* * *
Tino smiled as he revved the engine and manoeuvred the Aston Martin around a tourist bus. He hadn't enjoyed himself this much in...he couldn't remember.
He was in a hot car, driving down a wide country highway on a warm spring afternoon, completely free from having to answer questions about his recent spate of accidents, his car or the coming race. The experience was almost blissful.
With any luck his anonymity would hold and he'd forget the pressure of being the world's number one racing driver on an unlucky streak. Because, as he'd told Sam, it was all media hoopla and coincidence anyway, and he'd prove it Sunday week.
He glanced at the stiff woman beside him and involuntarily adjusted his jeans. He hadn't expected her to give him a hard-on but she had. Which was surprising, given that her black linen trousers and matching shirt were about as provocative as a nun's habit.
His eyes drifted over the blade-straight hair that curtained her delicate profile from his view down over her elegant neck to the gentle swell of her breasts. Was she wearing lace underneath? By the blush that had crept into her face before he'd guess yes. The thought made him smile, and his gaze lingered on her hands as they poised over her computer keys.
She had an effortless sensuality that drew him, and whenever she glared at him hot sparks of sexual arousal threatened to burn him up.
They'd be good together. He knew it. It was just a pity he had no intention of using the weekend to test his theory.
He wasn't looking for a relationship right now, sexual or otherwise, and he had very strict guidelines about how women fitted into his life. The last thing he wanted was a woman getting into his headspace and worrying about whether or not he was going to buy it on the track every time he raced. He'd seen it too many times before, and no way would anyone land him with that kind of guilty pressure.
He still remembered the day he had watched his father clip the rear wheel of another car, flip over and slam into a concrete barrier. It had been one of those races that had reinvigorated race safety procedures and it had changed Tino's life for ever. He'd still known that he would follow in his father's footsteps, but after feeling helpless in the face of his beloved mother's grief, and fighting his own pain at losing his father, he'd locked his emotions away so tight he wasn't sure he'd recognise them any more.
Which was a bonus in a sport where emotions were considered dangerous, and his cool, roguish demeanour scared the hell out of most of his rivals.
His approach was so different from his father's attitude to the sport he'd loved. His father had tried to have it all, but what he should have done was choose family or racing. Emotional attachments and their job didn't mix. Any fool knew that.
CHAPTER THREE
'THIS it?' Valentino pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road and Miller glanced up from following the GPS navigator on her smartphone.
'Yes.' Miller read the plaque on the massive brick pillar that housed a set of enormous iron gates: 'Sunset Boulevard.' So typical of TJ's delusions of grandeur, Miller thought tetchily.
Valentino announced them through the security speakers, and the sports car crunched over loose gravel as he pulled around the circular driveway and stopped between an imposing front portico and a burbling fountain filled with frolicking cherubs holding gilded bows and arrows.
'Who's your client?'
Miller didn't answer. She was too busy staring at the enormous pink-tinged stone mansion that looked as if it had been airlifted directly from the Amalfi Coast in Italy and set down in the middle of this arid Australian beach scrub-lime-green lawns and all.
Her car door opened and she automatically accepted Valentino's extended hand. And regretted it. A sensation not unlike an electric shock bolted up her arm and shot sparks all the way down her legs.
Her eyes flew to his in surprise, but his expression was so blank she felt slightly stupid. At least that answered her earlier unasked question. No, he didn't find her attractive; he'd just been enjoying himself at her expense.
She registered the opening of a high white front door in her peripheral vision and felt her world right itself when Valentino dropped her hand.
'Miller. You made good time.'
She glanced towards her boss.
'And I can see why.' Dexter stared at Valentino and then cast his appreciative eyes over the silver bullet they'd driven down in.
A bulky figure followed Dexter down the stone steps and she pasted a confident smile on her face when TJ Lyons ambled forward like a cattle tycoon straight off the station.
'Well, now, isn't this a surprise?' he boomed.
Suddenly conscious of Valentino behind her, Miller nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt his large hand settle on her hip. Both men looked at him, eyes agog, as if he was the Dalai Lama come to pay homage.
'Dexter, TJ-this is-'
'We know who he is, Miller.' Dexter almost blustered, sticking his hand out towards Valentino. 'Tino Ventura. It's a pleasure. Dexter Caruthers-partner at OCG. Oracle Consultancy Group.'
Valentino took his hand in a firm handshake and a cog shifted in Miller's brain.
Tino?
'Maverick,' TJ said, addressing Valentino.
Maverick?
Had TJ and Dexter mistaken Valentino for someone they knew?
Valentino smiled and accepted their greetings like an old friend.
No! He couldn't possibly know her client!
'Miller, you dark horse,' TJ guffawed, slapping Valentino on the back. 'You certainly play your cards close to your chest. I'm impressed.'
Impressed? Miller looked up at Valentino, and just as her boss started asking him about the injury he'd incurred in a motor race in Germany last August his name slotted into place inside Miller's head.
Tino Ventura-international racing car legend.
She would have stumbled if Valentino hadn't tightened his hand on her hip to steady her.
She swore under her breath. Valentino must have heard it because he immediately took charge. 'It's been a long drive, gents. We'll save this conversation for dinner.'
Miller smiled through clenched teeth as he took their bags from the car and handed them to a waiting butler.
'Roger, please show our esteemed guests to their room,' TJ said, turning to the formally dressed man.
'Certainly. Sir? Madam?'
Miller refused to meet Dexter's eyes even though he was burning a hole right through her with his open curiosity.
She deliberately moved out of Valentino's reach as he went to place his hand at the small of her back. Her skin was still tingling from his earlier unexpected hold on her.
Ignoring his piercing gaze, Miller concentrated on keeping her legs steady as she preceded him up the stone steps.
Tino Ventura!
How had she not put two and two together? It was true that she didn't follow sport in any capacity, but as the only Australian driver in the most prestigious motor race in the world she should have recognised him. It was being introduced to him as Valentino that had thrown her, but even then, she conceded with an audible sigh, she'd been so stressed and distracted she might not have made the connection.
None of that, however, changed the fact that he should have told her who he was. That thought fired her temper all the way up the ornate rosewood staircase, ruining any appreciation she might have had of the priceless artworks lining the vast hallways of TJ's house.
Not that she cared about TJ's house. Right now she didn't care about anything but giving Valentino Ventura a piece of her mind for deceiving her.
'Stop thinking, Miller.'
Valentino's deep voice behind her sent a shiver skittering down her spine.
'You're starting to hurt my head.'
'This is your room, madam. Sir.'
The butler pushed open a door and Miller followed him inside. The room was spacious, and a tasteful combination of modern and old-world. At the far end was a large bay window with sweeping ocean views encompassing paper-white sand and an ocean that shifted from the brightest turquoise to a deep navy.
'Mr Lyons and his guests are about to adjourn to the rear terrace for cocktails. Dinner is to be served in half an hour.'
'Thank you.' Valentino closed the door after the departing butler. 'Okay, out with it,' he prompted, mimicking her wide-legged stance with his arms folded across his chest.
Miller stared at him for a minute but said nothing, her mind suddenly taken up by the size of the four-poster bed that dominated the large room. She glanced around for a sofa and found an antique settee, an armchair and a curved wooden bench seat inlaid into the bay window.
She heard Valentino move and her eyes followed his easy gait as he perched on the edge of the bed, testing the mattress. 'Comfy.'
He smiled, and she fumed even more because she knew he was laughing at her discomfort. 'I'm not sleeping with you in that,' she informed him shortly.
'Oh, come on, Miller. It's big enough for six people.'
Six people her size, maybe... Why hadn't she thought of the sleeping arrangements before now?