She started to move but his arm tightened around her. A deep swallow moved his Adam’s apple.
‘Tomorrow, we’ll talk properly, sì?’
Heart in her throat, she nodded. ‘Sì.’
‘Good. Now I get to show you my favourite knot.’
CHAPTER NINE
‘CIAO.’
The deep voice roused her from languor and she opened her eyes to find Narciso standing over her lounger, cell phone in one hand.
The midmorning sun blazed on the private deck outside his bedroom suite and Ruby squirmed under his gaze as it raked her.
‘Ciao. I can’t believe I let you convince me to sunbathe nude.’
‘Not completely nude.’ He eyed her bikini bottoms.
Heat crawled up her neck and she hurriedly changed the subject. ‘Was your call successful?’
‘Sì, but then all my negotiations are,’ he said with a smug smile.
‘Your modesty is so refreshing. I guess making a million dollars by age eighteen tends to go to one’s head.’
‘On the contrary, my head was very clear. I had only one goal in mind.’
Despite the sun’s blaze, she shivered. ‘So it started that long ago, this feud between you two?’
He tossed his phone onto the table and stretched out on the lounger next to hers. Ruby fought not to ogle the broad, firm expanse of skin she’d taken delight in exploring last night. The grim look on his face helped her resist the temptation.
‘Believe it or not, there was a time when I toyed with the idea of abandoning it.’
Surprise scythed through her. ‘Really?’
‘Sì,’ he replied, almost inaudibly.
‘What happened?’
‘I graduated from Harvard a year early and decided to spend my gap year in Sicily. I knew Giacomo would be there. And I knew he couldn’t throw me out because the house he lived in belonged to my mother and she’d willed it to me when I turned eighteen. I...hoped that being under the same roof again for the first time in five years would give us a different perspective.’
‘It didn’t?’
The hand on his thigh slowly curled into a fist. ‘No. We clashed harder than ever.’
She couldn’t mistake the ragged edge in his voice. ‘If he hated you being there so much, why didn’t he leave?’
‘That would’ve meant I’d won. Besides, he took pleasure in reminding me I’d killed my mother on the street right outside her home.’
Ice drenched her veins. ‘What happened to her?’
‘She suffered a placental abruption three weeks before I was due. She’d gone for a walk and was returning home. By the time she dragged herself up the road to the house to alert anyone, she’d lost too much blood. Apparently, the doctor said he could only save one of us. Giacomo asked him to save my mother. She died anyway. I survived.’
Ruby reached out and covered his fist with her hand. He tensed for a second, then his hand wrapped around hers.
‘How can anyone in their right mind believe that something so tragic was your fault?’
‘Giacomo believed it. That was enough. And he was right to demand that the doctor save my mother.’
She flinched. ‘How can you say that?’
‘Because he knew what I would become.’
‘A wildly successful businessman who donates millions of dollars each year to fund neo-natal research among other charitable organisations?’
He jerked in surprise. ‘How do you know that?’
A blush crept up her cheeks. ‘When I did a web search on you a few things popped up.’
He shrugged. ‘My accountants tell me funding charities is a good way to get tax breaks. Don’t read more into the situation than there is, amante.’
Lowering her gaze, she watched their meshed fingers. The feel of his skin against hers made her heart skip several beats. ‘I think we’re past the point where you can convince me you’re all bad, Narciso,’ she dared.
He remained silent for so long she thought he’d refused to pick up the thread of their conversation. Then his breath shuddered out. ‘Giacomo believes that.’
‘Because you perpetuate that image?’
His smile was grim but it held speculation. ‘Perhaps, but it’s an image I’m growing tired of.’
Her breath caught.
His eyes met hers and he reached across and took her hand. ‘Does that surprise you? That I’m thinking it’s time to end this vendetta?’
‘Why the change of heart?’ she asked.
His casual shrug looked a little stiff. ‘Perhaps it’s time to force another mutation of our relationship,’ he said obliquely.
‘And if it fails?’