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As the bike rolled past the hall Poppy saw the light showing through the frontof the library and tensed Gaetano was staying over for the night?

‘Yeah, he’s still here,’ Damien confirmed as he put his bike away ‘So what?’

‘I’ to speak to him—’

‘What’s the point?’ her brother asked in a tone of defeat ‘Why should he care?’

But Gaetano did have a heart, Poppy thought in desperation At least he had had a heart at the age of thirteen when his father had run over his dog and killed it She had seen the tears in Gaetano’s eyes and she had been crying too Dino had been asaround with her when Gaetano ay at school, not that he had probably ever realised that Dino had never been replaced and when she had asked why not in the innocent way of a child, Gaetano had sis die’

And she had been too young to really understand that outlook, that raising of the barriers against the threat of being hurt again She had seen no tears in his remarkable eyes at his father’s funeral but he had been alrandmother passed away But then the older couple had been more his parents than his real parents had Within a year of beco a , his mother had remarried and moved to Florida without her son

Poppy breathed in deep as shein her wake

‘It’s al on him now!’

‘If I wait until tomorrow I’ll lose my nerve,’ she said truthfully

Da the doorbell and waited, her hands dug in the pockets of her faux-leather flying jacket A voice sounded so her head as ainto a ht

‘I’ Mr Leonetti as at the door’

Poppy suppressed a rude word She had forgotten the tight security hich the Leonetti fa in on Gaetano late at night wouldn’t go unquestioned

‘I want to see your boss,’ she declared

The securityItalian into the phone and she couldn’t folloord of what he was saying When the ative and she moved off the step and snapped, ‘I have to see Gaetano! It’s really important’

Somewhere someone made a decision and adrawn back to open the ement and stood back for her entrance into the marble-floored hall with its perfect proportions and priceless paintings A trickle of perspiration ran down between her taut shoulder blades and she straightened her spine in defiance of it although she was already shrinking at the challenge of what she would have to tell Gaetano At this juncture, co clean was her sole option

Poppy Arnold? Gaetano’s brain had conjured up several ti at the lake edge in spite of his warnings; Poppy sobbing over Dino with all the dra at hiht imminently walk on water when she was about fifteen, a scrutiny that had beco a year later And finally, Poppy, a taunting sensual s her lips as she sidled out of the shrubbery closely followed by a young estate worker, both of the

Bearing in mind the number of years the Arnold family had worked for his own, he felt that it was only fair that he at least saw Poppy and listened to what she had to say in her ht about Poppy in years Did she still live with her fa always assumed Poppy would flee country life and the type of e next door to indentured servitude in thea respectful forelock had held no appeal whatsoever for outspoken, rebellious Poppy, he acknowledged wryly Howfor hiether in a frown at his ignorance as he lounged back against the edge of the library desk and awaited her appearance

The tap-tap of high heels sounded in the corridor and the door opened to reveal legs that could have rivalled a Vegas showgirl’s toned and perfect pins Disconcerted by that startlingly unexpected and carnal thought, Gaetano ripped his attention fros and whipped it up to her face, only to receive another jolt Ti redhead He was staring but he couldn’t help it while his shrewd brain was engaged in ticking off fareen eyes were unaltered but the rounded face had fined down to an exquisite heart shape to fra cheekbones, a dainty little nose and a h to star in any roin throbbed and he straightened, flicking his jacket closed to conceal his physical reaction while thinking that Poppy ly duckling he had once rejected had become a swan