Page 12 of The Maid Married To The Billionaire

His grandmother called him to catch up and he told her at length about finding Skye and her siblings and the dog by the side of the road.

‘You’re not getting involved with this young woman?’ she questioned worriedly. ‘I’m proud that you helped her, but I wouldn’t want you hurting her by taking too much of an interest in her.’

‘No, there’s nothing of that nature between us. She’s totally safe with me. The kids are quite cute, though,’ he remarked, something of his surprise at that discovery clear in his voice.

A womaniser? Skye lay in bed and played with her phone, slotting his name into a search engine and then reading results. It took a couple of attempts to spell his name correctly and then a cascade of results tumbled onto the screen. She saw a photo of him half naked in shorts on a yacht with a gaggle of blonde tanned beauties surrounding him. Suddenly feeling like a disrespectful snoop, she closed the site and put her phone down. Enzo’s personal life was none of her business and he was entitled to his privacy.

Skye rose early and had the children fed and dressed before Enzo even got downstairs. There was no reason to subject him to the early morning chaos of life with young children, she reasoned. ‘I planned to serve your breakfast in the dining room,’ she remarked when he strode into the kitchen.

As usual, at first glimpse, Enzo knocked the breath right out of her lungs. Sheathed in a light grey, exquisitely tailored suit that lovingly outlined his broad shoulders, lean hips and long powerful legs, he looked amazing. Everything he wore fitted him to perfection. She wondered how many suits he owned because she had yet to see him in the same one twice.

‘I’m happy enough to eat in here...Dio mio!’ he exclaimed in apparent astonishment as Shona crawled across the floor towards him. ‘She moves on her own!’

Helplessly amused by his fascination, Skye watched her sister claw her way upright by dint of clutching Enzo’s legs. ‘I’ll put her out in the hall,’ she said abruptly.

‘No need. She’s not doing any harm,’ Enzo declared as Brodie, hungry for his attention, brought him a toy car to examine. ‘What age are they?’

‘Brodie is almost three and Shona’s thirteen months.’ Skye ferried coffee to him and plucked Shona from his knees to give him some peace. She remained convinced that he should be sitting in the dining room where she had laid the table for him. She would never forget his conviction that the microwave would make his toast for him. She suspected that Enzo was woefully unacquainted with kitchens and with eating his meals against such a humble backdrop. Furthermore, he was only making do with her as a housekeeper because she had already been on his doorstep and an easily available option.

Enzo ate only part of the supermarket croissant, his aristocratic nose wrinkling a tad, and she resolved to try the bakery in town for a substitute. Instinct warned her that Enzo was accustomed to only the very best. He didn’t like the house and was certainly not impressed by it, yet it was large and warm and had been sensitively renovated with modern utilities while retaining all the features that gave it character. There were probably many things in life that Enzo Durante took entirely for granted, she decided ruefully.

‘You are looking very serious,’ Enzo commented.

‘I was just thinking that you don’t really appreciate this house,’ she heard herself admit. ‘And yet it’s very comfortable and in excellent order.’

‘You sound like my conscience speaking,’ Enzo retaliated with a groan as he sliced an apple into slim segments. ‘I agree that it’s functional, but I prefer a contemporary style. My grandparents live in an old ancestral house and that is probably why he chose this place for me.’

‘You’re spoiled,’ Skye responded before she could bite back the words.

A slanting grin slashed Enzo’s lean, hard-boned face, unhidden amusement glittering in his very dark eyes. ‘Probably,’ he agreed equably.

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’ Skye’s cheeks were wreathed in pink and embarrassment engulfed her. Who was she to criticise him? His laid-back manner had momentarily betrayed her into forgetting that he was her employer.

‘I don’t take offence easily,’ Enzo riposted, enjoying the way the blush made her eyes look lighter in hue and enthralled by the habit she had of looking down, her feathery lashes drooping when she was embarrassed while her teeth plucked at the edge of her full lower lip. ‘I have many choices others don’t enjoy and I should be more aware of that. I also like an honest woman, who isn’t out to impress me and watching her every word.’

‘But I should be watching every word,’ Skye replied. ‘Ishouldbe behaving professionally.’

‘But your profession isn’t housekeeping and we’re alone in this house, so obviously we can’t ignore each other,’ Enzo pronounced with an air of finality as he vaulted upright. ‘I’ll text you with the time of your appointment with the solicitor.’

‘I can take care of that for myself.’

‘It’s halfway to being organised already,’ Enzo told her as he turned away.

‘Thanks, then,’ Skye said awkwardly, grabbing Brodie as he tried to follow Enzo out into the hall.

The interview with the solicitor later that morning was a sobering experience because it brought up everything she had crammed down to the very bottom of her memory. She didn’t want to remember what Ritchie had done to her because the recollection of how she had lain on the floor pretending to be unconscious to avoid further injury still made her cringe. It wasn’t an image she wanted to have of herself and she knew that she would never again put herself in such a position with the children.

Her thoughts, however, were slowly becoming less negative and self-critical. It wasn’t her fault that Ritchie had turned out to be violent and nasty. There had been no warning of his explosion of rage and subsequent attack. But possibly, if she hadn’t feared moving the children and disrupting their lives all over again, she would have told him sooner that the relationship wasn’t working for her.

That evening, Enzo found himself dining in the solitary splendour of the dining room and he felt ridiculously lonely. Skye had informed him that she had already eaten and she was bathing the kids upstairs. From somewhere above, he could hear the sound of Brodie’s giggles. Boundaries, he thought. Skye was carefully marking boundaries, reminding him that she worked for him and making it clear that she would stick to the rules...even though he hadn’t laid downanyrules.

In defiance, he climbed the stairs and followed the noise. Brodie was capering around the main bathroom half dressed in dinosaur pyjama bottoms while Skye endeavoured to insert a squirming Shona into what he believed was known as a onesie. Flushed and very damp, her tee clinging to her slight curves, Skye looked harassed and as Brodie charged at him in welcome, Enzo picked up the discarded pyjama top and corralled Brodie to put it on him. The little boy startled him by winding his arms round his neck and forcing Enzo to lift him.

‘Thanks. Sorry we were so noisy,’ Skye muttered. ‘They both sort of wind up at bedtime.’

‘They’re in the room next door to you?’ Enzo checked. ‘I’ll put him in there. How did the meeting go with the solicitor?’

‘He was very efficient and the police phoned me. Ritchie has been suspended from duty pending investigation.’

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