The Count's Prize. Christina Hollis

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СКАЧАТЬ seconds, the great main door creaked open and a servant showed them into Dario’s home.

      The castello’s entrance hall was dominated by a huge stone hearth. The fire back was a copy of the di Sirena family crest, with more mermaids like the ones Josie had seen discreetly stamped on Antonia’s luggage.

      ‘There go your things,’ Dario observed as a member of his staff swept past carrying a suitcase in each hand. ‘They’ll have put you in the West tower. That means you won’t be disturbed by any of the yachting club who stayed here last night. They’re all in the East wing. Come on, I’ll show you up to your suite.’

      While Josie stared in wonder at the entrance hall’s carved ceilings and wooden panelling, he was taking the marble staircase two at a time. When he called to her, she had to run to catch up.

      ‘I’m sure you must have better things to do, Count Dario. Don’t let me put you to any trouble.’ Her voice echoed through the foyer.

      He looked down at her sharply from his vantage point on the first landing. ‘You’re already a friend of the family, Josie, so to you I’m Antonia’s brother. Just call me Dario. It really would be my pleasure to show you to your suite,’ he finished firmly.

      Josie followed him, although she had her reservations.

      ‘Are you sure you can find it?’ she said drily as they walked through a warren of corridors. All the flawless white plaster and polished woodwork made them look alike to her.

      ‘I have been rattling around inside this place all my life. Hasn’t Antonia told you why these floors are so shiny?’

      Josie shook her head, smiling at the incongruous image of Dario with floor polish in hand.

      ‘I’d tie dusters to her feet and push her up and down, along all these miles of corridors. No matter how upset she was, that could always make her laugh.’

      ‘It’s hard to think of anyone being unhappy in a place as beautiful as this,’ she murmured.

      ‘People forget—there is more to life than just a lifestyle.’ Dario sighed, pushing open the nearest door. They were in the oldest part of the castle, where a huge lookout tower had been built within the shelter of its thick stone walls. It had been completely modernised, with a circular staircase leading up to a self-contained suite arranged on three floors. The first floor was laid out for dining and relaxing, while the second contained a bedroom and en suite bathroom.

      ‘—and finally,’ Dario announced as he led her up beyond the second floor doorway, ‘there’s something I call the solar …’

      They had reached the top floor and he stepped out into a large circular room with windows facing in every direction. There were glass panels set into the roof too, so the whole space was flooded with light. It felt almost as free as being outside, but with the benefit of a sophisticated air-conditioning system.

      ‘Wow …’ Josie breathed, but couldn’t say anything more. She walked around the sunlit interior, taking in its panoramic views of the Tuscan countryside. The atmosphere outside was as clear as vodka. Pencil-slim cypress stood out like exclamation marks against rolling fields of arid grass, sunflowers and the green corrugations of the estate’s vineyards.

      ‘You should see it after nightfall,’ Dario told her, waiting until she paused before strolling slowly over to stand beside her. ‘It’s a scene of black velvet, full of possibilities. Headlights streaking along the Florence road … is it a triumph or a tragedy, a baby arriving or a lover departing? It’ll be hard for you to pick out the little farmhouses scattered across my land until you know the area better, but by night Luigi’s house, Enrico’s olive grove and Federico’s farmhouse will all be recognisable.’ His voice dropped to a wistful note. ‘I come up here sometimes to sit in the silence and wonder what they’re all doing.’

      He was standing so close to her, Josie could feel his presence as well as catch the delicious drift of his aromatic aftershave. It gave her a tremulous feeling deep inside her body.

      What’s happening to me? I’ve come here to work, she thought in alarm, glancing up at him.

      Dario was gazing out across the view, lost in thought. At that moment, as though feeling her gaze fall on him, he turned his head and their eyes met. Another sensuous ripple thrilled straight through her.

      And, as if knowing what was on her mind, Dario granted her a slow, sweet, irresistible smile.

      CHAPTER TWO

      JOSIE’S mind and body churned as she almost drowned in Dario’s gaze.

      It must have been like this with Andy and that woman at the university, she thought with a shiver. I can’t risk getting between this man and the girlfriend he’s bound to have hidden away somewhere.

      After what felt like an eternity, she managed to regain enough control to step away from him, as if to take a tour around the room.

      ‘This suite is wonderful, Dario, but it’s way out of my league. Don’t you have anything smaller?’ she asked, desperately trying to bring them both back to earth.

      He looked startled for a moment, then laughed.

      ‘This isn’t a hotel! As I kept telling Antonia, you don’t have to pay anything at all for your visit, Josie. As her friend, you have a standing invitation to stay here whenever you like, for as long as you like. Surely she passed on my message?’

      ‘She did, but I always pay my own way.’

      ‘And the local hospital fund was very grateful when I forwarded your contribution.’ Dario grinned. ‘So why don’t we pretend your generosity qualified you for a complimentary upgrade?’

      Josie hesitated, but decided that she had made her point.

      ‘In which case, thank you, Dario. But I’m afraid you won’t get much chance to look out of these windows while I’m staying here,’ she told him, and herself, briskly. ‘This looks like the perfect place for me to spread out my finds and paperwork. It’s well away from everyone else, so we won’t disturb each other. Thank you for bringing me up here.’

      Dario gave her a smile of silent amusement. The meaning in her clipped words was only too obvious. She wanted to be alone, so he slowly headed back towards the door.

      ‘You’re trying so hard not to let yourself go, aren’t you?’ he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.

      ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

      He turned to face her, and then grinned again. ‘That blush tells me you’ve been taking too much notice of Antonia’s stories, Josie.’ He chuckled, his rich Florentine accent making her name sound incredibly beautiful. ‘Be assured that, as my sister’s best friend, you are quite safe. From me, at least.’

      ‘Anyone coming on to me would be making a mistake, Dario,’ she said firmly, ‘and I’d be making an even bigger mistake if I fell for it,’ she added. Her voice stopped his smile in an instant.

      ‘I suppose that’s understandable, when you’ve seen what has happened to Antonia.’

      ‘And to me.’

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