The Count's Prize

CHAPTER THREE

NEXT morning, Josie’s alarm woke her before dawn had tinted the sky. The temptation to roll over and snuggle down for another couple of hours was almost overwhelming, but there were a thousand acres of the di Sirena estate waiting to be explored, and she couldn’t resist that. Getting ready in double quick time, she flung open the door of her suite, ready to run out and get started—and almost tripped over a bottle of champagne waiting just outside.

It must have been left over from Dario’s wild night out! She smiled, putting it aside.

Josie hadn’t spent a night out—wild or otherwise—for ages. With a twinge of faint embarrassment, she remembered how painful social events like that could be for her.

She slipped out of the castle while the day was still dim and the air cool. For the next few hours she crisscrossed the di Sirena estate and was soon cursing herself for not bringing a hat. She used pools of shadow wherever she could, but the sun burned hotter by the second.

At first she was so absorbed by her work she had no time to think about anything else. Then she became aware that she was not alone. Wherever she went, Count Dario di Sirena was never far away. She spotted his horse tethered beside the olive press just after she left, then later she saw him approaching the dairy as she was heading away into the hills.

It’s nothing but coincidence, she thought.

Although coincidence couldn’t quite explain the sudden shiver she got every time their paths crossed.

Dario thought that going out for a ride would give him some much needed space and time in his schedule to think. It worked—but not in the way he expected. The still, silent images of Josie observing him from her window, or waving to him as he left home the night before, kept creeping into his mind. He couldn’t puzzle out exactly what it was about her that attracted him, but it wasn’t for want of opportunity. It seemed that wherever he went today, there she was. She popped up in the most unlikely places, from the hay store to the olive press. After a while it began to make Dario feel slightly uncomfortable. He might have thought he was being stalked, but for one thing. Instead of following him, Josie always managed to be one step ahead. It was as though she was reading his mind and anticipating his movements. He snorted with derision. The idea was ridiculous—but it didn’t stop him thinking about it. Usually he was never in any doubt about anything, but Josie was definitely having an effect on him.

From her tightly drawn ponytail right down to the steel toecaps of her sensible work boots, Dr Josie Street meant business. That made her almost unique, in Dario’s experience. Her furious blush when he’d explained about the champagne was the closest he got to an unguarded moment, and she barely said a thing even then. It was such a refreshing change from the endless, meaningless chatter poured into his ears at parties every night. Unless something was worth saying Josie kept quiet. Everything about her felt so calm, so stable and so right. So why did she always manage to put him on edge? Dario shook such thoughts away and decided it was definitely time to take command of the situation.

When Josie found herself drawn to a shady glade, she didn’t consider there was anything mysterious about it—to begin with. It was simply her desperate need to get out of the heat and dazzling sun. Spotting the glitter of water in a forested depression overlooking the castello, she headed straight for it. There wasn’t time to enjoy the view as she slithered down a steep rough bank, desperate to reach the cool green depths of the woodland below. Only when she plunged between the gnarled sweet chestnuts, ash trees and birches could she catch her breath and take stock of her surroundings.

As her eyes became accustomed to the cool gloom, a voice drifted through the trees towards her.

‘Ciao, Josie.’

Dario had looped the reins of his horse over the low branch of a tree and was crouched beside it. He looked like a magnificent animal poised to spring—but in his hand he held a delicate, wide-brimmed straw hat.

‘You made me jump!’

‘I intended to.’ He grinned. ‘You didn’t take any notice of my warning about sunstroke, so I’ve come to make you see sense.’

‘You seem to appear everywhere I go today,’ she said suspiciously.

He stood up and walked towards her, offering the hat.

‘I could say the same thing about you. Everywhere I go, you’re there ahead of me. I got my staff to look out one of Antonia’s hats for you. She won’t mind—but I would be very disappointed if you refused this as well as my champagne, Josie.’ He smiled.

The sight of Dario dominating the glade was almost enough to rob her of the power of speech. Although he was so tall and well built, he moved almost silently across the forest floor towards her. With his raven dark hair and beautifully honed body accentuated by his white shirt and dark trousers, Josie was reminded again of a panther stalking its prey. Realising what was likely to happen to her resolve if she didn’t keep Dario at a distance, she tried to put up a strong defence.

‘I notice you’re not wearing a hat yourself.’ Her voice was uncertain with nerves.

‘I’m used to the sun—although you’re quite right. Experience isn’t a licence to take risks. I make sure I keep to the shade wherever possible, as much for Ferrari’s sake as mine.’ He tipped his head towards where his bay horse was quietly pulling at some succulent undergrowth. ‘I’ve been exploring these hills all my life, so I know the best places,’ he said with a gleam in his eyes. ‘For instance, did you know this pool has a secret? We’re being watched.’

Crooking his index finger, he beckoned her towards the water’s edge.

‘When we were children, Antonia used to love being scared by the monster that lives behind that curtain of leaves up there.’ He pointed to where greenery hung down over the source of a waterfall tumbling into the pool. ‘She used to dare me to pull it back, then she’d run away screaming when I did.’

Josie watched the water splashing down from beneath heavy curtains of fern and ivy. It escaped over bare wet rocks to send ripples dancing out over the clean, clear water.

‘There doesn’t look to be anything to be scared of.’

Dario chuckled. ‘You say that now, but when you’re six years old an ancient carved face hidden among the rocks can seem very scary. Local legend says it’s Etruscan, but an expert like you would need to check it out to make certain. Antonia has never got around to it.’

Josie’s eyes lit up. ‘Now you’ve got me interested.’

‘I knew I would.’ His smile widened mischievously. ‘So—what do you say? Would you dare to come with me now and take a look?’

Josie couldn’t answer. She was studying the pool. It had been edged with wide stones, but everything was now worn with age and green with algae. It looked treacherous. Dario was already striding around the perimeter to the other side and calling across the water to her.

‘I’ll go first. Look, it’s perfectly safe—but, if you’re nervous, you’ll get a better view if you stand over there, beside that nearest alder …’

Josie had dropped her bag and reached his side before he finished speaking. Her fear of being thought not up to a task was greater than her fear of the water, until she saw where she would have to walk. The path to the spring’s source was narrow and cut into solid rock. In places, water splashed and played over it as though from a hose.

Edging along, she followed as close behind Dario as she dared. As he crossed the wettest place she took a step forward, felt her foot slip and caught her breath in a tiny cry of panic. Instantly, he grabbed her hand but she had already fought and won the battle to retain her footing. Once again she pulled herself from his grasp.

‘I’m fine, thank you.’

Dario wasn’t convinced, but grudgingly gave her the benefit of the doubt. ‘As long as you’re sure.’

‘I didn’t mean to alarm you. Water just isn’t my thing, that’s all,’ she said, gritting her teeth.

‘Does that mean you won’t be using the swimming pool down at the castello during your stay?’ he murmured as they pressed on.

She steeled herself to ignore the interesting tone in his voice.

‘Not if I can help it.’

‘A shame. Though I, too, much prefer the fun that can be had on dry land.’ His words were suggestive, but when Josie glanced at him suspiciously he met her gaze innocently, belying the wickedness she could see in his smile.

‘At a time like this I’m inclined to agree with you,’ she answered with grim determination as she concentrated on keeping her balance and ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. ‘Can you hurry up and show me whatever it is? This is turning into some kind of endurance test!’

‘As someone who is in the business of teaching, you should know that nothing good comes without effort.’

‘The benefits of hard work can be overstated,’ Josie said quietly before she could stop herself.

She had to concentrate grimly on her footwork, but Dario could afford to look at her quizzically.

‘What do you mean?’

Josie cursed the twin distractions of Etruscan art and the slippery surface. She had said too much. Furious with herself for accidentally bringing up such a sensitive subject, she tried to laugh it off.

‘Oh … while I was studying, my boyfriend found someone else to catalogue his artefacts for him. You know how it is,’ she finished lamely, expecting him to laugh.

He didn’t. Instead, he looked at her for a quiet moment, while Josie shivered under his leisurely, assessing gaze.

‘What a foolish man, not to see what he had,’ he said quietly, before turning away as if the compliment had never happened. Josie took a deep breath, trying to control the adrenalin suddenly fizzing through her veins.

‘Here we are … careful … now look at this …’

Reaching out, Dario pushed aside the curtain of young hart’s tongue fronds. Nourished by the run off from the slopes above, they were easily two feet long and covered the source of the waterfall with thick green ripples. As he moved the leaves apart, Josie saw that the water poured out from the mouth of a hideous grinning mask. It must have truly terrified Antonia when she’d played here as a child, more than twenty years before.

‘Wow!’ she breathed.

In her excitement she forgot all her fears about the slippery surface. Squeezing in front of Dario, she leaned forward for a closer look. At that moment a wren burst out indignantly from its hiding place behind the stone head. Whirring past Josie’s face, it missed her by inches and gave her such a fright she jumped, lost her footing—and toppled straight into the pool.

Her world exploded in a mass of bubbles. Before she had time to realise what was happening, she was grabbed and pulled above the surface again. Half drowned and spluttering, she found herself held tightly in Dario’s arms. She felt his body shaking and heard his laughter, but her indignation died as she discovered how incredible it felt to be pressed against his hard, unyielding body.

She stopped struggling. For one glorious moment the glade fell still and silent. All she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat and feel Dario’s pulse beating in time with hers. It was intoxicating, and such a primal feeling. His beautiful face was so close, she felt her lips part in anticipation of something so wonderful she dared not give it a name.

Then she remembered what it felt like when temptation led to betrayal. Panic engulfed her. In a surge of desperation, she tried to wriggle from his grasp, flailing the water into a maelstrom.

‘Hold still!’

Josie stopped splashing. Her feet floated down and she found her toes brushing the floor of the pool.

‘Oh …’ she moaned, feeling a complete fool.

‘You’re quite safe with me,’ he said reassuringly, and Josie wanted to believe it.

She tipped her head back to look at him properly. Water trickling over the carved intensity of his face sparkled in golden streaks of sunlight flickering through the trees.

‘Oh, dear—you seem to have got a faceful of water!’ She blushed. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Dario said nothing. His white shirt was plastered against his chest, showing dark shadows of hair beneath. Feeling his body, so hot and vital in the cool seductive depths of the pool, Josie unconsciously relaxed against him. Her whole body felt as liquid as the water, ready to absorb him and flow around him for ever. His eyes feasted on her face, and it was the ultimate aphrodisiac. When his hands began to move, she held her breath in an agony of expectation. As he gently brushed a lock of wet hair away from the corner of her mouth, she closed her eyes again. Unable to resist, she parted her lips and this time she knew exactly what she wanted. Her breathing quickened in desperate anticipation of his kiss.

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