Page 16 of 2 Books in One Bundle
She hesitated a moment before stepping out of the bedroom, brushing her hands down the skirt of fabric patterned with large royal-blue flowers. Did a little pirouette because she wasn’t sure what else she was supposed to do, this was all so new for her. The full skirt swayed round her legs.
‘Perfetto,’Matteo murmured, his voice deep. Rumbling right through her. Suddenly it was as if she’d run a mile. The way her heart thrummed. Her breath catching in her chest.
‘Would you like to see another?’
His lips curled into a slow, appreciative smile. The type of smile that could make a woman lose all sense. ‘What do you think?’
Heat flared to her cheeks. ‘Okay. Yes.’
She ran back to the bedroom, put on another dress. This one in autumn colours with a ruffle at the neckline and tiers in the skirt that went down to her ankles. Sylvana smiled, handed her a straw hat. ‘Wear it with this.’
She placed the hat on her head, trying not to run back into the room to show Matteo. Instead, she took a deep breath, counted to five and then attempted to stroll. As she left the bedroom, she noticed that he wasn’t on his phone again. It was as if he’d been waiting for her. His eyes, heavy lidded. His lips parted. She did another twirl. ‘What do you think of this one?’
‘Bellissima.’
Didn’t that word mean beautiful? His voice was rough, a rasp. A shiver of pleasure at the sound shimmied up her spine. She was intoxicated by his approval, giddy with it. This was wrong. He wanted to take away her home. Yet why did it seem so right? No, it meant nothing. It was simply the moment, that was all. She’d had an awful morning, he’d been kind. And what woman wouldn’t want to be told she was beautiful by a man who looked like a bronzed god? Yet...his gaze raked over her, golden brown eyes molten. Then he leaned forwards, hands clasped in front of him. As though he wanted to get closer to her somehow, except was holding himself back.
Awareness shimmered over her, the sparkle of goosebumps. Time slowed syrupy and sweet. And whilst she’d listened to his words, with the heat in his gaze she began to believe them. She might have felt like a princess before, but the way he looked at her right now?
It made Louisa feel like a goddess.
Matteo sat back on the plush sofa as Louisa almost skipped back into the bedroom. Her dress of golden tones had matched her hair. With the straw hat on her head and freckles dusting her nose and upper chest, she looked like the embodiment of summer. He couldn’t wait for the next change because this was a plan working. What he’d hoped for. Louisa was having fun.
She almost bounded out of the bedroom this time, in a dress of pinks and oranges. The hem ruffled. Shorter at the front, longer at the back. The neckline a little deeper than the others, nestling in her cleavage. Myriad tiny buttons down the front that any red-blooded man would crave to undo, slowly. To unwrap the prize of her gentle curves, to see if those freckles he’d observed earlier covered her whole body.
She stopped in front of him, not moving. Waiting. Feet bare. Matteo wasn’t sure why the ability to see her toes struck him as so intensely intimate. Ridiculous. He lifted his hand, twisted his finger in a circle, and she twirled for him. Arms out, hair spilling wild round her as the hem of her dress swished about her calves. A smile broke free on her face, then she laughed. It burst through him bright and joyous as the first rays of sunrise over the horizon. There were no words to adequately describe how she looked in this moment, so he didn’t try.
‘I think you might enjoy shopping after all.’
It was as if a little light died. Cloud passing over the sun. Louisa worried her bottom lip in her teeth again, as if her insecurities had returned. ‘I—I didn’t enjoy the city or the stores, but this was fun. Yes.’
Something about the scene gave him pause. Milan had been an error. He’d brought her to a busy metropolis when she’d spent her formative years in the country. This hotel, a marvel of modernity in a bustling city, didn’t fit Louisa. There were so many other areas of Italy he could see her enjoying more. Matteo didn’t want her overwhelmed, he wanted her...overcome. With the beauty and wonder of new places, so she’d see that life at Easton Hall had been a trap, holding her back.
She’d asked him earlier whether he had a home base. That wasn’t a concept he understood. He hadn’t even felt as if he’d had a home as a child, being shunted to boarding school, not wanted by his adoptive parents. Everywhere only temporary. However, therewasone place that was closer to Louisa’s description than the rest. The first house he’d ever purchased, when he’d discovered his heritage was Italian. A place he’d taken no one before.
A place where he hoped Louisa would finally grow her wings and fly.
CHAPTER FIVE
LOUISAWATCHEDASthe landscape slid by through the car’s tinted window. Matteo had told her he had some surprises for her, then organised for their belongings to be packed, bundled her into another luxury vehicle and they’d exited his hotel, leaving the bustle of Milan behind them. Whilst she’d admired that he’d been a man of action in the days earlier, she was a little tired of being...bundled. Some hints might have been nice, minus the arrogance of Matteo’s certainty that she’d like what he had in mind.
Though she did rather enjoy this. They’d left the city and headed north, so she’d been told. Now, their car travelled along a narrow road bordered on one side by houses, stone walls and greenery, and on the other, a vivid blue lake before a backdrop of mountains. It was vast. Take-your-breath-away beautiful. The sunshine sparkling on the water, little boats dotting the surface.
Lake Como, he’d told her as the water had first come into view. At least he’d finally told hersomething.
Though talk about take your breath away... She dragged her gaze from the view to glance at Matteo, sitting next to her. Looking effortlessly casual in navy-coloured chinos and a white polo shirt that only accentuated the warm brown of his skin. A large golden watch gleaming at his wrist. He was talking on his phone again. Giving instructions in Italian. She wondered where he’d learned the language so fluently, and why. Another question that she wondered whether he’d give her an answer to. Even though he never seemed to stop working, he looked well rested, as though he had no worries in the world.
As if it were his to rule. When she still wasn’t sure some days why life was so chaotic and hard.
Oddly her life seemed a little less chaotic and hard now that Matteo was in it. Which was difficult to understand when he wanted to evict her from her home. She could refuse him. Say she was going to stay. Though she wasn’t sure how that would work, since the place was currently unliveable...
‘Where are we going to this time?’ she asked as the unfamiliar countryside flew past.
‘My villa.’
A tiny thrill ran through her. What would one of his houses be like? A modern masterpiece or something else? She’d noticed a subtle change in him as they’d travelled. He seemed more relaxed now, something about him less hard, more...fluid. Such a presence about him, he filled the cabin of the car with it. In this enclosed space the scent of him was like walking through some heady spice market. It scrambled her senses.
Then Matteo smiled andthatsmile reached his eyes, the corners crinkling as if he was truly happy. In that moment, she could barely breathe.
