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A few moments later he slid the phone back into his pocket and, with a face like thunder, hammered out staccato fast what was presumably a shortened version of the conversation. In Italian.
She waited until he had finished, or at least paused to draw breath, to remind him quietly, ‘You know I didn’t understand a word you just said?’
He swore then in several languages and dragged a hand through his hair, ruffling the dark strands into toe-curlingly sexy spikes.
‘Sorry, it’s just that there are problems with one of our tenants. By the time my father died the place had been starved of resources for years, not to mention that there were entire areas where the trees had been razed... Ancient woodland raped for a quick profit.’ The disgust in his voice was also etched in the bleak lines of his face, and his jaw was clenched so tight she could almost hear it grinding.
‘Nothing replanted, land over-fertilised and the village was depopulated. There was nothing left for young people any more. A small investment meant ecotourism produced some almost immediate profit, but it’s a long-term game. We’ll start to see the benefits of the green approach soon, and in two years we might start to see some profit. Most of the tenants are on board with the plans but...’ His expression darkened. ‘There is a tenant who is not on board, for reasons I don’t quite understand. He’s not one of the old school, he is young and ambitious—exactly the sort of person I thought would be behind us.’
‘But he isn’t.’
‘No, he isn’t. There’s an area of marshland which is important ecologically, as it’s home to...’ He paused and looked at her, suddenly seeming to remember who he was talking to. ‘I’m so sorry, this must be boring you.’
‘No, it isn’t.’ She was fascinated by this evidence of his connection to the land. ‘It sounds like a difficult situation.’
‘You could say that. I have been informed that some heavy machinery has arrived and his intention is to drain fifty acres of the marshland and put cattle on to graze. Apparently the concrete foundations for a barn arrives in the morning. Everything I’m working for will be destroyed for a quick profit. I have to go.’ He got to his feet. ‘I must stop this.’
Maya laid down her napkin and got to her feet and walked with him to the door. ‘Well, goodnight.’ She held out her hand. ‘And good luck.’
He angled a sardonic dark brow. ‘I’ll probably need it—’ The lights suddenly dimmed and went out completely, leaving the flickering candles as the only illumination in the room, highlighting the angles and planes of his face. ‘Does this remind you of anything?’ he murmured huskily.
Mesmerised by his dark stare, she nodded. ‘The airport hotel. I wondered...’
‘What did you wonder,cara?’
The words, uttered in a low gravelled tone, were almost like a physical caress. She swallowed. ‘Did you kiss me?’ she whispered.
He shook his head. In the semi-light his teeth were very white as he produced a slow smile, even while his eyes stayed dark and intent. Maya was too mortified to notice. Why, oh, why had she aired her fantasies out loud? Of course, he hadn’t kissed her!
‘No,’ he confirmed. ‘That was not a kiss.’
‘Oh...?’ she said, glad of the shadows to hide her embarrassed blushes.
He moved in a step and looked down into her face, murmuring something in Italian under his breath as his hand went behind her head. ‘But thisisa kiss.’
In the private theatre of Maya’s thoughts and dreams he had already kissed her a thousand times, but this was different; it was so much better, it wasreal. Her initial pliant shock as she melted bonelessly into his arms suddenly gave way to a hunger that matched his own. One muscular arm banding her ribs, he lifted her feet off the floor as the kiss became more combative, more urgent.
Maya focused on not sliding to the floor as he placed her back on her feet and took a step back. She stared straight ahead, her eyes level with the middle of his heaving chest.
Yes, she had imagined what a kiss from him would be like, but it was nothing at all like that. She gave a wild little laugh. ‘Yes, that was definitely a kiss. Oh, God!’
‘Exactly.’ His chest lifted in one last soundless jagged sigh before he turned and walked away with the sweet taste of Maya in his mouth.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHETENSEDATthe tentative tap on the door, but only slightly. She didn’t associate Samuele with tentative, so it was unlikely to be him. She had thought this morning might be awkward after their kiss, actually she had thought of spending the day in her bathroom, but it wasn’t, because he didn’t put in an appearance, and she ate her breakfast alone.
It had been a solitary sort of day. Maya had spent most of it in the nursery suite, although she had walked around a section of garden with Mattio in a pushchair, longingly eyeing up the extensive parkland and the oak woods beyond. She knew they were oak trees because she’d asked a gardener who was working outside. Their conversation had involved a lot of hand gestures, his English being only slightly better than her Italian, but she thought he’d understood her when she’d said she’d like to walk in the woods. There had been a moment when the communication had broken down and he had been particularly emphatic, sayingcinghiale, and getting quite agitated, repeating it until in the end she’d nodded simply to soothe him.
Her visitor was Rosa, who would have been the babysitter of choice last night. Her English was excellent and Maya would have quite enjoyed a chat, but the girl was here to relieve her from baby duties. It was not presented as an option and the instructions had come directly from Samuele.
‘Rafael will show you to the leisure suite. Do you swim?’ Rosa asked.
‘I don’t have a costume.’
The girl gave a little giggle. ‘There will be no one else there, but of course there are costumes available for when there are...guests, you understand.’
Maya did understand, of course she did, and she was instantly determined not to wear a swimsuit that had previously been worn by one of Samuele’s femaleguests.
