Reunited with Her Italian Ex by Lucy Gordon

given in to him out of need?’
    â€˜He’d enjoy it. He’s that kind of man. But he’s going to be disappointed. I’ll do anything rather than what he wants.’
    â€˜Anything? Including taking a job with a man you hate?’
    â€˜Even that. This job’s a lucky break for me. It gets me out of England.’
    â€˜But you have to put up with me.’
    â€˜Stop being melodramatic. You’re not so bad. I can manage. We’ve put the past behind us.’
    He smiled wryly, trying to come to terms with her words. ‘You’re not so bad’ implied a casual acceptance that should have been a relief but felt more like an insult.
    â€˜Yes, we’ve put it all behind us,’ he agreed. ‘And now we can concentrate on business, which is what we’re here for. You need to make a living and I need to repay the bank loans I had to take out to buy this place.’
    â€˜That must be a heavy burden,’ she said.
    â€˜It is. Damiano wanted to help me by lending me some money, and standing guarantor for the bank loan. But I wouldn’t let him do either. This is my hotel, and mine alone.’
    â€˜I remember meeting Damiano in Venice. And his wife. They were very nice to me.’
    â€˜They both liked you a lot.’
    In fact both Sally and Damiano had nudged him, saying, ‘She’s the one, Mario. Go on, make sure of her.’
    And when things went wrong they had united again to call him ‘The biggest idiot of all time’. It was a remark that still stung him.
    â€˜Why wouldn’t you let him help you?’ she asked.
    â€˜I just prefer to control my own life,’ he said in a voice that was suddenly hard.
    A tantalising memory flickered through her mind: Mario, two years ago, young, carefree and easy-going. Somehow he had changed into this grimly self-sufficient man who mistrusted the world.
    â€˜I prefer it too,’ she said. ‘You feel safer, like wearing a suit of armour. But is that always a good thing to wear?’
    â€˜That depends on who challenges you,’ he said.
    His eyes, fixed on her, left her in no doubt of his message. Her presence was a challenge, one that he would fight off ruthlessly.
    â€˜But you wouldn’t need a suit of armour against your older brother,’ she said. ‘Helping you is surely what older brothers are for?’
    â€˜Possibly, but I needed to stop being the younger brother, leaning on him. I told him I could do it alone, so I’ve got to prove that’s true. I simply mustn’t fail.’
    â€˜And I mustn’t fail either,’ she said, ‘so in future we’re going to concentrate on being practical. Please leave me now, and when I’ve finished my research I’ll see you and Giorgio at supper.’
    â€˜Good luck with the work,’ he said, and departed.
    He went quickly to his office and went online. A few minutes’ research told him all he needed to know about Elroy Jenson: his creation of a media empire, his money, his far-reaching power.
    But it was the man’s looks that amazed him. He’d expected a slobbering, middle-aged monster, a man no woman could want to be with unless she was after his money. But Jenson was well built, even handsome, with a riotous head of curly hair. A woman lucky enough to have captured his attention would have every reason to flaunt her triumph.
    But not Natasha.
    No man impresses her
, he thought.
She decides what she wants, and woe betide him if he can’t live up to it.
    He glanced at himself in the mirror.
    â€˜But could any man live up to it?’ he murmured.
    * * *
    Researching the Albergo Splendido, Natasha could easily believe that it had started life as a palace. It was seven hundred years old and magnificently built.
    To dine there meant dressing in style. Luckily she’d brought with her a black satin figure-hugging dress that managed to be both decorous and elegant.
    Giorgio nodded