He elevated his dark brows. ‘I agree you might have a little difficulty,’ he murmured.
She glanced at her watch. ‘We have exactly seven minutes until closing time—so I’d advise you to place your order quickly.’
‘That’s easy. I’d like some lemon cake—something like the one I missed out on last week.’
‘I’m afraid we’re right out of lemon cake.’
He gave a lazy smile. ‘Is there anything else you recommend?’
‘Well, since I make the cakes which are sold here, I’d recommend them all.’
Ciro’s eyes narrowed. ‘You do?’
‘Yep.’ She whipped out her order pad. ‘And we’ve only got coffee or chocolate left—so which is it to be?’
‘Scrub it.’
‘Scrub what?’
‘My order.’
He began to get up out of his chair and Lily felt her heart lurch with something which felt infuriatingly like disappointment. ‘You’ve changed your mind?’
‘Sì, ho cambiato idea. I have changed my mind.’
His sudden, seamless switch into Italian disorientated her, as did the fact that he had stepped up close to her—close enough to notice that dark rasp of new growth at his jaw which she had so wanted to touch before. And the stupid thing was that she still wanted to touch it. She wanted to touch him—to see whether he could possibly feel as good as he looked. ‘What does that mean?’ she questioned suspiciously.
‘I’m agreeing with you. I don’t want to sit here while you wait on me with that tight and angry look on your face,’ he said.
‘I’m glad you’ve taken the hint to leave me alone.’
‘But I haven’t.’ He smiled with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what her response was going to be. ‘Not until you’ve said you’ll have dinner with me.’
Lily felt the crashing of her heart as those dark eyes bored into her. She could feel her cheeks growing hotter by the minute. He was so… so… sure of himself. ‘Are you out of your mind?’
‘I think I am a little, sì,’ he said, unexpectedly. ‘Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I keep remembering the way you stood in that kitchen, with flour all over your hands and an apron around your tiny waist, looking like some old-fashoned domestic goddess. And believe me, it is not usual for me to be so preoccupied with a woman.’
‘I suppose it’s usually the other way round, is it?’ she observed sarcastically. ‘Women completely obsessed by you from the moment they set eyes on you?’
‘Can you blame them?’ came his unapologetic response accompanied by the faintest suggestion of a smile. ‘But my undoubted appeal to the opposite sex isn’t why I’m here today. I want you to know that I feel bad about what’s happened.’
‘At least there’s some justice left in the world.’
Ciro bit back a smile. ‘It was wrong of me not to have told you I was buying the Grange. But you must agree that I found myself in a difficult position.’
In spite of her determination to resist him, Lily found herself hesitating because surely that was genuine contrition she could read in his eyes? And it wasn’t really his place to keep her up to speed on what was happening with the house, was it? ‘Suzy should have told me sooner,’ she conceded.
‘Yes, she should.’ Sensing capit
ulation, Ciro smiled. ‘So if there’s no quarrel between us, then why not let me buy you dinner?’
She sucked in a deep breath. Maybe she should just be straight with him. Because Ciro D’Angelo was clearly a player and she didn’t go in for casual sex with men—no matter how rich or how gorgeous they happened to be. ‘I don’t go out with men very often.’
‘I find that very hard to believe.’
‘Believe it, because it’s true.’
‘And I think you ought to make an exception in my case,’ he murmured.