Aurelio turned, his gaze catching hers and holding it, making her rapid pulse grow haphazard. ‘One of the perks of being the owner’s brother.’
She opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut. She was tired, more weary than she’d let herself admit. Once she’d stopped playing the part of perfect professional with Allegra, she hadn’t been able to pretend anymore. She needed time to erect that façade again before tomorrow’s meeting with the ad guru.
Forget tomorrow’s meeting. She needed to pull herself together again before facing Aurelio. Yet here he was.
She felt rubbed too thin, as if the time pretending to feel nothing for him had scraped layer after layer away, leaving her raw and bleeding. Her emotions were too close to the surface. Too…volatile.
Amber folded her arms across her chest. ‘Thank you for the tea.’ She took a step towards the door. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’
Aurelio didn’t budge. Instead he crossed his own arms, parodying her gesture. But on him it didn’t look like a defensive movement. It looked aggressive.
‘You didn’t say you were leaving the party.’ His jaw jutted, accentuating that frown.
Amber returned his stare, refusing to feel guilty. ‘Allegra said she’d pass on the message.’
Slowly he shook his head. ‘Not good enough, Amber.’
‘Sorry?’ Anger stirred. ‘I’ve worked myself to the bone making sure tonight was a success for your business and fine tuning the details of a complete new strategy for the winery.’ Her hands found her hips in a rush of indignation. What did he want?Blood? ‘I’ve been working since the early hours this morning and it’s after midnight now. I decided to clock off.’
‘You think I’m accusing you of clock watching?’ He unfolded his arms and paced towards her, anger simmering in his stare. She felt his restless energy like a force field. Like a brewing thunderstorm on a summer evening.
‘Aren’t you?’ Now she had to tilt her head to meet his eyes. He was far taller than her and in her shoeless state he towered over her. But she was in no mood to be bossed about. Once she’d revelled in his masculinity and the physical differences between them. Now they annoyed her.
‘No.’ His frown became a scowl. ‘I was worried about you.’
And just like that, as if he’d pierced a balloon with a pin, Amber’s storm of indignation deflated in on itself. Leaving her with that scoured-too-close-to-the-bone feeling, knowing her defences had fractured and fallen.
His concern, like Allegra’s sympathy earlier, undid her.
To Amber’s horror, as anger fled, other feelings rushed in to fill the void. She stood, transfixed by his hot gaze, and all the emotions she’d worked so hard to suppress, or at least hide from him, welled up.
*
Aurelio peered down into stormy silver eyes and was stunned to see them suddenly awash with unshed tears.
Because he said he’d been worried about her? No, it must be something else. Somethinghadhappened tonight. He’d been right to worry.
‘Amber? What is it?’ Urgency roughened his voice, made it harsh and demanding when he wanted to be supportive.
But he’d never seen this woman close to tears before. Ever. Not when he’d walked out on her in Rome. Nor during their confrontation when she arrived at the vineyard. Or more recently when she’d put in ridiculously long hours, trying to finish everything before leaving the vineyard. Through it all Amber had been astonishingly resilient. He didn’t know another woman who’d have stood up to him as she did.
He’d become a reclusive grouch lately and it took a strong personality to put up with him, much less inveigle him into letting down his guard.
Amber had done it.
Yet here she was, bright eyes glazed and mouth trembling.
An unseen fist punched him in the chest. He felt winded, like something vital was unravelling inside him.
‘Amber? Talk to me. Did someone hurt you?’ He closed his hands around her upper arms. If some guy had—
‘No! I’m fine, I told you.’ Her voice wasn’t her own either. It was a meagre shadow of her usual firm tones.
Aurelio stared down into her taut face, watched her blink to clear her eyes and felt…useless. How could he help if she refused to say what was wrong?
But one thing he knew for certain. Somethingwaswrong. Badly wrong.
If she didn’t explain he couldn’t fix it for her and Aurelio knew without doubt that he wanted to fix things for her. He hated seeing her silent suffering. Enough to cross boundaries he usually avoided at all costs.