LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘Clearly not always …’

      Her breath came a little easier as he moved away, but every nerve ending in her body remained painfully inflamed. ‘Well, always before today.’

      She turned her head and connected with his dark eyes.

      Her rueful smile guttered.

      His eyes were blazing, a nerve beside his clenched mouth throbbing and the bruises on his forehead stood out livid against his deathly pallor. Gianfranco looked incandescent with rage.

      ‘Are you a total fool?’

      Dervla’s first instinct was to defend herself against his blighting scorn, but it was pretty hard to defend the indefensible.

      ‘How many people have you seen brought into Casualty after going head first through windscreens?’

      From his expression Dervla suspected he had witnessed such an event himself, maybe even been personally involved, which would explain his somewhat dramatic reaction to the incident.

      ‘All right, I should know better,’ she admitted, shamefaced.

      ‘That face could have been …’ His chest lifted as he dragged in deep before he reached across and placed one big hand around the curve of her cheek. A distracted expression drifted into his deepset eyes as he rubbed his thumb in a circular motion across the apple of her cheek.

      Dervla, mesmerized, stared up at him, her eyes half closed as the friction of his thumb against her skin increased the growing liquid ache low in her pelvis.

      ‘Next time I might not be there to save you. Promise me,’ he demanded huskily, ‘that you will never do that again.’

      Dervla had no trouble supplying the promise he demanded, but she did have trouble making it audible as her enraptured eyes stayed locked on his lean face, her throat clogged with emotion she couldn’t put a name to.

      The opening of the limo door provided the necessary distraction to allow her to escape the sensual thrall that held her immobilised and break free of that intense stare.

      Dervla was so flustered that she didn’t immediately register as she stepped out into the damp night that there were no eateries, casual or otherwise, in the residential square.

      ‘This isn’t a restaurant,’ she said, levelling an accusing glare at him as they approached the porticoed entrance of a large Georgian building.

      ‘This is my house.’

      ‘Which part?’

      ‘All of it.’

      She rolled her eyes. ‘Of course it is.’

      The door was opened before they reached it. A dark-haired woman in her thirties wearing a navy skirt smiled pleasantly at Dervla, who, impelled forward by firm hand in the small of her back, stepped forward into the elegant hallway lit by chandeliers and dominated by a sweeping staircase a full orchestra could have been neatly tucked away beneath.

      Dazzled by all the gleaming splendour, she didn’t catch the name as Gianfranco introduced his housekeeper. After a brief exchange in Italian the soft-voiced older woman bid them a polite goodnight and vanished through one of the many doors that opened onto the reception area.

      ‘Come.’

      Left with little choice Dervla did as he bid, though his autocratic manner really grated on her. He led her through a series of doors and down a long corridor. When they reached the end he opened the door and signalled for her to precede him.

      Dervla stepped inside. It was a kitchen, though not like any kitchen she knew. The only place she had seen rooms like this was in the pages of glossy magazines. She ran a hand across the surface of a tall larder unit, the burred-oak finish smooth under her fingers.

      ‘This is the kitchen.’

      ‘Well spotted,’ he approved, slinging a quick ironic grin in her direction as he slid off his jacket. ‘You like risotto?’

      Dervla stared as he pulled open the doors of a massive fridge and began to extract ingredients. ‘You cook?’

      ‘That surprises you?’

      ‘It frankly surprises me that you know where the kitchen is.’

      He laughed, the crinkly lines around his eyes deepening.

      Oh, help, he is so attractive!

      He looked, she decided, more relaxed than she had ever seen him, but given the environment she had seen him in up to this point perhaps that was not so very surprising.

      ‘Don’t you have a chef?’

      ‘Several. I also have a driver, but that doesn’t mean I can’t drive a car. Though my lifestyle does not allow me the opportunity to practise my culinary skills as often as I would like. Why does that make you laugh? Do you not believe I can cook?’

      ‘Oh, it’s not that.’ She was quite prepared to believe he could do anything. ‘You have several chefs and think that’s normal … It’s just you’re so super-rich …’ Hands outstretched, she looked around the gleaming, stylish room. ‘It’s as if you live on another planet.’

      He gave a fluid shrug. ‘We live on the same planet, Dervla. The important things in life still have no price tag.’

      ‘Unlike that little lot,’ she observed, nodding towards the gleaming state-of-the-art equipment.

      ‘The chef likes his gadgets, but I hope you do not think worse of me that I prefer a slightly more … hands-on approach. But a good knife, that is a different matter.’ He took a chef’s knife from a wooden block and balanced it lightly in his hand.

      The less she thought about his hands, the better, Dervla decided, sucking a deep sustaining breath before she admitted, ‘I’ll take your word for it. I’m more of a microwave-meal girl myself.’

      ‘I honestly don’t spend much time in the kitchen myself,’ he admitted. ‘But when I do I find it relaxing. The secret of a good risotto is the stock,’ he said, rolling up his sleeves, and for the second time that day her attention was drawn to the sinewy strength in his forearms.

      Actually she was pretty much riveted by him full stop. ‘Can I do anything?’ Like worship at your feet? suggested the sarcastic voice in her head.

      ‘You can take off your coat, pour us some wine … the wine cooler is just to your left.’ He tilted his dark head towards a glass-fronted cabinet. ‘And make yourself comfortable.’

      He tugged out a chair beside the scrubbed table he had placed his ingredients on. Slipping her damp coat off, she folded it across a chair back and, dropping down to her knees, opened the cooler. ‘What wine?’ she asked, feeling totally out of her depth as she stared at the bewildering array of wines on display.

      ‘Just close your eyes and take pot luck,’ he suggested, before turning his attention to an onion that he proceeded to dice with professional speed. ‘Corkscrew,’ he added, reaching into a drawer to his right and tossing the item in question towards her. ‘Good catch.’

      Dervla opened the bottle after a short tussle and filled the two glasses. Sitting in a chair, she set her elbows on the table and, nursing her glass of wine, watched as he continued to chop, slice and stir with economic dexterity.

      It was not long before the room was filled with a nose-twitching smell.

      ‘That looks good.’

      His eyes lifted from his creation. ‘You hungry?’

      She nodded. Actually the empty feeling in her churning stomach had no connection with anything as simple as hunger.

      ‘Good.’ He lifted a spoon to his lips, gave a critical nod of approval. ‘About done. If you stir it I’ll set the table. Don’t worry, it won’t bite,’ he added, looking amused as she looked at the spoon suspiciously.

      ‘That’s

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