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‘Actually, I’d really like some day-clothes. If you have any—that might fit me,’ she said, as embarrassment heated her cheeks.
‘I will send up my wife Giuliana with some options for you.’
‘Oh, thank you.’ Milly’s relief was palpable—escaping in a bathrobe had always been a tall order.
‘Is there anything else you require?’ he asked.
‘Could you...could you tell me if the police are coming?’ she managed around the thickness in her throat. How much time did she have to work out a convincing defence for attempting to borrow Garner’s boat without his permission.
‘La polizia?’The man sounded shocked, but then he laughed. ‘Signor Garner did not contact the police, Signorina Devlin—this is not his style,’ he added. ‘And also, he would have some uncomfortable questions to answer about why he kidnapped you.’
She huffed out a nervous laugh at the man’s amused and paternal tone—apparently, Giovanni at least thought last night’s antics had been a joke.
Good to know someone found them funny.
After thanking him and hanging up the phone, she felt some of the impending doom lift off her shoulders. But the acute embarrassment remained.
It was still there half an hour later, when she ventured out of the bedroom, now clothed in a pair of shorts and a tank top and trainers, which Giuliana had told her belonged to one of her daughters.
Giuliana—the estate’s housekeeper and head chef and also the very nice estate manager’s wife—had also been a font of knowledge about her employer. Apparently, Roman Garner had bought the island two years ago, rebuilt the villa, and kept the place fully staffed all year round. Although Garner had only visited the island twice in total—once to host a lavish team-building event for his executives and once with one of his dates for a weekend rave, complete with two hundred specially selected guests, and entertainment provided by world-famous DJs, chart-topping bands, a roster of celebrity chefs and fitness and health gurus. But he’d been at the rave for only one night before he had returned to work in London and left the date behind.
It hadn’t taken much more probing for Milly to discover Signor Roman—as the housekeeper referred to her employer—was well liked by the staff, because he paid them all a verylucrative salary and never made unreasonable demands, but his celebrity friends and dates not so much.
Giuliana had also supplied the information Garner was spending a fortnight alone on the island this time, on doctor’s orders, because he was burnt out. But despite being exhausted when he had arrived yesterday afternoon, he had insisted on attending the Cade Ball, then woken this morning at dawn and left to swim to one of the hidden coves on the far side of the island over two miles away.
Giuliana was concerned about his safety. Milly wouldn’t care if he drowned.
Then again, Milly couldn’t deny the prickle of disappointment—that she wasn’t going to see Roman Garner again—as she made her way down to the dock after the delicious breakfast laid out for her by the very talkative Giuliana on the villa’s sea-facing terrazzo.
That the staff seemed to have decided she was a guest, not a prisoner was also good news. So why did Garner’s apparent indifference to her this morning feel so deflating?
Because you’re a fool, Mills. Who clearly needs to lose her virginity pronto, before she starts getting inappropriate crushes on arrogant burnt-out billionaires.
Garner had brought her here to teach her a lesson. But, of course, he’d lost interest as soon as they’d arrived. That hot look last night—and the flirty nature of their boat altercation—had all been in her head. The well of anticipation, the ripple of awareness and the sizzle of attraction a result of the fact she’d spent so much of her life convincing herself she didn’t want male attention—thanks, Dad. So, when a man like Garner paid her the slightest bit of attention, even in a back-handed way, she totally overreacted.
It would be ironic, if it weren’t so excruciatingly pathetic.
At the dock below the villa’s lavish gardens, she found the motor launch, alongside a beautiful hand-crafted sailboat, while an enormous super-yacht was anchored in the bay.
Her conversation with the dockhand, Marco, soon added a nice thick layer of frustration to her embarrassment.
‘I am sorry,signorina. I cannot take you to Sorrento without the permission of my employer. And he left no instructions this morning.’
Probably because he’s totally forgotten about me!
‘Can you contact him? And ask him?’ she said, desperate to leave. She did not want to still be hanging around when Garner got back.
The young man shook his head. ‘He does not have a phone with him, he is swimming.’
‘Do you know when he’s likely to return to the villa?’
‘It is a long swim. He asked for the dinghy to be left at La Baia Azzurra, which is at the opposite end of the island.’
Right.So, he would be a while, then.
And she was stranded here, until he deigned to return.
She could ask Giuliana or Giovanni to help, but she’d inconvenienced them enough. And, while they seemed relaxed about their relationship with their employer, she did not want to make things difficult for them, or any of his other staff.
