âAre you suggesting that I actually want you to ⦠to â¦?â
âKiss you? Thatâs exactly what Iâm suggesting â¦â
âThen you couldnât be further from the mark!â Alexa snapped, blushing furiously and hating him for reminding her of their kiss, which she would rather have forgotten. âIâm fine with you being â¦being attentive when weâre out together, but the last thing I want is to be kissed by you! Do you know something, Theo De Angelis? Youâre the most egotistic, arrogant man I have ever met!â
âI know. I think you told me already. But you make a valid point ⦠just in case â¦â
She sensed what he was about to do and yet it still took her by surprise, and this time there was an urgency to his kiss that hadnât been there before. His mouth assailed her, his tongue seeking out hers.
CHAPTER ONE
âYOUâRE NOT GOING to like what Iâm about to say.â
The very second Stefano had called his son and told him that he needed to speak with him as a matter of urgency, Theo had dropped everything and taken the first flight over to Italy, to his fatherâs enormous estate just outside Rome.
Stefano De Angelis was not a man given to drama, and both Theo and his brother, Daniel, had spent the past five years worrying about him. He had never really recovered from the death of his wife, their mother, Rose. The power house who had built a personal fortune from scratch had collapsed into himself, retreating to the sanctuary of his den, immune to the efforts of both his sons to pull him out of his grief. He had continued to eat, sleep, talk and walk, but his soul had departed, leaving only a physical shell behind.
What, Theo thought now, was he about to hear?
Cold fear gripped him.
âHave you asked Daniel as well?â He prowled through the huge sitting room, idly gazing through the window to the sprawling lawns, before finally taking a seat opposite his father.
âThis situation does not concern your brother,â Stefano returned, his dark eyes sidestepping his sonâs piercing green ones.
Theo breathed a sigh of relief. If Daniel hadnât been likewise summoned, then at least a health crisis could be discounted. He had been tempted to phone his brother on the back of his fatherâs summons, but had resisted the impulse because he knew that Daniel was in the throes of a balancing act: trying to close a major deal and a minor love affair at the same time.
The deal, his brother had confided several days ago, when he had called from his penthouse apartment in Sydney, was a walk in the park compared to the woman who had been making noises about taking what they had âone step furtherâ, and didnât show any promise of retreating without putting up a fight.
âSo tell me... What am I not going to like to hear?â Theo encouraged.
âAs you are well aware, son...â Stefanoâs hooded dark eyes gazed off into the distance â...things have not been good with me since your mother died. When my beloved Rose went, she took a big part of me with her.â
âOf us all.â
âBut you and your brother are young. I, on the other hand, am an old manâand you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. Perhaps if her death hadnât been so sudden... Perhaps if I had had time to get used to the idea of her absence...â He sighed. âBut this is not why I called you here, Theo. To moan and complain about something that cannot be changed. I called you here because during the time that I was...shall we say mentally not present, certain unfortunate things took place within the company.â
Theo stilled. His keen eyes noted the nervous play of his fatherâs entwined fingers. His father was the least nervous man he had ever known.
âUnfortunate things...?â
âThere has been some substantial mismanagement,â Stefano declared bluntly. âAnd worse, I am afraid. Alfredo, my trusted co-director, has been involved in large-scale embezzlement which has only recently been drawn to my attention. Itâs a wonder the press hasnât got hold of it. The upshot, Theo, is that vast sums of moneyâincluding most of the pension fundsâhave been hijacked.â