Page 8 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

That stopped his musing. He hadn’t been aware of any woman in that wholly male way since Antonia. He’d even noticed the fact his new employee didn’t wear stockings. It didn’t fit her conservative image, but maybe she’d run out of time. He’d been surprised when this poised woman, bearing excellent coffee, met his deadline.

She sat with her ankles demurely crossed but then shifted, crossing one leg over the other, and he couldn’t help but imagine the slide of smooth bare skin against his own.

His belly clenched. A snaking chill crept through his veins, and the flesh tightened over his backbone.

He wasnotinterested in this woman as anything other than an employee. His libido had been dead for years, and even if it weren’t, he had only to think about the end of his marriage to kill his sex drive all over again.

Alessio’s curiosity was prompted by self-interest. He had to know he could trust someone living under the same roof.

More fool him for not taking a hand in selecting her. He’d buried himself so deep in work he’d left that to Anna and his legal team. It was only today, faced with a stranger in his home, and one with an uncanny knack for unsettling him, that he faced the consequences of his determination to ignore the changes Anna’s absence created.

‘You understand no one else lives in thecastello? It’s just me and my housekeeper.’

Slowly she nodded, giving a good appearance of confidence, but he guessed from that flicker of her lashes that this was news.

Was it enough to make her turn tail and leave?

He almost wished she would. Something about Charlotte Symonds spelled trouble, though he couldn’t put his finger on what. The discomfort he’d felt since he’d first seen her was instinct telling him life would be easier without her here.

Life? What life? According to Beatrice, you don’t have a life. You just exist.

Only his Great-Aunt Beatrice, who’d known him from the cradle, taking an interest him while his parents were off enjoying themselves in Rome, Gstaad or the Caribbean, would dare say such a thing.

‘Living quietly doesn’t bother me,’ said his new employee. ‘In fact, it rather appeals.’

His eyebrows rose. ‘You think looking after this place, looking after me, is an easy job?’

A husky laugh escaped, reaching out and curling hard around his innards, until she bit down on the sound and wiped the amusement from her face.

Alessio was stunned to feel regret. That laugh, warm and low—a woman’s laugh, not a high-pitched giggle—sounded...attractive.

It had been years since he’d heard anything like it.

‘Not at all. I researched thecastellobefore I came. No one could call it easy, maintaining scores of rooms across four floors, all filled with enough precious antiques for several museums and galleries.’

Shehaddone her homework. There wasn’t much information online about the interior of thecastello. It was his family’s home, carefully guarded from prying eyes.

‘Six floors,’ he murmured, ‘if you count the basement and dungeons.’

That punctured her assurance. Her eyes grew round. ‘Dungeons?’

‘Several of them, and a torture chamber.’ He felt one corner of his mouth climb higher in an unfamiliar smile because the look on her face was priceless. Desperate poise vying with shock. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not in use. It’s been generations since my family used such violent methods. These days we get what we want in other ways.’

He paused, watching the muscles in her slender throat work as she swallowed.

She looked wary rather than scared, and he had no interest in terrifying her by sharing any of the creepier tales about the old place. But she needed to understand her work here, if she stayed, would be no sinecure.

He sat back, eyes holding hers. ‘That’s the family motto, you know.I take what I want and I hold what I take.’

Unaccountably an image flashed into his head, of this woman in one of the stone-lined underground rooms. Her blond hair was unbound, spilling around bare shoulders because instead of a neat skirt and jacket, she wore that clinging blue swimsuit. She was reaching towards him, arms outstretched, not in supplication but invitation.

Alessio’s heart gave a sudden leap and he sat back, rubbing a hand over gritty eyes. Even exhaustion didn’t excuse such wayward imaginings.

‘Don’t worry.’ His voice was gruff. ‘There are maids who’ll come in to help you. Plus carpenters, stonemasons and glaziers who live on the island and do maintenance here as needed. Most have jobs on the mainland as well. Anna oversees all maintenance work for thecastelloas well as domestic housekeeping, though if it’s anything particularly significant or an item needing extra care, it’s always done in consultation with me. Anna should have left the work roster.’

‘I’ll look for it,’ she said quickly.

‘That’s thecastello. Then there are my requirements.’

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