The Italian's Secretary Bride (3 page)

‘You've been stood up?'

‘It looks like it.'

‘The man must be crazy.'

‘No, just incredibly self-centred, insufferably rude and deeply obnoxious.'

E
VEN
without turning her head Alice could pinpoint the exact moment Luca O'Hagan walked into the place from the ten-second hush that descended on the candlelit room, followed by an interested low-voiced buzz of speculative comment.

She could visualise him in her mind's eye. He would act as if he didn't know his tall, imposing figure was the focus of attention as he wove his way with innate grace between the tightly packed tables, but he was. He knew
exactly
what effect he had on people and wasn't, she thought contemptuously, above exploiting it cynically when it suited him.

She smiled and tried to give the amusing tale the silver-haired Seth was relating the attention it and he deserved; it wasn't easy when she knew who was approaching. Seth paused expectantly and she laughed at the punchline…at least I hope it was the punchline, she thought.

An invisible presence and Luca was still a disastrously distracting person. Only if you let him be, she told herself sternly. There was no question of her own reaction to Luca being anything out of the ordinary; he was the sort of man who drew a reaction from people. Love or hate the man—she identified with the latter group—nobody ignored him!

Personally, the attraction of being the partner of a man who stopped conversations and drew covetous stares from other women when he walked into a room passed her by. Not a problem you're likely to have, the dry voice in her head pointed out cruelly.

She dragged her attention back to the man sitting opposite. He was telling her about an art exhibition he had attended the previous month. Actually he seemed one of the few people unaware of the buzz in the room that accompanied the tall man who came to stand by his shoulder.

‘What have you done with Roman, then?'

There was no trace of the charm he was famed for in the terse, deep-pitched accusing enquiry. And you expected there to be, Alice? she asked herself. He reserved his
niceness
for people who mattered and clearly she didn't.

Alice didn't look up, but felt the familiar prickle of antagonism slide down her spine as her nostrils flared in response to the subtle male fragrance he sparingly used.

Experience had taught her that the first few moments of making contact with Luca O'Hagan were generally the worst; practically speaking this meant she kept eye contact to the minimum and didn't say the first or even
second
thing that came to mind. If she managed not to trip over her own feet or say anything too stupid in those first few seconds she could generally pass for someone who could bear to be in the same room as him without wanting to crawl out of her own skin.

‘He's not here.' And I wish I weren't, she thought, picking up her glass to avoid focusing on him.

‘That much I can see for myself.' There was the sound of a chair scraping the floor as he pulled one out from the table and sat down.

‘He got called away…it was urgent.' There was an expectant silence, until belatedly she remembered her manners. ‘This is Seth…Seth…erm?' She turned to her companion with an apologetic grimace. ‘I'm terrible with names.' Before her entertaining companion could refresh her memory Luca spoke up.

‘Chase,' Luca supplied. He nodded casually towards the older man. ‘How are you, Seth?'

In Alice's eyes it counted in the Texan's favour that he didn't appear even slightly bothered by the perceptible coldness in Luca's manner. She was definitely inclined to think well of someone who wasn't blighted by Luca O'Hagan's disapproval. In her opinion there were far too many people—many of whom ought to know better—already willing to stand on their heads if it made him look at them warmly.

‘Pretty good, thanks, Luca.'

She slid a sideways covert peek at Luca's classical profile; it looked like granite only not as warm. Her eyebrows twitched as she looked away. My, someone has got out of bed the wrong side today, she thought.

Whose bed? Was the model still his ‘constant companion', as one of the gossip columnists had triumphantly revealed the previous week? she wondered sourly. Or had the woman seen the light?

She brought her speculation to an abrupt halt. Pathetic people with no life of their own got more excited by the love lives of celebrities than their own, she reminded herself severely.

Of course, I know this celebrity and I don't actually
have
a love life to speak of. But the principle is the same. It is pathetic.

Nobody watching as she looked from one man to the other would have guessed at how her stomach was churning. It had become a matter of pride with her
not
to react to Luca's volatile moods; the fact her stately calm irritated him was a plus point.

‘You know one another?' she asked, trawling frantically through her memory to recall how she had described Luca to Seth. What she remembered made her cringe. The
one time
I speak my mind and get smart—now what were the odds on that? She just hoped that Seth would keep the joke to himself.

Luca's eyes skimmed her face; he looked faintly impatient. ‘Obviously.'

‘I met Luca a few years back when I was over in Ireland buying horses from his mother,' Seth explained. ‘My dad wanted to introduce some new breeding stock.'

A glimmer of humour flashed in Luca's eyes as he said, deadpan, ‘My father was saying something similar to Roman and me only the other day.'

‘He takes an interest in the stud?'

‘Since Dad retired he has a lot of time on his hands. He uses it to
take an interest
in all sorts of things,' Luca returned smoothly.

‘Likes to keep his finger on the pulse still, does he?' Seth sounded sympathetic.

‘He's not quite got the hang of retirement yet,' Luca admitted. ‘If it wasn't for Ma I think he'd still be behind his desk. How long have you and old Seth here,' he asked Alice, ‘known one another?'

‘About ten minutes,' she replied without thinking.

His dark-winged sable brows lifted in expressive unison.
‘Amazing…'

‘Why amazing?' she queried suspiciously. Did he think she was lying? It required considerable self-discipline to smile serenely.

‘I got the impression you were
old friends
.'

Not a liar, just a tart, she mentally corrected. Oh, that's all right, then. It was important on occasions like this to keep your sense of humour.

‘What is this—an interrogation?' she wondered lightly.

More to the point, why am I feeling guilty? she asked herself angrily.

‘Perhaps we were close in another life,' the American, who had been silent during their spiky war of words, spoke up.

His frivolity earned him a repressive frown from Alice before she turned her attention back to Luca. ‘Seth took pity on me.'

‘Pity wasn't my main motivating factor.'

‘That,' Luca responded drily, ‘I can well believe.'

Alice, her voice raised, interrupted this little male byplay. ‘And if he hadn't I'd already be in my room ordering room service.'

Her pointed comment was wasted on Luca, who responded with an amused if cynical sneer. ‘That's Seth all over—a regular Sir Galahad,' he drawled.

Her bosom swelled with indignation as she fought to control her temper. ‘Something nobody is likely to accuse you of being.'

She saw the startled expression flash across Luca's face and felt a surge of reckless satisfaction.

Luca set his elbows on the table and said in a deceptively indolent drawl, ‘I've read that inappropriate sarcasm often masks anger.'

This from the man who specialised in the cutting one-liner! She was an amateur compared with him; Luca's savage wit was as ruthless as a surgeon's scalpel.

‘I'm sure you know much more about inappropriate sarcasm than I do.' Try guessing what this smile is masking, she thought, delivering a smile of brilliant insincerity.

‘She's got you there, Luca.' Seth laughed. ‘You know, before you arrived we were just—'

‘Sure…whatever…' Actually it had been pretty obvious what they were
just
… The dull thud in Luca's temple cranked up another painful notch as he recalled the scene that had met him as he'd arrived.

He hadn't needed the directions given him to locate his table. He had heard her laughter the moment he had walked into the room, soft but huskily intimate.

He wasn't the only male whose attention was drawn to the sexy, inviting sound either. Half the men in the room were annoying their partners by risking a sly look. No doubt if the opportunity had arisen to do more than look they'd have jumped at it!

And you wouldn't?
Being an essentially honest man, he couldn't dismiss the possibility he'd be tempted…all right, more than tempted. Especially in that dress, he thought as his eyes slid over the clinging fabric that revealed the full swell of her deliciously rounded breasts. His body reacted to her, so what? That just made him male and alive. That his basic—
very basic
—first impulse had been to throttle the life out of the man who was leering at Alice was not so easily explained away.

Roman might be prepared to accept a loveless marriage of mutual convenience, but no way would he accept a wife who when his back was turned flirted with any man who happened along. Luca doubted he and his brother were
that
different!

Alice was furious on Seth's behalf. Luca could not have made his boredom more apparent if he had yawned.

‘How is the lovely Natalia?'

‘She's fine. I think Seth thought that flirting with her would lower the price. He discovered it didn't; my mother,' he confided, ‘takes no prisoners when it comes to business.'

‘A family trait,' Alice muttered under her breath. The way Luca had turned the ailing publishing house into a dynamic, thriving business was an achievement that had earned him international respect. She knew for a fact that any number of well-known firms who had suffered financial setbacks had offered him indecent sums of money to work his magic for them.

‘I flirted with your mother for pleasure, not profit,' Seth protested. ‘She is a very beautiful woman.'

‘Beauty runs in the family too, or so I've been told.'

I just bet you have, Alice thought.

‘Damn, I thought I'd switched that off.' Seth grimaced and pulled a trilling phone from his pocket. ‘Could you excuse me for a minute, folks?' he said.

‘What runs in
your
family, other than blonde hair?' It took Alice, who was watching Seth's retreating back with dismay, a couple of seconds to realise that Luca had directed the question to her.

She pretended to consider his question before replying mildly. ‘I think I'd have to say a dislike of people who can't look you in the face when they talk to you. You know the type I mean—shifty…sly…no manners…'

Luca, whose blue eyes had been unashamedly trained on her cleavage when he had mentioned her hair, and still were, gave a lopsided grin. He gave a shrug that acknowledged her hit and lifted his head.

Their eyes clashed.

The satisfyingly superior feeling, the product of having won a bout in this war of wits, evaporated about the same moment that her stomach muscles tensed with excitement.
Excitement…?

‘I thought you'd have been insulted if I hadn't noticed.'

If there had been even a hint of embarrassment, a trace of apology, in his attitude she might have forgiven him. Alice sucked in an angry breath.
Brazen!
she decided wrathfully. There was no other word to describe him…unless it was charismatic, beautiful and sexy.

‘Insulting me has never bothered you before.'

‘I didn't think you'd noticed.'

Unbelievable
…did he think she didn't have feelings? ‘I noticed.' Her lashes came down as it struck her forcibly that there was very little about Luca that she hadn't noticed. She frowned at this growing evidence of her unhealthy fascination.

Without turning his head, Luca halted the approaching waiter with a soft, ‘no, we're not ready to order.'

Her spine stiffened with a snap and the jolt made her head spin—or was it the lack of food, or possibly that last drink? Her generous lips tightened into a disapproving and indignant line as she focused on the handsome face of her reluctant dining companion.

‘
I
was ready to order two hours ago,' she informed him tartly.

One slanted sable brow rose as he scanned her flushed face and overbright sparkling eyes. ‘I was unavoidably detained.'

‘What was her name?'

Obviously she regretted this unwise comment the moment it had left her lips. She was uncomfortably aware that it was the sort of critical complaint a jealous girlfriend competing for his favours would have come out with.