Red-Hot Affairs. Lucy King

might be a bit of a disaster, but she’d always been good at her job.

      ‘Will you excuse me?’ said Signore Ragazzi, cutting across her musings and picking up the phone, which had just started to ring.

      He could strip and dance round his desk naked if he felt like it, Laura thought, finally getting to the last page and signing on the dotted line. She was busy wondering where would be the best place to start. The public rooms undoubtedly. Then the private areas. The gardens … Oh, the possibilities were endless and she lost herself in them.

      It was only when she heard her own name that her ears pricked.

      ‘Yes, sir. Signorina Mackenzie has just accepted the position.’

      Laura’s heart swelled with pride. She’d do the best job she could. Achieve the sort of result people would talk about for years, long after she left. After centuries of decline the palace deserved it. After all she’d been through, she deserved it.

      ‘Oh.’ At the tone of his voice for some reason her nerve endings tensed. ‘I’m afraid I can’t retract the offer, sir.’ His voice dropped. ‘She’s just signed the contract.’

      Laura snapped her head up and stared at him. Someone wanted him to retract the offer? No, that couldn’t be possible.

      Signore Ragazzi fell silent, went red and swivelled round in his chair so she couldn’t see him. ‘Nor can I rip it up,’ he added, his voice now dropping so low she had to strain to listen.

      Rip it up? Who the hell was that on the other end of the line, and why did they not want her to have the job? What had she done to cause such offence? Had there been some sort of mistake and the job already been given to someone else? Laura’s chest squeezed at the thought that she might have had her dream snatched from her at the very last minute.

      ‘No, sir … Yes, sir … I’ll see to it immediately.’

      Signore Ragazzi swivelled back and gave her a smile too bright to be genuine.

      Laura clasped her hands together in her lap to stop them from flapping. ‘Is there a problem?’ she asked, bracing herself for the answer to be yes and for him to laugh and tell her it was all just one big joke.

      ‘No, no,’ he said, gathering up the contract she’d just signed in an effort, she suspected, to avoid eye contact. ‘Just one more tiny formality.’

      ‘Oh.’

      He smoothed his hair, pushed his chair back and got up and indicated that she should do the same. ‘If you wouldn’t mind coming with me …’

      ‘Of course,’ Laura murmured, her heart beginning to thud. What on earth was going on?

      The feeling of trepidation as she followed Signore Ragazzi didn’t abate. In fact it swelled to such proportions that she barely noticed the busts on pedestals lining the corridor. Or the old masters hanging on the walls. The only thing hammering at her brain was that something didn’t feel right.

      Signore Ragazzi stopped in front of a pair of huge gilded doors and knocked. Laura’s heart banged with consternation.

      ‘Come in.’

      At the sound of the voice from deep within, all the hairs at the back of her neck leapt up and her stomach clenched.

      Something wasn’t right.

      Because if it hadn’t been utterly impossible, she’d have sworn that that was Matt’s voice coming from the room.

      But it couldn’t be Matt because that would be crazy. What would he be doing here?

      No, Laura told herself, pulling her shoulders back, going through the doors that Signore Ragazzi held open and entering the room. First she’d thought she’d seen him in that restaurant in London. Now she imagined he was here? Hah. This was precisely why she’d vowed to have nothing whatsoever to do with men. They messed up your head. She was far better off sticking to inanimate objects like the crumbling cornice and the chipped reliefs that adorned this room.

      Wow, she thought, her alarm momentarily vanishing as she looked up at the ceiling. Faded and dilapidated it might be, but it was still a magnificent room. And, she noted, letting her gaze drop and scan the space, an empty one. She hadn’t noticed Signore Ragazzi melt away. Perhaps she’d imagined that ‘come in’, too.

      ‘Hello, Laura.’

      The deep lazy voice behind her nearly made her jump a foot in the air. Her heart lurched. She swung round and at the sight of the man leaning against the bookcase, his gaze pinned to her, the breath shot from her lungs. Shock and disbelief slammed through her.

      Oh, good Lord. It was Matt.

      Bewilderment clamoured at her brain. Her head went fuzzy, her blood zoomed to her feet and her vision blurred. Laura flung her arm out and grabbed on to the nearest thing to stop herself swooning.

      The nearest thing happened to be Matt. For a second she clutched at his arm. But the feel of his muscles brought the memory of that afternoon careering back and she went dizzy all over again.

      Jerking back, Laura dragged in a breath and willed the room to right itself.

      No need to panic. There was bound to be some rational explanation for Matt being here. At this particular moment she couldn’t imagine what it could possibly be, but she’d figure it out somehow.

      Just as soon as her heart rate slowed and her breathing returned to normal. Which would happen a lot quicker if he didn’t look quite so gorgeous. Wearing a pale blue shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and light brown chinos, he looked rumpled, incredibly sexy and oddly at home. His face was more tanned than when she’d last seen him and the lines around his mouth and eyes a little sharper, but if anything they just made him even more attractive.

      Heat pooled in the pit of her stomach and began to spread through her body. Extinguishing it with a determination she hadn’t known she possessed, Laura ran her palms down her skirt and fixed a neutral smile to her face. ‘Matt,’ she said as coolly as she could, as if she weren’t completely clueless as to how to proceed. ‘How lovely to see you again.’

      ‘Quite.’ He didn’t look like he agreed. ‘How’s the bump?’

      Laura blinked and tried not to think about the circumstances that had brought about the bang to her head or the consequences. ‘Fine. How was the rest of your weekend?’

      ‘Pleasingly uneventful.’

      Oh. So he clearly hadn’t spent any time drifting around in a daze. ‘What are you doing here?’

      ‘I live here.’

      Right. Laura’s mouth opened and then closed. She couldn’t begin to work out where to start. Was he here for a job, too? ‘Village mansions a little on the small side?’

      The ghost of a smile played at his lips and Laura had the uncomfortable feeling that he knew everything while she knew nothing.

      ‘It comes with my job.’

      ‘What do you do?’

      ‘Usually?’

      How many jobs did he have? ‘Yes.’

      ‘I buy ailing businesses, turn them around and sell them for a profit.’

      That didn’t make things any clearer. ‘Is that why you’re here?’

      ‘In a way.’

      Laura frowned. ‘But you were the “sir” on the other end of the line.’

      Matt nodded. ‘I was. Would you like to sit down?’

      ‘No, I’m fine.’

      ‘I think you should sit. You look a little pale.’

      Was it any wonder? Laura thought, sinking into a leather library chair before her legs gave way. Baffled didn’t begin to describe the way she was feeling.