Nico had been distracted for a split second, wondering again what Charlotte’s hair would look like if it wasn’t so tightly coiled and clipped into place. He wanted to pull out some of those pins. To force her to loosen up a little.
‘Because it’s not so ridiculous,’ he said. ‘What if you attended this dinner tonight with…with your new boyfriend? How happy would that make your grandmother?’
This time it was real laughter that escaped. A delicious, totally unexpected chuckle of real mirth. ‘Is there a “hire a boyfriend” agency in Venice that you know about?’
‘There’s no need to hire anybody.’ Nico’s grin stretched his mouth. ‘It’s the least I could do to make up for this morning’s unfortunate happenstance.’
It was perfect. Here it was on a plate. The opportunity to not only make up for contributing to any distress caused by this morning’s incident but to do it in a manner that would be fun.
Except that Charlotte was looking at him as if he was totally crazy.
This was surreal.
Just having a personal conversation with a professional acquaintance would have been weird enough but this incredibly good-looking stranger seemed to be offering to pretend to be her boyfriend for an evening.
Imagine that!
Unfortunately, Charlotte could imagine it. She could imagine herself introducing him to her grandmother as a…as a friend…and Nico turning on his most charming smile and Gran putting two and two together and letting wishful thinking make the impossible a reality.
Oh…God…how happy would she be?
The distraction of a train trip to take her mind off what was coming was nothing compared to the joy she would have if she thought Charlotte had finally found ‘the one’.
It was crazy. Wasn’t it?
‘That’s crazy,’ she said aloud, hoping the spoken words would confirm it.
‘It’s only for an evening.’ Nico shrugged as if it was no big deal. ‘We could tell her we’ve met before, which is perfectly true. We could say that there’s something about Venice being such a romantic city and we’ve realised we can’t fight the attraction any longer. It was meant to be.’
Oh…my…If the look he was giving her right now was any indication of the performance he could put on for her grandmother, she would be totally convinced.
For a skipped heartbeat kind of moment, Charlotte almost believed it herself. She could feel it right down to her bones. How could anyone be so good at looking as if they had just fallen madly in love with someone? It was doing very strange things to something deep inside her. A process that had to be stopped immediately.
He’s acting, she reminded herself. And he’s only this good at it because he’s clearly had a lot of practice.
‘You may be an expert in pretending,’ she snapped, ‘but it’s not something I could carry off. I wouldn’t even want to try.’
He was still giving her that look.
‘I watched you this morning,’ he said softly. ‘I think you can carry off anything that’s important enough to you.’
There was a glint of mischief in those dark eyes. Good heavens, he was actually enjoying this, wasn’t he? He wanted to do it?
‘You might be surprised at how easy it is,’ he continued. ‘You might enjoy it.’
Charlotte snorted. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘And wouldn’t you even want to try? For your grandmother’s sake?’
‘No. It would be completely dishonest.’
‘Completely?’ Nico injected a hurt tone into the word. ‘Could you not summon even a tiny bit of attraction to me to work with?’
He tilted his head, moving it closer to her own, his gaze dropping from her eyes to her lips.
And, heaven help her, but Charlotte could actually feel a curl of desire unfolding deep in her belly. It escaped from that place that was locked away. A place she could never enter because, if she did, she would have to remember…Have to face up to what was so wrong with her…
‘No.’ The word came out like the slamming of a door. It was time to get away from there.
Away from this man who was making her think about ridiculous things.
Feel things she had no desire to feel.
‘At least think about it.’ His words followed her as she almost ran to get off the balcony. ‘I’ll see you at dinner.’
‘OH, MY…’
‘What’s wrong, Gran? Are you all right?’ The lighting wasn’t so great in this dinner venue. A restaurant within easy walking distance of the conference venue, this ancient stone vault of a room had been transformed into a winter wonderland in honour of the season.
White church candles with multiple wicks, in a nest of holly leaves and poinsettia flowers, made a centrepiece for each of the small tables set for four. Sheets of fairy lights in icicle form hung from the high ceiling and, on one roughened stone wall, a slide show of Christmassy scenes was softly fading in and out as the scenes changed.
It was a beautiful setting for a dinner but the flickering light levels made it impossible to see things as clearly as Charlotte would have liked. She was convinced her grandmother had suddenly gone pale.
‘Stop fussing, Charlotte, for goodness’ sake.’ Lady Geraldine gave her a surprisingly sharp poke with her finger. ‘If you weren’t half-blind, you would have noticed what I just noticed.’ Her smile was almost gleeful as she lowered her voice. ‘Eye candy…’
‘Gran. Wherever did you learn an expression like that?’
‘I blame television,’ Lady Geraldine sighed. But she was still smiling. Still watching a point well beyond Charlotte’s shoulder. The entranceway, most likely, because Charlotte had deliberately chosen a table as far away from the door as possible. A nice, dark corner. With a bit of luck, Nico Moretti would be late and either he wouldn’t be able to spot her or the two unoccupied settings at their table would have been taken by another conference attendee and his or her partner.
But no. With a sinking heart Charlotte realised that to have grabbed her grandmother’s keen interest, this ‘eye candy’ would have to be spectacularly good looking. And judging by the way her elderly relative was practically fanning herself with her hand now, he was coming in their direction. Slowly, she turned her head.
Oh, my…was an understatement. Dr Moretti was wearing a beautifully fitting dinner suit, which always made men look good, but so were most of the other male guests here. Maybe the soft lighting had something to do with the way he stood out. Or more likely, it was the man’s sheer presence as he wound his way through the tables, pausing to smile at people he knew or share a few words in greeting.
He seemed to have a spotlight on him, in any case, and Charlotte knew her gaze was as transfixed as her grandmother’s. As focused as every other woman in this room.
If Nico was scanning the room, looking for her as he kept moving, he certainly gave no indication of it. Anyone watching would assume he knew exactly what table he was expected