Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

It amused her to see that as soon as they arrived Renzo became the target of attention again. The women gazed at him with pleasure, the men with jealousy. He accepted it all as his due, and Mandy had to admit that he had plenty of what the Italians called bella figura. More than mere good looks, it implied confidence, style, charisma, panache.

He was never at a loss. When someone produced a battered guitar he led the singalong with all the aplomb of a natural showman.

Now and then Henry butted in, making a noise—as someone observed—like a terrified monkey. But he was shouted down and vanished, scowling. After that nobody thought of him until bed time, when the sound of a slap followed by a yell showed that he’d had no luck there, either.

The next day they climbed up nearly three thousand metres and ended in a larger hut, perched on the edge of a ridge, staring down into the valley where the lights of Chamonix were just visible, like winking signals from another planet.

Mandy slipped outside to catch the last of the light, which had an unearthly quality here, in the heart of the snowy peaks. In the distant sky she could see a blaze of glorious scarlet, such as she’d never expected in February, and held her breath, longing for it to last.

A door behind her opened and she glanced back to see Renzo emerge. To her relief, he didn’t speak but stood in silence while they both watched the blazing colour fade swiftly into darkness.

At last she heard him sigh.

‘It’s breathtaking, isn’t it? I always come out to watch.’

‘And yet you must have seen it so often,’ she ventured.

‘It doesn’t matter how often. It’s always like the first time.’ He looked at her wryly. ‘I guess that surprises you, seeing as you have me down as an unrelieved jerk, totally insensitive and incapable of appreciating a moment of beauty. Don’t deny that that’s your opinion of me.’

‘I wasn’t going to deny it—’ she chuckled ‘—why should I?’

He looked aggrieved. ‘It might have been polite.’

‘I don’t do polite.’

‘Very wise. You save a lot of time that way.’ He came and sat beside her. ‘Are you coping all right?’

‘I’m fine, thanks. I’m really pleased with myself for not collapsing when Joan lost her footing. I just supported her until she was ready, you have to admit that.’

‘True, but with me above, supporting the two of you. All right, all right, don’t eat me.’

From inside came a burst of laughter, making him wince.

‘Shouldn’t you be getting back to your guests?’ she asked.

‘They’re not my guests, they’re my responsibility, and sometimes it’s one I’d much rather do without. I swear, this is the last time I take over a party where I haven’t been able to vet everyone first. And no, I don’t mean you.’

‘I know,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Henry. Do you know which one of the girls slapped him last night?’

He grinned. ‘They’re lining up to lay claim. Poor Henry. I saw him trying to attach himself to you earlier today. Is he giving you trouble?’

She glared. ‘You’re not chivalrously offering to take care of him for me, I hope.’

‘No way,’ Renzo said hastily. ‘You deal with him any way you like, and er—’ he gave her a significant glance ‘—I’ll dispose of the body.’

‘All right,’ she said, laughing. ‘Enough said. Actually, Henry really wanted to have a moan about you.’

‘Because I had to keep him in line?’

‘I think it’s more that you’re everything he wants to be and never will. He reckons you don’t get your face slapped, and that makes him want to kill you.’

‘What does he think I’m up to? Those bunk beds are only about two feet wide.’

‘Well,’ Mandy mused, ‘I suppose two feet might just be enough if—’ She left the implication hanging.

‘You’re making me blush, do you know that?’

‘I should really like to know what could make you blush,’ she said ironically. ‘Nothing I could think of.’

It was too dark for her to see much of his face, but his eyes seemed to gleam at her with unholy glee.

‘How do you know if you don’t try?’ he teased.

‘Now, you stop that,’ she said, suddenly cross. ‘I know what you’re doing and it’s a waste of time.’

‘Sure about that?’

‘Quite sure. Who do you think you’re dealing with? One of those girls in there, ready to sigh every time you go past?’

‘I’ve never pictured you like that,’ he said truthfully.

‘You think I want you swinging from my balcony?’

‘No way. You’d push me off.’

‘How astute of you.’

‘Let’s drop this, since I’m getting the worst of it. I think I’ll get us something to drink so that we can fight in comfort.’

Renzo went inside and Mandy leaned back in her chair, feeling content. She had a feeling of being in control, and she suspected that not many women had ever felt that with this man. It was very enjoyable.

CHAPTER TWO

RENZO returned after a moment with a bottle of light wine and two glasses.

‘Just a little,’ he said. ‘We’ll need all our wits about us tomorrow.’

When he’d poured and handed her the glass he said, ‘So Henry behaved himself?’

‘Only at first,’ Mandy replied. ‘Then he tried it on, but I gave him my “drop dead” look. It worked a treat.’

‘He has all my sympathy. You’re probably a karate instructor in your spare time.’

‘No such luck. I do research.’

‘Research? You mean—brainy stuff?’ He sounded nervous.

‘Well, I do have a couple of degrees.’

‘A couple?’ He edged away, as though fearful that her degrees would jump out and attack him.

‘It helps. I hire myself out to people writing books. They need stuff on other countries, history, language, that sort of thing.’

‘Is that how you come to speak Italian?’

‘That’s right. I had to learn some for a man who was writing a novel about the Borgia family and all their evil doings, and I liked it so much I went on and learned the rest.’

‘And I’ll bet that’s not the only language you know,’ he said, sounding more cautious by the minute.

‘I did French and German at school. They’re often useful too.’

‘You really are an academic.’ He sounded aghast.

‘Sure I am. Why do you keep looking down at the drop?’

‘I was wondering which would be the best place to throw myself off,’ he said in a hollow voice.

‘Don’t be in such a rush. Wait until we’re all safe, and I’ll think of something.’

They grinned in perfect understanding, and he refilled her glass.

‘You’re probably winding me up,’ Mandy said, sipping appreciatively. ‘I expect you went to college too.’

‘For a couple of years, but I was there on an athletic scholarship. As long as I won things, my lack of brains didn’t matter too much.’

She didn’t believe a word of it.

‘Don’t you ever want to write books?’ he asked.

‘I’ve done a couple of travel books.’

‘Is that why you’ve got a notebook?’ he asked, observing something in her hand. ‘You’re actually working out here?’

‘Just making a few notes. I do it wherever I am.’

‘Don’t you ever stop and simply enjoy yourself?’

‘But I do enjoy myself when I’m jotting things down. Often I only know afterwards how I’m going to use them. They dance around in my head and take on a life of their own, and who knows what may come of it?’

‘Fantastic,’ he agreed at once. ‘Throw the dice in the air and watch to see what happens.’

‘I guess that’s how you live.’

‘I like to let life surprise me, just like you. We’re alike, plenty of freedom and no ties. That’s the way to be.’

‘How do you know I have no ties?’

He shrugged. ‘You’re either free or you have a partner who’s content to sit at home while you climb mountains.’

A little devil prompted her to say primly, ‘And why not? We each follow our own path out of mutual respect.’

Renzo’s face was a picture of comical disgust. ‘Dio mio! You ought to get rid of him fast. Hell would freeze over before I let my woman risk her neck without me there.’

‘Let? Let? What century are you living in?’

‘Any century rather than one where this can happen. But you’re fooling me, aren’t you? Don’t tell me this paragon of dreary virtue actually exists.’

‘No, he doesn’t.’ Mandy gave a melodramatic sigh. ‘I just dream of meeting him.’

‘Sure you do. And it would serve you right if he turned out to be just like you described.’

‘What about you? No ties and you mean to keep it that way?’

‘For a while at any rate. Ties are all right— one day.’

‘No, I think you’ll live and die a free man, because that’s what life means to you.’

He raised his glass in salute. ‘Very clever of you.’

She lifted hers in response. ‘So be careful what you say. I see everything. I’m a witch.’

He peered at her in the shadows.

‘No,’ Renzo said softly, ‘not a witch, a cat— a sleek, graceful, green-eyed cat.’

‘Then beware my claws,’ she said, suppressing the flare of pleasure that this gave her.

‘I’ll take my chances, because it’s so nice to talk to someone who understands freedom. But, at the risk of being bopped, I’d like to know why you’re alone. Have the men no eyes?’

‘Perhaps they don’t always like what they see,’ she mused. ‘He said he preferred a woman with “a bit of meat on her”.’

Renzo nodded, far too intelligent to ask who ‘he’ was.

‘He sounds like an Englishman,’ he observed. ‘That’s the charming way they talk. But you speak of him in the past.’

‘One day he just didn’t turn up for a date and I never heard from him again.’

‘You’re well rid, and it saves you the chore of dumping him.’

‘How do you know I would have dumped him?’

He made a face. ‘Because you have too much taste to tolerate for long a creature who has the soul of a pig. And, besides, you’ll never find your perfect man, because you’re not really seeking him.’

Mandy thought for a moment. Could that possibly be true? The man who’d almost broken her heart—but only almost—wasn’t she recovering remarkably fast?

She had a strange sensation that Renzo had looked directly into her and seen things that were hidden from herself.

‘That might be it,’ she conceded, nodding slowly.

‘What made you come up here? It’s more than seeking material for your notebooks.’

‘I needed the change. I like to get out in the open and do something adventurous. Slaving over a hot computer isn’t enough.’

‘I know. I spend too much time cooped up, as well.’

‘I thought you’d practically live in the mountains.’

‘I don’t do this for a living. I used to climb a lot but now I sell sports equipment. I learned to climb with Pierre, who owns this firm, and is the man you were expecting. We’ve stayed friends, and when he needs help he calls me. It gives me the chance to get back here.’

‘Away from noise and silly irritations,’ she murmured.

Renzo nodded. ‘The mountains may endanger you, but they’re never trivial.’

‘And even the danger—’ She stopped and drew in a breath of pure satisfaction.

‘You too? Yes, it’s true. There’s pleasure in going to the edge—perhaps closer than you should—’

‘The moment when you feel you might just have gone too far,’ she murmured, ‘but you get away with it.’

‘There’s nothing like it,’ he agreed appreciatively. ‘And then you’re a winner, ruler of the world. And next time—’

He stopped and their eyes met.

‘Should you be talking to me like this?’ she asked humorously. ‘You—teacher. Me—pupil. Surely you should be preaching safety, not leading me astray with the delights of danger?’

‘You’re already “astray” or you wouldn’t have known what I meant so quickly,’ he said. ‘But you’re right. I shouldn’t talk like that, and I wouldn’t to anyone else. I rely on you not to repeat it.’

‘I promise,’ she said and they chinked glasses.

‘Especially him!’ Renzo added as Henry’s bellow reached them from inside. It was clear that he was heading towards them.

‘Is that the time?’ Mandy asked hastily, rising. ‘I think I’ll get an early night.’

She was annoyed with Henry, who’d ruined a moment she was enjoying. The discovery that Renzo had hidden depths had opened a new path that might have been fun to explore. Best of all had been the understanding that had flashed between them. He was the last man with whom she would have expected this, which only made it more intriguing.

But she remembered that they would only be together for a few days. Then he would return to his country and she to hers, and that would be that.

Next day the weather was good and they travelled fast. With every step the air became clearer and brighter, and the peaks seemed tantalizingly closer.

‘It’s like we could get to the top today,’ Mandy breathed when they were halfway up.

‘That nearness is an illusion,’ Renzo said. ‘You’ve been in the mountains before, you should know all about the illusions.’

‘True,’ she said. ‘So many different ones—’

‘Yes, and after a while everything seems unreal—or maybe it’s real—but how can you know when your surroundings seem to come and go? Are they near or far? What will it be like finding out? Or will we ever be able to find out at all?’

‘Hey, you’re a poet,’ she said, grudgingly impressed.

‘Nonsense,’ he said hastily. ‘I’m a seriousminded man, who disapproves of levity. And stop looking at me like that, you little cat. Sometimes I have to be serious—’

‘Or pretend to be.’

‘Or pre— Will you shut up, please? Listen to what I say, and be careful about false impressions.’

‘But maybe not all the impressions are false.’

‘Most of them out here are. Don’t get sentimental, just concentrate.’

‘Yes, sir!’ Mandy gave an exaggerated salute.

‘Behave yourself!’

This time she didn’t answer in words, but her eyes said everything. He turned away quickly, yelling, ‘All right everyone, are we ready?’

Renzo went round the others, checking ropes, and Mandy gave a small, private smile. Without meaning to, she’d touched on a side of him that he preferred to keep private. Interesting. Very, very interesting.

They went further that day and finished up in a ‘hut’ that was an improvement on the last. Instead of dormitories with bunks, there were double rooms with comfortable beds. The food was excellent, and after a rewarding meal everyone gathered in the main room where a man was playing an accordion.

At first the dancing was boisterous, but after a while the tone softened and the crowd divided into couples. Joan, Mandy was amused to notice, had two suitors to chose from—three, if you included Henry, which nobody did.

Joan’s choice finally fell on a handsome young man called Peter. They circled the floor smoochily, then vanished together and weren’t seen again.

Renzo danced with every girl on his expedition, except Mandy, who was so occupied he couldn’t get near her.

What she hadn’t told Renzo the night before was that she’d once wanted to be a dancer and had taken lessons. She’d given it up when she’d realized she had only a modest talent, but she still loved to dance, and suddenly the legacy of her training had kicked in. She could manage the fastest speeds, the most intricate steps, and men were soon queuing up to partner her.

One, a Frenchman called Marcel, was her equal. Together they hurled themselves about the floor, twisting, writhing, together and apart, while the others stopped dancing to stand back and watch.

They were Spanish dancers, clicking imaginary castanets, gazing passionately into each other’s eyes. Then the rhythm changed, became rock ’n’ roll, and he began to fling her up and around his shoulders. When the music crashed to a finish, she was lying back in his arms in a theatrical simulation of abandon. The applause was loud.

Marcel gave her a neat bow and set about turning his advantage to gold with the ladies who were converging on him. Slightly breathless, she smiled at her next partner, approaching her with his hands outstretched. But he was eased determinedly out of the way by Renzo.

‘Boss’s privilege,’ he said. ‘Mandy, I can’t compete with your last partner, but I’ll do my best.’

‘Suppose I don’t want to dance with you?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said with mock gravity. ‘I have to distribute my favours equally. You’re the only one left, and I can’t have you being a wallflower, can I?’

‘Wallflower? Me?’

But his eyes were gleaming with fun, and she thumped his shoulder lightly.

‘Cheeky so-and-so,’ she said. ‘I don’t know why anyone puts up with you.’

‘I’m irresistible, hadn’t you heard?’

‘No, and if I do hear, I’ll tell them different.’

‘That’s my girl.’

Renzo drew her close, sighing dramatically in a way that made her want to giggle. The music had become a waltz, and as he guided her smoochily around the floor she realized that she was being stared at again, this time with envy. ‘There’s no need to overdo it,’ she murmured.

‘You don’t understand. I’m expected to overdo it.’

‘Ah, yes, just doing your duty. Otherwise, of course, nothing would make you dance with me.’

‘I wouldn’t go quite that far. A very large sum of money might persuade me.’

‘I’ll kick your shins in a minute.’

He was an excellent dancer and she fell easily into step with him.

‘You’re not playing your part,’ he said after a while. ‘You should be gazing adoringly into my eyes.’

Glancing up, she found his face closer than she’d expected and drew a sudden sharp breath.

‘That’s better,’ he murmured.

‘Watch it,’ she murmured back. ‘I’m in a dangerous mood.’

‘Wonderful! A woman is never so interesting as when she’s dangerous.’

Mandy knew a brief flare of alarm. For a moment—just for the tiniest possible moment—she’d actually wanted him to find her interesting. Time to bring him down a peg.

‘That’s a very good line,’ she said admiringly. ‘You must be proud of it.’

‘One of my best,’ he assured her.

‘Of course you need to practise your delivery.’

‘I thought I delivered it just right,’ he said, hurt.

‘No, you should try it with a woman who isn’t standing back and judging the performance.’

‘You’re not standing back,’ he said, tightening his arm about her waist, so that she could feel his body more closely against hers.

‘Inside I’m standing back, having a good laugh at you, actually daring to think I’d give you an easy time.’

‘If there’s one thought that never crossed my mind it’s that you’d give me an easy time,’ he said fervently.

‘Well, you should be able to cope with that,’ she teased. ‘You’re Italian, after all. Think Casanova! Think Romeo!’

‘Think a sock on the jaw! Mio dio, where do you get these ideas from? If I labelled you cold and prissy because you’re English, you’d be annoyed.’

‘Not if it were true,’ she said. ‘Then I’d be flattered that you’d recognised my innate virtue.’

His alarmed expression was so comical that she burst out laughing.

‘I’d take a bet,’ Mandy said, ‘that every night at bedtime you say a prayer to be saved from women of virtue.’

Renzo gave her a considering look. ‘Well— maybe not all of them. How sad that the music is ending. We must continue this so interesting conversation another time.’

He gave her a little bow as they parted.

‘Thank you, kind lady,’ he said formally.

‘And you, sir. With your duty done, you can start enjoying yourself.’

His eyes flashed her a message, but so swiftly that she wasn’t sure she’d read it right. Perhaps it was safer that way.

Needing some fresh air, she fetched her jacket and slipped out into the snow. There was a full moon, bathing the mountains in dazzling silver light, and she walked down to the low wall that marked the boundary, where she could sit and ponder.

‘Ah, there you are,’ came a voice behind her.

She gave a silent groan. ‘Hello, Henry.’

‘I was watching you in there. You were fantastic.’

‘Thank you.’

Inwardly she was praying that he wouldn’t come and sit beside her. He did.

‘You’re such a super mover,’ he enthused, ‘slinky and sexy. It made me think all sorts of things about you and me. How about it, eh?’

‘No,’ she said firmly.

He made the mistake of lunging for her, which gave Mandy the chance to seize his hand in an iron grip.

‘Ow!’ he muttered.

‘Listen carefully, Henry,’ she said with a deadly smile. ‘If you don’t back off, I shall boil you in oil and decapitate you, not necessarily in that order. Now push off before I’m tempted.’

Even he got that message. He sloped off in the direction of the door, muttering just loud enough for her to pick up the word frigid. Furiously she picked up a handful of snow and hurled it after him.

‘Hey!’ protested a voice.

‘How long have you been there?’ she demanded indignantly.

‘Long enough to enjoy the sight of Henry being an idiot,’ Renzo said, coming forward, brushing snow off himself.

‘Shouldn’t you have rushed to my rescue? How about protecting a damsel in distress?’

‘I never saw a damsel less in need of help,’ Renzo said, sitting beside her. ‘It’s enough to make a man go very carefully.’

‘If it was in his nature to go carefully. Some men don’t have the common sense to be afraid.’

Renzo nodded. ‘Except when I’m climbing, I never had any common sense,’ he confirmed. ‘It’s led to me having my face slapped a few times, but it’s also given me some of the best moments of my life.’

She nodded. It was just as she’d supposed.

‘You were pretty gorgeous in that dance,’ he said at last. ‘Enough to make a man enjoy a few fantasies.’

‘Only a twerp like Henry,’ she said firmly.

But Renzo shook his head. ‘Any man,’ he said softly.

‘Is this you doing your duty again?’ she asked, regarding him cynically.

‘Let’s just say that if I wanted to approach you, I wouldn’t go about it like a bull at a gate.’

It was madness to say, ‘Just how would you go about it?’ but she found herself saying it anyway.

‘I’d be quiet for a moment while we both drank in the mountains. Then I’d point out how the moonlight makes them unearthly, so that we almost could be on another planet—just the two of us.’

‘And then you’d say that there was nobody you’d rather have with you than me?’ she conjectured.

‘I think I’d try something more subtle like— you’re so ethereal that you seem to embody the moon. No?’

He’d seen the scepticism in her face.

‘I might laugh at that one,’ she admitted.

‘Then how about something more down-to-earth like—watching you dance gave me thoughts I’m ashamed of. I couldn’t even tell you about them—unless you insisted.’

‘I don’t think I need to,’ she murmured.

‘Of course not. You had a dozen men at your feet, as you well knew.’

‘Did I?’ she mused. ‘Well, perhaps.’

‘Little cat,’ he whispered. ‘You knew exactly what you were doing.’

Renzo was right. There had been pleasure in knowing that every man’s eyes were upon her, but the only ones she’d cared about were his.

But hell would freeze over before she gave him an easy victory.

‘One must pass the time somehow,’ Mandy said languidly.

‘Very good,’ he said. ‘Play the indifferent card. Make him suffer, but beware of teasing him too much, lest things get out of your control.’

‘Nothing ever gets out of my control,’ she mused softly. ‘I don’t allow it to happen.’

‘Now that is sheer provocation.’

Somehow he’d taken possession of her hand and was holding it gently between his.

‘Of course,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘this might be the moment when you threaten to pour boiling oil over me.’