She hardly turned on her heel before he was there, next to her. The warm, male scent of him buckling her knees. His fingers wrapped around her bare arm sending a shocking pulse of awareness through her.
He didn’t really pull her, yet Pia found herself drifting alongside him. “No interruptions,” he warned the gaping assistants before closing the door.
Pia looked around his huge office, more to avoid looking at him than with real interest. A dark mahogany desk took center stage with a sitting area to one side, and a walkthrough to a bedroom and walk-in shower.
She retreated to the other side of the desk while he leaned against the closed door, all casual elegance. “You should not roam by yourself in a strange country.”
Some heretofore-unknown imp goaded her. “Worried about my safety?”
He rolled his eyes, which in turn made her smile. “Giovanni Vito’s American granddaughter is quite the sensation right now.” His gaze skimmed her face for an infinitesimally breathtaking moment. “You’re a shiny target for any number of men.”
He called her the vilest of things, took offense to her presence in Gio’s life and yet, something in his expression made her wonder if he actually was worried about her.
Or maybe she was beginning to delude herself.
She sighed, helpless against the longing that, for one moment, he would see her. Pia. Not Giovanni’s scheming granddaughter. But then, if she weren’t, he’d probably not even look at her at all.
“I begged Emilio to give me a ride since he was coming into the city anyway. Gio is visiting his sister.”
His gaze lingered on her mouth. Just for a fraction of a second, but there. Luckily, the desk hid her trembling legs. “Which one?”
“That mean old dragon Maria.”
One brow shot up.
She colored. “She’s the one who created the rift between my grandmother and Giovanni. Filled both their heads with lies. Turned their young love bitter.”
He scoffed. “Don’t you think their love should have stood against Maria’s meddling? It shouldn’t have sent Lucia running across the ocean and Gio to marry three different women just to mend his broken heart.”
“I know what my Nonni felt each and every day of her life. And I’ll... I’ll thump you before I let you poison the memory of their love.”
He pushed off from the door with a feline grace that sent her pulse speeding. “And Giovanni keeps assuring me that you are a sweet, too-good-to-be-true young woman who likes everyone in the world.” He spoke as if her very existence was an impossibility.
Tracing the edge of the desk with her fingertip, she walked around it before he could reach her. “I usually don’t hold grudges.”
“Is that a warning, Pia?” he said softly behind her. She hadn’t realized how close he was. “You will only let me accuse you of so many things before I become unforgivable?”
She shrugged. “My nonna meant everything to me. I can’t forgive someone who caused her considerable harm. Which is why, while I resent your accusations, I try my best to understand your reasons for behaving as you do.” She looked up and met his gaze. “You care about Gio.”
Shadows filled his eyes before he nodded. “He means everything to me,” he said, using her own words. “He’s the one person who always believed in me. Who never asked anything of me.”
The stark emotion in his voice, the honesty in his eyes—Pia shivered. This was the true Raphael. A man whom no one saw. A man, she was becoming sure, who didn’t appear much. A man she respected and even liked. She cleared her throat, wishing she could shrug off the increasing connection she felt with him. “Now that we’ve established a common goal—”
His arm shot out to capture hers when she would have sidled away again. “If you don’t stop being so nervous around me, I’ll give you a real reason.”
“Like what?” she goaded, pushed by his nearness.
“Are you sure you want to know?”
No, she didn’t. This was dangerous. She had no business playing games with Raphael. So she sat down.
To her immense relief, he took the opposite seat. His long legs folded along the length of her own without touching. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’ve been avoiding the entire male population of Milan. Unsuccessfully.”
His frown deepened, while his long fingers played with a paperweight. “So Gio is still determined to find a prince for his perfect princess. Tell me, is it because you’ve been thwarted in love that you’ve decided to let Gio buy you a nice, convenient husband instead?”
She stood up so fast her head whirled. “If all you’re going to do is mock me, I’ve—”
His arm shot out and caught hers, stalling her. “Mi dispiace, si?”
“You can’t say things with every intention of cutting me, and then expect to be let off by saying sorry. The last thing I want is to involve you. I came because I’ve no choice. And because, believe it or not, I trust you.”
His gaze flared, caught hers, compelling and dominant. But it was she who held it, letting him know she might quiver at his touch but it didn’t make her weak.
A muscle flicking under his jaw, he looked away first.
Pia felt as if she had won a minor battle. She took a drink of water and watched him over the rim of her glass.
Whatever had passed between them, it was gone. Smoothed away beneath his perfect featured mask. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“You were right. Giovanni hosted that ball with the intention of introducing me to eligible men. Introducing being a euphemism.
“I haven’t had a day to myself since that blasted night.
He’s dragging me to party after party, brunch after brunch as if I were...a mule he’s determined to be rid of.” Raphael’s mouth—that sensuous mouth, twitched, and Pia glared at him. “It’s not funny.
“I can’t turn around before there’s a grandson or a son or a twice removed cousin of one of Gio’s friends visiting. There’s so many of them I can’t even keep their names straight. If I refuse to go on an outing, Gio encourages my escort to walk around the estate with me. If I refuse to accompany one of them to a party, Gio takes me there anyway and then abandons me with them.
“I know and you know and the whole damned world knows that it’s not my infinite charms or my breathtaking personality that brings them to me in droves. But Gio refuses to acknowledge it. Pretends as if he can’t hear me when I say half of them are just plain...”
“Idiots?” Raphael offered unhelpfully.
“I’ve had enough of the false attention, the warm looks, the overdone praise of my nonexistent beauty. I’ve taken to packing a picnic lunch first thing in the morning, and escaping to remote corners of the estate to avoid them.”
“No one can stop Gio when he gets an idea into his head. Why do you think he’s estranged from not only three ex-wives but also his brothers and sisters?”
“He’ll listen to you. He thinks you walk on water.”
Raphael shook his head. “I already warned him this would happen. But he’s determined to find you a...” He raised his hands palms up. The defeated gesture didn’t suit him at all. “Don’t shoot the messenger.
Why don’t you tell him to back off?”
“Every