Page 26 of The Maid Married To The Billionaire

When Skye came off her phone, Paola gave her a rueful smile of understanding. ‘The boss asked me not to tell you. He didn’t want you to be upset.’

Skye nodded acceptance of the older woman’s loyalty to her employer and resolved to tackle Enzo on her own. Of course, there was nothing she could have done to protect her sister from that visit and clearly Alana had been safe with Paola present. ‘So, you only flew up to Scotland this morning?’ she said to the other woman.

‘Yes.’

‘I was incredibly lucky to meet Enzo that night on the road.’ Perhaps that was a rather belated appreciation, Skye reflected guiltily. Enzo had gone above and beyond to protect her and the children from Ritchie’s confrontations. And in her ignorance, she had rather taken it all for granted, not even considering the costs or inconveniences caused by that level of protection.

‘Keeping security on the house and me while Enzo was at work must have left you short-staffed,’ Skye surmised lightly.

‘The boss brought in more guards from home.’

Determined not to betray how much that information embarrassed her, Skye asked, ‘Where in Italy is home?’

‘The boss’s grandparents live in Tuscany but he’s mainly based at an apartment in Rome, although he owns other properties round the world,’ Paola told her. ‘He inherited some of them from his father.’

‘How long have you worked for Enzo?’

‘I left the police, trained as a paramedic and became a bodyguard when he was a little boy and I worked for his grandfather. I’m older than I look.’ Paola chuckled as Skye glanced at her in surprise.

They passed a very pleasant afternoon wandering round the beautiful gardens before returning to the hotel where Skye went to the spa and then returned to the suite to dress.

Garbed in a dark purple sheath dress worn with toning heels, Skye climbed into the waiting car and found a package on the seat beside her with her name on it. She opened it up and tugged out a jewel case in some dismay to reveal a delicate gold necklace with a glittering diamond-studded star pendant. It was gorgeous. She was supposed to be Enzo’s girlfriend. The necklace was only a prop and not something she would be keeping, she told herself as she attached it to her throat.

When the car drove down a long, wooded driveway an hour later and the massive castle with its twin circular towers was revealed, Skye was enormously relieved to see Enzo standing outside the front door with an older man, obviously waiting there in readiness to greet her. Her nerves evaporated and she fairly surged out of the car as he strode across the gravel towards her.

The slender beauty of her in the plain but elegant dress made Enzo smile, particularly when he saw the diamond star twinkling in the lights. He had hoped she would wear it because she ought to have more pretty things, he reasoned absently. From what he had witnessed, he reckoned the little ones got first bite of every financial apple and that she rarely spent on herself. He had not seen her wear a single new item since they had met and, being highly observant, Enzo noticed the fact.

‘My word...the castle is huge,’ she whispered.

‘Sì...talk about an underestimation,’ Enzo conceded with the slanting easy grin that illuminated his lean, darkly handsome face and her heart jumped inside her, refusing to settle except to a fast pitter-patter as he dropped an arm round her to guide her back towards their host.

Skye discovered that she wanted to nestle into that sheltering arm and it unnerved her. The scent of the cologne he used flared her nostrils, intimate memories tugging at her composure as she was introduced to Robinson Davies, slightly stooped with age but still a hearty man with grey hair and twinkling blue eyes. A step indoors, she met his wife, Alyson, who took over to show Skye to her room.

‘You could have brought the children with you,’ the tall dark-haired woman told her. ‘We had no idea you had a family until Enzo told us. I love children. My grandchildren are teenagers now and it’s difficult to organise visits when they’re studying at school.’

‘Perhaps if we visit again, we’ll bring the children.’ Skye smiled as warmly as she could, wanting to respond to that friendly hospitality while knowing that she was extremely unlikely ever to meet the woman a second time because, after all, for all her impressive props, she remained only a fake, not a genuine girlfriend.

She was shown into a gorgeous circular bedroom in one of the towers where a fire already burned in the imposing stone fireplace. She adored it and asked all sorts of questions about the history of the building.

‘Sadly, it’s getting too big for us now and we’re thinking of looking for a more manageable retirement home. It was different when we had four children running round the place.’

‘Times change,’ Skye acknowledged as Alyson departed again.

It was only then that she noticed that Enzo’s luggage was in the room as well and she frowned. She was willing to bet that Enzo had not foreseen that development.

Twenty minutes later, he joined her. ‘Sì, we’re sharing,’ he conceded wryly. ‘That surprised me. They’re very close with my grandparents and my grandparents would never put an unmarried couple in the same room.’

‘I think that could be seen as quite old-fashioned these days...but I’m not criticising your family. Their home, their rules,’ Skye hastened to assure him. ‘I’m sure we can manage for one night.’

‘I’ll use the sofa.’

Skye glanced at the majestic wood-framed antique by the wall and laughed in disagreement because, while an impressive piece, it looked as though it would offer all the comfort of a bed of nails. ‘No need for such dramatic gestures, Enzo. It’s a huge bed. We can share it.’

Some of the tension left Enzo’s taut features at her relaxed acceptance. He yanked up a case and opened it to extract a suit bag. ‘Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?’

‘No. I’m already dressed for the evening.’

He took his change of clothing into the bathroom but before doing so, he made a rather endearing effort to tidy up the tumbled case. ‘I’ll fix it,’ she told him with amusement.

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