‘Enjoying the view?'
‘Not particularly. And I have no idea why you're undressing.'
‘Purely for your entertainment, dolcezza.' Sending her a sexy smile, he unclipped his watch. ‘And for the entertainment of any photographers who happen to have long lenses trained on my bedroom. I'd hate to disappoint them. Oh-and because I intend to take a shower.'
‘Photographers?' Horrified, she looked from him to the long windows that offered a view into the distance. ‘Can this house be seen from the road?'
‘I have no idea. I suppose we'll find out now you're staying here.'
‘I'm not staying here … ' She stumbled over the words in her panic, tripping over her bag as she backed to the door and opened it. ‘If the press could be watching, I can't stay. I have to go somewhere I know I can't be photographed-I have to-'
‘You have to calm down.' Luca strode over to her and pushed the door shut with the flat of his hand, saying something to her in Italian. ‘Cristo, Taylor, why all the drama? You're not on set now.'
‘I hate being photographed.'
‘Yes, I'm starting to get that part. Even I'm not that obtuse.' His keen gaze was fixed on her face. ‘What I don't get is why. You're an actress. You're photographed all the time. It's part of the job.'
‘And I accept it when I'm out filming, or at a premiere or even when I'm out having fun because I know I can never go anywhere without being recognised any more, but I have to know I'm safe when I'm at h-home. I don't want to be photographed when I-think I'm alone.' She was stammering. ‘I deserve that. Doesn't everyone deserve that?'
‘Yes, I suppose so, if that's what they want. And now are you going to tell me what happened?'
Her stomach felt as if someone had tied a knot in it. ‘What do you mean?'
‘No one freaks out like that without a reason. So tell me the reason. What happened?'
‘Nothing happened.' She had no intention of talking about it, especially not to him. She'd learned the hard way that no one could be trusted. Thinking back to how naive she'd been at seventeen made her want to curl up in embarrassment but at least she'd learned the lesson. ‘I'm a private person, that's all. There's nothing wrong with that.'
‘Except that, like most celebrities, the press considers you public property.'
His choice of phrase triggered something inside her. ‘I'm a person, not property. I am not anyone's meal ticket!'
‘Taylor-'
‘Enough, OK? I don't even know why we're talking about this. I just hate the press, that's all you need to know. I don't want to stay somewhere they can see me! If they're pushing a camera in my face, I want to know about it.' Shocked to discover just how much emotion was still simmering deep inside her, Taylor reached for the door handle but his hand covered hers.
‘Cristo, you're shaking.'
‘No, I'm not.'
‘You are the most confusing woman I've ever met,' he breathed. ‘Ballsy one minute and fragile the next.'
‘I'm not fragile.'
There was a long pause. ‘I'll brief my security team. I'll make sure this place is like a fortress. The only photographs those bastards get will be the ones we want them to take. Us doing engagement stuff-whatever that is. Talking of which, we'd better find out what we're supposed to do.' He released her and strolled across the bedroom as if nothing had happened, leaving Taylor shaken. It unsettled her to know she was nowhere near as in control as she liked to think she was.
Pulling herself together, she looked at him. ‘What are you doing now?'
He keyed something into his phone. ‘Given that you and I are clueless, I'm doing a search for the typical behaviour of engaged people. There has to be a website. It's probably called getmeoutofhere.com. Or possibly killmenow.org.' The remark was typical of him and for some reason that normality helped relax her.
‘We're not just engaged, we're newly engaged.'
‘And the significance of that is … ?'
‘The first glow of excitement has yet to wear off. We have to be supersickly.'
‘No worries. The thought of being engaged makes me feel more sickly than you can possibly imagine.'
‘And you fed me spleen burger. Need I say more?'
‘No, but you're a woman so no doubt you will anyway. If you want to sit down, sit on the bed. It can't be seen from the window unless they have a lens shaped like a periscope.' It was the only reference he made to her sudden loss of control. ‘Here you are. Ten habits of engaged couples. Can you believe someone researched that and then wrote about it? What a total waste of a life.'
Taylor glanced from the window to the bed and decided to follow his advice. She slid off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the end of the bed. ‘Go on. Read it out.'
He was staring at her legs. ‘What are you doing?'
‘Relaxing. I do yoga. It's good for the core and helps keep me flexible.'
‘Flexible?' His voice slightly rough, Luca lifted his gaze from her legs to her face, his phone forgotten. ‘How flexible?'
The temperature in the room shot up and suddenly all she could think of was the way his mouth had felt on hers.
‘Flexible enough to make sure that when we're seen in public you're looking very tired.' Unable to resist teasing him, she wrapped one leg behind her neck and his brows rose.
‘That position has amazing possibilities but there's no way I'd look tired in public. I have endless stamina. Maybe you'll be the one who is looking tired, tesoro, from my male demands.'
Her heart thudded a little harder. ‘I've been working with a trainer for months in preparation for this role. I can cope with any physical demands you care to throw my way.'
‘Is that a challenge?'
‘Absolutely not.' Taylor swallowed and allowed her leg to slide back into its original position. ‘So what advice does your website offer?'
His eyes lingered on hers and then eventually he looked back at the screen. ‘Touching.'
‘Pardon?'
‘According to this, newly engaged couples touch all the time. They can't bear to be next to each other and not feel each other. Does that mean I have permission to stroke your breasts in public? Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'
‘Public. Of course. We have to be seen in public.' Taylor pushed away thoughts of his hands on her breasts. ‘We need to be seen, otherwise no one is going to believe this is real. We should go out for dinner or something.'
‘What's the point of that? You don't eat anything.'
‘All the better. People will assume my love for you is putting me off my food.'
‘Just as long as you don't expect me to be off my food too, because I have no intention of starving myself for the role.' He scanned the screen, his expression comical. ‘Cristo, is there anything good about being engaged?'
‘Why ask me? I've never been engaged before either. Nor do I want to be.'
‘No?' His gaze lifted to hers. ‘Then that makes us a perfect pair. So what happened to you to put you off relationships?'
Her heart thudded a little bit faster. ‘Life.'
‘You mean a man.'
Would a real man take advantage of a vulnerable girl? Would a real man cynically manipulate someone's feelings for his own benefit? She felt the panic stir deep inside her and squashed it down. ‘Well, he had a penis, if that's what you mean. But apart from that no, I wouldn't call him a man.' The words tasted like acid in her mouth and they must have sounded the same way because he lowered his phone, his dark gaze suddenly sharp.
‘Is this guy the reason you hate the press? What did he do?'
Why on earth had she started this conversation? Especially with a man as shallow and superficial as Luca Corretti. She was surprised he'd even asked the question. what did he know about loneliness? Or vulnerability, come to that. He came from a huge family. He had no idea what it was like to have no one. He would never in a million years understand what had happened to her.
‘It isn't relevant.'
‘I'm your fiancé. If you have something in your past that had that big an impact on you, I need to know about it.'
‘No, you don't.' She felt the panic rise from deep inside her and block her throat. ‘My past is none of your business.'
‘For someone who claims this is in the "past" you look pretty stressed out.'
‘It's being with you that makes me stressed out. And what about you?' She turned it back on him. ‘Anything in your past I need to know about?'