Free The Devil to Pay by Rachel Lyndhurst Page A

read anything into it.
    Anything at all.
    And if she was really smart, she would keep this whole experience on a one hundred percent business footing from now on. She had to shake off this dangerous infatuation. After all, just how many women had he brought back to this place? More to the point, how many women had he had ? Rianna cringed at the thought as she remembered how easily he’d stripped her naked and brought her to orgasm. He’d clearly had a lot of practice.
    She was only an accountant for a loss-making quarry in a struggling area of a struggling country, there to get a job done. That was her lot, a hundred million miles away from the luxurious hardships Daniel Bracchi sought to avoid.
    The lift door swished open, and Daniel indicated that Rianna should exit first, but not before he caught her unawares with the curve of a smile on his lips. She stepped hesitantly into an enormous bright hallway. Her stiletto heels clicked like cicadas on the glass-smooth marble floor, and she took very small steps rather than face the humiliation of ending up on her backside. They walked toward a ceiling-height archway whose glass doors were flung open toward the sea outside, framing the scene like an oil painting.
    The huge curved balcony Rianna found herself stepping onto was constructed from white stone and it sparkled with tiny veins of crystal in the bright sunshine. Vast urns held a profusion of ancient palms and exotic planting and a magenta Bougainvillea scrambled over the main walls of the house like graffiti.
    “Amazing,” Rianna breathed as she leant over the balcony, her fingertips clinging on tightly.
    As she felt the warm Mediterranean wind kiss her forehead and tumble her hair, she marvelled at the sight below. The harbour of Portofino looked like something out of a fairytale. Tiny vessels bobbed in the turquoise pool of the sea and the heat of the sun caused a haze, which gave the whole scene a dream-like quality. Green shuttered houses clung precariously to the steep cliffs and were so confused in their arrangement that the pastel-painted town appeared to be tumbling into the ocean, like a bag of sweets falling from a child’s hand.
    “I thought you’d like to see the view first,” Daniel said, taking a deep, breath of salty air. “It never fails to remind me just who I am.”
    “I’m not surprised,” Rianna said wryly. “You really need to be CEO of a multinational corporation to afford this.”
    “Actually it reminds me that, ultimately, I’m just one tiny, insignificant speck in the grand scheme of things. We all are.” Daniel ran his hand along the roughness of the balustrade and frowned. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
    Rianna’s jaw dropped unseen behind his back as Daniel marched through an enormous sitting room leading off from the balcony. Her heels clattered like rain on glass in his wake. “My room?”
    Daniel stopped in his tracks and turned to face her with a bemused expression. He then leant lazily against the arm of a brown leather sofa and crossed his arms and ankles as if he was waiting in the sun for a bus. “Yes, your room ,” he replied with slow deliberation . “You don’t honestly think the Lewis Quarry profit and loss statement can cope with a week of hotel bills in Portofino, do you?”
    “Well, I—I hadn’t really thought. I just assumed—”
    “Then you assumed wrong. It would be completely reckless to waste money in such a way, especially when the financial situation is so precarious. And you an accountant?” He tutted mockingly. “I’m surprised at you. Besides, if we’re both here, we can work whenever, and however I deem necessary. Most satisfactory, si ?”
    Rianna felt a surge of anger at the patronising way he tilted his head to one side and smiled at her like a naughty infant, but she was determined not to let him know just how badly he was getting to her. “Of course, yes. Very satisfactory for all concerned.” Rianna wrenched on her