The Lady's Man

The way it had always worked was that each member of the royal family submitted a list of proposed guests for the Duke’s approval and Damiano then made the final decision. Handing over this responsibility to Matthew Allenby, number one crook and social climber, struck Caterina as being about as wise as setting a wolf to guard a chicken coop!

Though it did, of course, explain why she had a problem. And mentally she kicked herself. She ought to have guessed he was involved!

She glared at him. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘I find this astonishing.’ Then as he looked back at her impassively, quite unmoved by her astonishment, she put to him in a tight tone, ‘Tell me something... The lists that were submitted by the rest of the family... were there any problems? Were their proposed guests approved or not?’

Matthew knew what she was leading up to, but he gave no hint of this as he replied, ‘The Duchess’s list was certainly approved without any problem.’ He was referring to Sofia, Damiano’s beautiful young wife, mother of the couple’s eight-month-old son.

‘And Leone’s?’

Count Leone was Caterina’s second brother, once known as an incorrigible playboy but now a happily married man.

Matthew nodded, still revealing nothing. ‘I believe the Count’s also went through without any problem.’

‘Very interesting. And the Countess’s?’

‘No problem at all.’

‘I see. So everyone else’s went through without a hitch... Then how come,’ she demanded, ‘there was a problem with mine?’

Matthew regarded her for a moment. Then he told her in a flat tone, ‘I’m afraid you included some rather unsuitable people.’

‘Unsuitable in whose eyes?’

‘In mine,’ he responded. ‘As I know they would also have been in your brother’s.’ And as he looked at her his eyes warned her not to pursue this subject further.

Caterina saw the warning and deliberately ignored it. ‘Exactly in what way are they unsuitable?’ she demanded.

‘They had certain connections.’ There was an edge of steel to his tone now. ‘Certain connections which sadly rendered them quite unsuitable to be guests at a royal garden party.’

Liar! If anyone was unsuitable it was him! But these people who had been so peremptorily crossed off her list—as she had discovered only this morning, with the party just two weeks away—had been friends of Orazio, her ex-boyfriend. And that, as she well knew, was sufficient reason for Matthew’s veto.

She thought of an old saying: my enemy’s friend is my enemy. Well, Orazio had certainly been Matthew Allenby’s enemy, for he had dared to try and expose him for the two-faced scoundrel that he was. Little wonder then that Matthew, who had so much to hide, should prefer to keep his enemy’s friends at a distance.

Caterina looked at him now, full of anger and loathing. Because he knew how to fight dirty and because he had the ear of Damiano, he had triumphed easily over Orazio, disgracing him and putting an end to his romance with Caterina and turning Caterina’s life upside-down in the process.

Damn him! Suddenly she’d had enough of this unpleasant confrontation. In a cold voice she informed him, ‘I intend to take this up with my brother. I shall have your judgement overturned and these people will be invited to the party.’

Matthew did not argue.

‘That’s entirely up to you.’

But as she looked into his eyes Caterina had a feeling that he was probably already plotting how best to thwart her. That prompted her to inform him, just to defy him further, ‘I shall make a point of having a word with him this very evening. The sooner this is dealt with the better, I feel. Yes, I shall speak to him before I go off to the Bardi dinner.’

As she added that last bit she couldn’t resist a smile. She had briefly forgotten about the Bardi dinner that was to be held in the Town Hall with herself as hostess this evening. A sumptuous affair, the purpose of the dinner was to celebrate the awarding of an important new contract to build an extension to the Bardi Home for Disabled Children, one of the many charities of which Caterina was patron. And the reason why she had smiled was that she knew something that Matthew Allenby was unaware of. Something that would not please him in the slightest when he found out.

Feigning innocent curiosity, she tilted her head at him. ‘Will you be attending the Bardi dinner?’ she enquired. Though, knowing what she knew, she was pretty certain he would not.

Matthew, who did not know what she knew, nodded. ‘I might.’

‘And the presentation this afternoon?’

‘Yes, I think that will be interesting. I shall definitely go along to that.’

Of course he would! He wouldn’t miss it for the world! For Caterina happened to know that he had secretly entered the contest that had been held for the Bardi extension contract—secretly, for he had entered under the name of Tad UK, one of his lesser-known companies in London. And he would be there at the presentation this afternoon, when it would be Caterina’s happy duty to announce the name of the winner, no doubt expecting, in his arrogance, that the winner would be him.

For the name of the winner had not been made public. Not even the winning company knew yet that it’d won—which was why all the contestants had been invited to attend the presentation, as well as the celebratory dinner this evening. And today’s announcement of the winner was going to be a really big event.

It was also going to be a thoroughly demoralising one for Matthew Allenby, for though he thought himself incredibly clever he had come nowhere near winning. Caterina smiled at that thought. It was deeply cheering, as also was the fact that he would not be at the dinner. For she knew very well that a man of Matthew Allenby’s towering self-importance was scarcely likely to want to show his face in defeat.

She threw him an oblique look now. ‘Yes, it will definitely be interesting.’ Then, out of sheer badness, savouring his imminent humiliation—for an architect of his standing didn’t enter such a contest, even anonymously, unless he intended winning—she added, ‘The winning design is really quite superb.’

He was watching her with a curious look. ‘Of course, you know who the winner is.’

‘Indeed I do. I was on the panel that did the choosing.’

And the rejecting, she thought with a twist of satisfaction, though she had rejected his design—as had the rest of the panel—not because it was his, for they had only discovered the connection later, but simply because it quite genuinely wasn’t good enough. Still, when she had found out, it had given her an immense amount of pleasure.

Mock-innocently now, she added, just to stir him up a bit, ‘It’s a foreign company. One we’d never heard of. And, like I said, the design is really quite brilliant. It’ll be my privilege to finally meet their representative this afternoon and present him or her with the contract for the extension.’

. Matthew smiled a shuttered smile. ‘You’re making me curious,’ he told her. ‘I shall be watching the proceedings now with even more interest.’

Caterina smiled back at him sweetly. And I’ll be watching you, she was thinking. And it will be my inestimable pleasure to see the look on your face when I stand up on the podium and announce the winner.

As she turned to go, there was a cheerful spring in her step. The day was turning out not so badly after all.

The atmosphere was electric as the seven members of the panel, with Caterina at their head, dressed in a butter-yellow dress, stepped out to loud applause onto the stage.

And as she looked out over the rows of faces—for the hall was packed to the gunnels—Caterina felt a fierce thrust of excitement and satisfaction. It had been hard work organising the contest, but it had been a resounding success. Entries had poured in from all over the globe and the publicity it had stimulated had done nothing but good for her beloved charity. Donations had more than trebled over the past six months.

And for a moment she quite forgot her private beef with Matthew Allenby. Since the break-up of her romance she had turned her back on men and love and poured all her energies into her charity work, and she was thrilled that this particular project had turned out so well.

All her charities were dear to her, but Bardi especially so, and she was deeply involved in the new extension. And now she couldn’t wait to meet the winner of the competition, for it would be her duty and her privilege to work closely alongside him.

The panel members took their seats as Signor Roberto Lecori, chairman of the Bardi children’s home, stepped up to the microphone to make an introductory speech. A hush fell across the hall and the audience settled back in their seats, all eyes fixed on him, as he began to speak.

All eyes, that was, except a pair in the fourth row which were fixed unblinkingly on Caterina.

She looked quite beautiful, Matthew thought. Serene and relaxed. Not at all the spiteful vixen who had confronted him a few hours earlier. His eyes narrowed; he was intrigued. There were so many different sides to her. Any man who got involved with her would have a real challenge on his hands. And he smiled, savouring that thought. He had always enjoyed a challenge. What a stroke of good fortune if fate were to throw them together.

He let his gaze sweep over her as he sat unseen in the fourth row—for he was aware that she hadn’t spotted him yet—and the iron-grey eyes were full of appreciation. She really was quite stunning, far more beautiful than she seemed to realise, for she possessed none of the vanity that often accompanied such beauty. That wonderful glossy hair, that lovely face so full of character, that softly feminine, willowy figure...

Though not too willowy these days, as had been the case a few months ago at the time of the break-up of her romance. And as he remembered her unhappiness and how thin she’d got then Matthew felt a twist of regret at his part in the whole débâcle. Though, of course, he’d had no choice. He’d had to intervene. But he was pleased to see that she’d recovered. These days she was looking perfectly splendid.

And again he reflected that it really would be rather nice if fate were to offer him the opportunity to enjoy this gorgeous creature.

Signor Lecori was coming to the end of his speech now and the audience were starting to shift expectantly in their seats as the moment they had all been waiting for grew near. Then at last he turned to Caterina.

‘And here to announce the winner... our beloved patron, the Lady Caterina...’

Caterina rose to her feet, smiling, though inwardly she was cursing. For the past ten minutes, with the utmost discretion, she’d been searching the sea of faces for a glimpse of Matthew Allenby. But there was no sign of him at all. Damn it, she was thinking. Was she to be denied, after all, the pleasure of looking into his face and seeing his disappointment when she announced the winner?

“Thank you, Signor Lecori...’ She took her place on the podium and turned to address the audience before her. ‘Ladies and gentlemen...’ she began. But then her heart jumped inside her—for, joy of joys, at last she’d spotted her quarry!

He’d been half-hidden behind a woman in a wide-brimmed hat, but from up here on the podium she could see him perfectly—looking, it must be said, as dangerously handsome as ever in a dark blue suit and bright red tie. And as he met her eyes and smiled she mentally rubbed her hands with glee. In a couple of minutes’ time he wouldn’t be feeling much like smiling!

She began the short speech she had prepared, praising the high standard of the entries, her eyes flicking from time to time to the face in the fourth row, savouring the moment, fast approaching, when she would see the confident look in those dark grey eyes crumble.

And as the moment drew near her heart was hammering. It was shameful just how much she was going to enjoy this!

She paused. ‘And now it’s my very great pleasure to announce the winner, whose design, in spite of the high standard of its competitors, stood out, in the unanimous opinion of the judges, head and shoulders above the rest...’

Her gaze flicked to the fourth row. Here it comes, she silently warned him. Brace yourself for a nice big disappointment.

‘And the winner is...’ She licked her lips mentally. ‘The winner is Secolo Designs of Geneva!’

The audience burst into applause, everyone looking excitedly round them to see who would stand up to claim the prize. But, before she did likewise, Caterina turned with a smile to focus for a gloating moment on the figure in the fourth row. That’s one in the eye for you, Matthew Allenby! she thought.

But what on earth was happening? Her heart tripped inside her and suddenly her blood was turning to powder—for, right before her eyes, Matthew was rising from his seat and, with a triumphant little smile, walking towards her.

CHAPTER TWO

‘FOR a piece of blatant, barefaced dishonesty I would say that really takes the cake!’

The presentation was over, all the photographs had been taken and Caterina and Matthew were back at the Palazzo Verde, confronting one another across the desk in her private office.

At least Caterina, white with fury, was confronting Matthew, her hands tight fists as she glared at him across the desktop, wishing she could pluck his arrogant head from his shoulders, bury it at the bottom of some dark and spidery hole and never have to look at his hateful face again.

Matthew, for his part, was having no such violent fantasies. As he sat in the tan leather armchair opposite her he was feeling thoroughly pleased with the way things had turned out. And he was aware—though he really wasn’t looking that way on purpose—that his air of quiet satisfaction was simply driving Caterina crazy.

‘Dishonest?’ he queried, not quite managing to suppress a smile. ‘What on earth makes you come to that conclusion?’

‘Secolo Designs of Geneva! That’s what makes me come to it! That was a pretty shameless bluff!’

‘Bluff? Why do you call it a bluff? It’s the name of one of my companies.’

‘Oh, yes! I know!’ Her blue eyes sparked angrily. ‘How clever, and how convenient for you to pull that out of the bag! Did you invent it specially for the occasion?’

It had been the shabbiest trick. Only someone like Matthew Allenby could have stooped so low as to pull a stunt like this. Caterina shuddered, remembering how her blood had turned to powder when she had read out the name of the winning company and seen Matthew rising to his feet.

Just for a moment she hadn’t believed it. She’d blinked. Thought she must be dreaming. But no, there he’d been, mounting the steps up to the stage, coming towards her with a smug, triumphant smile to accept the contract for the Bardi extension. It hadn’t been a dream, after all. It had been a waking nightmare!

After that, she’d had to endure the torture of a photo-call. She’d had to stand there shaking his hand before a battery of press photographers, a smile pinned to her face, going through the motions of pretending to be delighted that this perfectly monstrous man had just walked off with her precious contract.

It had been ghastly. Utterly ghastly. Her flesh had crawled just to think of it. And as soon as it was over she had taken him to one side and demanded that he see her in her office back at the palace immediately. Before this thing went any further, she wanted a few explanations.

Needless to say, he had kept her waiting. She’d been wearing out the carpet for at least fifteen minutes, pacing backwards and forwards, steam coming out of her ears, before he had deigned to poke his arrogant head round her office door.

‘Sorry,’ he’d offered, clearly not sorry in the slightest, ‘but I got tied up with a bunch of reporters. They wanted to know how I felt about winning the contract.’ He’d smiled into her black face. ‘I told them I was over the moon.’

Caterina had known, of course, that he would enjoy rubbing her nose in it. For his triumph wasn’t just triumph at winning the contract, it was also triumph at having so roundly trumped her. He knew how she felt about him and he was loving every sordid minute of this.

He said now in response to her accusation, ‘It’s not my fault you didn’t know Secolo was one of my companies—and has been, as a matter of fact, for the past two years. You see, it wasn’t just invented for the purpose of hoodwinking you.’

And from the slight edge of admonishment in his tone as he said that Caterina deduced that she was actually supposed to believe that he was totally incapable of such deceit. Hah! she thought scathingly. He must think I was born yesterday!

‘If you’d done a bit of checking up,’ he added, ‘you could easily have found out.’

That had occurred to Caterina too, but there had been no cause to check up on the various contestants who’d entered designs for the competition. The designs, after all, had been judged solely on merit. Any additional information just hadn’t been deemed necessary.

All the same, she observed now, bitterly, ‘I very much wish I had checked up.’

‘You mean you would have voted differently if you’d known?’ He made a pretence of looking quite shocked at this notion. ‘For someone with your high moral standards, surely that would have been unthinkable?’

Caterina eyed him. Let him mock her and make fun of her if he liked—they both knew that he didn’t suffer from moral scruples!—but it did genuinely trouble her that when she’d asked herself certain questions earlier she hadn’t been at all sure of her answers. Could she really have voted knowingly for Matthew Allenby? Could she posssibly have done otherwise given that his design was by far the best?

‘I think,’ she said, frowning, coming to a decision, ‘that I would have had no choice but to resign from the panel of judges.’ It sounded rather extreme, but what else could she have done?

‘I see.’

Matthew seemed to contemplate her answer for a moment. Was he offended Caterina wondered, to know the strength of her antipathy? With anyone else she would have avoided such callous bluntness. But not with Matthew Allenby. She didn’t care if he was offended. And anyway, as she well knew, he could take it.

Which was one of the reasons why it was almost a pleasure to clash with him. When you were mad with Matthew Allenby you didn’t have to hold back. You could just say what you were thinking and go straight for the jugular.

He continued to watch her in silence for a moment. Then he pointed out, ‘But you didn’t resign over the Tad UK entry... and I think you knew my connection with that company?’

Caterina could not deny it. ‘Yes, I knew it was one of yours.’ Then she looked at him and smiled. ‘But there was no dilemma with that one. I wouldn’t have voted for that design whoever’s it had been.’ And her smile turned unrepentantly malicious as she added, ‘You must have been having an off-day when you did that one.’

‘It wasn’t that bad. It had one or two good features.’ Then, seeing her expression turn openly disdainful at this apparent display of self-justification, Matthew smiled and informed her, ‘I had no hand in it, however. It was the work of one of our new trainees. Not bad at all, I thought, for a beginner.’

Caterina was careful not to let her expression alter. So she was to be denied even the small pleasure of having thwarted him on that one! Damn, she was thinking. He was as slippery as an eel!

She leaned back in her chair and narrowed her eyes at him. He was totally maddening. Irritating beyond reason. What she really ought to do was wind up this meeting and spare herself the displeasure of another moment of his company. But she felt disinclined to do that. There was something about him. Something that seemed to stir in her a strange and fierce compulsion. The irritation and antipathy that he aroused in her was so acute, it was like an itch that simply had to be scratched.

And, besides, she hadn’t finished with him yet. Not by a long shot.

She told him, her tone accusing, ‘I really think you should have told me that you’d entered a design for the competition. Surely that’s what any normal person would have done?’

Matthew eyed her and smiled. ‘I had my reasons for keeping silent. After all, I wouldn’t have wanted people accusing me of seeking favours by making my interest in the contest known. I am close to the Duke, after all, and you are his sister. People might have thought I was seeking special consideration.’

Yes, that was possible. People might have thought that. Though it hadn’t even crossed Caterina’s mind until this moment. For it was actually a totally ludicrous notion. Pigs would fly before she would give Matthew Allenby ‘special consideration’, and these days virtually any associate of her brother’s would be liable to receive exceedingly short shrift from her. It was sad, but true. Their once close relationship really had sunk that low since the bust-up over Orazio.

She laughed a harsh laugh now. ‘How little they know!’

‘How little indeed.’

Matthew knew what she’d been thinking. At least, he knew she’d been thinking about Orazio. And, hearing that harsh laugh, it suddenly struck him that perhaps he’d been wrong when he’d made the assumption that she was completely over that sad affair. For at the heart of that laugh he had sensed real pain.

What she needed, he reflected, was a new affair to take her mind off it. And he wouldn’t mind in the slightest providing the therapy himself.

Out loud he returned to the earlier point he’d been making. ‘By making known my interest in the contest I would simply have been putting you in an uncomfortable position. And I would never have forgiven myself,’ he added as though he really meant it, ‘if you’d felt obliged to resign from the judging panel.’

Such kind consideration. He was making her heart weep. Caterina delivered him a look as cynical as his sentiments. ‘I had no idea you possessed such an altruistic streak.’

‘I tend to keep it well hidden. My modesty demands it.’

‘Modesty as well?’ Her eyebrows lifted.

He smiled. ‘Naturally I try to keep that hidden as well.’

‘Without too much difficulty, I imagine.’ She flicked him a dry look. ‘I must say this is really most revealing. All these fine qualities I would never have guessed at in a million years.’

‘Really?’ The dark eyes were fixed on her. ‘How very ungenerous of you.’

‘Not ungenerous, just realistic.’

She looked right back at him, at the arrogantly handsome face, so full of secrets, at the dark grey eyes with their menacing allure that, if you weren’t careful, would suck you in and seduce you. He was many things—a cheat, a scoundrel and a social climber, as well as a dangerous male force to be reckoned with—but alas he was none of the fine things he was claiming.

‘I judge what I see, and what I see,’ she told him, ‘rather contradicts those unlikely claims you’re making.’

‘Which only goes to show how deceptive appearances can be. But never mind,’ he smiled. ‘Once we’re working together, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to explore below the surface.’

Up until that point, though he’d irritated her beyond reason, Caterina had been quite enjoying their verbal fencing. So many of the men she encountered were so timid in her company, afraid to put a foot wrong, reluctant to contradict her. And she grew tired of it. At times it could be downright wearying being surrounded by people who agreed with you all the time.

And at least Matthew Allenby never did that. Even when he wasn’t actually fighting with her he wasn’t necessarily agreeing with her either. And, though she hated to admit that there might be anything she actually liked about him, she did in fact rather enjoy that side of him. Arguing with him gave her a buzz. A strictly intellectual buzz, of course!

But that last comment had definitely not been to her liking—that cool, breezy reference to their working together. For that was something she simply couldn’t let happen.

Couldn’t and wouldn’t. She must find a way out of this dilemma. That was something she had realised very quickly. The Bardi extension was her pet project. She’d poured months of dedication and energy into it and she’d been looking forward to working alongside the winner and seeing the whole thing come to life. But there was no way she could work alongside Matthew Allenby, so a solution had to be found that somehow eased him out.