“Amore mio, if I wanted to kill you, I could think of many better ways then trying to poison you.”
I looked at the spaghetti and my tummy rumbled. “What is it anyway?”
“It’s Carbonara. A specialty of mine.”
I cocked my eyebrow at him. “You cooked this?”
“I got started on it earlier and just finished up now. Buon appetito.” Luca sauntered over to my dining table and laid down the contents of two plates, two glasses, and a bottle of wine. With one swift tug, Luca had the cork open and was pouring the wine.
Mia started moving to the door. “I better go then and leave you to your meal.”
Luca turned to Mia and smiled. “Thank you, Mia. I have ensured that all of my men will cater to all your needs this evening.”
Mia smirked. I could tell she was getting a rise out of this. I know my castle is normally filled with horny men, but not this many gorgeous men. I think Mia was secretly in her element.
“I’m sure I’ll be just fine.” She winked across at me and gave me the thumbs-up sign.
Pretty soon, she was out the door and purring at Alessandro. The poor boy was not going to know what hit him.
“You like white I take it?”
“Excuse me?” I looked up and was met with Luca’s expectant eyes.
He pointed to the bottle. “White wine. I take it that you like it?”
I nodded. “Oh, yes. Sorry. I was miles away.”
He saw my hesitancy at the door and smiled. “She’s going to be okay, you know. I’ll make sure of it.”
I sat down on the bed. “You could make sure of it by taking your men and leaving. Then, I could get back to business.”
“You know all this could have been avoided if you had just paid me what I’m owed.”
I rose again from the bed in anger. “What you’re owed? What you’re owed?”
Luca looked me up and down. My God, it was sexy. “Yes—and you don’t have to say it twice.”
“You bastard! I don’t owe you a goddamned thing.”
Luca shook his head. “Maybe you don’t, but the business does.”
I frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh, come on, Clara. You’re an intelligent lady. Do you really think Trudy financed this all by herself?
My heart started beating wildly again. “She owns seventy percent of the business,” I said, blinking.
“Of which, seventy percent of that is now owned by… Guess who?”
I blinked rapidly, but then what he said just started to sink in. “You.”
“Yes.”
Trudy never said a thing to me. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Your aunt took a gamble on some shares which tumbled. She was hoping to raise more collateral for the business, but ended up losing it all instead. She didn’t want to let you down.”
“So, you came to save the day.”
Luca sat down on the chair and motioned for me to sit with him. “Your aunt speaks very highly of you. I think I was kind of smitten by you from the start. Meeting you was my next priority after the deal was signed.”
I sighed and took a sip of my wine. “So why are you going to all of this trouble? You’re getting money, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I wanted to know more about you. See how much your cage could be rattled. I was pleasantly surprised.”
“So, you deliberately sent your hooligans out to demand money from me hoping I would tell them to take a hike?”
“Exactly.” He smiled triumphantly and sucked up a piece of spaghetti.
As the burn rose between my legs, I found myself clearing my throat. “You’re weird.”
Luca smirked. “Maybe I am, but if you think about it, it makes logical sense. I wanted to make sure you were as good as I was told you were. I can’t have people running my businesses without making sure they’re perfectly capable.”
I stared him down. “This is my business, Luca.”
“It may be yours in the physical sense. You run the place. But not in the financial sense. I put a lot of money into your little venture. I even recently bought another ten percent.”
“If it’s doing so well, then why is Trudy selling you shares of the place?”
Luca looked a little worried for a moment. “I think she may be in over her head. She needed the money to help pay off some bad debt.”
I frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Luca sighed. “I have gone too far. You need to speak with your aunt about this.”
I started panicking even more. What had my aunt gotten herself into? “I’m asking you.”
Luca shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. I am here, and we have to get along. Normally, I don’t like to get so involved in a business venture. I wouldn’t unless something went wrong and I had to step in. When I saw you yesterday, though, this castle became a lot more appealing to me. That and who lives under its roof.” Luca motioned for me to eat, so I sighed and got tucking in. My God, it was good. “Do you like it?”