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Eventually she said truthfully, ‘I... I don’t know what to say. I had no idea about any of this...’

He lifted a hand. ‘Please. I don’t know why you insist on this charade of ignorance, because it serves no purpose.’ He dropped his hand and his gaze narrowed on her. ‘Unless, of course, your parents warned you that this could happen. That once the castello was vulnerable again the Santo Domenicos might return to stake our claim...’

Chiara shook her head, feeling sick, wondering just how much her parents had known. ‘No, they never said anything. I never heard anything.’

He sounded disgusted now. ‘That’s impossible—unless you were a total recluse.’

Chiara wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. His words cut far too close to the bone.

She forced out, ‘Whether or not what you say is true...and I have to admit that the graveyard does support your claim...the castello is out of your reach as much as mine now. Shouldn’t you be talking to the bank instead of me?’

She couldn’t stop the bitter note to her voice, still coming to terms with this news herself, so soon after her parents’ deaths.

Nicolo Santo Domenico looked at her for such a long moment that Chiara almost snapped at him to stop. She felt like a specimen on a laboratory table, never more aware of her drabness next to his glorious vitality. She would bet that he’d travelled all over the world and probably hadn’t been that impressed by it.

And then he said abruptly, ‘I presume if you had a choice you would prefer to retain ownership of the castello?’

The sharp pang of loss just at the thought of leaving struck Chiara right in her heart. ‘Of course. It’s my home—the only home I’ve ever known. My whole family is buried here.’

Like his. Her conscience pricked.

‘The only thing standing in your way of retaining the castello is a lack of funds.’

Chiara curbed her irritation. ‘I’m aware of that, but unfortunately I don’t have the funds.’ She had nothing.

‘I do have the funds.’

Chiara looked at him trying to ascertain where he was going with this. ‘Is that why you’ve come? To humiliate me on behalf of your family by pointing out that you now have the power to buy the castello?’

He shook his head, still looking at her with that disconcerting intensity. ‘Nothing so petty as that. What I’m saying is that I could give you the funds to pay off the debt and retain the castello.’

‘Why would you do that?’ He didn’t strike her as remotely charitable. Certainly not to his family’s bitter enemy. He’d been barely civil since he’d arrived.

‘I would do that because if I was to engage with the bank to buy the castello it would be a lengthy and tedious process. The castello needs serious refurbishment, and the sooner this happens, the better. I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity.’

Chiara struggled to try and understand. ‘But how do I fit into this?’

‘Until the bank takes possession you’re still the owner. If you pay off the debt you retain the castello. I am offering you a deal to do that on your behalf.’

She looked at him suspiciously. ‘Why would I agree to that?’

‘Because you’d get to remain at the castello. You wouldn’t have to leave your home. Isn’t that what you want?’

Chiara felt seriously confused now. ‘Yes, but...how on earth would that work?’

His dark eyes seemed to bore all the way through her. ‘It’s very simple, really. You would marry me as soon as possible.’

* * *

Chiara looked at Nicolo Santo Domenico in shock. Eventually she managed to formulate words. ‘Why on earth would you want me to marry you?’

Apart from anything else, she had to be a million miles removed from the type of woman a man like this went out with. She’d pored over glossy magazines for years, lamenting her untameable hair and full figure. Not to mention her zero fashion sense. She knew her limitations.

‘Like I told you, dealing with the bank would be tedious and time-consuming. It would take months—maybe even longer. Through marriage to you the castello will become mine within a much shorter space of time.’

Understanding finally sank in. So that was why he wanted to marry her. He was so arrogant and preposterous she could barely take it in. The thought of even considering any kind of intimate relationship with someone like him was totally ludicrous. And yet... She couldn’t deny the very illicit beat of awareness deep within her. It shamed her. She wanted his disturbing presence gone.

‘I think you’ve said enough. Your proposal—’ She stopped for a second as that word rang in her head. ‘It’s not even a proposal... What you’ve just said is frankly ridiculous. I have no desire to marry a complete stranger—for any reason.’