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‘And how could I have done that without your phone number?’ Holly asked stiffly, because she was determined to make no reference to the fact that she had left her phone number with hi that would be far, far too hu

‘Well, ot back to the cottage that day’ Vito smiled suddenly, brilliantly It almost stopped her heart dead in its tracks as she stared at hiht he had considered exceptional should have meant so lance Her reappearance satisfied him He now felt free to study her with acute appreciation She earing the arments: a sweater, a shortish skirt, a jacket and boots, all black and all unrelass curves he cherished could not be concealed His dark eyes flaold over the swell of her breasts below the wool and the lush curve of her hips before flying up to her full pink e blue eyes Shorn of the sch the test he had expected her to fail and for the first time in Vito’s life, failure actually tasted sweet He shifted almost imperceptibly as the hot swell of an erection assailed him and he almost smiled at that as well because his diminished libido had seriously bothered him

‘How did you find out who I was?’ Vito enquired

‘Yes, that’s right…you lied You gave led to fight free of the spell he cast over her just by being in the same room

‘It wasn’t a false name I didn’t lie I was christened Vittore Sorrentino Zaffari,’ he told her, slass ‘Sorrentino was my father’s surname’

That sain ‘You deliberately misled me What I don’t understand is why you did that’

‘You must appreciate that I am very well known in the business world I prefer to be discreet You co here today in such a ers in an expressive disesture ‘That was indiscreet’ From his inside pocket he withdrew a business card and presented it to her ‘My phone number’

Holly put the card into her jacket pocket because she didn’t knohat else to do with it Indiscreet? Co to see him in the flesh was indiscreet?

Dark golden eyes fringed by inky black, unfairly long lashes surveyed her and her tu ‘Holly…I have the feeling that you don’t understand where I’ with this but I must be frank I like to keep my private life private I certainly do not want it to intrude when I’ hours are sacrosanct’

My word, he was literally telling her off for approaching hi to see him where other people would see her and notice her A sense of deep hue for her to come and confront him with the news she had His case was not helped by the reality that she had seen a photo of hi outside the Zaffari Bank in Florence Evidently, Marzia had enjoyed such privileges because she was someone he was proud to be seen with in public Holly just could not get over Vito’s nerve in daring to talk to her like that Did he really think she was the sort of woman ould let a man talk down to her?

Her blue eyes widened and raked over him but it was pointless to try and put hile flaw in his appearance His dark grey suit fitted hiht, breadth and long, powerful legs And looking at hih her already blitzed brain She knehat he looked like out of his suit, she knehat he felt like, she also kne he looked and sounded when he… No, don’t go there, she urged herself and plunged straight into punitive speech because he had to be punished for putting such inappropriate thoughts into her head

‘I can’t believe you’re talking down to htly ‘Why? Because you’ve gotfancy office? Certainly not because you’ve been shopped for taking drugs and sleeping with hookers!’

There was a flash of bemused surprise in Vito’s brilliant dark eyes before he responded ‘That was a case of misidentification I was not the man involved’

‘Of course you’re going to say that,’ Holly retorted with a roll of her eyes ‘Of course you’re going to deny it to me but, as I understand it, you never once denied it in public’

‘I had a good reason for that I never respond to tabloid journalists and I was protecting my family,’ Vito returned levelly ‘I assure you…on my honour…that I was not the man involved and that I profoundly disapprove of such activities’