Tempted By Desire

Turning on her back, she swam effortlessly from one end of the pool to the other, revelling in her solitariness. At exclusive places like this hotel there always seemed to be someone standing beside you ready to carry out the least little request, and while it may have seemed rather exciting the first couple of days, this attention soon became rather tedious. But for once the waiters all seemed to be elsewhere, and she relaxed completely, closing her eyes and drifting dreamily.

‘Excuse me, signorina,’ a deep voice broke into her meanderings. ‘You are alone here?’

Suzanne trod water, looking to the nearside of the pool. Wow! She blinked rapidly. The man of her dreams! Tall and lithe, dark hair, quizzical teasing eyes, and those faint lines at either side of his nose and mouth giving evidence to his sophistication and experience. He looked anything between thirty and thirty-five, much older than the five years’ difference she had wanted in their ages, but everything else was perfect. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was fantastic, marvellous, and she couldn’t believe she was seeing him.

‘Signorina?’ He frowned his puzzlement at her long silence, his blatant good looks not marred by the action. He stood at the side of the pool, relaxed and confident, his only attire a pair of white bathing trunks that clung like a second skin and emphasised the darkness of his own skin.

There were many foreign people staying at this hotel and she couldn’t help her curiosity at his being sure she was English. ‘Why did you address me in English?’ she asked him, completely ignoring his own question.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, showing clear even white teeth, giving him an oddly boyish look. ‘With hair the colour of corn you would most likely be either English or American. You also have their air of freedom.’ He indicated the deserted pool area. ‘And not many women would brave this isolation with a dangerous Venetian roaming about,’ he teased her.

‘Oh, you’re a Venetian!’ she sighed ecstatically. He was absolutely perfect. In every way.

He bowed politely, and while it might have appeared effeminate on any other man dressed informally as he was, on this man it appeared only as a charming gesture. ‘Vidal Martino at your service, signorina.’

She climbed breathlessly out of the pool, dropping her proffered hand self-consciously as she realised it was dripping water everywhere. ‘Suzanne Hammond,’ she supplied shyly.

‘I am honoured to meet you. Are you alone here?’ he repeated his first question.

‘I’m alone here at the pool, but not at the hotel. My stepmother is probably in the process of changing for dinner right now.’

Vidal Martino smiled again, looking deeply into her wide green eyes. ‘The proverbial wicked stepmother?’

Suzanne laughed. ‘Not really, although we aren’t the best of friends either.’ She picked up her towel and began to dry her wet curls. She must look an absolute mess! Whatever must Mr Martino think of her?

He indicated that she sit on a lounger, only relaxing the long length of his own body on to the one next to her after she had complied. ‘I arrived only this afternoon.

You will have to excuse my curiosity concerning yourself. You live with your stepmother?’

‘Oh, no,’ she shook her head emphatically. ‘No, I’m merely holidaying with Celeste. Since my father died three years ago Celeste and I haven’t been the best of correspondents,’ she laughed nervously. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you with my family history.’

‘And you have not done so. I was merely curious as to why one so young as yourself should be staying at such a staid respectable hotel. I would have thought one of the more modern hotels, with dancing and music, would have been more to your liking.’

‘But surely the same applies to you, signore?’

Vidal Martino shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘As I am a Martino it is expected of me to stay here.’ He grimaced his distaste. ‘I am here for one night only. I have just arrived from the Palazzo Martino, which is just as respectable, let me assure you.’

‘A palazzo!’ She reassessed her new companion. ‘You surely aren’t a count or something, are you?’ It would be just her luck if he was. No one of such importance would be interested in ordinary Suzanne Hammond. Unless of course he was one of those impoverished counts that seemed to exist in abundance? She looked at him sharply—no, this man certainly wasn’t impoverished. There was arrogance and bearing in every line of his superb body.

He laughed with genuine amusement. ‘Not I, Signorina Hammond. Unlike you, I am not so lucky as you seem to be with your stepmother. I have the proverbial wicked stepbrother, the Conte Cesare Martino. And I would like it very much if I had no correspondence with him for three years.’ The last was said with bitterness and the boyish charm left his face.

‘You don’t like your brother?’

‘Cesare is difficult to like or dislike. He is like a rock, and you cannot feel emotion for a rock.’ He sprang up from the lounger. ‘It is too depressing to talk of Cesare. Would you like to go for another swim?’

Suzanne was still muddling over Vidal Martino’s remarks concerning his brother. So his brother was a count! A much older, embittered man, by the sound of it, who tried to rule this charming man with an iron will. She couldn’t imagine anyone more charming than Vidal Martino, so she could only assume that the Conte Cesare Martino was unreasonable to his fun-loving younger brother.

She shook her head regretfully, looking at the watch she was just attaching to her slim wrist. ‘I really must shower and then find myself some dinner.’

Vidal Martino put a restraining hand on her arm, and Suzanne found she liked that warm caressing touch, feeling strangely bereft as his hand was removed. ‘You do not intend dining at the hotel?’

‘Not this evening. I feel in need of a change of scenery. I thought this evening I might try one of the little restaurants just outside the hotel. They look nice, and more my—my taste, if you know what I mean?’

‘Oh, I know exactly what you mean,’ he smiled at her. ‘Would it be permissible for me to join you? I too feel in need of more simple surroundings.’

She was taken aback by his request. Surely he had something better to do than join her, people he should go and see if he had just arrived? It would appear not, by the look on his face.

‘Signorina Hammond?’

‘Oh, yes, Mr Martino, of course you can join me if you want to. I’m not going anywhere exciting, though.’

‘Believe me, I have had enough excitement these last few weeks to welcome a quiet dinner with a beautiful companion. Venice can be rather exhausting.’

‘Surely no more so than London.’

‘Perhaps not,’ he conceded. ‘If you intend either working or enjoying the night life. Unfortunately I did both.’

‘You—you work?’ Although his athletic body and active brain did not point to him spending his time idly, neither did he look the sort of man who sat behind a desk all day.

Vidal Martino laughed aloud, a deep pleasant sound that evoked a smile on her own face. ‘Cesare would say not, but I would say yes, My brother has many business interests all over the world. I run the London office. Again Cesare would say it runs itself, but ultimately I have to make the final decisions—and face Cesare if anything goes wrong.’

‘You actually live in England?’ Excitement entered her voice as she thought of the possibility of seeing this man when she left the hotel. She mentally shook herself. She was just being silly. Just because he was at a loose end this evening it didn’t mean she would ever see him again. But she wanted to! Oh, yes, she wanted to.

‘For perhaps six months of the year.’ A look of consternation crossed his face. ‘I will have to be excused dinner, I am afraid. I have just remembered a previous engagement that I cannot break. Meeting you put all other thoughts out of my mind. Could I join you for drinks later this evening?’

‘You don’t have to meet me at all, if you don’t want to. I won’t be upset.’ But she would, she would! Vidal Martino was her ideal and she couldn’t lose him so soon after meeting him.

For answer he took one of her hands firmly in his own, threading their fingers together intimately. ‘That is a great pity, because I personally would be very upset—upset?’ he repeated with disgust. ‘I would be devastated, Suzanne Hammond. My engagement this evening is one that I cannot evade, otherwise I would do so. But please do me the honour of meeting me later. I should return by ten o’clock, ten-thirty at the latest. Is that too late for you?’

‘Oh, no, no, of course not. I rarely retire before midnight.’

‘Then I am permitted to join you in the lounge later?’

‘Please,’ she smiled at him shyly, acutely aware of her hand still held firmly in his. It seemed incredible that she had only met him an hour earlier, and even more incredible that he actually wanted to see her again. Her hand was suddenly free and he ran to the edge of the pool, diving into the clear depths with hardly a ripple. He struck out with strong movements, swimming two lengths before coming back to the side of the pool.

‘I will see you later, Signorina Hammond—Suzanne,’ he amended warmly.

‘Very well—Vidal,’ she replied breathlessly, surprised at her own daring.

With a last intimate smile Vidal Martino sank beneath the water. Suzanne picked up her wrap and towel and walked dreamily back into the hotel. Having dinner anywhere else didn’t seem such a good idea now, not if there was a chance of seeing Vidal later in the evening. There was always the possibility that he might return early.

It was already seven o’clock by the time she reached her room, and seven-fifteen by the time she had showered. Choosing what to wear was a difficult decision. Should she wear the clinging black silk and look sophisticated, or wear the lemon chiffon that made her hair look like spun gold? She finally decided on the black silk. At nineteen to Vidal Martino’s thirty-two, thirty-three, she wanted to appear as worldly as possible.

Her hair was another problem, a golden mass of riotous curls, it was difficult to tame into any semblance of order. Pinning the majority of the curls on to the top of her head, she allowed one or two tendrils to curl provocatively at her temples and three or four at her slender nape. It gave her a look of childish sophistication and she knew it was as good as she was going to get. A light make-up and pale lipstick to add colour to her face and she was ready to face even the watchful Celeste.

A hasty look in the mirror showed her that she had what Robert would call her ‘adult look’. Robert! She had completely forgotten him since her meeting with Vidal Martino. As she had thought, Robert paled to insignificance when compared with her ideal man. And since meeting the vibrant masculine man in the flesh, Robert had been put completely out of her thoughts.

Her hotel room door swung open without any warning and she didn’t need two guesses who it was, in fact, she didn’t even need to turn round. Nevertheless she did turn round, only to come under the scornful gaze of Celeste.