He grinned and pulled a jangling collection of keys from his pocket. ‘Oh, no, you don’t! I know all there is to know about women. If I don’t keep my eyes on you, you’ll head straight for Garden Cottage and spend the next two hours delaying me while you get ready. I’ll come with you, every step of the way.’
Meg wasn’t about to stop him. His presence at her shoulder kept her nerves singing with anticipation. He shadowed her as she went back to the kitchen garden and completed all her meticulous checks. All the time, Meg knew he was watching. She felt his gaze running over her like quicksilver. It only slid away whenever she tried to catch his eye.
‘What is happening to Imsey’s Plant Centre while you are enjoying yourself here in Italy?’ he said as they walked out through the garden gates and went to find his car.
‘I ring home every day to find out. On my mobile, of course,’ Meg added hurriedly so he wouldn’t think she was running up a bill on the estate account. ‘Mum and Dad say they are coping, but I’m still worried. I’m afraid they don’t tell me everything. That’s what happened last time.’ She bit her lip.
‘It seems strange to take a job far away from home when you’re so devoted to them.’ Gianni snapped off a tall stem of ornamental grass in passing and rubbed the embryo grains between his fingers.
‘I had to.’ Meg stared at the seed head in his hands, remembering. ‘When your father offered me this job, it was the perfect opportunity. Helping them so successfully gave me the confidence to look for another challenge. I could strike out on my own, and begin building my career afresh.’
Her words slowed as she thought back to the one thing that had really kick started her new life. It was the night at Chelsea, when she had first met Gianni. For weeks afterwards she had fantasised about him. Then her life had turned upside down with the offer of this job, and now she was walking through a Tuscan estate beside him. It was a dream come true…almost. She tried not to notice the sunshine glittering over his raven-dark hair, or the beautiful cast of his features. It was becoming really difficult to keep work at the forefront of her mind.
‘I’d secured Mum and Dad’s business, and it was my time to shine again,’ she added, dragging herself back to reality.
‘And then out of the blue I received your father’s letter, giving me the chance to pitch for the position of his Curator of Exotic Plants. He’d been impressed with me. We spent a very long time talking together at the flower show. I never dreamed you were related, but, thinking about it, that must have been his handwriting in your notebook.’
‘That’s right. He sent me to seek you out, so he must have been impressed.' Gianni nodded.
‘Mum and Dad said they didn’t need my help any more at the nursery, so here I am.’
They reached his car. The sleek black Ferrari crouched on the gravel like a wild cat. It was a great distraction from her problems, and she couldn’t resist smiling.
‘I’d never been close to anything like this until I came to Italy,’ she breathed.
‘Why? What do you drive?’
‘I don’t—not in this country. I’d be petrified of driving on the wrong side—I mean on the opposite side of the road.’ She corrected herself quickly in response to the scornful look Gianni shot at her.
‘Then it’s time you got some practice.’
Without another word he tossed his jangling set of keys and passes at her. Meg bent to pick them up. He leaned against the passenger door with a knowing look on his face.
‘You want me to drive your car?’ She gasped.
‘Everyone who lives in the country must drive. It’s best if you start right now. And I’m only going to let you pilot her the few kilometres across my estate to the public road. I’m not completely insane.’
‘But what happens if I crash it?’
He looked at her as though she were the mad one. ‘I’ll get the factory to send me another, of course. There’s an inexhaustible supply, or so they told me the last time. And don’t change the subject. We were talking about you. I thought you said you were happy at home?’ he mocked, as though exposing some hypocrisy in the way she had left England. ‘It didn’t take much to set you on the path to fame and fortune again, did it?’
‘If you had been listening carefully, you would have understood what I meant.’ Meg’s cheeks flared as she got into his car and tried to find a comfortable driving position. He looked puzzled. Then understanding brought his smile out of the shadows.
‘You were quite happy, but not completely.’ He nodded. ‘Something was missing from your life.’
Someone…Meg thought. There was a pain beneath her ribs, interfering with her breathing. It was the same feeling she had endured back in England, every time she spotted someone in the distance who might have been Gianni, or thought she heard his laughter. Her heart rode a roller coaster each time it happened. She had thought no disappointment could have been greater than never seeing him a second time. But meeting him again had been more agonising than any mistake made in a shopping mall. She sensed that deep down he was suspicious of her motives.
‘I wanted to make a success of my life on my own terms…’ she said with difficulty.
‘I can relate to that.’
His reply held such feeling Meg instantly needed to know more. Before she could ask, Gianni launched a list of instructions at her for starting his car and coaxing it toward the road.
She didn’t have a hope. It was her very first driving lesson all over again, scary and embarrassing all at once. She clung onto the leather bound steering wheel in grim determination as they kangaroo-hopped down the drive. That was more than Gianni could bear. After thirty seconds he slapped both hands down on the dashboard.
‘No, no—stop!’
Meg was so relieved, her emergency stop would have passed any driving test with distinction. Gianni jumped out the second she braked. Rounding the bonnet at high speed, he opened the driver’s door for her to get out.
‘I’ll get my office to arrange a few driving lessons to get you used to the local conditions, and then organize a car for you.’ He said succinctly as he slipped into the driving seat.
Meg walked around and got in beside him. He was already caressing the steering wheel with both hands. Meg thought nothing of it, imagining he was waiting for her to fasten her seat belt, but he continued for some seconds after she was settled. Then he did all the things he had told her to do, faultlessly and in exactly the right order.
‘Have I done any damage?’ she risked as the upholstery surged forward against the small of her back.
‘Only to my nerves.’ Gianni glanced at her before checking his rear-view mirror. ‘Cars are like women. They must be treated with care and respect.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said in a small voice. ‘I’ll pay for anything that needs to be fixed.’
He laughed, loosening up as his Ferrari hit the autostrada. ‘I think working for the Bellini family will extract a high enough price!’
‘I liked your father. He was a good employer,’ Meg said, filling every word with meaning.
‘And you’re hoping I’ll carry on the family tradition, bambola?’ Gianni slipped the words slyly across at her. ‘I doubt that. I’m entirely different from my father. For one thing, he had been desperate to marry. It turned out to be the worst mistake he ever made, and I’ve learned from it. When my mother died in childbirth it was the ultimate irony. The whole experience damaged him so badly he spent thirty years licking his wounds. I intend to take my time choosing a bride. Not for me the flighty socialite, ready to bleed me dry in the name of marriage,’