Page 24 of The Italian's Innocent Cinderella

Mateo grinned, admiring her honesty. He looked at her and, when their eyes met, he held her gaze.

‘I’ve met a lot of those in my life,’ he said huskily.

‘Trust me. So have I. Why here? Can I ask?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Why do you have a house here? In this particular place in Italy? Is this where you grew up?’

And, just like that, Mateo knew that he was going to do the unthinkable and lower his defences. Something about being here, perhaps, with the silence around them and the memories this place stirred...and being in this place with this particular woman.

She was so measured, so intelligent...so unlike the women he went out with.

He brushed aside the whisper of what a threat might feel like, because it was only what he didn’t know that might prove dangerous. Everything else—people, women, business—you were in control of, once you knew what you were dealing with. And, despite surprises along the way, Mateo knew Maude. There might be many sides to her he hadn’t seen before but that was true of everyone. The fact was, she remained his cool-headed, dependable employee—serious and dedicated, risk-averse and sensible.

She couldn’t have been more different from Cassie. She wanted nothing from him and was sharp and insightful enough to know that, as two human beings went, they were worlds apart, whatever heat had burned between them when they had kissed.

‘Not a million miles away,’ Mateo confessed. ‘My father worked at a vineyard. Not one of these local ones, but a bigger, more commercial concern. He was housed there. He never owned his own place because he was never paid enough.’

‘Did that bother you?’ Maude asked curiously.

‘It made me realise,’ Mateo said drily, ‘That, when I got older, the only vineyard I would ever stay on would be one I owned.’

‘And you did it.’

Mateo looked around him, the master of all he surveyed. He’d put in the blood, sweat and tears and he’d done it. This vineyard was his crowning glory even though he had many other properties and holdings all over the world.

So how was it that he so seldom made it over here?

This place was in his blood.

‘Food beckons.’ He stood up and then turned to look at Maude as she hurriedly scrambled to her feet.

He reached out, an automatic gesture to help her up, and she linked her fingers tightly with his as he pulled her up towards him so that she stumbled forward into him and against him, hard chest against the soft swell of her breasts...

Mateo’s breath caught sharply in his throat. His body fought against his brain and he heard his own raspy breath as the heat poured through him, staying his hand on hers and keeping her against him.

He was only inches away from kissing her.

‘My apologies.’ Mateo barely recognised his own voice because it was so unsteady.

‘What are you apologising for?’

‘You really want to know?’

Maude knew. He could see her body trembling with knowing.Temptation.She’d seen it in the dark flare in his eyes and felt it in the heat from his body that matched hers. But he was sensible enough to know that, alone out here, they should fight the temptation. There was no one looking this time, demanding a kiss to prove a non-existent relationship.

There was just the two of them, and no...

They couldn’t let themselves be swept away by this. Could they? Could she? She’d been swept away once by a guy she’d thought was right for her. It would be crazy to let herself be swept away by a guy who was so, so wrong for her in every way...wouldn’t it?

She stepped back but her eyes were still held captive by his.

‘Dinner,’ she croaked. ‘We should go in.’

Their eyes held for a few seconds and then he nodded, raked his fingers through his hair and did her a favour by not saying anything at all. Because she had no idea what she would have done if he’d actually come right out and dealt with the elephant in the room.

CHAPTER FIVE

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