Coercion to Love (10 page)

'No.' Her soft mouth firmed. Until I was brought here, I never had the time to bother considering myself, she thought heavily. Things were so much simpler that way!

'I am a trained nanny by profession. The only difference Terri has made to my life is that I have been caring for a child who is related to me rather than some other family's child.'

'Without the weekly wage-packet to make it all worthwhile,' Carlo inserted quietly.

'How did you know that?' Cass gasped, shocked that he should know that Liz had paid her no wage in the real sense of the word.

'You forget, I have made it a—hobby of mine to find out everything I could about you and your lifestyle.' His gaze narrowed on her.

'One week,' he said, swinging them back on to the real issue under discussion.

'You do not give me long to prove my worth to my daughter. I cannot see how I can meet such a short deadline...' A new self-mocking smile touched his attractive mouth. 'You know as well as I do that she does not like me very much.'

'She doesn't dislike you,' Cass felt urged to point out. 'She's just—reserving judgement on you for now, that's all. I should be able to tell within the week which way she is going to go.'

Smooth brows rose enquiringly. 'And what special powers do you possess which will enable you to make such a rapid judgement?'

'Nothing so sinister as witchcraft, if that's what you're thinking,' she laughed, the amusement actually reaching the deep sea-green of her eyes. 'I will simply wait to hear her call you "Daddy"—or not, as the case may be. At the moment, she refers to you as "he", "him", "that man", or any other version on the same theme she can come up with which gives you no real title at all. She hasn't forgiven you yet, you see, for not responding to her reference to your parentage yesterday.'

'I was taken by surprise,' Carlo defended himself, faint traces of colour spreading across his strong cheekbones. "The last thing I had expected you to do at that time was inform Terri of who I actually was.'

'Rule number one in the nanny's book of wise advice, Mr Valehti, is never tell a child an outright lie.' Cass sent him a small smile. 'Children have this nasty little habit of catching you out. And rule number two,' she went on with soft emphasis as she got up to leave him, 'is don't try buying their affection. They'll only hold you in contempt for it, if you do.'

'I must assume that remark is in direct reference to the pony?'

Cass nodded curtly. She was still angry about the pony.

'The pony was not so much a bribe,' he defended, all at once adopting his high hauteur, 'but what I saw as a good way to bring Teresa and myself together for long enough periods of time for us to get to know each other without other adult influences getting in the way. I intend to teach her to ride myself,' he informed her stiffly.

'An hour or so every day in the low pasture with just myself and Lucia, her pony. I am hoping that, while she is learning to trust my guidance as a tutor, she will also learn to trust me as a father. I don't believe in leaving things to time and fate. Teresa needs me, and the sooner she realises that then the sooner we can begin to build a more healthy relationship.'

'And I apologise for misjudging you,' Cass bowed to that stiffly offered explanation. 'If it helps redeem me a little,' she added as she turned to go, 'Terri would speak of nothing else this morning but your promise to show her how to ride,'

His smiling nod accepted Cass's olive-branch. 'And what will you do with yourself this morning?'

'Oh...' Cass let her gaze wander over the lovely valley '... I'm going to explore, I think—unless you have your henchmen lurking out there primed to shoot me on sight!'

Carlo laughed, coming smoothly to his feet. 'You will be quite safe to go where you please during your stay here,' he assured her.

'But I was thinking...' he went on, coming to join her as she moved across the terrace towards the house '... as I have to go into San Remo this afternoon on business, you may like to come with me so you can collect your things from Giuseppe's?'

"Thank you,' Cass said, relieved, because she had been wondering how she was going to get there without having to be a nuisance to anyone. 'I'd like that.'

The sun caught at her shining hair as she swung her face up to smile at him. Carlo watched the fascinating effect of fire on fire as Cass went on thoughtfully, 'Terri will probably take a nap this afternoon—would Maria watch over her, do you think?'

Dark eyes took a moment to flicker into focus on hers. 'I think Maria would be delighted,' he assured her. Then made her start in nervous surprise by reaching up with a hand to touch her hair. 'You are very, very lovely, Cassandra Marlow,' he murmured huskily. 'Both inside and out.' Then he turned abruptly away, leaving her standing there feeling—she didn't know what she was feeling, except more bewildered, more confused.

She took one of the pathways which led into the hills behind the house, clambering higher and higher through the rows of fruit terraces which made the valley a profitable concern as well as a private haven for the Valenti family.

Breathless and hot with climbing, she came upon a small clearing which gave her an uninterrupted view of the valley below her. The narrow river was glinting prettily in the sunlight, the white-painted house standing out against its lush green surroundings.

It was a beautiful place, idyllic in its dramatic setting. And Cass took a deep gulp of fresh, clean air. It was good to be alone for a while. She was given the opportunity so rarely these days. Taking care of a lively five-year-old could take its toll on the most rugged spirit!

She leaned back against the thick trunk of an old olive tree, sheltering from the sun beneath its gnarled branches while she rested. It was then that she caught sight of a bright flash of colour in the pasture below. It was a yellow T-shirt dancing along beside a tall, unnervingly familiar man. He was leading a small pony by the reins, his other hand locked firmly with the child's, while she, by the way her dark head was bobbing, was talking her usual ten to the dozen.

Cass watched Carlo tether the pony to the fence, then bend to lift Terri into his arms, holding her close as he reached out to stroke the pony's snowy white mane. He was trying to encourage Terri to do the same thing, but she was more intent on studying his face at such close quarters. Cass could read every thought and expression flitting through her niece's mind, even from this distance. And her heart squeezed in aching understanding. The poor darling wanted so much to reach out and stroke him rather than the pony, learn the feel of his skin, its clean, smooth firmness.

Her own hand twitched, remembering, and she felt herself go pale. Everything was becoming so complicatedly interlinked within her mind that she was finding it difficult to distinguish her natural concern for Terri from a concern on her own behalf! It was as if the pair of them were treading a parallel line—Terri in learning how to accept Carlo's love as her father, and Cass learning how to accept him as a man she could quite easily fall in love with.

It was frightening, worrying, very, very disturbing. He was in danger of becoming an obsession. Even now, from so far away, she could feel an inner vibration which seemed to flow from him into her and back again.

As if he too picked up the vibrations, his dark head lifted suddenly, eyes lancing up the hillside to where she stood. He couldn't possibly see her standing here beneath the shade of the olive tree, she was sure of it. He didn't have the advantage of height to help him, and the sun had to be in his eyes. But she felt the fierce burn of his gaze as if he had actually reached up and touched her, and she quivered, the feeling leaving her shaken and perplexed.

CHAPTER SIX

Lunch was a relaxed affair—mainly because Carlo didn't join them. 'Busy catching up on business in his study,' his mother explained as they gathered on the terrace.

Cass had changed into another of the provided sundresses in a soft lilac print that set off the bright glow of her hair. And, although she felt uncomfortable wearing clothes she hadn't bought and paid for herself, she was aware she looked good—fit to be seen out with Carlo Valenti, at any rate.

They had finished lunch and were listening to Terri giving them a blow by blow account of her first riding lesson when the sound of high heels tapping on the tiled floor brought all three heads swinging around to watch the open doorway.

Sabrina Reducci appeared, looking as if she'd just stepped out of the centre-fold of Vogue.

'Ah, Sabrina!' Carlo's mother welcomed warmly. "This is a pleasant surprise!'

'Buon giorno, Zia Elicia.' Sabrina laid her smooth cheek against Mrs Valenti's. 'I came here to see you yesterday, but that naughty Carlo sent me away!' Her lush mouth pouted sulkily.

'He told me,' the older woman confessed. 'He will be here soon, so I will make him apologise to you, Sabrina. But for now, you have met our very special guests, I believe?'

'Ah, yes, briefly—though Carlo did not seem to think it worthy of a formal introduction.' Her expression said she was still piqued over Carlo's rude dismissal of her the day before.

"Then let me do so properly now,' Mrs Valenti offered.

"This is Miss Cassandra Marlow,' she began, turning her warm smile on Cass. 'Cassandra, this is la Signorina Sabrina Reducci—a friend of our family from the time she ran around this valley in pigtails with my daughter Louisa, their only ambition in life to tease and torment poor Carlo.'

'Now I torment him in other more—subtle ways,' Sabrina smiled suggestively—a smile that died away completely as she turned to look at Cass. 'Miss Marlow,' she acknowledged coolly, offering the kind of aloof nod of her sleek dark head that Cass suspected she would use to someone she considered not quite the thing.

'Miss Reducci,' Cass nodded back, keeping her own tone strictly polite. After all, she thought wryly, she was quite prepared to admit that she was not in Sabrina Reducci's league.

'And this,' Mrs Valenti continued proudly, 'is my granddaughter Teresa!'

'Terri,' the child automatically corrected, her gaze fixed curiously on this new, elegant being who had come into her small sphere. 'You dress like my mummy did,' she told Sabrina. 'She used to wear nice dresses like that, and smell nice like you, only her hair was the colour of sunshine, and she smiled with her eyes.'

Out of the mouths of babes, Cass thought ruefully, as she watched the startled movement Sabrina gave at the unexpected shrewdness of the child's final observation. She didn't much like it, either, going by the way her mouth tightened, Cass noted.

But Sabrina recovered quickly, sending Terri a more relaxed smile as she lowered herself into the chair beside her. 'But you are very like your papa, no?' she quizzed lightly. 'You have his brown eyes and silky black hair...'

And his blunt manner, Cass added silently, on a wry smile to herself.

'You are enjoying living here, Teresa?' Sabrina asked.

Instantly, the child's face closed up. 'It's all right,' she mumbled, refusing to pass judgement on anything here yet—except perhaps her pony, and maybe Maria because they didn't understand each other and that amused her.

The lukewarm reply took the smile from Sabrina's lips, and sent her almond eyes in search of a new quarry, which, of course, had to be Cass. 'And how long are you hoping to stay here, Miss Marlow?' she enquired.

Cass frowned, not sure she liked the tone Sabrina had used—or the inflexion she had placed into certain key words in the remark. Nor was this a subject she wished to discuss in front of her niece, and the cool expression she lifted to Sabrina told the other woman so.

'It all depends,' she answered non-committedly. 'At the moment, we are enjoying the Valenti hospitality too much to want to think about returning home.'

'Ah,' Sabrina nodded sagely. 'I understand your reticence, Miss Marlow. You will find it a wrench to leave Teresa behind here when you go.'

Terri's face came out of her glass, ears pricked and buzzing on that potentially explosive remark. Cass's green eyes began to spark ominously. And Mrs Valenti jumped in quickly before Sabrina really put her foot in it. 'Don't be so meddlesome, Sabrina!' she scolded, glancing pensively from Terri's frowning face to Cass's angry one. 'Or I shall have to tell my son how you try to make trouble.'

'Doesn't she always?' a deep voice drawled, and Carlo himself came into view, looking absolutely devastating in slate-grey trousers and a pale blue shirt. 'What are you up to now, you aggravating witch?' he grinned at Sabrina and bent to kiss her on both cheeks.

'I won't stay here with you when Cass goes home,' his daughter informed him promptly.

Carlo went still, all his good humour leaving him. Slowly he turned to face his daughter, and Cass caught Sabrina's small grimace as she too turned to study Terri's defiant little face.

'I do not remember inviting you to, Teresa,' he answered coolly. The child glowered at him, any hint of the companionship they had built up during their riding lesson gone in a flash. 'Grazie, Sabrina,' he muttered sotto voce.

'I meant no malice, Carlo!' Reaching out, she laid a coaxing hand on his bare forearm where the dark hair grew thick and crisp, red-tipped fingernails curling firmly muscled flesh. 'I just did not realise that-----'

'Your lack of perception has always been your worst fault, cara,' Carlo drily inserted before Sabrina could pour more oil on the troubled waters.

'Oh, you're going to be horrible to me again!' she cried, pouting in a way that was both sulky and provocative. 'You threw me out of here yesterday, and now you are scolding me for something I did not understand!' She sat back in her chair. 'When I think about it, Carlo, you are quite the rudest man I have ever met, and if it weren't for Zia Elicia-----' she sent Carlo's mother a warm smile '—I would never set foot in this valley again!'

'Then I apologise for my rudeness and beg your humble forgiveness,' Carlo drily conceded. 'For the idea of you never coming near here again fills me with horror!'

He was being very false and terribly mocking, but Sabrina took it all as if he had gone the whole hog and gone down on his knees in front of her, and preened herself like an exotic bird.