Bound by the Italian's Contract(9)

                “I get that,” he interrupted, tossing his hands upward. “As I said before, you will sit down with my design team and list what is needed. When the plans are drawn up, you will see them again to ensure all your needs are met.”

                “I get final approval?”

                “Of course.”

                She bit her lip, searching for a shadow to pick apart and finding none. “That sounds good.” Perfect, actually.

                “It is. I will bring this renovation of your lodge to fruition.” He leaned forward, riveting gaze locked with hers, mesmerizing yet commanding. “Trust me.”

                “That’s hard for me to do again.”

                He spread his arms wide. “Why? I was nothing but honest with you.”

                And he had been. It was she who’d raised her expectations.

                My God, had she been that starved for love that she had grasped for scraps? Was she still that emotionally deficient?

                “I ended up hurt the last time I put my faith and trust in someone,” she said simply. By my mother first. By you, lastly.

                To her surprise, a ruddy flush streaked across his olive-hued cheekbones. “Believe me when I tell you I never intended to hurt you. I was—” he made a face, accented with a sharp upward jerk of one hand “—behaving abominably before the end. I regret hurting you, Caprice.”

                Dare she believe him? She wanted to continue thinking he didn’t care about anything but himself.

                Except that really wasn’t true. He had come here to enlist her aid to turn his brother’s life around. He was offering her a golden opportunity, albeit with him pulling all the strings.

                “It doesn’t matter,” she said. Not now and it didn’t. It couldn’t.

                “You have my word it won’t happen again,” he said.

                She swallowed hard. Those were just the words she’d vowed to herself, with the added caveat to avoid Luciano’s company. Now here she was, straddling the fence about taking his offer when she’d already decided this was her best bet. He was a genius at what he did. In that, she had to trust him.

                “Then I will take you at your word,” she said.

                “Good.” His magnetic eyes grew more intense. “The length of time the lodge is closed will depend on how long it will take you to establish your program at my Alpine facility as well as my brother’s progress. A month is a generous estimate, considering Julian’s manner of late.”

                She shook her head, saddened. “Julian may have appeared laid-back, but I remember him being a force of pure energy,” she said. “He was always moving.”

                “People change, Caprice. My brother isn’t the man you remember.”

                She would be stunned if the crippling fall hadn’t changed the daring young skier. “I’m aware how an accident can affect an athlete physically and mentally. But I’m an optimist.”

                He stared at her, his features vague, unreadable. “I’m a realist. By proceeding with renovations here at top speed and avoiding problems, it will take at least two months to turn Tregore Lodge around.”

                Not what she wanted to hear, but there was nothing she could do to change it. Her lodge needed intense work and she needed Luciano’s backing.