‘I suppose not.’ Sweating, he slid a finger around his collar. ‘Knowing Mr Corretti, I’m sure he’ll be only too pleased to see a beautiful woman walking into his office.’
‘Good.’ Striding into the express elevator before he could change his mind, Taylor hit a button and closed the doors. Safely inside, she switched off her megawatt smile and checked her reflection in the mirror.
She was going to kill the bastard.
First she was going to rip his elegant suit from his perfect body and then she was going to injure him in places that would ensure he’d remember her for ever.
It had proved difficult to persuade Santo to give her a few hours off from filming, but in the end he’d decided that they’d be more productive if they dealt with the media first.
Taylor hadn’t revealed that the only person she was going to be ‘dealing with’ was Luca.
The doors opened and Taylor stepped out into a contemporary office space like no other she’d seen. The walls were lined with photographs. Famous models in various poses pouted at her, their razor-sharp cheekbones accentuated by the powerful beam of sunlight pouring from an atrium above. It was a shrine to beauty and elegance.
The wide glass reception desk was unoccupied and she looked through the open door beyond and saw Luca Corretti at the same moment he saw her.
Their eyes locked.
Just for a moment she was back in the maze with his hand pressed to her bare thigh but then she remembered that was the reason she was here and her temper spurted.
‘Well, well—’ his sarcastic drawl carried across the open space between them ‘—it’s my fiancée. What an unexpected pleasure, angelo mia.’
‘In the circumstances, how could I stay away?’ Head held high, in full battle mode, Taylor stalked across the marble floor and into his office wondering how on earth they were going to unpick this mess.
She was going to kill him and how was she going to explain that to the press?
‘Leave us, Jeannie,’ Luca ordered in a silky tone. ‘It’s not every day a man gets engaged. I need to savour the moment. I might even indulge in desk sex so better not come in without knocking.’
The woman sent him a troubled look and then retreated from the office and closed the door behind her.
Taylor went straight into attack mode. ‘How dare you? How dare you play with my life just because you don’t care about yours! You should have paid that woman.’
‘If I paid every woman who threatened to take stories of me to the press I’d be broke.’
‘Maybe you should stop seducing women and then the problem would go away!’ She paced the length of his office, her attention caught by yet more black-and-white photographs on the walls. ‘You have photographs of women everywhere. You just can’t help yourself, can you?’
‘I run a fashion house. What do you expect?’ He looked effortlessly sophisticated in a suit designed to accentuate his physique and dark good looks. ‘Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I couldn’t care less whose picture you have on your wall or who you kiss.’
‘Really? Isn’t that rather a liberal attitude for someone who only recently decided I was the only man in the world for her?’
Livid by his flippant response, she glared at him. ‘Right now the only thing standing between you and death is the fact that I don’t want more negative headlines.’
Dark brows rose above eyes that glinted with mockery. ‘So much passion so early in our relationship. Not that I’m complaining. I love a woman who isn’t afraid to show emotion.’
‘Damn you, Luca, are you ever serious? Do you know how hard I’ve worked over the past few years to get people to take me seriously? This was a fresh start and then you—you…’ Her hands curled into fists and she turned away from him, hating the loss of control. Hating the attraction she felt towards him. Hating him.
‘And then I—what?’
‘You know what! You—you kissed me. You had your hand on my—’ Just thinking of the photograph made her close her eyes in horror. ‘It looked as if we’d—’
‘Do you ever finish your sentences? You’re like a walking crossword and I’m too lazy to fill in the blanks.’
‘I’m—I’m just so mad with you.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it will be good for you to express honest emotion once in a while.’
‘Don’t mess with me, Luca.’ Furious, she stabbed her finger into his chest and then wished she hadn’t because all she felt was muscle. ‘Be careful. I haven’t eaten carbs for three months and I’m always dangerous when I’m hungry.’