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And only then she realised he was studying her just as intently, just as studiously, and she turned her eyes away. Because she had stared at him too long, she told herself, not because she was worried what he might be remembering about her.
‘I didn’t have to lend that money to your mother,’ he continued. ‘But then I remembered one long night in a room warmed by an open fire, with sheepskin rugs on the floor and a feather quilt to warm the wide bed. And I remembered a woman with skin the colour of cream with amber eyes and golden hair and who left too angry and much too soon.’
She glared at him, clamping her fists and her thighs and refusing to let his words bury themselves in the places they wanted to go. ‘You lent my mother money to get back at me? Because I slapped you? You really are mad!’
‘You’re right. I can’t give you all the credit. Because in lending your mother money, I saw the opportunity to take back Eduardo’s home—this palazzo—before it collapsed into the canal from neglect. I owed Eduardo that, even if I wanted nothing to do with his wife. But that wasn’t the only reason. I also wanted to give you a second chance.’
‘To slap you again? You make it sound so tempting.’ Right now her curling fist ached to lash out at something. Why not his smug face?
He laughed at that. ‘Some say a banker’s life must be dull: days filled with endless meetings and boring conversations about corporate finance and interest rate margins. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Sometimes it can be much more rewarding.’
‘By dreaming up fantasies? Look, I don’t care how you while away your hours—I really don’t want to know—just leave me out of them.’
‘Then you are more selfish than I thought—’ his voice turned serious ‘—your mother is in serious financial trouble. She could lose the palazzo. In fact she will lose the palazzo. Don’t you care that your mother could be homeless?’
‘That will be on your head, not on mine. I’m not the one threatening to throw her out.’
‘And yet you could still save her.’
‘How? I don’t have access to the kind of funds my mother owes you, even if I did want to help.’
‘Who said anything about wanting your money?’
There was a chilling note to his delivery, as if she should indeed know exactly what kind of currency he was considering. But no, surely he could not mean that?
‘I have nothing that would interest any banker and convince them to forgive a debt.’
‘You underestimate yourself, cara. You have something that might encourage this banker to forgive your mother’s debt.’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so!’
‘Listen to what I offer, Valentina. I am not a beast, whatever you may think. I do not want your mother to suffer the indignity of being thrown out of her home. Indeed, I have an apartment overlooking the Grand Canal ready and waiting for your mother to move into. She will own it free of any encumbrance and she will draw a monthly pension. All that stands in the way is you.’ He smiled, the smile of a crocodile, the predator back in residence under his skin.
Her own skin prickled with both suspicion and fascination. He was a beautiful specimen of a man. He always had been. But she’d known the man, she’d known what he was capable of, and her self-protection senses were on high alert. ‘And are you going to tell me what I have to do in order to win this happy ever after for my mother?’
‘Nothing I know you will not enjoy. I simply require you to share my bed.’
She blinked, expecting to wake up at any moment. For surely she was so jet-lagged that she’d fallen asleep on her feet and was busy dreaming a fantasy. No, not a fantasy. A nightmare. ‘As simple as that?’ she echoed. ‘You’re saying that you will let my mother off the hook, you will gift her an apartment in which to live and pay her an allowance, and all I have to do is sleep with you?’
‘I told you it was simple.’
Did he imagine she was? Did he not realise what he was asking her? To sell herself to him like some kind of whore—and all to save her mother? ‘Thank you for coming, Signore Barbarigo. I’m sure you don’t have to trouble Carmela to find your way out. I’m sure you can find the way.’
‘Valentina, do you know what you are saying no to?’
‘Some kind of paradise, apparently, the way you make it sound. Except I’m not in the market. I’m not looking for paradise. I certainly wouldn’t expect to find it in your bed.’
