The Italian's One-Night Consequence by Cathy Williams

Author:Cathy Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-02T19:11:51+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

MADDIE LOOKED AT the half-finished building work which she had tentatively begun on her house six weeks previously. It was just another aggravating headache added to the pile of aggravating headaches which had been slowly but steadily mounting ever since she had confidently declared to Leo that if he didn’t want to buy the store from her then she was overjoyed, because she would be able to rebuild her family’s legacy and return it to its former glory.

Niggling problems had arisen at the store. Missing stock, inadequate paperwork for suppliers which had only just come to light, a persistent leak in one of the departments on the top floor, which the plumbing team had ominously told her ‘looked bad’... After that she had dismissed them, so that she could consider her options.

Several members of staff had also chosen to quit, following the announcement of her ownership, and replacing them was proving another headache because everyone seemed to think that there was no chance the store was a viable employer—even though she had personally sat in at all the interviews and done her best to persuade them otherwise.

And now this.

Maddie sighed and contemplated the exposed plasterboard and the flooring which had been ripped up—but not in its entirety. Which meant that half the kitchen floor was comprised of the original tired tiles and the other half of bare brick and wood, with enough gaps to let in several families of rodents.

The fridge had been disconnected, and now the builder had phoned to say that he wasn’t going to be around for the next week because of a ‘personal emergency’.

Maddie looked at her phone.

Leo.

She didn’t want to think of him but she did. She couldn’t help herself. True to his word, he had been around a lot. Phoning her. Arranging to meet her for lunch. Insisting on doing the occasional grocery shop with her because he wanted to make sure she was buying food that was nutritious.

She refused to invite him back to her house, just as she discouraged his visits to the store. She wanted and needed her independence. She’d turned him down and for good reason. The last thing she wanted was to drift into a state where she found herself depending on him, and she knew that was a real danger because he was just so damned present. The perfect gentleman.

There had been no mention of marriage, nothing that could be construed as being remotely sexual... He was just strong, reliable, and annoyingly, infuriatingly helpful.

Maddie knew that she should be grateful that he’d never overstepped the mark.

She didn’t want him in the house? He shrugged and took the hint with alacrity.

She was vague about him visiting the store? He acquiesced with another of those non-committal shrugs of his.

He treated her as though she was made of porcelain, and the only time she’d sensed that he was having trouble backing down was when she had absolutely refused to see his private doctor on a weekly basis because it was ‘better safe than sorry’.

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