‘Oh, yes, he was impressed.’

‘Did that make you happy?’

‘It was what I wanted,’ he said evasively.

She was too wise to press the point.

Vincente had been given more and more responsibility, had seized it gladly, never seeing the road he was travelling or where it led. When his father had his fatal heart attack Vincente had been, although still in his twenties, ready to take over-ready in all the right ways, and all the wrong ones.

That had been ten years ago, and since then he knew that the qualities he’d started with-an unforgiving ruthlessness, a scorn of weakness, a readiness to duel to the death and give no quarter-had all been emphasised and given a sharper, crueller edge. His presence here with this woman proved it, for reasons that she didn’t know and which made him uneasy right now.

That thought made him sit up sharply, so that she almost fell out of his arms.

‘Is something the matter?’

‘No,’ he said quickly, ‘it’s all right; I can get out of bed. Go to sleep.’

It was painful but he managed. He needed to be alone to think. From the safety of the window-seat he looked back at the bed, where she had closed her eyes, and tried to work out what had happened to him.

It had always been simple. You kept your eye on the target, you did what you set out to do, and if people didn’t like it, then tough. If they feared you, that was good. Where women were concerned you played fair, behaved generously, and stayed safe by choosing the kind of woman who understood the game. And you never, ever weakened.

Until now.

He’d been prepared for anything except what had happened to him tonight. Or had tonight merely been the culmination of something that had been creeping up for a long time, creeping so silently that he hadn’t seen the danger until it had sprung out of nowhere?

He blamed himself. A good entrepreneur planned for everything and was always ready to fight back. Those were the rules.

But the rules didn’t tell you what to do when the desire to fight had drained away, replaced by a treacherous delight in the company of a woman you’d always known was dangerous, and now seemed more dangerous than ever. If he had any sense he’d put a stop to this now, send her back to England and never see her again.

Vincente sat for a long time, watching her as she lay asleep.

They settled into a routine. She nursed and fed him, kept him hidden from the maids on their daily calls, made sure he was always at his best for his secretary’s visits, and massaged his back. She’d done this for her father and knew the trick of easing the pain, even if only temporarily.

Sometimes they talked as they had done at the beginning-about childhood, or other things, in a lighter vein.

‘I want to hear all about your other women,’ she said one night with a chuckle. ‘Go on, entertain me.’

They were drinking wine, side by side in bed, propped up by pillows, and he gave her a comical, cynical glance.

‘If you think I’m falling into that trap you have a very poor opinion of me. Try again.’

‘Shame!’ she cried. ‘What about that little flat you keep? The perfect place for orgies.’

‘That was chosen for its proximity to my office, so that when work overwhelms me I don’t have to go the full distance home,’ he said loftily.

‘Yeah, right!’

‘Well, it’s not a home, anyway.’ With a sudden note of surprise he said, ‘This feels more like home.’

‘With me paying slavish attention to your every whim? That’s your idea of home?’

‘Certainly,’ he said with a grin. ‘What else?’

She chuckled and spilt her wine, so that she had to dab herself and him.

‘How did you know about my flat?’ he asked after a moment.

‘I told you before, I’ve been reading about you in the papers.’

‘Did they say anything else about me?’ he asked in a carefully blank voice, not looking at her.

‘Just the same story endlessly recycled-glutton for work et cetera. Since you don’t ever seem to give interviews, they’re kind of stuck. They just said the flat was handy for your work, almost monk-like in its austerity. I invented the bit about orgies.’

‘That’s a relief.’

She looked at him impishly. ‘So you can relax. They haven’t found the true story.’

He returned the look. ‘Keep trying. You’ll get nowhere.’

They laughed and let it drop. But gradually it seemed to Elise that he was less willing to talk than he had been. She wondered if his life had been truly unhappy, or whether he was afraid of accidentally revealing professional secrets.

She was discovering that every time she thought she had Vincente’s measure he could surprise her again. On the day before the shareholders’ meeting he made her a gift that took her breath away.

‘Shares?’ she exclaimed, bewildered.

‘Now you’re a shareholder in the firm, so you can attend the meeting,’ he explained. ‘Call it your nursing fee.’

‘But-a few shares, yes-but this is a fortune.’

‘You’re a very good nurse. Look what you’ve done for me.’

To demonstrate his point he walked up and down, finishing before her with a flourish.

‘All your work,’ he said.

Now he could walk more easily, but if he had to stand for any length of time the pain returned and this worried her because she knew he would need to stand a great deal during the meeting.

It wasn’t his first trip out. The previous day he’d been to visit his mother, and had managed pretty well. But then he hadn’t spent much time on his feet. Today would be different.

‘Sit down as much as you can,’ Elise was unwise enough to say now.

‘Sit down? While my enemies are standing up? I don’t think so.’

‘Well, take some painkillers first.’

‘And risk falling asleep? No way!’

They travelled together in his chauffeured car and parted at the door. Once inside, she found herself escorted to a seat at the front, clearly on his instructions. Elise was prepared for the worst and found the meeting as stormy as she’d expected. She had very little idea of what was going on because her Italian couldn’t cope with the furious invective that came up from the floor and back from the platform. She only knew that Vincente was being attacked, and was attacking back in fine style.

Watching him carefully, she could see the moment when the pain began, but she doubted if anyone else would notice. The only outward sign was that he became more aggressive, more determined to crush opposition. Even with her limited understanding, it was clear to Elise that he was dominating the meeting, persuading everyone to his point of view or, if not actually persuading them, leaving them no choice but to do it his way.

It wasn’t amiable but, like everything else about him, it was exciting.

Afterwards, she lingered as he came down the steps from the platform. People crowded around to shake his hand and it seemed to her that every shake made him wince, although he never lost his smile or his air of assurance.

Then, to Elise’s dismay, someone clapped him heavily on the back, insisting that they must all have a good lunch to celebrate.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Vincente said, maintaining his smile by sheer will-power. ‘Now the meeting’s over there’s more work to do than ever.’

‘But you got your way.’

‘That’s why there’s work to do. You go to lunch. Ah, there you are.’

He seemed to become aware of Elise for the first time, although she was sure he’d seen her. As she came forward he slipped an arm about her shoulders.

‘Let’s go,’ he said.

To the others it looked merely as though he was walking away with a beautiful woman. Only Elise knew that he was leaning on her heavily.

His car was waiting outside. As he settled down in the back seat, closing his eyes, Elise produced the painkillers and a small flask containing mineral water, handing them over in silence. He nodded and swallowed thankfully.

He must have given the driver her address in advance, because they headed straight there, reminding her what he’d said about it feeling like home.

Elise didn’t speak until the front door was safely shut behind them, then said firmly, ‘Get undressed, go to bed and I’ll give your back a rub.’

She joined him a few minutes later, pulling back the sheet to find him naked underneath. The strain was still there in his face, but he relaxed a little as she began to massage him.

‘So you won,’ she said, beginning to knead the tense muscles.

‘Of course.’

‘There’s no “of course” about it.’

‘That is, when I have my confederate looking after me. Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.’

‘Well, I didn’t want to risk my shares losing value, did I?’

‘Well done. I’ll make a businesswoman of you yet.’

But the next moment he winced and she said, ‘Stop trying to put a brave face on it. I’m not someone you need to impress.’

‘No, I wouldn’t get far trying that, would I? You’ve seen me at my weakest.’

‘But weakness isn’t important,’ she protested.

‘I think it is.’

‘No, we’re all weak sometimes, in different ways. What matters is how we act when we’re well and feeling strong enough to be cruel. Surely that’s how you should really judge someone.’

‘Are you thinking of anyone in particular?’

‘You mean Ben? Yes, of course. But I soon felt that everyone he introduced me to was the same. All cheats and back-stabbers. Every one. Is there one man in a thousand who can actually be trusted?’

‘Can’t I?’ he asked curiously.

‘Well, I wouldn’t like to take you on in business. I don’t think you’d have much scruple about anything you did.’

‘But do you trust me as a man?’

After a moment she said, ‘I don’t really know you, do I?’

‘I thought we knew each other very well.’

‘Only in one way. When we hold each other and make love-then I seem to know you through and through.’

‘But isn’t that the best way?’

‘No,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘It’s an illusion. I don’t really know what’s going on inside your head.’

‘If it comes to that,’ Vincente said after a moment, ‘nobody knows anything about anyone else’s thoughts. Men and women, we all keep our secrets from each other. Perhaps we need to. You and I-’ he hesitated before going on in a slightly forced voice ‘-both have things we know about ourselves that the other wouldn’t understand, or forgive.’

‘Forgive?’ she echoed. ‘What a curious word to use.’

‘Life would be impossible without forgiveness,’ he said sombrely. ‘And the hardest person to forgive may be ourselves.’

Elise wanted to ask him what he meant by this, for there was some note in his voice that hinted at an untold story. But when she next looked at him he’d closed his eyes.

Later that night she came to join him in bed. From his breathing, he was asleep, lying on his back with the sheet pushed down, so that most of his naked body was revealed.

Wryly, she wished he would wear something. To sleep beside him like this was straining her self control. It was little more than a week that they had been together, yet it seemed like an eternity since she’d been free to clasp him without having to worry about hurting him.

It was annoying that he seemed unaffected by the swift mounting desire that afflicted her. He seemed to have no problem at all controlling himself, but perhaps that was only because he’d been feeling bad.

Gently, not to awaken him, she eased herself into the bed and put out the lamp, but there was still enough light in the room for her to discern his outline. She would be strong and not yield to temptation, yet even as she vowed this she was gently pushing back the sheet just a few inches…just a little more…

At last she saw what she longed to see. Even in his sleep he was aware of her, wanted her, responded to her. Scarcely breathing, she reached out to caress him gently with her fingertips, feeling the tremors that went through her. She must draw back now, before it went too far…

‘Don’t stop there.’

She gave a little gasp and turned to find him grinning.

‘How long have you been awake?’

‘It’s hard to be certain. I came up from the depths into a delightful dream of you doing what I’ve been wanting for days. I’m still not sure which is dream and which is reality.’

‘Let me help you,’ she whispered.

She began moving her hand again, but purposely now where she had been gentle before, and had her reward as he grew hot and hard in her hand. At any moment she was sure he would toss her on to her back and climb over her, but instead he lay there watching her with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

‘I guess I’m going to have to do all the work.’ She chuckled. ‘You really fancy being some Eastern potentate being ministered to by the harem, don’t you?’