as simple as that, though.
If their relationship were to evolve, then she needed to sign a non-disclosure agreement. She would have to be be vetted by his security staff and her phone would be confiscated before they so much as went out for dinner.
It could be no other way.
Yes, he had had a couple of relationships without such arrangements, but they had been with titled women and potential wives. This Antonietta could never be that. And he must test the waters to find out how she felt.
‘That must be very quiet,’ Rafe said.
‘No,’ Antonietta refuted as she watered the jasmine. ‘I can hear the waves, and I am by the helipad so there are helicopters coming and going. Believe me, they areloudwhen they’re overhead. But most of the time it is nice and peaceful.’
‘Still...’ Rafe said, and his voice was low as his eyes commanded hers to meet his. ‘One can have too much tranquillity.’
Their eyes met and his words travelled through her like a current. Looking hastily away, she saw the slight shake of her hand as she watered the flowers and felt the devilish pull of his smooth voice.
Something told Antonietta that her response mattered, for his statement had felt like a question. More...it had felt like an invitation.
One she rapidly chose to decline.
‘I am all for tranquillity,’ Antonietta said rather crisply.
And instead of meeting his eyes, or thinking of something witty to add, she went back to her list and added a tick.
The flowers were watered, his suite was done and she gave him a smile—only this time, Rafe noted, it was a guarded one.
‘I hope the rest of your day is pleasant,’ Antonietta said, and let herself out, exhaling a long-held breath once the door between them was closed. She felt a little giddy.
When she entered the elevator to go down, she walked straight into Francesca.
‘There you are! What on earth took you so long?’ Francesca scolded the very second she clapped eyes on Antonietta, but then she must have regretted her tone, because she said, ‘Oh, Antonietta, I apologise. I forgot that Chi-Chi has been working there for the past couple of days. The place must have been in disarray.’
It was Antonietta who was in disarray, though. Had Rafe been suggesting something?
There was little she could pin on his words, and yet there had been a wicked edge in their delivery—she was almost sure of it.
But she’d had no experience with men.
Not good ones, anyway.
For all Sylvester’s attempts, his kisses and gropes had never, not once, made her feel the way that Rafe did with just his voice, just his eyes...
She was not only inexperienced in the kissing department, but in the flirting one too. And theyhadbeen flirting. Or was she romanticising things? Antonietta pondered as she went about her day. Certainly she was innocent, but she wasn’t naïve, and she knew from her work in other hotels that Rafe might have been suggesting‘in-room service’, so to speak.
She managed a soft laugh at that thought, for if that were the case Rafe was certainly wide of the mark.
And yet he had buoyed her up in a way she could not properly explain...
