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And, God help her, she believed him

CHAPTER TEN

SEBASTIAN GLARED DOWN at the paperwork in front of hiest than staring at it on the screen, but if anything, the last agreement Salvo had worked on in his lifeti in hard copy

He sighed, returned to the first page and started reading over again

A soft knock at the door disturbed him after only a few moments, and he looked up as he called, ‘Co interrupted, but to be honest, the distraction elcome Even more so when Maria’s beautiful face appeared around the door

‘Hey’ With a soft smile, she slid into the chair on the opposite side of the desk and peered across at his papers ‘What’re you working on?’

‘Papà’s last deal,’ Seb said with a groan Then he realised The only time Maria had come to his office at the chalet in the last week had been to fetch hiotten some plan or another? And if so, what? He checked his watch quickly ‘Sorry, e supposed to be doing so with Frankie? I’ve been lost in these documents for days, it feels like But I’ll stop now and we can—’

‘Seb, it’s okay’ Maria’s srin now ‘Much as I appreciate your efforts to drop everything and spend time with your family, Frankie has been whisked off to the local toy store by his all-too-indulgent aunts and uncles Apparently it’s time for him to choose his Christmas presents’

‘And you didn’t want to go?’ Seb asked, surprised

‘I was told—quite firmly—by your sister that I wasn’t invited’

Seb bit back a s spoiled rotten while you’re not there to stop them’

‘Basically’

‘Lucky Frankie’ Seb leaned back in his chair, surveying her across the desk ‘So, what are you up to?’

‘Absolutely nothing’ Maria made it sound like the worst fate in the world Whereas, to Sebastian, it sounded much more like an opportunity

‘Then you’ve got tileefully

Maria rolled her eyes and, before he could suggest so romantic and maybe even a little bit seductive, she reached across the desk and picked up the stack of papers he’d been trying to make sense of Her eyebrows rose steadily as she flicked through it, then started at the beginning again, just as he had

Okay, so it wasn’t romantic, but Seb couldn’t help but wonder what Maria would make of the contract So he waited

After another minute or two she put the papers back down on the desk ‘I have trouble believing your father wrote that contract’

‘He didn’t,’ Seb confirave it away?’

‘It’s convoluted, confusing and unclear in areas that are likely going to blow up on you later on’

Exactly what Seb had been worried about ‘Want to help ure out how to fix it?’

Maria beamed ‘Absolutely’

An hour later, any doubts Sebfor Cattaneo Jeere definitely long gone As they worked their way line by line through the deal Salvo had struck, Maria was right there with hiuities, potential proble past the project at the tiotiations for the deal—the takeover of a suess exactly what his father had been aireed, was tricky Luckily, Salvo’s assistant had taken good notes

Finally, they reached the end of the document—now covered in scrawled notes and questions in both their handwriting—and Seb sat back, rolling his shoulders to try to release the tension that had settled there

‘You okay?’ Maria asked, watching him

‘Yeah Just glad I had you here to helpto take all night’

Maria frowned, and pulled out her phone ‘It practically is night Noemi and Max should be back with Frankie by now’ She swiped across the screen of her phone, and her face cleared as she scanned it ‘Except they’ve gone for ice creams, apparently Noemi says they’ll be back in an hour, and that Frankie has asked theht’