Page 16 of The Tycoon's Shock Heir

Maybe this time would be different? It felt different...

‘Ruby, it’s a very good idea,’ he said softly.

‘No, honestly. I’m really tired. I should go home.’

He was scrutinising every inch of her face, staring into her eyes as if he was seeing right inside her head.

‘You’re not tired. You’re nervous. You’re worried that people are judging you.’

He nodded, then looked over her shoulder, frowning. ‘Wait here. Don’t move.’

He moved away and she stood alone in the thinning crowd. She felt as if night had fallen and she was left alone in a moonless sky. She wanted more of him...more of his light.

‘Right. That’s the bank committed to support Dame Cicely’s dance graduate programme. Your director is delighted and he told me to pass that on to you. So my work here is done. We’re going for supper and I’m not taking no for an answer.’

The impact of those words lit her up, smashing the last of her resistance.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘Supper would be lovely.’

He took her hand and she didn’t pull away. In minutes they were winding through the remains of the throng. People approached with open smiles and hands outstretched to say goodbye and he smiled, shook their hands and smoothly swung past them, patted them on the back and moved on.

The exhilarating rush of what was to come overpowered her every other sensation.

Security men stood at the door, eyeing everything. Matteo nodded as they walked past them, along a passageway and out onto the street. At the car he stopped, turned, gave her the most heart-stopping smile.

‘Ready?’ he said.

‘As I’ve ever been,’ she whispered.

The car door was opened. She slid inside.

CHAPTER FIVE

‘CAN’T THIS WAIT, DAVID? I’m right in the middle of something.’

Matteo nodded to the driver to go and lifted Ruby’s fingers into his hand. If it wasn’t for this call he would have been lifting them to his lips.

‘Of course. I can wait until tomorrow morning to tell you that Claudio has approached Augusto Arturo about a merger, if that’s what you’d prefer.’

‘That’s not news. I already knew that. He hasn’t a chance.’

He put his arm around Ruby’s shoulders, tucking her close, sliding his fingers down her silken flesh as the car rolled through night-time traffic.

‘Apparently there’s a been a change of heart. They were spotted at lunch in Cannes.’

Matteo’s stomach lurched. He sat forward. Lunch meant that they were starting to explore things informally. That was not good news at all.

‘What? Are you sure? Where did you find this out?’

‘Interestingly, Claudio posted on social media. Shall I read it to you? “Looking forward to catching up with old friends and new in the French Riviera this summer. Obligatory Cordon D’Or Regatta and then a weekend in Tuscany with the irrepressible Arturo Augusto.”’

‘You’ve got to be joking. What does he think he’s playing at? “Obligatory Cordon D’Or”—he’s the last person I want to see there. And name-dropping Augusto? That doesn’t prove anything.’

‘It proves that he knows how to wind you up.’

Matteo sat as still as his bursting blood vessels and pounding heart would allow. He would not overreact to this. He knew Claudio and he knew how he operated. There would be nothing to gain by getting himself in a tailspin over something like this.

‘You’re right. Claudio knows how important this is to us. It doesn’t matter a damn to him if he gets Arturo or not. He doesn’t need those clients—it’s hardly even worth his while. What do you think he’s really up to?’

‘In my view, I think he’s trying to provoke you. Get you to react to his message. He’ll have seen all the recent publicity about you and maybe he thinks you want to play it out publicly. That’s my best guess. As you say, turning up at Cordon D’Or would be a new tactic, to say the least. I’ll step up security just in case.’

‘I didn’t see this coming. I really thought he’d have bigger fish to fry.’

The anger he felt was as much anger at himself for being so damned naïve as at Claudio. He should never have made assumptions about anything involving Claudio Calvaneo. It was if he was determined to erase every last trace of Banca Casa di Rossini and all it stood for.

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