Читать книгу One-Night Baby - Susan Stephens, Susan Stephens - Страница 9

THEY sipped vintage cognac with their coffee, warming the honey-coloured liquid in giant-sized glasses they held cupped in their hands. The conversation was flowing more easily now, and Santino confined it strictly to business, for which Kate was relieved. She felt relaxed in his company, which was a first. Until her phone rang…

Glancing at the incoming number, Kate blenched. ‘Do you mind if I take this outside?’ She was already on her feet.

‘No…’ Santino’s eyes narrowed as she left the table.

After the heat of the café the cool night air was a sharp reminder to Kate of the world she had left behind. ‘Meredith?’ she said anxiously. ‘Is everything all right?’

Aunt Meredith was quick to reassure her that this was just a routine call. She sounded far more concerned about Kate.

‘I’m fine!’ Kate immediately regretted the force of her claim. She suspected Caddy must have said something to Meredith and Kate knew from experience that Aunt Meredith wasn’t easy to fool. ‘Everything’s going really well…’ But by the time the call was finished Kate knew she hadn’t convinced Meredith, who knew her better than her own mother had ever done.

‘Sorry about that,’ Kate said as she joined Santino at the table. She felt a flutter of concern when she noticed that her coffee-cup had been refilled. It appeared as if Santino was in no hurry to bring the evening to a close.

‘Not a problem for me…And not a problem for you, I hope?’ His gaze was keen as he searched her face.

‘No.’ Kate laughed it off, but inside she was aching with guilty secrets. There were too many of them locked inside her, of which her daughter was just one. And now here she was, sitting with Francesca’s father. It seemed incredible, and it frightened Kate to think that Santino didn’t even know of Francesca’s existence.

And nor could he until she was sure of him.

‘You seemed concerned when you identified the number,’ he probed casually.

He wasn’t going to let it go, Kate realised. ‘It was Aunt Meredith, Caddy’s mother, ringing to check that everything is all right. You can understand her concerns for Caddy…’

She could tell Santino wasn’t convinced by her glib excuses. She had set alarm bells ringing, which was the last thing she had wanted to do. ‘So…?’ To avoid looking at him she began gathering her things together, hoping that Santino would take the hint and suggest the time had come for them to leave.

‘So…’ He mimicked her ironically, viewing her over the rim of his coffee-cup as if they were hours away from bringing the evening to a close. ‘Why don’t you tell me something about yourself, Kate?’

Kate was sure her heart stopped beating. ‘Like what?’

Such as why she was doing a good impression of a hedgehog curling into a defensive ball might be a start, Santino reflected. ‘How you first came to be interested in the film industry?’ He was prepared to take everything one step at a time if that was what it took. They had covered Kate’s concerns for Caddy and they had established that the connection between them was as strong as ever. Now it was time for the interview for the position he had in mind…

‘Working in the film industry wasn’t my idea to begin with,’ she admitted. ‘It was Meredith’s—’

‘Meredith’s? What did your parents think of that?’

He could see her thought processes clicking into the appropriate grooves. She was deciding whether or not to trust him with some small detail from her life…weighing up whether it would be worth it to distract him from some bigger issues, perhaps?

‘They were never part of the equation.’

‘I see…’ He didn’t, of course, but he didn’t want to knock her off track. She made it easy for him when she began speaking again without prompting.

‘I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left school and Meredith had contacts in the film industry. She gave me the introduction I needed, and I thought, Why not? I wasn’t too keen at first, but I grew into it.’

As her face lit up he suggested, ‘And came to love it in the end?’

‘That’s right.’ She looked at him as if she hadn’t thought he would be interested in what she found good about her life, but his tactic had always been to find out what people wanted and then to give it to them. It was so simple he found it hard to understand why everyone hadn’t found the same route to success. ‘From what I’ve seen there’s no doubt you have a way with people…’ He dealt her the compliment that he knew would boost her confidence, bringing him another step closer to his goal.

‘Thank you.’

Her eyes softened to a misty grey as she looked at him and he could tell that his words were having the desired effect.

They were both trying to fathom out what each of them wanted from the other. But now something else had crept into her eyes…was it wariness, or something more? If he hadn’t known better he might have thought it a sign that he had hurt her in some way. But he had never left a string of broken hearts in his wake. He only ever dealt in adult relationships with women who knew their own mind, women just like Kate…

To reassure himself he took his mind back to the night when she had raked him with her fingernails and begged him not to stop, never to stop…It was hard for a man to forget a thing like that, impossible for him to forget a woman like Kate, unthinkable that he would let her get away a second time. ‘I’d like to make you an offer…’

When she looked at him keenly he knew the moment had come to close the deal. ‘I’d like you to stay on here in Rome and work for me.’

‘Work for you?’ She was clearly incredulous.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ He was growing impatient. No one had ever refused the offer of a job in his organisation.

‘I can’t, that’s all—’

‘You can’t?’ he cut across her. ‘Or you won’t?’

‘I’m sorry, Santino, I really can’t…Couldn’t you get someone else?’

‘I want you.’ His jaw firmed.

‘You…’

Even as the light of hope sparked in her eyes her voice faded in recognition of her mistake. She knew Santino Rossi would never want her the way she wanted him. He felt a rush of triumph as he interpreted the signs. Kate was a good actress, but not that good. She might act prim, but there were fires burning very close to the surface of this new Kate Mulhoon’s decorous manner.

‘I’m only offering you a job, Kate…’

She flinched at the put-down, but quickly recovered.

‘I already have a job…two jobs, in fact. I represent Caddy at the agency, and for the time being at least I’m her manager. Obviously there’s a conflict of interest and I won’t—’

‘Remain her manager? Stay at the agency? Well, now you won’t have to because I’m offering you a job.’

‘Look, all of this is so sudden…’

And the last thing she wanted was to antagonise him with a flat refusal, he guessed. He let her squirm for a while.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ she said at last, clearly thrown.

‘You don’t have to say anything right away. Think about it. You’ve got until tomorrow morning to decide.’ He liked deadlines. When he put one in place something had to happen. Inactivity killed him.

‘Why me, Santino?’ She looked at him curiously.

Because the window of opportunity was open and he had never been one to walk on by. ‘Because after this debacle on the set I know I need to hire someone who understands the business, someone who works well with my team, which you’ve already proved you can do, someone who can liaise between me and my people on the ground. It would be a vast improvement on your present position back in London. You’d have your own department. You’d report directly to me—’

‘This is all going way too fast—’

‘Really?’ He angled his head to stare at her. ‘I’ve never had the impression that you’re slow…’

No response.

‘My organisation needs someone like you.’ He threw her a smile. ‘Just think about it…’

‘You don’t hold back, do you?’ she whispered, fixed on his gaze.

‘Salary wouldn’t be a problem—’

‘No…Sorry…I can’t stay on in Rome.’

Her voice was flat as if reality had kicked in, extinguishing the fantasy he had spun for her. He was disappointed, of course. But defeat wasn’t in his lexicon and he wasn’t about to back off now.

‘I have to be back in the UK by this weekend at the latest,’ she went on, voicing some inner thought and unwittingly handing him a compromise.

‘Okay…’ He eased his shoulders in a shrug as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other what she did, but his mind was scrutinising the facts—she was an intelligent woman, and he had just given her the opportunity of a lifetime. There had to be something else. Someone else? Was this feeling jealousy? If so, it had to be a first. He kept his face impassive as he delved a little deeper. ‘Of course, if you have personal reasons—’

‘I don’t. At least…’

‘Go on.’ He could hardly hold back the bite in his voice.

She clammed up. She retreated into herself leaving only the prickles on show. He eased off too. Like all good negotiators, he knew when to take his foot off the gas. ‘Well, if you could just stay until the weekend, by which time the new director should have settled in, I’d appreciate it. And of course I’d pay you well for your time…’