A Sicilian Husband - Kate Walker [36]
‘Is that you, Barbara?’
Expecting to see the woman who lived across from her, the one with whom she shared her bathroom, she was totally unprepared for the tall, dark, dangerously imposing and supremely male figure standing on the landing outside.
‘Buon giorno, Teresa,’ drawled a lyrically accented voice that she had thought never, ever to hear again.
‘Oh, no, you don’t!’
Swift as she was to react, moving instantly to slam the door closed, Gio’s responses were even swifter. A large, elegantly booted foot was inserted into the gap between door and frame before she had time to close it properly. A second later a powerful shoulder made contact with the side of the door, wrenching it out of her disturbingly weakened grip, and pushing it wide open once again.
‘Good morning, Teresa,’ he repeated with a smile that would have melted icebergs. ‘It’s a pleasure to see you again.’
‘And you surely don’t expect me to say that the feeling is in any way mutual,’ Terrie flung back, blinking bemusedly in the wake of the brilliance of that smile. ‘I thought I told you that I never wanted to see you again? And I meant it!’
‘I’m quite sure you did—at the time. But I had hoped that the passage of time would have given you a chance to reconsider and to—’
‘Not a hope! I meant what I said and all the reconsidering in the world couldn’t make me change my mind! I thought I made my feelings perfectly clear last time!’
‘And I thought you might like a chance to express them differently— No?’ he questioned when he saw the mulish way her jaw set, the stubborn lift to her chin. ‘Then it’s just as well I came prepared.’
‘Prepared?’
Terrie’s mouth literally fell open in shocked surprise as Gio lifted the large carrier bag that stood on the floor at his feet, and pushed it into her hands.
‘I brought you a gift.’
‘A gift—what…?’
In spite of herself she was curious, pulling away the wrapping and revealing what it held inside. An enormous bottle of cognac, the largest she had ever seen, together with a huge balloon-shaped brandy glass made of superb, delicate crystal.
‘But…’
‘I thought I’d bring you some extra ammunition, just in case you felt you hadn’t done enough damage already…’
The wicked smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth, gleaming in the brilliant, dark eyes, was almost irresistible. To her consternation, Terrie actually found herself responding, her own lips curving upwards. Hastily she caught herself just in time, forcing on an expression of stern disapproval that was worryingly hard to maintain.
‘After all, those hotel measures are not exactly generous.’
‘True,’ Terrie was forced to concede.
‘And I really felt that you hadn’t fully—expressed your feelings last time.’
‘True again.’
This was impossible! She wanted to feel anger, hatred, disgust. Wanted to retreat behind the whirlwind of emotion that had assailed her the last time she had seen him. That had been so much safer, a protective shield that protected her from her unwanted feelings for this man. But somehow she couldn’t find the same force of reaction that had come to her in her hotel room, much as she longed to.
And she certainly didn’t want to feel anything else. But somehow Gio’s appearance had sneaked in under her careful defences, aiming straight at a worryingly vulnerable spot in her heart. And he had done it using the unexpected approach of humour, one she hadn’t anticipated and so hadn’t been able to shield herself against.
‘I promise not even to duck.’
His resigned tone, the instinctive squaring of his shoulders was positively the last straw. Terrie fought a swift, hard battle with the amusement bubbling up inside her, trying desperately to force it down—and lost. In spite of herself the laughter she couldn’t suppress escaped her on a gasping sigh of defeat.
‘Very noble of you,