From her disadvantaged kneeling position, he seemed even more devastating, more domineering in a way that made her struggle to hide a small shiver of desire.
‘Ah,’ he retorted. ‘So you prefer your oranges small?’
‘The oranges aren’t small, only the trees—’ She stopped when she saw the mocking smile that flashed across his face.
He was making fun of her. Disconcertingly, she wanted to grin in response. She bit her lip hard to hide its Judas twitch.
‘What do you want?’
He held out her phone. ‘It’s been pinging text messages every few minutes. I thought they might be important.’
She took it and flung it on to the grass. ‘Agata Marinello and her unending demands can go to hell. Was that all?’
He didn’t answer immediately. In fact he remained silent for so long that she glanced up at him.
The trace of a smile had vanished. His gaze was disturbingly intent as he stared down at her. Her throat dried as she experienced a sudden, inexplicable feeling that he was about to tell her something she wouldn’t welcome.
‘We have a guest coming to dinner this evening.’ The notice was delivered with little warmth and no pleasure.
She frowned. ‘You seem unhappy about it.’
His lips pursed. ‘I’d prefer not to have any company but it is what it is.’
‘Tell them not to come then,’ she said simply. ‘What would be worse, begging off hosting a dinner or exposing the guest to an unwelcome reception?’
‘It would be discourteous of me since I myself arranged it a...while ago.’
Her heart lurched unsteadily as it occurred to her that Cesare’s displeasure didn’t stem from having an unwelcome guest, but from Ava’s presence at the dinner table. ‘You mean before I decided to bring myself and my daughter back home unannounced?’
‘Something like that.’
She cleared a sudden painful constriction in her throat. ‘Is it a business dinner?’
‘No, Celine is a friend of the family and is...important to me.’
‘Celine?’ Why had her insides suddenly gone cold despite the sun’s intense heat?
Cesare had invited a woman to dinner. Big deal. But she couldn’t stop the sudden tension making her fingers tighten around the trowel. Dull pain shot up her arm. Even then she couldn’t let go of the tool.
Cesare had friends. Not that she knew many of them. Theirs had been a jealously guarded courtship, preferred by both of them because she didn’t have to share Cesare with her disapproving family and he’d been based in London at the time with easily ignored business acquaintances.
She’d met his parents at the wedding, although not his younger brother, Roberto. She’d also been introduced to the smattering of uncles, aunts and cousins that Italian families abounded with—a family she’d been desperate to become a part of. A family that had on face value welcomed her—until Cesare’s gradual distance had quickly become a family-wide phenomenon.
Her memory wasn’t faulty enough to have forgotten a Celine. And certainly not one who was important to Cesare.
‘Ava?’
She realised she’d missed his question.
‘Sorry—what?’ The words were forced through stiff lips.
‘I asked if seven-thirty was okay with you,’ he repeated slowly, as if making allowances for her sluggish brain.
Was seven-thirty okay with her? ‘No.’ It slipped out before courtesy or caution could stop it.
‘Perdono?’
‘You asked if the time was okay, I said no. It’s obvious you don’t want her here now I’m back. Use me as the excuse. Tell her not to come because the time is not okay with me.’
This way, she’d never have to meet the important Celine, never have to endure her gut twisting in knots the way it was now at the prospect of meeting the woman who might one day replace her and wear the famous di Goia wedding ring Cesare had presented to her with such dignified pride the day he’d proposed to her.
Cesare’s clear disbelief at her response almost made her laugh out loud. Almost.
‘As much as I appreciate your selfless efforts, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.’
‘Well, can I be excused? She is your guest, after all.’ Why did she have to break bread with the woman?
Anger laced his movements as he shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘You will be dressed appropriately and ready to greet our guest at seven-thirty, Ava. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Ooh, I love it when you go all domineering and masterful,’ she purred, only to gasp as he sank down to her level, bringing six feet two of bristling masculinity up close and very personal.
‘Did the consequences of last week teach you nothing about challenging me?’ he asked in a deceptively soft tone.
Ava knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from testing the depths of the flames. ‘You mean pushing us both to the edge before withdrawing? I don’t know, you tell me. I’m still digesting your I should never have married you. How long does blue balls last?’ she taunted.
‘Che diavolo—’ His jaw actually slackened before he managed to clench it tight again. When he spoke again, it was between gritted teeth. ‘Just be ready at seven-thirty. Capito?’
‘If I must.’ She raised the trowel in a mock salute and watched him stalk away, shoulders stiff with tension.
With renewed vigour, she dug into the earth. In a few hours she would meet Cesare’s important guest.
Maybe the gods would be kind and make Celine short, fat and dumpy as all hell.
* * *
The gods granted her one wish.
Celine was short.
But fat and dumpy she was not. She was the original pocket Venus, with the kind of fragility that made men want to instinctively take care of her, in a way that made Ava, with her five foot seven frame and the three-inch heels she’d slipped into as an added confidence booster, feel like the Leaning Tower of Pisa as she reached out to shake Celine’s proffered hand.
Celine di Montezuma reeked cute perfection from the top of her expensively styled gleaming black hair to the pointy toes of her designer heels. What grated the most were her open friendliness and genuine, pleasant smile she directed at Ava as she removed her silk wrap and handed it to Cesare.
‘I’ve heard so much about you,’ she said to Ava.
‘Really? I hadn’t heard so much as a peep about you until four hours ago.’
Ava ignored the warning glint in Cesare’s eyes as he straightened from cheek-kissing Celine.
Their guest’s warm laugh echoed in the vast hallway. ‘He didn’t just drop my visit on you, did he? Don’t you hate that about men?’
‘Hate is too mild a word.’
She laughed again and tucked her arm through Ava’s. As much as Ava wanted to hate her, she grudgingly, painfully understood Cesare’s attraction to the vivacious Celine.
The feeling increased all through Lucia’s superbly prepared dinner of egg and salmon frittata starter, followed by slow-cooked lamb in herb sauce and diced potatoes. Which she hardly touched.
The lump that had lodged in her chest since Cesare announced her arrival grew with each second she watched