One Christmas Night In...: A Night in the Palace / A Christmas Night to Remember / Texas Tycoon's Christmas Fiancée

But was Lily equally eager to leave?

That was an interesting question. And one that she hadn’t been able to answer either last night, as she lay in the warmth and comfort of her four-poster bed, or this morning, when she’d come downstairs to make herself some breakfast in the now-familiar kitchen.

Admittedly she had initially been forced to stay here against her will, and Dmitri’s agreeing to her leaving this morning was what she had been asking for ever since her arrival.

But once she left it was very unlikely that she would ever see him again.

Which was good—wasn’t it?

That was what she was still trying to decide!

She stood up. ‘I’ll just clear away here and then go upstairs and pack my things.’ She once again avoided looking at him as she carried her plate and cup over to the dishwasher.

Dmitri watched Lily as she walked across the kitchen. The blue of her fitted sweater was an exact match in colour for her eyes, and her hair was once again a loose curtain of platinum about her shoulders and down the length of her slender spine. Her black jeans fitted smoothly over the delectable curve of her bottom as she bent over the dishwasher.

Good sense told Dmitri that the sooner he was rid of such a distraction the happier he would be. The now familiar throbbing hardness of his arousal—this time just from his observation of the pertness of Lily’s bottom as she bent over the dishwasher—obviously didn’t agree with him.

Once again he was completely at a loss to understand why he reacted so intensely, so immediately to a schoolteacher from England, when he had escorted—bedded— some of the most beautiful and accomplished women in Italy. It was totally illogical.

He stood up as well. ‘I will be in my study when the glazier arrives.’ He turned away before she was able to see the evidence of his physical reaction to her, irritated that a certain part of his anatomy was wilfully glad to see and be with her!

Lily looked up in time to see Dmitri leaving the kitchen. There was a frown between her eyes as she slowly straightened. Obviously even being in the same room with her was a strain for him this morning.

‘Does the glazier or the representative of the security company have need of me?’

‘No, the glazier is still replacing the window.’ Lily stood hesitantly in the doorway of Dmitri’s study, not in the least encouraged by his slightly hostile greeting or the coldness of his expression as he sat behind the large mahogany desk that dominated the elegant wood-panelled room with its large picture window. ‘I’ve finished my packing.’ It had taken Lily all of ten minutes to replace the few things she had taken from her case the day before. ‘And I wondered if you’d had any luck with your phone calls?’

‘None whatsoever,’ he admitted as he threw down onto the desktop the pen he had been making notes with. ‘None of our friends or acquaintances have seen or heard from Claudia, and there is no record of Felix or Claudia taking a flight from Rome airport in the past twenty-four hours.’

‘Oh.’ Lily grimaced. ‘What about the other airports in Italy?’

He frowned. ‘Sorry?’

She shrugged as she leant against the doorframe. ‘Well, it seems to me that Felix and Claudia are both intelligent enough to have realised you would concentrate your efforts on Rome airport. Especially as they conveniently left Claudia’s car at a Leonardo da Vinci for you to find,’ she added. ‘So I wondered if there’s another airport close by? One they could have taken a taxi to? Where they could then have taken a flight to another part of Italy, perhaps?’

Dmitri’s expression was thoughtful as sat back in his leather chair. ‘Perhaps I should have accepted your offer of help earlier …’

Her eyes widened. ‘You should?’

‘Two heads are obviously much better than one.’ Waves of frustrated energy came off him as he sat forward to pick up the telephone before punching in the appropriate numbers. ‘I should have thought of this earlier … Paolo?’ His attention quickened as his call was obviously answered. ‘Si.’ Dmitri launched into a stream of Italian that Lily didn’t have a hope of understanding. ‘Si, si, si. Grazie, Paolo.’ He slowly replaced the receiver to look dazedly across the room at Lily. ‘Claudia and Felix chartered a plane and pilot and flew from a private airport to Milano yesterday morning.’

Which certainly explained why there had been no record of them flying out of Leonardo da Vinci airport! But Milan? Why on earth would they have flown to Milan? ‘Does Claudia have friends or relatives there?’

‘No.’ Dmitri’s mouth was tight. ‘But my delay in realising what they had done will have given them a twenty-four hour window in which to arrange a flight out of Milano.’

‘To where?’

‘That is what I have yet to find out,’ he bit out tautly.

Lily chewed on her bottom lip as she saw the grimness of Dmitri’s expression as he made another phone call—her little brother was in deep, deep trouble! Probably the biggest trouble he had ever been in in his life. Once Dmitri caught up with him, Felix would be lucky if he was even allowed to remain in Italy—let alone see Claudia again.

And Lily was left standing there like a spare part, not knowing what to do with herself while Dmitri engaged in another rapid-fire conversation in Italian with whomever it was he had telephoned now.

Self-pity wasn’t something that she had ever allowed herself to indulge in—mainly because she had been too busy these past eight years just managing to keep all the balls of her life in the air rather than letting them crash to the ground—but she was definitely starting to feel a little sorry for herself now. It was Christmas Eve, after all, and it looked as if Dmitri was almost ready to leave the palazzo to drive her to a hotel. Where she would no doubt spend the rest of the day alone. And tomorrow too. Really not the way in which Lily had envisaged spending her Christmas Day!

‘Where are you going?’ Dmitri placed his hand over the mouthpiece of the telephone in order to talk to Lily as he realised she had turned away, with the obvious intention of leaving him to the privacy of his telephone call.

She gave a small shrug as she looked at him over her shoulder. ‘I thought I would just take my suitcase downstairs so that I’m ready to leave whenever you are.’

So that she was ready to leave …

Dmitri had actually forgotten his offer to drive her to a hotel in these past few minutes, because he finally felt as if he was making progress where Claudia and Felix was concerned. But he remembered it now. It also occurred to him that Lily, once at the hotel, would then be completely alone over the Christmas holiday. Just as Dmitri would. Which had never been a problem for him before.

It was not a problem for him now, either, he told himself harshly. It was Lily of whom he was thinking—not himself. ‘There is no rush, is there?’ Did her expression brighten slightly? Dmitri wasn’t sure.

‘No,’ she answered. ‘No, of course there’s no rush.’ She smiled. ‘I was just going to make some coffee for the men downstairs. Perhaps you would like a cup too?’

‘I would—thank you,’ Dmitri agreed warmly.

Too warmly? What on earth was the matter with him? A short while ago getting Lily out of his home had seemed like a good idea—a wonderful idea, in fact. Yet now he felt only reluctance at the very thought of her leaving.

For Lily’s own sake, he assured himself again firmly. Because she was a visitor to his native city, and so far had not received the welcome that Roma extended to all its visitors. Nor was her brother here to spend Christmas with her, as expected. Those had to be the reasons for his current hesitation; what else could it be?

‘Count Scarletti?’

The voice squawking down the earpiece of the telephone reminded Dmitri that he was still in the middle of a call.

‘I will come down to the kitchen shortly,’ he said to Lily, before turning in his chair to look out of the palazzo window while he continued his telephone call.

‘I take it the work is finished?’

Lily turned from laughing at something the glazier had just translated into English for the slightly flirtatious security man, her smile fading as she saw a stony-faced Dmitri standing in the kitchen doorway, observing their conversation. ‘I— No, I don’t think so.’ She shifted uncomfortably, aware that she had been the one distracting the two workmen.

‘Then perhaps they might be allowed to get on with their work?’ Dmitri suggested, as he came farther into the room to look pointedly at the other two men.

A look that obviously needed no translation, as they instantly put down their half drunk cups of coffee and hurried back to attend to the window.

Lily turned back to Dmitri. ‘Wow—can you do that to a whole roomful of people?’

‘Without even trying,’ he drawled dryly as he walked over to the table. ‘Considering I don’t usually enter this part of the palazzo, I seem to be spending a lot of my time in here at the moment.’

She stood up to pour him a cup of coffee. ‘I spend a lot of time sitting in the kitchen in my flat at home.’

‘Sitting? Not cooking?’ He made himself comfortable on one of the chairs around the table.

Lily put the cup down on the table before resuming her seat. ‘Oh, I can cook, Dmitri.’

‘You just choose not to do so while you are here,’ he acknowledged, adding neither cream nor sugar before sipping the hot brew.

Lily looked at him closely, not fooled for a minute by the apparent casualness of this conversation, and knowing that moments ago he had not been in the least happy at finding Lily and the workmen laughing together. Because she was delaying them? Or because of something else?

She gave a shrug. ‘I’m a teacher, not a cook.’

He gave an inclination of his head. ‘And I am sure you are a very good one.’

‘Goodness me!’ Lily’s eyes were wide as she leant back in her chair. ‘Did you just pay me a compliment?’

Dmitri frowned his irritation with her sarcasm. ‘I do not believe any of my insults have been levelled at you.’

‘Not personally, no. But by association, yes.’

And why should he not have expressed his displeasure with her brother, when he and Claudia might be the cause of the biggest scandal to rock the Scarletti family in several hundred years! ‘I do not in the least blame you for your family connections, Lily,’ he stated frostily.

‘You could have fooled me!’ An angry flush darkened her cheeks. ‘And, whatever Felix may or may not have done, he will always be my twin brother, and I love him.’

They were well on their way to having another disagreement, Dmitri recognised impatiently, when all he had meant to do was apologise for his earlier abruptness by paying her a compliment. Added to which, his comment had been sincere; he was certain that her no-nonsense attitude made her an excellent teacher.

He sighed. ‘I am not about to engage in another argument with you, Lily.’

‘The only way that isn’t going to happen is if we don’t speak to each other again before I leave!’ Her eyes flashed her annoyance at him.

A nerve pulsed in his cheek above his tightly clenched jaw. ‘Did you remember to return your telephone call this morning?’

She looked at him blankly. ‘Sorry?’

‘I seem to remember that last night you promised your friend Danny that you would call him back today.’ He raised dark brows.

Lily frowned; if this was his way of avoiding an argument then he was failing miserably. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, Dmitri, do you?’ she challenged, having no intention of telling him that she wasn’t going to return Danny’s call—today or any other day. That relationship was definitely over.

‘As the man who was interrupted in the middle of making love to you on this table last night when you received Danny’s telephone call, I think my curiosity is understandable,’ he shot back.

‘Would you keep your voice down?’ Lily seethed across the table at him, very aware of the fact that there were two other men in the room, and that at least one of them understood English. ‘I think the important word in that statement is “interrupted”,’ she continued with hushed fierceness. ‘And it doesn’t give you the right to question me about any of my friends!’

Dmitri dearly wished he had never begun this conversation. He had no idea why he had done so—except that he’d been annoyed, coming down the stairs a few minutes ago, to hear the sound of Lily’s laughter mingled with the two workmen’s. A light and flirtatious laugh that she had never been at ease enough to share with him.

His eyes narrowed. ‘Then what does it give me the right to do?’

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing,’ she repeated firmly, angry colour high in her cheeks. ‘Now perhaps we could change the subject and you could tell me whether or not you’ve managed to make any progress with your telephone calls?’

He recognised her method of averting the argument by changing the subject back to Claudia and Felix. Sensible, perhaps; it had been a senseless argument in any case—one he had allowed himself to be provoked into inciting because of his curiosity about the man who had telephoned Lily so inconveniently the night before. If they had not been interrupted then Dmitri knew that he would have taken Lily on top of this table without a second thought. Without a first one, in fact.

Which perhaps explained why he was now taking his physical frustration out on her …

Perhaps. But it was not the cool, logical behaviour he usually expected of himself …

‘Dmitri?’

His attention returned to Lily where she sat across the table, looking at him curiously. ‘I managed to find out that Claudia hired a car at Milano airport. After that nothing has been seen of either her or your brother,’ he added grimly.

Lily sighed as she slowly leant back in her chair. ‘Which means they could still be in Milan.’

‘Or not.’

Or not …

Lily was going to personally throttle her little brother when they finally caught up with him! If Dmitri didn’t beat her to it …

CHAPTER NINE

‘I CAN’T possibly afford to stay here!’ Lily squeaked, looking up, aghast, at the obviously exclusive and hideously expensive building outside where Dmitri had parked his sleek black sports car.

The hotel was only a mile or so from his home, but the journey had been long enough to show her that he drove like all the other Italians she had observed—basically without any sense or regard for traffic signals or other drivers, let alone the dozens of people who risked life and limb by travelling about on bikes and motorcycles!

Nevertheless, it was finding herself seated beside him in his expensive-smelling car, outside a hotel where she could see a doorman and several porters dealing with the luggage of chicly dressed guests going in and out of the glass front doors, which now caused the nauseous churning in her stomach—forget butterflies, they had been replaced by giant bats!

‘You don’t need to be able to afford to stay here,’ Dmitri assured her coolly as he opened his door and got out of the car before coming round to Lily’s side and opening the passenger door for her. ‘Obviously you will be staying here as my guest,’ he said as she made no move to get out of the car.

‘There’s no “obviously” about it.’ She gave a stubborn shake of her head. ‘Because I’m not staying here or anywhere else as the guest of Count Scarletti. I pay my own way, thank you very much.’

Dmitri felt some of his irritation drain out of him as he looked down at her stubbornly rebellious face. He was almost tempted to smile at her obvious indignation—if he had not known that any amusement at her expense would only make her more stubborn! ‘At least come inside and look at the room, Lily,’ he cajoled.

‘There’s no point in doing that when I’m not staying.’ She gave another firm shake of her head as she continued to stare at the elegant façade of the hotel. ‘Good Lord, Dmitri, when you said you would drive me to a hotel I didn’t mean for you to take me to Rome’s version of the Ritz!’ She glared up at him.

This time Dmitri was unable to stop himself laughing. Lily looked so much like an indignant little bantam hen at this moment that it was impossible for him not to smile. ‘Let me do this for you, Lily.’ He went down on his haunches beside the open door to take one of her hands in his. ‘As an apology for my boorish behaviour to date,’ he explained.

Lily eyed him frustratedly. It wasn’t fair that he should look so appealing boyish as he gazed at her with those warm green eyes and smiled at her so wistfully. As for that tingling sensation in her fingers and up her arm from the touch of his hands on hers …

‘A verbal apology would have sufficed,’ she muttered.

‘This is my apology,’ he insisted.

‘It’s rather an expensive one.’

‘Just take a look inside, hmm?’

Could any woman resist this man when he looked so appealing? Not her, that was for certain!

She pulled her hand free of his as he stood up and stepped back to allow her to get out of the car. ‘Looking doesn’t mean I’m staying,’ she warned as he moved to take her suitcase from the boot of the car. ‘I just know I wouldn’t be comfortable here.’

‘Comfort is what this particular hotel is known for,’ he assured her as he allowed the porter to take her suitcase from him before disappearing inside the hotel with it, thereby allowing Dmitri to take a firm grasp of her arm.

Lily didn’t doubt that for a moment as she entered the hotel lobby at Dmitri’s side. The marble floors and pillars were very much like those at the Palazzo Scarletti, and there was that same feeling of disembodiment from the rush and bustle of the city of Rome they had left outside.

There were a dozen or so people in the lobby—some at the discreet reception desk, others sitting in comfortable armchairs reading newspapers or looking at maps—but all turned to look as Dmitri strode through their midst, wickedly handsome, very tall for an Italian, and with his air of arrogance—

No, Lily realised slowly as she glanced up at him. Arrogance was, and always had been, the wrong word to use in association with Dmitri; arrogance implied conceit and a scorn for others that she had discovered this past day or so he simply did not possess. He was powerful, yes, and with an air of self-confidence in his own capabilities, but he wasn’t in the least arrogant. Even his aloofness, his holding himself apart from others, no longer seemed to apply in regard to her …

She was becoming far too personally interested in what did and did not make Dmitri Scarletti tick, Lily realised with a feeling of dismay.

Interested enough to resent the covetous glances he was receiving from the half dozen or so women in the lobby—old as well as young.

Far, far too interested!

He was as beyond Lily’s reach as the moon, and if she had been disappointed in Danny when he’d chosen his mother over her then it was going to be nothing compared to how she was going to feel once this man had walked out of her life. Which, as they reached the reception desk, Lily knew was going to happen much sooner than she might have wished.

Beyond the, ‘Buongiorno, signor!’ with which the brightly smiling—and very beautiful—receptionist greeted Dmitri, Lily understood none of the conversation that followed, instead turning away to allow her attention to wander around the lobby.

There was the familiar nativity scene in one corner of the spacious area—Lily had seen several others during their drive from the palazzo—and an eight foot tall Christmas tree in another. Its gold-and-silver decorations and harsh white lights, and several gifts neatly wrapped in silver foil beneath, made Lily long wistfully for the trees she remembered from her own and Felix’s childhood.

They had usually been misshapen trees that had begun to shed their needles within days of being brought into the house by their father, with twinkling lights of different colours, and most of the decorations made during Lily and Felix’s childhood, and of sentimental value only, along with the gingerbread angels and stars that they baked with their mother. The presents beneath had been wrapped untidily in gaudy paper depicting Father Christmases and snowmen, but all had somehow given the trees a much more homely appearance than the cold perfection of the tree that adorned this hotel lobby.

To Lily’s consternation she felt the sharp prick of tears in her eyes just at the thought of those past Christmases with her family. Christmases so at odds with the one she was to spend alone in this impersonal hotel.

Dmitri was scowling slightly as he turned from booking Lily in and acquiring the key card to her room, knowing it was because he was very displeased with the amount of male attention she had attracted as they entered the hotel together. Even when she was dressed casually in jeans, and with a thick jacket over her sweater, her delicate blond-haired beauty was a beacon to every appreciative male gaze.

His scowl faded to concern as he looked down at her profile and saw the tears balanced precariously on her long golden lashes. ‘Lily?’

She turned to look at him. ‘Sorry.’ She sniffed and then prompted brightly, ‘All booked in?’

Dmitri wasn’t fooled for a moment by her forced smile as he nodded and replaced his hand beneath her elbow to guide her across to the lifts. ‘I’m sure Claudia and Felix are perfectly safe wherever they might be,’ he reassured her softly as they stepped inside the mirrored lift together.

‘Oh, I’m not in the least worried about that.’ This time her smile was genuine.

Dmitri looked down at her searchingly. ‘Then what are you worried about?’

What was she worried about? Her own unhappiness at the thought of parting from him, for one thing.

Oh, she was used to being on her own. Had been more or less on her own for the past eight years. She and Felix were close, and had usually got together once a week or so when he’d lived in London too, but nevertheless her brother had always lived his life separately from Lily, following his own star wherever it might lead him. As a consequence she had made her own life, with her own career and her own friends, and although she lived alone she had never felt lonely. Until now …

Because of the man standing beside her. Because in a few minutes they would say goodbye and probably never meet again. Lily very much doubted that Dmitri would allow Felix or Lily anywhere near the Palazzo Scarletti again once his sister had been safely returned to him.

She felt sad just thinking about it.

Which was ridiculous, she instantly rebuked herself impatiently. Her initial opinion of Dmitri, as being an arrogant despot, might have mellowed over the past twenty-four hours, but he was still Count Scarletti—multimillionaire, and the escort of numerous beautiful and accomplished women. She very much doubted that he would give Lily Barton, a schoolteacher from England and the sister of the man he now despised, so much as a second thought once this was all over. He wouldn’t even have noticed her existence at all if not for the present awkward circumstances!

‘Nothing at all,’ Lily denied lightly as the lift came to a halt and they stepped out into the carpeted corridor.

The place even smelt expensive, Lily acknowledged with an inner wince as her booted feet sank into the thick pile carpet and they passed several highly polished and ornate tables as they walked down the hallway. Most of them contained a vase of colourful flowers to perfume the air, and the paintings on the richly papered cream-coloured walls appeared to be originals.

As for the room—correction, suite—that Dmitri ushered her into seconds later …

Lily was overwhelmed by the rich elegance of the sitting room they entered, its furniture obviously antique. Several vases of yellow roses sat on tables and a large sideboard, and a bowl of assorted fruits was placed temptingly on the low coffee table in front of a leather sofa. A cut-glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, and several matching lamps were placed about the room for a more subdued lighting. And through a connecting door she could see a bedroom that was just as opulent.