‘There’s truly nowhere I’d rather be,’ said Carla, meaning it despite the stress of the last twenty-four hours. ‘It couldn’t be more perfect. Josh is a very lucky little boy. Besides, you know how much I love a good party.’
And this certainly was a good party, mojo or no mojo. Not a cloud blemished the great swathe of cobalt-blue sky. The honey-coloured stone of the house gleamed in the mid-June sunshine, the glass panes of the huge sash windows glinting with warm light. The vast expanse of lawn stretched out from the terrace like an emerald carpet, bordered by hedges that had been immaculately clipped, their edges and angles a sharp contrast to the softly swishing leaves of the towering trees behind. Champagne and sparkling fruit juice flowed, mopped up by exquisitely delicate canapés, and all-round chat and laughter resounded.
‘I’d better go and see to lunch,’ said Georgie in response to a signal from the caterer who’d emerged from beneath the gazebo. ‘Will you be all right?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ said Carla with a reassuring smile, very glad she didn’t want any of this for herself, for if she had she’d have been consumed with envy. ‘Go.’
As Georgie turned to leave, Carla scanned the throng, her gaze bobbing from one elegant guest to another, when it suddenly snagged on something in the distance.
A figure stood in the shadows beyond the hedge, leaning against a tree, his arms folded across his chest, his face obscured by the dappled shade. Something about the way he was standing and watching, sort of skulking, triggered Carla’s instinct for recognising trouble. Every sense she had switched to high alert and the tiny hairs at the back of her neck shot up.
‘Wait,’ she said, putting a hand on Georgie’s arm to stop her just as she was about to head off.
‘What?’
‘Is everyone who’s meant to be here, here?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you expecting anyone else?’
‘No.’
‘Then who’s that?’
Georgie looked in the direction she indicated and frowned. ‘I have no idea. But I swear he wasn’t there a moment ago.’
‘Want me to go and check it out?’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course.’ Rooting out potential problems and neutralising threats was what she did for a living, and a speedy assessment of the situation deemed any risk negligible.
‘Thank you,’ said Georgie with a grateful smile.
‘No problem.’
‘Yell if you need back-up.’
‘I will.’
* * *
He’d been spotted.
From his position beneath the wide-spreading branches of the tree he’d been leaning against for the last couple of minutes, Federico Rossi clocked the exact moment the blonde noticed him. One minute she’d been chatting animatedly to her friend, the next her sweeping gaze had landed on him and she’d frozen. Long glances in his direction from both women had followed, a quick exchange of words then a nod, and now she was striding towards him, her progress impressively unhindered by her sky-high heels.
Her long limbs were loose and her hips swayed as she crossed the lawn. The top half of her red sleeveless dress moulded to her shape, but from her waist to her knees the fine fabric flowed around her thighs and drew his attention to her legs. There was nothing particularly revealing about what she was wearing but her curves were spectacular and the fluid confidence with which she moved was mesmerising.
Rico wasn’t here in search of female company. He’d come solely to meet one Finn Calvert and to find out if his suspicions about who he was were correct, to ascertain the facts, and absolutely nothing else. Nevertheless, it was a relief to know that he could still appreciate an attractive woman when he saw one. Three months ago, in the immediate aftermath of the accident that had fractured his back, shattered his pelvis and broken his femur, it had been doubtful that he’d walk again, let alone regain his ability to respond quite so viscerally to a woman.
However, through sheer force of will, determination and the resilience with which he’d survived the streets of mainland Venice, which had eventually become his home following the sudden death of his parents when he was ten, he’d defied all medical expectations, and viscerally was how he was responding now.
Because as she continued to approach and he continued to watch, her face came better into focus and he saw that she was more than merely attractive. She was stunning. Sunlight bounced off choppy blonde hair that surrounded a heart-shaped face. Even at this distance he could see that her eyes, fixed unwaveringly on him, were light, possibly green, and fringed with thick dark lashes.
He couldn’t have looked away even if he’d wanted to. All his attention was focused on the desire that was beginning to stir and fizz in the pit of his stomach, sending darts of heat speeding along his veins, igniting the sparks of awareness and accelerating his pulse. A dose of adrenaline shot through him and his muscles tightened as if bracing themselves for the most thrilling of attacks. And, despite the fact that her mouth was currently set in a firm, uncompromising line, he was filled with the hot, hard urge to draw her back into the shadows with him, pin her up against the tree and find out what she tasted like.
Parking that unexpectedly fierce response for later analysis and getting a swift grip on his control, since now was neither the time nor the place to find out how fully he’d recovered in that department, Rico unfolded his arms and pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head. He thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans to cover the inevitable effect she was having on him and levered himself off the tree trunk. He stepped forwards, out of the shadows and into the sunlight, stifling a wince as the muscles of his right leg spasmed, and at that exact same moment, a couple of feet in front of him, the woman came to an abrupt halt.