'It's probably in the garden where you were playing with Alessandra,' he said. 'I'll go and have a look.'
'I'll come with you,' she said, almost pushing him out of the way in her haste to get out of the door. 'I have to find it.'
'One of the gardeners will pick it up if it's out there,' Leo said. 'Stop panicking. It didn't look all that valuable.'
She met his gaze with her distressed one. 'It's not about the monetary value. Why does everything have to be about money to you? It's got enormous sentimental value. I can't lose it. I just can't. I have to find it.'
'I trust my staff to hand it in if they find it. You don't have to worry. No one is going to rush it off to the nearest pawn shop.'
Her brow was a fine map of worried lines. 'You don't understand. I have to find it. I don't feel right without it on my finger.'
He grasped her flailing hand and held it firm. 'Why? Because you need it there as a reminder, don't you? Your fiancé is thousands of miles away but without that ring there to prod your conscience you could so easily forget all about him, couldn't you?'
She pulled out of his hold and dashed out of the room. Leo heard the slapping of her flat shoes along the marbled floor.
He followed at a much slower pace.
He would be perfectly happy if the blasted ring was never found.
Eliza looked everywhere but there was no sign of her ring. She went over every patch of the lawn. She went over the rose beds and the pathways but there was no trace of it anywhere. Her rising panic beat a sickening tattoo in her chest. How would she explain it to Samantha? It was so careless of her to have neglected to get it tightened. How would she ever make it up to her? It wasn't just any old ring. It was a symbol of Samantha's lifelong love for her husband Geoff and now she had lost it.
Leo had come out and spoken to the gardener before he joined her. 'Any sign?'
Eliza shook her head, her stomach still churning in anguish. 'Samantha will be devastated.'
'Samantha?'
'My fiancé's mother.' She wrung her hands, her eyes scanning the lawn in the vain hope that the sunlight would pick up the glitter of the ring. 'I don't know how I'll ever tell her. I have to find it. I have to.'
'The gardener will keep on looking. You should come indoors. You look like you're beginning to catch the sun.'
Eliza glanced at her bare arms. They were indeed a little pink in spite of the sunscreen she had put on earlier. She suddenly felt utterly exhausted. Losing the ring was the last straw on top of everything else. That telltale ache had started deep inside her chest. The tears were not far away. She could feel them burning like peroxide behind her eyes. She put her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose to try and stop them from spilling.
'Cara.' Leo put a gentle hand on her shoulder. 'You're getting yourself in such a state. It's just a ring. It can be replaced.'
She shrugged off his hold and glared up at him with burning resentment. 'That's just so typical of you, isn't it? If you lose something you just walk out and get a new one. That's what you did when you lost me, wasn't it? You just went right on out and picked up someone else to replace me as soon as you could.'
The garden seemed to go into a stunned silence after her outburst. Even the light breeze that had been teasing the leaves on the trees had suddenly stilled, as if in shock at the bitterness of her words.
Eliza bit her lip as she lowered her gaze. 'I'm sorry … That was wrong of me. You had a perfect right to move on with your life … '
There was another tense beat of silence.
'I hope you find your ring.' He gave her a curt nod and turned and strode across the lawn, back past the fountain until finally he disappeared out of sight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
WHEN ELIZA CAME downstairs after putting Alessandra to bed there was an envelope with her name on it propped up on the kitchen counter.
'That's your ring,' Marella said as she came out of the pantry. 'Signor Valente found it in the grotto. He was out there for ages looking for it.'
'That was … kind of him … ' Eliza fingered the ring through the paper of the envelope. 'I think I'd better get it tightened before I wear it again.'
Marella cocked her head at her as she picked up a cleaning cloth. 'How long have you been engaged to this fiancé of yours?'
'Um … since I was nineteen … eight years.'
'It's a long time.'
She shifted her gaze from the penetrating black ink of the housekeeper's. 'Yes … yes, it is … '
'You're not in love with him, sì?'
'I love him.' Had she answered too quickly? Had she sounded too defensive? 'I've always loved him.'
'That's not the same thing as being in love,' Marella said. 'I see how you are with Signor Valente and him with you. He stirs something in you. Something you've tried for a long time to suppress, sì?'
Eliza felt a wave of colour wash over her cheeks. 'I'm just the replacement nanny. I'll be gone in four weeks.'
Marella gave the counter top a slow wipe as she mused, 'I wonder if he will let you go.'
'I'm absolutely certain Signor Valente will be enormously pleased to see the back of me,' Eliza said with feeling.
Marella stopped wiping and gave her a level look. 'I wasn't talking about Signor Valente.'
A telling silence slipped past.
'Excuse me … ' Eliza forced a polite smile that felt more like a grimace. 'I have to check on Alessandra.'
When Eliza came downstairs an hour later Marella was just leaving to attend a family function.
'There is a meal all set up on gas flamed warmers in the dining room,' she said as she tied a nylon scarf around her neck. 'I think Signor Valente is in the study. Will you be all right to handle dishing up? Don't worry about clearing up afterwards. I can do that in the morning.'
'I wouldn't dream of leaving a mess for you to face in the morning,' Eliza said. 'I'm perfectly capable of dishing up and clearing away. Have a good evening.'
'Grazie.'
Eliza glanced towards the study once the housekeeper had left. Should she wait until Leo came out for dinner to thank him for finding her ring or should she seek him out now? She was still deciding when the door suddenly opened.
He saw her hovering there and arched a brow. 'Did you want me?'
I want you. I want you. I want you. It was like a chant inside her head but it was reverberating throughout her body as well. She could feel that on-off pulse deep in her core intensifying the longer his dark, mesmerising gaze held hers.
'Um … I wanted to thank you for finding my ring,' she said, knowing her cheeks were burning fiery red. 'It was very thoughtful of you to take the time to keep looking.'
'It was behind the seat in the grotto. You must've lost it when you picked up your cardigan.' His dark gaze glinted satirically. 'I'm surprised you didn't notice it missing earlier.'
Eliza set her mouth. 'Yes, well, I'm going to get it tightened so it doesn't happen again.'
He reached for her hand before she could step away. She sucked in a breath as those long, strong, tanned fingers imprisoned hers. Her heart started a madcap rhythm behind her breastbone and her skin tingled and tightened all over. 'W … what are you doing?' Was that her voice, that tiny mouse-like squeak of sound?
His gaze went to her mouth, lingering there. She felt her lips soften and part slightly, her response to him as automatic as breathing. His fingers were warm and dry around hers. She imagined them on other parts of her body, how it had felt to have them caress her intimately, her breasts, her inner thighs, the feminine heart of her that had swelled and flowered under his spine-tingling touch. Her insides clenched with longing as she thought of the stroke of his tongue against her-that most intimate of all kisses. How he had seemed to know from their first time together what she needed to reach fulfilment.
She could see the memory of it in his gaze as it came back to mesh with hers. It made her spine shiver to see that silent message pass between them … the universal language of making love.
Passionate, primal-primitive.
'Ho voglia di te-ti voglio adesso.' His words were like a verbal caress, all the more powerfully, intoxicatingly stimulating as they were delivered in his mother tongue.
Eliza swallowed as her heart raced with excitement. 'I don't understand what you just said … ' But I've got a pretty fair idea!
Those dark eyes glittered with carnal intent as he grasped her by the hips and, with a little jerk forwards, he locked her against his erection. She felt it against her belly, the thunder of his blood mimicking the sensual cyclone that was happening within her own body. Her breasts ached for his touch. She could feel them swelling against the lace constraints of her bra. Her mouth tingled in anticipation of his covering it, plundering it. She sent the tip of her tongue out to moisten the surface of her lips. Her need of him was consuming her common sense like galloping, greedy flames did to a little pile of tinder-dry toothpicks.