Free The Count of Castelfino by Christina Hollis

again. Assuming her audience with him was finished, she stood up. As she turned to go he checked his watch.
    ‘Wait—I’m about to leave for the Florence office. I cangive you a lift. While I’m busy, you can shop. We’ll meet up again afterwards, and I’ll bring you home.’
    Meg stopped. Those few words sent her into total meltdown. Time alone with Gianni in his office was one thing. Travelling with him was something else.
    ‘Fine, b-but I’ll need to change first!’ she stammered, already halfway to the door.
    ‘There’s no time. You look great as you are,’ he announced, although Meg noticed he didn’t actually look at her as he said it.
    ‘And then there’s my work—I can’t just disappear without telling my staff what’s happening, Gianni! Why don’t you arrange a car, while I go back and leave some instructions for the men?’
    He grinned and pulled a jangling collection of keys from his pocket. ‘Oh, no, you don’t! I know all there is to know about women. If I don’t keep my eyes on you, you’ll head straight for Garden Cottage and spend the next two hours delaying me while you get ready. I’ll come with you, every step of the way.’
    Meg wasn’t about to stop him. His presence at her shoulder kept her nerves singing with anticipation. He shadowed her as she went back to the kitchen garden and completed all her meticulous checks. All the time, Meg knew he was watching. She felt his gaze running over her like quicksilver. It only slid away whenever she tried to catch his eye.
    ‘What is happening to Imsey’s Plant Centre while you are enjoying yourself here in Italy?’ he said as they walked out through the garden gates and went to find his car.
    ‘I ring home every day to find out. On my mobile, of course,’ Meg added hurriedly so he wouldn’t think she wasrunning up a bill on the estate account. ‘Mum and Dad say they are coping, but I’m still worried. I’m afraid they don’t tell me everything. That’s what happened last time.’ She bit her lip.
    ‘It seems strange to take a job far away from home when you’re so devoted to them.’ Gianni snapped off a tall stem of ornamental grass in passing and rubbed the embryo grains between his fingers.
    ‘I had to.’ Meg stared at the seed head in his hands, remembering. ‘When your father offered me this job, it was the perfect opportunity. Helping them so successfully gave me the confidence to look for another challenge. I could strike out on my own, and begin building my career afresh.’
    Her words slowed as she thought back to the one thing that had really kick started her new life. It was the night at Chelsea, when she had first met Gianni. For weeks afterwards she had fantasised about him. Then her life had turned upside down with the offer of this job, and now she was walking through a Tuscan estate beside him. It was a dream come true…almost. She tried not to notice the sunshine glittering over his raven-dark hair, or the beautiful cast of his features. It was becoming really difficult to keep work at the forefront of her mind.
    ‘I’d secured Mum and Dad’s business, and it was my time to shine again,’ she added, dragging herself back to reality.
    ‘And then out of the blue I received your father’s letter, giving me the chance to pitch for the position of his Curator of Exotic Plants. He’d been impressed with me. We spent a very long time talking together at the flower show. I never dreamed you were related, but, thinking about it, that must have been his handwriting in your notebook.’
    ‘That’s right. He sent me to seek you out, so he must have been impressed.' Gianni nodded.
    ‘Mum and Dad said they didn’t need my help any more at the nursery, so here I am.’
    They reached his car. The sleek black Ferrari crouched on the gravel like a wild cat. It was a great distraction from her problems, and she couldn’t resist smiling.
    ‘I’d never been close to anything like this until I came to Italy,’