The Multi-Millionaire's Virgin Mistress. Cathy Williams

      ‘Is this going to be a question and answer session?’ Alessandro drawled. ‘I ask the questions and you use as few words as humanly possible to answer?’

      ‘You wanted to find out what I’d been up to and I’m telling you. My life is probably not nearly as fascinating as yours has been, but I love what I do and I’m very happy.’ She drained her cup, then looked at him. ‘How long have you known…Dominic’s mum?’

      ‘Roughly six months.’

      Roughly six months! Less time than he’d been with her. It hurt to think that he must have been bowled over to have moved from dating to engagement in such a brief period of time.

      ‘Not long. A whirlwind romance?’ She forced a smile. ‘It must be the icing on the cake, Alessandro. I’m very happy for you.’

      Alessandro hadn’t thought about it as a whirlwind romance. He had met Victoria when she had been working with her firm of lawyers on one of his deals. He’d liked her, admired her intelligence, and appreciated her ability to respect his ferocious working agenda. Was that romance? It had certainly been enough for him to take the next step forward, but he had to admit that it was at least partly fuelled by the fact that he wasn’t getting any younger.

      Unlike a lot of his city colleagues—men in their thirties, climbing the ladder to success—Alessandro had no intention of remaining a bachelor because of a preference for playing the field. Nor was he going to hang around until he was too old to enjoy playing with his kids. Sure, he had had women, but some restless, dissatisfied urge had always held him back from commitment.

      Victoria, he recognised, was undemanding. She had her own high-powered job, and therefore did not look to him for constant companionship. Nor did she nag for assurances about love or any such thing. She worked for him and he, he suspected, worked for her. It was a mutually gratifying situation.

      ‘Icing on the cake?’ he mused. ‘Yes, I suppose it is….’