The Count of Castelfino. Christina Hollis

are desperate to become my wife,’ he sighed. ‘The Bellini family blueprint says I should choose one of them. She should be installed in one of my town houses as my official partner and mother of my heir. There she’ll enjoy a life of pleasure. But that way of life went out with the Middle Ages! Life has moved on. It’s all so different now. Marriage isn’t simply a matter of duty and honour. It’s all pre-nups and making watertight arrangements to secure every stick and stone of my assets for the inevitable divorce.’

      To hear him talk about marriage as nothing more than another agreement to be crossed off his list of ‘things to do’ disappointed Meg.

      ‘There shouldn’t be anything inevitable about divorce! No one should marry for anything less than love,’ she said firmly, stroking her fingers down the long, leathery leaf of a miltonia. Meg was the last person to contradict an employer, but some things ought to be set in stone. ‘Women usually have their own careers nowadays. Marriage isn’t seen as the only life for them. And they aren’t all grasping parasites.’

      ‘I love women. Don’t get me wrong,’ Gianni said quickly. ‘It’s just that the Italian thoroughbred model holds no interest for me.’

      ‘Then you’ll have to find someone else.’

      ‘There is no one else. All the women I meet are out for everything they can get—believe me.’

      Meg was busy adjusting the ties securing a budding flower stem and replied without thinking. ‘I’m not.’

      Gianni sighed. ‘That’s what you say now. But I wonder…’

      His voice was heavy with regret. It was such a heartfelt comment that she looked up sharply. In that instant all trace of a smile vanished from his face. He was deadly serious—and all Meg’s wildest, most wanton fantasies were reflected in his eyes.