contact with her.
But the next thing he knew he was in his bedroom tearing off his clothes and grabbing a pair of swimming trunks he hadn’t worn for years. The pool was there. His nanny was there. He’d worked hard today. Hell, he’d worked hard for the past seven years. Was it so wrong to want to enjoy life for a change? To sit outside in the sun, to relax and continue the conversation they’d started at the restaurant?
Wasn’t that the way his life was supposed to go, sharing his life with a companion until he’d made the mistake of his life in choosing Elena for his wife. There was no going back, no rectifying that mistake. He had to live with the results of that decision, and that’s just what he was doing.
He was on his way to the pool when his cell phone rang and it was Aurora calling from Rome. Just what he needed for a large dose of reality. He hadn’t realized how much her voice grated on his nerves.
“I received an e-mail message from your daughters,” she said in an icy tone. “It disturbed me quite a bit.” When Aurora was angry, she did nothing to conceal it. That was part of her charm, she’d explained to him, that she was up-front about her feelings. With her what you saw was what you got. At first he’d found it refreshing and appealing, but not now. Not today.
“What was it?” he asked impatiently, standing at the window hoping to catch a glimpse of Sabrina.
“They thought I should know about your new nanny.”
“So you should,” he agreed readily. “Since we decided that the girls need more supervision.”
“I had no idea she would be young and attractive. I thought she would be an older, more serious type of woman. I strongly suggest you get rid of her at once.”
“Aurora, be sensible. The girls are meddling. Naturally they don’t want a nanny. They don’t want to go to boarding school either. But this nanny is here to make sure they get accepted at the Academy. I can’t object to that.”
“They will be accepted. I will call the director myself.”
“That’s not the way I want to go about it,” Vittorio said. “Either they get accepted on their own merits, or they don’t. They cannot be allowed to think they are privileged and that there is no consequence to their actions.”
“Very well, Vittorio,” she said. “They are your daughters, but after we’re married…”
Suddenly the thought of marriage to Aurora made his blood run cold.
“In any case, I will expect you at the fashion run-way in Rome this weekend.”
“Not this weekend. I won’t be there,” he said. “I am busy,” he said curtly. “And I will continue to be busy. Good-bye, Aurora.” He heaved a sigh of relief. He had to break it off with her. He knew that now. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Out on the stone path he realized it was the first time he’d gotten that close to the free-form pool fringed with pines, cypress and brilliant camellias in bloom since he’d had it installed to replace the crumbling old cement pool no one ever used. He sometimes watched the girls playing there with their nanny or baby-sitter, but only from the window.
The sound of water cascading down the man-made rocky waterfall concealed his footsteps. He told himself he’d been too busy to enjoy it, but was that really the reason? Being busy had become such a convenient excuse for any and everything he didn’t want to do. Now he wanted to sit in the sun-dappled terrace around the pool and talk to his new nanny. What about? The obvious subject was the merger and his work or the girls and their future, but it seemed they had only scratched the surface of topics to discuss. Which had nothing to do with the way Sabrina looked in her swimming suit and the fact that the view from his office was not nearly good enough. The tantalizing glimpse of her only made him want to see more.
Suddenly an
But the next thing he knew he was in his bedroom tearing off his clothes and grabbing a pair of swimming trunks he hadn’t worn for years. The pool was there. His nanny was there. He’d worked hard today. Hell, he’d worked hard for the past seven years. Was it so wrong to want to enjoy life for a change? To sit outside in the sun, to relax and continue the conversation they’d started at the restaurant?
Wasn’t that the way his life was supposed to go, sharing his life with a companion until he’d made the mistake of his life in choosing Elena for his wife. There was no going back, no rectifying that mistake. He had to live with the results of that decision, and that’s just what he was doing.
He was on his way to the pool when his cell phone rang and it was Aurora calling from Rome. Just what he needed for a large dose of reality. He hadn’t realized how much her voice grated on his nerves.
“I received an e-mail message from your daughters,” she said in an icy tone. “It disturbed me quite a bit.” When Aurora was angry, she did nothing to conceal it. That was part of her charm, she’d explained to him, that she was up-front about her feelings. With her what you saw was what you got. At first he’d found it refreshing and appealing, but not now. Not today.
“What was it?” he asked impatiently, standing at the window hoping to catch a glimpse of Sabrina.
“They thought I should know about your new nanny.”
“So you should,” he agreed readily. “Since we decided that the girls need more supervision.”
“I had no idea she would be young and attractive. I thought she would be an older, more serious type of woman. I strongly suggest you get rid of her at once.”
“Aurora, be sensible. The girls are meddling. Naturally they don’t want a nanny. They don’t want to go to boarding school either. But this nanny is here to make sure they get accepted at the Academy. I can’t object to that.”
“They will be accepted. I will call the director myself.”
“That’s not the way I want to go about it,” Vittorio said. “Either they get accepted on their own merits, or they don’t. They cannot be allowed to think they are privileged and that there is no consequence to their actions.”
“Very well, Vittorio,” she said. “They are your daughters, but after we’re married…”
Suddenly the thought of marriage to Aurora made his blood run cold.
“In any case, I will expect you at the fashion run-way in Rome this weekend.”
“Not this weekend. I won’t be there,” he said. “I am busy,” he said curtly. “And I will continue to be busy. Good-bye, Aurora.” He heaved a sigh of relief. He had to break it off with her. He knew that now. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Out on the stone path he realized it was the first time he’d gotten that close to the free-form pool fringed with pines, cypress and brilliant camellias in bloom since he’d had it installed to replace the crumbling old cement pool no one ever used. He sometimes watched the girls playing there with their nanny or baby-sitter, but only from the window.
The sound of water cascading down the man-made rocky waterfall concealed his footsteps. He told himself he’d been too busy to enjoy it, but was that really the reason? Being busy had become such a convenient excuse for any and everything he didn’t want to do. Now he wanted to sit in the sun-dappled terrace around the pool and talk to his new nanny. What about? The obvious subject was the merger and his work or the girls and their future, but it seemed they had only scratched the surface of topics to discuss. Which had nothing to do with the way Sabrina looked in her swimming suit and the fact that the view from his office was not nearly good enough. The tantalizing glimpse of her only made him want to see more.
Suddenly an
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