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  ‘I’ll come back with you.’ Despite all that had happened, she still had his dinner party to cater for.

  They dressed in silence and she studiously avoided the puzzled glances he sent her way.

  When he caught her hand in his in the lift on the way to the ground floor, she let him. When he brought the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it, she sucked in a deep breath to stop the tears clogging her throat from suffocating her.

  In his car, he pulled her close, clamped both arms around her and tucked her head beneath his chin. In the long drive back to the Upper East side, neither of them spoke but he took every opportunity to run gentle hands down her arms and over her hair.

  Unable to stop herself, she felt tears slide down her cheeks.

  Dear God, what the hell had she done? Of all the foolish decisions she could’ve made, she’d gone and fallen in love with Narciso Valentino.

  ‘Qualunque cosa che, oi facevo io sono spiacente,’ he murmured raggedly in her ear. Whatever I did, I’m sorry.

  The tears fell harder, silent guilty sobs racking her frame.

  He led her to the shower the moment they returned to his penthouse. Again, in silence, he washed her, then pulled a clean T-shirt of his over her head. Pulling back the covers to his bed, he tugged her close and turned out the lights.

  ‘We’ll talk in the morning, Ruby. Whatever is happening between us, we’ll work it out, sì?’

  She nodded, closed her eyes and drifted off to a troubled sleep.

  She jerked awake just after 5:00 a.m., fear and anguish churning through her body. The need to tell Narciso the truth burned through her.

  She needed to tell him about the meeting last night. Needed to let him know that Giacomo’s thirst for revenge burned brighter than ever.

  Her fear for her parents had blinded her to the fact that she was stronger than Giacomo’s blackmail threats. There was no way Ruby would do as Giacomo asked.

  She loved Narciso, and, if there was any way he reciprocated those feelings, she didn’t intend to walk away.

  But she had to warn him that Giacomo might come at him by a different means once he found out Ruby had no intention of walking away.

  Turning her head, she watched Narciso’s peaceful profile as he slept. Her heart squeezed and she sucked in a breath as tears threatened.

  She’d never have believed she could fall in love so quickly and so deeply. But in less than a week she’d fallen for the world’s number-one playboy.

  But there was far more to Narciso than that. And if there was a chance for them...

  Vowing to speak to him after the party, she slid out of bed, dressed without waking him and left the bedroom.

  Armed with the black card he’d given her yesterday, she went outside and hailed a taxi. The market in Greenwich was bustling by the time she arrived just before six. For the next hour, she lost herself in picking the freshest vegetables, fruit and staples she needed for the dinner party.

  Next, she stopped at the upmarket wine stockist.

  Narciso had enough wine and vintage champagne so she only selected the spirits and liqueurs she needed for her cocktails.

  She was leaving the shop when her phone buzzed. Heart jumping into her throat because she knew who it would be, she answered.

  ‘You left without waking me,’ came the quiet accusation.

  ‘I needed to get to the market before sunrise.’

  He sighed. ‘I’m sorely tempted to cancel this event but I have several guests flying in specially.’

  ‘Why would you want to cancel it?’

  ‘Because it’s coming between me and what I want right now.’

  Her heart thundered. ‘Wh-what do you want?’

  ‘You. Alone. A proper conversation with no disturbances. To get to the bottom of whatever last night was about.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I should’ve told you...’ She stopped as a phone rang in the background.

  ‘Scusi,’ he excused himself, only to return a minute later. ‘I need to head to the office but I’ll be back by five tonight, sì?’

  ‘Okay, I’ll see you then.’

  He paused, as if he wanted to say something. Then he ended the call.

  * * *

  Ruby was glad for the distraction of getting everything ready for the dinner party. By the time Michel showed up midafternoon, she’d almost finished her preparations.

  They talked through the recipes she’d planned and settled on the timing.

  ‘Monsieur tells me you’ll be manning the bar tonight?’

  ‘The idea is to divide my time between the bar and the kitchen. I know I can trust you to hold the fort here?’

  ‘Of course.’ He peered closer at her. ‘Is everything all right?’

  She busied herself placing large chunks of freshly cut salmon in its foil wrappings.

  ‘It will be when the evening’s over. I always get the jitters at these events.’

  His knowing glance told her he hadn’t missed her evasiveness. Thankfully, Paolina entered the kitchen and Ruby sighed with relief.

  The planning team arrived at four. After that, deliveries flooded in. Flowers, a DJ and lighting specialists who set up on the terrace.

  But the most unexpected delivery came in the form of a couture designer bearing a zipped-up garment bag, which she handed over and promptly departed. The note pinned to the stunning powder-blue floor-length gown was simple—a beautiful gown for a beautiful woman.

  Joy burst through her heart, made her smile for the first time that day.

  For the job she had to do tonight, it was severely impractical, as were the silver shoes almost the exact shade as Narciso’s eyes, but as she walked into Narciso’s bedroom and hung up the dress she knew she would wear it.

  Narciso was late. He arrived barely a half-hour before his guests were due to arrive and walked into the bedroom just as she was putting finishing touches to her upswept hair.

  He froze in the doorway, and stared. ‘You look gorgeous, bellissima.’

  She turned from the mirror, a cascade of love, trepidation and anxiety smashing through her. How would he take the news of his father’s continued scheming?

  Remember where my son inherited his thirst for revenge...

  Forcing down the shiver of apprehension, she murmured, ‘Grazie.’

  His eyes darkened with pleasure. ‘You need to speak more Italian. Or better still Sicilian. I’ll teach you,’ he said as he shrugged off his jacket and tugged at his tie.

  Then he strode to where she stood. Snaking a large hand around her nape, he pulled her in for a long, deep kiss. Then with a groan he stepped back.

  ‘Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be with you.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Dio, I must be growing a conscience, bellissima, since I keep dismissing the idea of calling this party off.’

  She forced a laugh. ‘You must be.’

  Shaking his head, he entered the bathroom. She stood there until the sound of the shower pulled her from her troubled thoughts.

  She was behind the bar, pouring the first of the cocktails into glasses, when he emerged.

  The sight of him in a superbly cut grey suit and a blue shirt that matched her dress made her heart slam into her throat. He’d taken a single step towards her when the doorbell rang.

  He rolled his eyes dramatically, then his gaze drifted over her in heated promise before he nodded for the butler to answer the door.

  For the next two hours, Ruby let her skills take over, serving food that drew several compliments from the dinner guests.

  She declined when Narciso invited her to join them at the dinner table. Although his eyes narrowed in displeasure, there was very little he could do about it, much to her relief.

  She was p
reparing a round of after-dinner cocktails when she looked up and gasped.

  Giacomo was framed in the penthouse doorway.

  Her gaze swung to Narciso; frozen, she watched his head turn and his body tense as he saw his father.

  For several seconds, they eyed each other across the room.

  Giacomo sauntered in as if he belonged. Several guests, sensing the altered atmosphere, glanced between father and son.

  ‘Hey, watch it!’

  She jerked and looked down to find she’d overfilled a glass and the lime-green cocktail was spilling over the counter.

  Setting the shaker down, she grabbed a napkin.

  ‘Bona sira, Ruby,’ came the mocking voice. ‘How lovely you look.’

  Her head snapped up and connected with Giacomo’s steely gaze. Surprise that he hadn’t headed straight for his son held her immobile. Long enough for him to calmly reach across the counter, take her hand and press a kiss on her knuckles.

  She tried to snatch her hand away but he held on tight, a triumphant smile playing about his lips. ‘Play along, little one, and all your problems will go away,’ he said in a low voice.

  ‘I have no intention of playing along with anything.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter one way or the other. Narciso is infatuated with you. He’ll see what I want him to see.’

  With the clarity of a klaxon, everything fell into place.

  She’d been played. Giacomo had always intended this to be his revenge. By meeting with him last night, she’d only given him more ammunition.

  Heart shattering, she glanced over to where Narciso stood stock still, his eyes icy lakes of shock.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘NARCISO—’

  ‘Don’t speak.’

  Narciso paced in his office, marvelling at how his voice emerged so calm, so collected, when his insides bled from a million poisonous cuts.

  ‘Listen to him, bedda. He’s prone to childish tantrums when he’s upset. Just look at how he threw out all his guests a few minutes ago—’

  ‘Shut up, old man, or so help me I’ll bury my fist in your face.’

  Giacomo shook his head and glanced at Ruby in a what-did-I-say? manner.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘Ruby told me you were having a party. I decided to invite myself.’

  ‘I didn’t—!’

  ‘Ruby told you? When?’ Narciso’s gaze swung to her, then returned to his father.

  ‘Last night, when she met me for dinner.’

  ‘He’s lying, Narciso.’ He heard the plea in her voice and tried to think, to rationalise what was unfolding before him. Unfortunately his brain seemed to have stopped working.

  From the moment he’d seen Giacomo take her hand and kiss it, time had jerked to a stop, then rewound furiously, throwing up old memories that refused to be banished.

  Forcing himself into the present, he stared at Ruby. The gorgeous firecracker who’d got under his skin. The woman who’d made love to him last night in her apartment as if her soul belonged to him.

  Waking up this morning to find her gone had rocked him to his soul. The realisation that he wanted her in his bed and in his arms every morning and night for the rest of his life had been shocking but slowly, as the idea had embedded itself into his heart, he’d known it was what he wanted.

  He loved her. He, who’d never loved anything or anyone in his life, had fallen in love...

  With a woman who would meet with his father and not tell him...allow Giacomo to put his hand on her.

  No! He couldn’t have made the same mistake twice.

  Ruby was different...

  Wasn’t she? Reeling, he watched Giacomo stroll to the large sofa in the room and ease himself into it. His attitude reeked a confidence that shook Narciso to the core.

  He forced himself to speak. ‘Ruby, is this true?’

  She shook her head so emphatically, tendrils fell down her graceful neck. ‘No, it’s not. I only—’

  ‘You have a spy following me around. I know you do. He reports to you twice a week. Today is one of those days, I believe,’ Giacomo said.

  Narciso’s fists tightened. ‘Not any more.’

  Surprise lit the old man’s eyes. ‘Really? You must be going soft. Luckily, I had my own pictures taken.’

  Giacomo reached into his pocket and threw down a set of photos on the coffee table.

  Narciso felt his body tremble as he moved towards the table. For the first time in his life, he knew genuine fear. He glanced up to see Ruby’s eyes on his face.

  ‘Please, Narciso, it’s not what you think. I can explain.’

  He took another step. And there in Technicolor was the woman he loved, with the man he’d believed until very recently he hated most in his life.

  Ironically, it was Ruby who’d made him look deeper into himself and acknowledge the fact that it wasn’t hate that drove him but a desperate need to connect with the person who should’ve loved him.

  His legs lost the ability to support him and he sank into his chair. Vicious pain slashed at his heart and he fought against the need to howl in agony.

  ‘Leave,’ he rasped.

  ‘I warned you you would never best me,’ his father crooned.

  Slowly, Narciso raised his head and looked at his father. Despite his triumph, he looked haggard. The years of bitterness had taken their toll. It was what he’d risked becoming...

  ‘She insisted on saving you, do you know that?’

  Ice filled his gut. ‘Scusi?’

  Giacomo’s gaze scoured him. ‘Your mamma. She had a chance to live. The doctor who arrived could only save one of you. She had a chance and she chose you.’ Bitterness coated every word.

  ‘And you’ve hated me for it ever since, haven’t you?’

  Giacomo’s face hardened. ‘I never wanted children. She knew that. If she’d only listened to me, she’d still be alive.’ He inhaled and surged to his feet. ‘What does it matter? Come, Ruby. You’re no longer wanted here.’

  Narciso snarled. ‘Lay another finger on her and it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.’

  His father jerked in shock, then his face took on a grey hue. Narciso watched, stunned, as Giacomo clutched his chest and began to crumple.

  ‘Narciso, I think he’s having a heart attack!’

  For several seconds Ruby’s words didn’t compute. When the meaning spiked, poker hot, into his brain, he reached out and caught Giacomo as he fell.

  Behind him he heard Ruby dialling and speaking to emergency personnel as he tore open his father’s shirt and began chest compressions.

  ‘Madre di Dio, non,’ he whispered, the fear clutching his chest beginning to spread as his father lay still.

  The next fifteen minutes passed by in a blur. The ER helicopter landed on the penthouse roof and emergency personnel took over.

  He sagged against a wall when they informed him Giacomo was still alive but would need intensive care immediately.

  ‘He’ll pull through. I’m sure of it.’

  He looked up to find Ruby in front of him, holding out a glass of whisky. He took it and knocked it back in one gulp.

  It did nothing to thaw the ice freezing his heart.

  ‘Leave.’ He repeated the word he’d said what seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Shock rushed over her face.

  ‘Narciso—’

  He threw the glass across the room and heard it shatter. ‘No. You don’t get to say my name. Never again.’

  He took satisfaction in seeing tears fill her eyes. ‘I can explain—’

  ‘It’s too late. I told you this thing between Giacomo and I was over. I’d trusted your counsel, taken your advice and abandoned this godforsaken vendetta.
But where was your trust, tesoro mio? You knew this was coming. And you said nothing!’

  ‘He threatened my parents!’

  His expression softened for a split second. Then grew granite hard. ‘Of course he did. But his threats meant more to you than your belief that I would help you. That we could fight him together!’ He couldn’t hide the raw pain that flowed out of his voice.

  ‘I didn’t want to fight! And I was going to tell you. Tonight after the party.’

  ‘We’ll never know now, will we?’ he said scathingly.

  ‘Narciso—’

  ‘Your actions spoke clearly for you. Unfortunately for you, you made the same mistake Maria did. You chose the wrong side.’

  * * *

  Ruby smoothed her hand down the sea-green dress and tried to stem the butterflies.

  In less than half an hour, the grand opening of Dolce Italia would be under way.

  Two months of sheer, sometimes blessedly mind-numbing, hard work. She’d volunteered for every job that didn’t require specialist training in the blind hope of drowning out the acute pain and devastation of having to live without Narciso. Her success rate had been woefully pathetic...

  ‘Are you ready yet, bella bambina? The paparazzi will be here in a minute.’ Her mother entered, wearing an orange silk gown that pleasantly complemented her slim figure. Despite being in her late forties, Paloma looked ten years younger. With her divorce from her philandering husband firmly underway, she appeared to have acquired a new lease on life. The spring in her step had grown even bolder when Ruby had allowed her to take a financial stake in the restaurant.

  She stopped in the middle of the small room they’d converted to a dressing room at the back of the two-storey restaurant and cocktail bar in the prime location in Manhattan.

  ‘Oh, you look stunning,’ she said, then her eyes darkened with worry. ‘A little on the thin side, though.’

  ‘Don’t fuss, Mamma.’

  ‘It’s my job to fuss. A job I neglected for years.’

  Knowing she was about to lapse into another self-recriminating rant, Ruby rushed forward and hugged her. ‘What’s done is done, Mamma. Now we look forward.’

  Her mother blinked brown eyes bright with unshed tears and nodded. ‘Speaking of moving forward, the most exquisite bouquet of flowers arrived for you.’