Free A Dangerous Infatuation by Chantelle Shaw Page A

strongly? she wondered despairingly. And how had he drawn so much personal information from her without her even realising it. So much for keeping him at a distance!
    She forced a cool smile. ‘We seem to have diverted fromthe subject of Cordelia. Let’s go back to the other room and you can tell me about your plans for how best to care for her.’
    She preceded him into the sitting room and offered him the sofa, but instead of sitting next to him she crossed to the armchair on the other side of the room.
    He poured the wine and handed her a glass. ‘Wouldn’t you be more comfortable over here? Where you can put your drink on the coffee table?’
    She felt herself blush at the amused gleam in his eyes. ‘I’m fine where I am, thank you.’ Determined not to show how much he rattled her, she settled back in the chair and took a long sip of wine. It was deliciously smooth and fruity, and she felt a relaxing warmth seep through her veins. ‘So, what do you intend to do about Cordelia? I’m afraid the local health authority won’t provide a live-in carer for her, but there are a number of private agencies who could arrange for staff to visit her every day.’
    Rocco shook his head. ‘I can see that Nonna needs more than that. She’s too frail to continue living at Nunstead Hall—even with regular visits from carers. And employing live-in staff has not proved successful.’
    ‘Then what do you propose? Cordelia is adamant that she won’t move from Nunstead.’
    ‘I’ve discovered that,’ Rocco said with feeling, recalling his grandmother’s stubbornness on the subject. ‘As a temporary measure, while she is recovering from the hip operation and the burn to her hand, I’ve asked her to come and stay with me at my home in Portofino.’
    Emma’s eyebrows arched in surprise. ‘And she’s agreed?’
    ‘No—not yet. But I’ve had an idea that I think will persuade her.’ He looked across the room, his tiger-like ambereyes trapping her gaze. ‘I’ve hinted that you might come to Italy to be her private nurse.’
    She had been in the process of taking another sip of wine, but at his startling statement the sip became a gulp. The alcohol must have gone straight to her head, because for a second her brain felt fuzzy before his words sank in. ‘Well, you’d better
un-
hint,’ she said sharply. ‘I have no intention of moving to Italy. The idea is ridiculous—and impossible.’
    ‘Why?’ Rocco queried calmly. ‘I’m not suggesting a permanent arrangement. My suggestion to Cordelia is that she comes to my home for three months’ convalescence. After that we will decide whether she is able to return to Nunstead, with the help of a live-in carer, or—as I’m secretly hoping—she will have settled in Italy and will agree to remain living with me. At first she point-blank refused to consider the idea, because she was worried she would be lonely and miss her friends here in Northumberland. But it’s clear that
you
are her closest friend, Emma,’ he said softly, and the husky way he murmured her name sent an involuntary quiver down Emma’s spine. ‘When I put forward the idea that you could come to Portofino for three months, Nonna was much happier to consider my plan.’
    ‘You had no right to suggest that to Cordelia without asking me first,’ Emma said tightly. What Rocco had done amounted to emotional blackmail, and she was furious with him. ‘It doesn’t seem to have crossed your mind that I have a life here in England—a job,
a child
. I can’t simply take off for three months and abandon my responsibilities, and no way on earth would I ever leave Holly with my parents for that length of time. The most she’s ever been away from me is a weekend, when Jack’s parents took her to stay at their house in France.’
    Rocco’s dark brows drew together in a frown, his angermounting at her diatribe and the unspoken accusation that
he
had abandoned
his
responsibility for his grandmother over the