The Count's Prize. Christina Hollis

but I can manage,’ she replied confidently. Then, afraid of sounding rude, she added, ‘I find I can concentrate better without distractions. I … I mean on my own …’

      ‘That’s a shame. I was looking forward to watching you at work. It makes a refreshing change. People don’t normally come here to do anything constructive. It’s a place built for pleasure.’

      Josie stifled an involuntary moan. The chances of getting any work done with Count Dario around were minimal. She would be spending all her time trying not to look at the scenery—and she wasn’t thinking about the Tuscan hills.

      What’s the matter with me? She struggled with her conscience. It won in the end—but only just.

      ‘Th … thank you for the offer, Dario, but at the moment I’m just fact-finding for the course I’m designing. I’m sure you’d find it very boring.’

      He looked at her, his eyes amused, as though he could see straight through her flimsy defences.

      ‘OK, then. I need to check up on something on the other side of the village anyway, so I’ll leave you alone to get on with your work—for the moment, at least.’

      He backed his horse to leave. Josie couldn’t decide whether she was relieved to be left alone or sorry that he was going.

      ‘Since you’ve taken the trouble to come all this way to stay in my home, I’ll ask around to see if anyone else has some stories about the boundary wall. And come to me when you’re ready to see some more of the Castello Sirena’s secrets.’

      He sounded completely genuine, but the smile she gave him in return was apprehensive.

      ‘That would be great. Thanks.’

      Josie had never known herself to be so easily distracted before—ever.

      This sort of thing happens to other women, not to me! she thought. It made her feel weak, which in turn made her feel cross with herself and she scowled.

      ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ Dario asked.

      ‘It’s the heat, that’s all,’ she told him abruptly. ‘Sun like this is so rare in England, I’m not used to it.’

      ‘Then take care of yourself.’ Suddenly his voice was unexpectedly firm. ‘Keep to the shade, and always wear a hat. When I see you again, I don’t want it to be as a sunstroke victim in the local casualty unit.’

      Raising one hand in a salute, he rode away. Josie found herself staring after him and had to apologise to Giacomo, the workman. She didn’t need a translation of the workman’s reply. His knowing chuckle was enough to give her a pretty good idea of what he was thinking. Blushing furiously, she made a point of turning back to her study of the ancient stones that were being used to repair the wall rather than watch Dario.

      Work first, play later, she repeated to herself—but for once her usual mantra didn’t seem quite so comforting.

      Dario couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was something about Dr Josie Street that unsettled him. He kept thinking about her pale face and tense movements on and off for the rest of the day. She was socially awkward and dressed to disappear into the background rather than make a fashion statement. All the same, he could see why his sister had taken to her—Josie had a charm all of her own. She was delightfully easy to tease, and her innocence was irresistible for someone whose social palate had felt somewhat jaded of late. She had been so animated in her conversation with Giacomo. Dario had seen her gestures from a hundred yards away and automatically assumed she needed a translator. It was only as he rode nearer he saw she was simply engrossed in her subject. He liked that. He hadn’t been nearly so keen on the way she seemed to lose all her self-confidence when she saw him.

      She went out of her way to communicate with Giacomo, but she could barely string two sentences together once I appeared, he thought.

      For a moment, Dario was reminded of Arietta. He had no idea why, because she had been the complete opposite of Josie—talkative with him, but almost silent in company. Forcibly dismissing the image of his late fiancée, he tried to think of something else. It should have been easy enough. After all, he had lived without Arietta for far longer than they had been together.

      But to find her loss could still hurt him acted as a powerful warning.

      Arietta’s memory will not be allowed to come back to haunt me again tonight, Dario thought firmly as he got ready to go out for dinner that evening. As he fastened a pair of solid gold cufflinks into his white dress shirt, he heard the rapid crunch of gravel from outside. Looking out of a window, he saw Josie striding away into the distance, so he strolled out onto his balcony.

      ‘Where are you off to in such a hurry?’ he called down to her. ‘Can I give you a lift?’

      She stopped and turned in a clatter of falling equipment. She was carrying a shuttle tray but it was piled far too high with trowels, brushes and other tools. Now half of them were slithering to the ground.

      ‘Thanks …’ she put a hand across her chest as though trying to hide her practical but dull overalls ‘… but I couldn’t put you to all that trouble …’

      ‘It’s no trouble.’ He swung back into his suite but, by the time he had pulled on his jacket and made his way down to the courtyard, she was gone.

      Dario kept a lookout for Josie as he drove towards the main gates of his estate a little while later. When he spotted her, she was already hard at work beside the old boundary wall. They waved to each other in passing. That was something; but Dario knew she must have virtually run like a rabbit to have got there so fast. He wondered why. There could be nothing scary about him.

      Little scenes with Josie kept edging their way into his mind all that evening, despite the attentions of several female guests. Unlike Josie, they were all dressed in the finest clothes that Milan, Paris and New York had to offer. Everything—all their glamour, all their charm—was aimed straight at him. Dario got the same treatment at every party he attended, so he was used to it and hardly noticed. Occasionally he allowed himself to succumb to the flattery, but for some reason his heart wasn’t in it tonight and his mind started to wander. What sort of dresses might his new house guest have brought with her? He looked around the assembly, idly imagining Josie dressed in purple silk or black satin. At that point his mind veered off on a very interesting tangent.

      I’ve got sheets that colour, he thought. I wonder what Josie would look like between them.

      Just then a waiter materialised silently at his side. The man was holding a chilled bottle of champagne wrapped in stiff folds of linen.

      ‘No, thanks, I’m driving.’ Dario waved him away regretfully, but the interlude put a mischievous thought in his head. He always enjoyed champagne, and kept a good selection of vintages back at the castle.

      I’m sure a glass or two of that would help Josie celebrate her first day at the rock face, he thought.

      Making his excuses to his host, he left and made a rapid escape.

      By the end of the day Josie was so tired she could barely put one foot in front of the other, but she could not have been happier. For most of the time she had been alone, which for her made work more relaxing than any holiday. However, in spite of her determination, her mind had kept wandering in the direction of Dario and she needed a rest.

      Dragging herself off to bed, she set her alarm very early so she could write up her notes first thing and still be outside before sunrise. The last thing she remembered was the low drone of a powerful engine, cutting through the velvet darkness outside. As she closed her eyes, she remembered the way Dario had described the view from the solar by night and the beautiful turbulence of his expression when he’d looked at her. It was enough to send every other thought clean out of her mind. Drifting off to sleep in her sumptuous empress-sized bed, she smiled. This was a wonderful place, but Dario was full of dangerous temptation for her. The only safe place for an encounter with him would be in her dreams.

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