Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart hammered her chest. Her stomach contracted. Tremors ran down her thighs. One hand gripped the edge of the stone wall, fingers spread wide for supporting traction. The other curled into a fist. Her mind screamed not to show weakness, to fight him off if he touched her.
He didn’t move. His gaze lifted to hers again, dark eyes simmering with a sensuality that sent a convulsive little shiver down her spine. Fear or excitement she didn’t know, couldn’t let herself think about it. He was so damnably sexy and his eyes were promising pleasure she’d never get with anyone else.
‘You look so beautiful tonight, Nonno will be proud to own you as his grand-daughter,’ he said huskily. ‘He’ll put aside the fact there is nothing of Antonio in you. That’s half the battle won. The rest should be easy as long as you’re committed to it.’
Her breath released itself in a shaky sigh. ‘I am,’ she assured him, feeling she had just been given another reprieve.
He smiled, the warm satisfaction in his eyes making her skin tingle. It was impossible to stop her body reacting to this man.
He gestured an invitation to move. ‘Shall we stroll along the walkway to the terrace? We can go from there through the atrium to the entertainment wing of the villa.’
Game on again, Jenny thought as she set out with him, trying to direct her mind away from its acute awareness of the physical chemistry that seemed to buzz between them. ‘What reception am I likely to get from Lucia this time?’ she asked.
‘All sweetness and light under Nonno’s eye,’ he answered dryly.
‘How did she take Anya’s departure?’
‘Oh, she put on a fine act of having misunderstood the situation, believing she was doing me a good turn in inviting Anya here. Lucia is an expert at cutting her losses when she no longer sees any advantage for herself in holding a stand.’
‘You sound very cynical about her.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s just the way she is. Aunt Sophia has veered between indulging her and neglecting her. Lucia worked out how to manipulate her mother and everyone else around her at a very young age. It annoys the hell out of her that I see straight through her games.’
‘Being a master game player yourself.’
His eyes glittered acknowledgement of that truth. ‘It’s how one stays on top.’
Ruthless control, Jenny thought.
And couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to feel all that power in bed with him.
CHAPTER TEN
THEY dined in a room overlooking a fabulous swimming pool. Underwater lights gave the water a blue brilliance and sparkled through a glorious fountain at the far end. Statues of Roman gods stood in the surrounding grounds amongst trellises of grapevines and urns of flowers. The outlook was so stunning, Jenny’s gaze was drawn to it every time there was a lull in the conversation. It provided relief from the tension of having to be Bella with every word she spoke.
She wasn’t so much under the gun from Marco Rossini tonight. He seemed content to sit back, watch and listen while Lucia directed a barrage of questions at her new cousin, most of which were easy to handle.
‘Do you have a boyfriend waiting for you back home?’ was thrown at her after the main course had been cleared away.
‘No. What about you? Do you have one?’
A careless shrug. ‘No one special. I can pick up anyone I want whenever I want.’
The arrogance of great wealth, Jenny thought. Dante probably had the same attitude. Discarding Anya had not worried him one bit. No emotional involvement. She’d do well to remember that.
‘What do you do with your time when you’re on your own?’ Lucia carried on.
‘I draw. Or paint.’
‘What do you draw?’
‘Portraits mostly.’ It gave her a perverse kind of pleasure to shock Lucia with the truth. ‘I’ve been what you’d call a street artist. People who come to the Venetian Forum in Sydney pay me to do a portrait of them on the spot.’
‘Dio! That’s not much better than a beggar!’
‘I like it. There are so many interesting faces. Like Dante’s.’ She smiled at him, revelling in rebelling against caution for once. ‘I wanted to sketch it before he asked me to.’
‘Dante asked a cheap street artist to do a portrait of him?’ Lucia sounded scandalised by such a lowly activity.
His dark eyes stabbed a warning at Jenny that she was playing with fire before turning a bland look to Lucia. ‘It was my first meeting with Bella. I wanted to get to know her at least a little before identifying myself and telling her why I had come.’
‘I’d like to see the portrait,’ Marco said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. His eyes sparkled with interest, dark pinpoints of vitality in a face that looked almost grey with fatigue or pain. ‘Did you bring it home with you, Dante?’
‘No,’ he said ruefully.
‘I didn’t finish it,’ Jenny explained. ‘When he told me who he was…’
‘She packed up her things and stormed away from me, wanting nothing to do with any of us,’ he finished dryly.
‘Why ever not?’ Lucia cried in disbelief.
‘Because we were of no significance in her life…and should have been,’ Marco answered heavily. He turned to Jenny in appeal. ‘Perhaps you would do a portrait of Dante for me while you’re here.’
She shrugged an apology. ‘I didn’t bring any art materials with me.’
‘No matter. I will supply them.’ He turned to his grandson. ‘You’ll see to it, won’t you, Dante? Everything Bella needs for her drawing and painting, now that she is staying with us.’
‘First thing tomorrow, Nonno,’ he promised.
‘Just a sketchpad and some sticks of charcoal will do,’ Jenny put in anxiously, not wanting to accept any more from them.
Marco waved a dismissive hand at her protest. ‘What artist would not want to capture the colour of Capri? You do me the favour of giving me your company. Let me give you the pleasure of doing what you like doing while you’re here. Get everything, Dante,’ he repeated, not to be denied on this point.
It would fill in the hours…days…weeks…months…
Jenny grabbed the idea with gratitude, realising it would provide her with an escape from both Dante’s company and Lucia’s. She could be herself in her own world for as long as she was occupied with art.
She smiled at the old man. ‘Thank you. I would enjoy trying my hand at doing some landscapes.’