The meeting ended. Lara rose with everyone else, and as she made for the door in their wake Alessandro called her back.

‘Lara, will you stay a few minutes?’ His eyes connected with hers and something hot and primitive shimmered in their dark depths. Her heart struck a couple of heavy gongs that reverberated through her insides, her mouth dried, and for a second she thought of the pine bark pressing into her back, his hands and mouth on her willing flesh.

She sensed Donatuila’s sharp glance, and yanked herself together.

‘Of course.’ She tried to sound brisk and professional, but the memory of how it had been in his arms hummed in her blood like a witch’s potion.

The door closed behind the others.

Alessandro’s dark eyes flickered over her, and under her clothes her skin cells tingled. He leaned casually on the edge of his desk, his sexy mouth edging up a little at the corners.

‘I think you’ll agree we need to talk properly. Last night things got a little-out of control. Perhaps we should meet in a less-tempting environment. How about we try for dinner this evening?’

She moistened her dry lips, thinking rapidly about the possible arrangements she could make for Vivi. ‘Dinner. Well, I really shouldn’t, not after last night.’

‘After…?’ he said politely. ‘After making love to me in the schoolyard?’

She gasped. ‘Oh, I did not…’ She felt herself grow warm. ‘I was only…It was you.’ His brows lifted and she said quickly, ‘No, please, don’t apologise. I quite understand. It must have been the shock and everything.’

‘It might have been the shock,’ he agreed. ‘Or then it might have been your charms. And the passion. My passion for you, your passion for me.’

‘Oh, shh, shh.’ Frowning, she shook her head, then, casting a quick look towards the door, lowered her voice. ‘I wish you’d be serious. Don’t you realise how serious this is for Vivi and me?’

His eyes glinted, then he lowered his lashes and said gently, ‘Well, you know me, tesoro. I’m probably only concerned with how serious it is for me.’

‘Oh.’ Her blush swamped her from her toes to her scalp. ‘I’m sorry. Truly. I know you wouldn’t…I didn’t mean to imply…’

‘Of course you didn’t. So, dinner then?’

How could she refuse? How many ways were there to offend a man in a twenty-four-hour period? ‘Well…all right. I guess Mum won’t mind, though I won’t be able to stay late. I’ll meet you somewhere. Where are you staying?’

He looked surprised. ‘I’ll pick you up.’

‘No, no, that’s all right. It’s better that we meet in the city.’

‘Why is that?’ His eyes sharpened. ‘You don’t want me to come to your home?’

She hesitated. ‘Well, you know you-you don’t want to be involved with the situation. If Vivi sees you…’

She felt a sudden stillness in him, then he said easily, ‘Surely she must have been introduced to men before.’

‘Oh, well. Yes.’ Her heart started to thump, and her hands to twist. ‘Of course she has. My uncle, I s’pose, and husbands of my friends…a couple of the dads from the school…But, goodness-this wouldn’t be like that. You’re her father.’

‘You wouldn’t have to introduce me as that, though, would you?’ She could feel his steady gaze on her face. ‘You could say I was a friend.’

She widened her eyes. ‘Alessandro, as soon as she heard your name…’

Something disturbed the cool surface of his dark irises. ‘She knows my name?’

‘Well, of course. You don’t think I’d conceal the identity of her father from her, do you?’

He was silent, his lean, bronzed face as smooth and impenetrable as a wall. To fill the gap she said, her hands gesturing in appeal, ‘It would be the most terrific shock for her. I’d have to prepare her, talk to her about it. She’s only a little girl. A baby, really. She only really knows me, her grandma, her teacher at school…Her little friends, my girlfriends, Mum’s and Dad’s families.’ She felt her throat thicken. ‘It would be-quite a significant moment in her life. We couldn’t just-spring it on her.’

He scanned her face with a veiled gaze, then shrugged. To her relief he said, ‘I see. Well, then. We’d better meet in the city.’ He slipped a mobile phone from his pocket and flipped it open. ‘We should exchange numbers.’

She took out hers and he keyed in his number, while she did likewise.

He flicked a glance up at her. ‘Shall we say the bar at the Seasons at seven?’

‘Oh, the Seasons.’ Her heart made a skittery little tremor, but she enquired with polite unconcern, ‘So you’re staying there?’

‘Where else?’ He smiled then, and his eyes gleamed like the devil’s.

She turned for the door, then paused with her hand on the knob. ‘This-won’t be a date, Alessandro.’

‘Won’t it? What will it be, then?’

‘Well. You know. It’ll be-a meeting. Dinner between two adults.’

‘Two adults,’ he echoed musingly. ‘Would that be two consenting adults, tesoro?’

‘No, it would not,’ she snapped. ‘It would be two adults with a-a situation to resolve.’

As the door closed Alessandro’s smile faded, and he turned to the window and stared down at the George Street traffic. He should have known when the Sydney takeover flashed up on the head office radar that Fate was somehow involved.

However he looked at it, whether she liked it or not, he was tied to Lara Meadows.

And her child.

He wondered idly who the child resembled. Probably took after her mother. It was to be hoped so, although surely he’d read that the dark-coloured gene was more likely to be dominant in determining eye colour. He would hardly be human not to be curious.

It would be a pity, if a man happened to have created a child, just one small soul among all the zillions that had ever existed, never to see its face.

Her face.

Lara tottered back to her desk and collapsed in her chair to plan what she would wear. Not that it was important. She wasn’t trying to beguile him, or anything. There was no point, if he was flying back to the other side of the world in the not too distant future.

Of course, if there’d been any possibility of him staying she might have considered having another shot at it. He still seemed very attracted, while she…And he was gorgeous, he made her heart race like a mad thing, and-She put her hands to her face.

He was the father of her child.

Funny how last night he hadn’t wanted to hear a thing about Vivi, while today…

Today she could have sworn he’d listened closely to everything she said.

CHAPTER NINE

FIVE o’clock took an eternity to arrive. Lara was first out the door, knowing she had to run for the early train home, see Vivi settled with Greta, try to make herself gorgeous, and rush back into town.

She only hoped her little black dress would be good enough. She’d loved it when she bought it for the staff dinner, but the woman Alessandro had chosen to marry, be it ever so briefly, was a fashionista of the first order. How could she compete with that? Single mothers couldn’t afford Milano dresses, and a man of his sophistication would be sure to realise her dress’s lack of pedigree.

But there wasn’t much choice. It was either the black or a tea-dress she’d worn to a wedding the year before.

She made an impatient gesture at herself. How pathetic she’d become, worrying about this kind of detail when six years ago she’d hardly given a thought as to whether Alessandro admired her clothes. It had been enough then that he’d appreciated her in whatever she wore.

Well, seemed to. Last night had certainly felt like appreciation. The trouble was, it had knocked her completely off-balance. How had a tense, serious situation reignited such smouldering passion? And there was no use blaming Alessandro. In her heart she had to acknowledge she’d been equally aroused. Perhaps, on his side, it was just the inevitable hangover from the past, but on her side the sweet old painful feelings lingered on. Trouble was, heartbreak was wrapped up with them now.