Stealing Luca's Heart (17 page)

“Wayne, that’s enough,” Sean said firmly.

Wayne brushed Sean away. “I had to have two Tetari signatures to make my business venture legal. I had to have
my wife
sign for me to operate the river ride on Tetari land. Can you believe that?”

“It sounds all very complicated.” Ally knew she didn’t want to talk to Wayne anymore. “I should find my sister. We’ll see if we can catch up with your daughters. I’d love to meet Gracie.”

The sounds of Kenny G filled the air. Sean held out his hand, “Care to dance? I’m sure your sister will find you.”

She thought this was a good way to escape. “Sure.” She started up the hill, ignoring his hand.

“Ally, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around the farm while you’re here. Enjoy the rest of the party.” Wayne offered. “Sean, have a good trip over to Christchurch. I’m heading home. If you see Luca, just tell him I’ll catch up with him tomorrow night.”

She followed Sean out to the dance floor and found it already crowded. Sean slid them into the center. She tried not to look uncomfortable when he put his hands low on her waist, opting to put her hands just above his elbows. Sean kept moving closer, running his hands along her hips. Maybe this dress wasn’t such a good idea.

“So you’re going to Luca’s game?” She thought the topic of rugby would be safe.

“Yeah, it’s actually called a test, not a game. I’ve got some business in Christchurch, so I’m just catching a ride. The All Blacks are legends, so it’s great to see them kick ass, but I don’t watch just because of my brother.”

She heard bitterness in his words so thought it better to just to let his words hang out there.

Unfortunately, he continued, “I heard Luca gave you the tour today. You shouldn’t waste your time with him.”

“Oh, yeah?” Being so close to him now, Ally could practically see the liquor on his breath. She prayed a rock song would be next. “He seems like a nice guy.” She looked around for Tara, hoping to signal her to help with a polite exit. She caught a glimpse of her, busy with Gabi and another blonde woman near the band. It must be Gracie. Ally prayed for the song to end, along with Sean’s leering.

“He’s great until you cross him,” Sean continued. “What woman wants to be frightened of her boyfriend?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“See this cut below my eye? From Luca.” Sean had a faded one-inch scar under his right eye.

“Why?”

“Let’s just say that he and I see the world differently. That’s one of the reasons I got off this island. I had enough of his bullshit.”

Sean had tightened his grip on her. “You know, Sean,” she said, nervously, “I’m really needing some water. Why don’t we get some?” She’d had enough of his pawing and pushed his hands off her.

He put his hands firmly back on her hips. “Not yet. I never knew how much I liked Kenny G.”

“Hey, little brother,” said a familiar voice, coming up behind her. “I’d appreciate it if you’d take your hands off my date’s ass before I do it for you,” Luca said coolly. Ally turned and felt a chill run down her spine when she saw the storm brewing in his eyes.

Ally turned back to Sean and caught a quick flash of something in his eyes. She decided it was contempt and took the opportunity to take a step away from him.

“Didn’t realize you brought just one date tonight, that’s a switch.” Giving her an admiring glance, he said, “I think Ally’s doing all right.”

She saw a muscle twitch in Luca’s jaw. “Really, because where I was standing, she looked uncomfortable. Maybe you didn’t notice as that’s just the normal reaction you get from women.”

A few people who were within earshot moved away from them, trying to listen without being too obvious.

“Look, Luca, it’s fine. We were about done anyway,” she began. She noticed that George had moved in silently behind Luca. He didn’t say a word, but his steely expression showed that he’d been through this before and was ready to step in. His presence seemed enough for Sean to back down.

Sean smiled thinly. “Some things never change, eh, Pops?” He slowly exited the dance floor and out of the barn.

George shook his head apologetically. “I’ll see you two tomorrow morning. By the way, Luca, he’s going with us to Christchurch, so reel it in,” he said sternly before walking away.

Ally stood stunned. “What the hell just happened?”

Luca watched the crowd pack themselves back onto the dance floor. “Don’t make a scene. Let’s just dance a bit and then talk. I need a couple of minutes to take it back down.”

“You don’t want
me
to make a scene?” She looked at his hand, inviting her to dance.

He took her hand and placed her arms around his neck. His fingers traced down her arms to the delicate lace on the back of her dress, to rest his hands on her waist. He searched her face until finally she watched his expression soften.

“Your date’s ass?”

Luca smiled down at her. “Would you mind terribly being my date, Ally?” His eyes focused on hers. “If I need to say it, I will. I wanted to be the only man you danced with tonight.”

She felt her breath catch, not sure how to respond. Either he was a complete player or was being honest. It didn’t take an MBA to see that this was a man used to getting what he put in his sights, and for some unexplainable reason, he was pursuing her at the moment. Maybe he was looking for a quick affair before she left. After all, she was conveniently located under his nose at the farm.

At the present, running her hands over Luca’s broad shoulders and feeling his muscles under his shirt, Ally knew the real question was if she even cared what his motivations were. She needed to sort out her own. He wasn’t the typical college boy she could brush off. She doubted he’d let anyone do that easily. No, he was just your run-of-the-mill, rugby-playing, Maori multi-millionaire.

They continued dancing through another song, hardly aware anyone else was around.

“How about a trip down memory lane?” Not waiting for a response, he twirled Ally around to face the band, winking at the lead singer. On cue, they started playing a Luther Vandross set.

She raised her eyebrows. “Luther is one of my favorites.” She looked skeptically over at Tara, Gracie, and Gabi, who all gave a thumbs-up. “Ok, I play dirty,” Luca admitted. “I managed to corner Tara earlier, really just hoping to get to know her a little bit. When we finally circled around to you, I simply asked her what some of your favorite songs were. Can you blame a guy for wanting to impress?”

Ignoring Ally’s raised eyebrows, he continued, “There’s something between us. I’m asking you to just be open to discovering what
it
is.” He put a finger up to her lips to stop her protest. “But for right now, you need to know that I’m not a mystery. I’m just Luca.”

“Luca, the legend,” she corrected.

He shook his head.

She looked up at his face; his eyes were a sea of green and focused solely on her. What woman in her right mind could refuse him? How many had? The band was belting out Luther’s
Think About You
. She’d always liked that song. She allowed herself to relax, let the music sweep over her as they moved against each other to the slow sexy music. She told herself she could enjoy this moment for what it was and that would be enough. Luca expertly rolled his hips with hers as they moved together. What they were doing against each other wasn’t exactly dancing. The sexual tension built up again between them, and she forgot about everyone but Luca.

Luca leaned into her ear and began softly singing the words to the song about other girls not existing. Could that be really true? It was probably was at this moment.

It felt right having his arms around her. She dug her fingers in his hair and slowly leaned into him, pulling his mouth down to hers. There were a few whistles before she pulled back to smile at him.

The band took a break, and the people on the dance floor walked off. Luca took Ally’s hand.

“You want to get out of here?” he asked expectantly.

When she nodded, he all but dragged her out behind him.

George and Simone were sitting with friends when they spotted Ally and Luca leave the barn holding hands. George leaned over to his wife, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do there.”

Simone gave him her best shocked expression. “I surely don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We’re a complicated bunch, love. Not sure we’re good for her.”

“Nonsense. They’re perfectly good for each other, you wait and see. I predict our son has met his match and doesn’t even realize it.”

“You hardly know her, Simone.”

“I know her well enough. I know her parents, and Cal’s told me plenty. Time will tell, but she’s exactly the type I thought he’d eventually fall for. And she’s done what no other has managed to do—distract Luca from work for two days.”

George nodded; he’d noticed that too. Right now he was more concerned with Sean’s behavior and how that was going to affect his involvement with the wind farm. The family needed a united front in Auckland when they announced their findings to the world. They needed to be clear on the reasons not to sell out for quick profits. He was afraid his youngest son may have had a change of heart on where his loyalties lay.

* * * *

Ally and Luca walked slowly, holding hands, strolling back to the main house. Ally noticed the dirt path was meandering through a field of kiwi trees. It felt like walking into an enchanted forest with the fruit vines creating a canopy overhead, and the entire valley and mountains were illuminated by the moon’s silver light. There was the sound of rushing water somewhere close by. She guessed there was a creek running alongside them, behind the line of trees.

Looking up at the stars, she finally broke the silence. “What an interesting night this turned out to be.”

“I hope in a good way?” He reached around her, resting his arm on her shoulder and pulling her next to him as they walked.

“Oh, yeah.” she grinned. She didn’t want to spoil the mood, but the whole scene with Sean bothered her.

“What’s the deal with you and Sean?”

Luca blew his breath out. “He just knows what buttons to push with me. He’s got a mouth that gets him in trouble.”

She pushed her brows together, thinking perhaps she’d made a mistake in bringing this up now. Leave it to her to ruin what was becoming a wonderful night.

Luca must have seen her concern because his face suddenly turned hard. “There’s something else, isn’t there? What did he say to you?”

Hesitating, she spit the words out. “He said I should be scared to cross you.” She instantly felt his whole body tense up.

“Figures he’d feed you some bullshit. He’s just ticked because he knows I’m interested in you and wants to create trouble. Bottom line is that he resents our birth order, basically. Did he also tell you that he turned his back on the farm and essentially said ‘piss off’ to Mum and Dad?”

Ally shook her head.

“Spent a few years in Europe. Imagine our surprise when he just shows up one day. Dad’s problem is he loves us all to a fault. He hoped Sean had finally grown up enough to have a change of heart. Which, until tonight, we all assumed he had.” He stopped walking and turned to her. “I’ll need to talk to Dad tomorrow about what this means to our business relationship with him.”

“There are countless reasons for guys to resent you, Luca, especially a younger brother.” Even she could see that Sean was of average build and height, so it wasn’t a stretch of the mind to see that having an older brother built like a Roman warrior would cause jealousy, probably leading to hatred early on.

“Does Phillip have a problem with Sean as well?”

“Not like I do. Phil’s too nice a guy and lets stuff roll. If someone’s acting like an idiot, I tend to call them on it.”

He seemed to think about that for a moment. “Enough about him,” he said, face softening. “I wanted to ask you what your plans are for tomorrow.” He took her hands and pulled her into him.

“About that.” She pushed away on his chest. “I heard through the grapevine that I’m traveling to Christchurch in the morning, the very early morning.” She let the irritation flow in her voice.

Luca rubbed his face. “I’m sorry you heard about that already. I wanted to ask you properly. Yes, I would like for you to come and check out a rugby match. It’s just a friendly exhibition in Christchurch. It’s only an hour’s flight, so you’ll be back before dinner.”

“I don’t know. I really should stay and tend to Dad.”

“The invalid that he is, right. That’s not an excuse, Tara’s here.”

She knew he was right. Dad would be fine, and she’d see him tomorrow night. “It does sound like a fun day, and Tara can handle Dad,” she conceded. Of course she was going to go; that wasn’t the point. He just needed to realize that she would make her own decisions. It also was cute that he wanted her to watch him. Another adorable quality about Mr. Luca Tetari.

They continued walking until they reached the bottom of a small hill down outside her room. “I’ve got the test tomorrow, so I need to head home and get some sleep.”

She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or to himself.

“Did you walk to the party?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s not that far.” His eyes sparkled as he gently pulled her under the shadows of an ancient tree next to them. “C’mere.”

Caught off guard, she started rambling. “This tree is amazing,” she said, tilting her head up. “I bet it would take five of us to reach around this sucker. I can see why the living room patio opens up to this view. What type is this?”

“A totara. We guess it to be a thousand years old,” he explained, stalking her underneath the dense branches. “You seem to enjoy my lectures, but do you really want me to give you one on our gardens, right now?”

She felt the blood start pounding in her head. Driver’s seat, she reminded herself before turning around. She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his chest, feeling his pulse accelerate.

With a quick motion, Luca’s hand slipped around her back and leaned into her, forcing her take a step back into the solid tree. His body was flat against hers, trapping her in place.