Harlequin Romance March 2021 Box Set Cara Colter (the mitten read aloud TXT) 📖

a quaint side street, but her spirits were low, no matter how much she told herself to buck up. Charlie had never minded being alone before; she was quite used to it, even in strange places, thanks to some solo backpacking and day trips out alone when staying with her parents. She didn’t do lonely, just like she didn’t do sad or regrets, but today she couldn’t deny that she was lonely and sad and full of regrets for both the day they hadn’t shared and what that meant in the long term.

Of course Matteo had to go back, she told herself. But at the same time she couldn’t help thinking that he had his phone and his laptop back at the villa, that Harrington Industries had an experienced Head of Security who could sort out the bribery issue, and plenty of PR professionals to sort out any negative press. What would standing in the London office actually achieve that he couldn’t do just as well in Ravello? But of course his grandfather had summoned him back and Matteo had obeyed. His grandfather was probably glad of the opportunity. He’d taken to calling Matteo every morning and she knew that every single one of those conversations began with, When are you coming back?

Now it was her turn to ask that question. And to prepare for the likely answer to be, Not now, not yet. Then, Not at all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MATTEO DREW A weary hand through his hair and blinked a couple of times, his eyes dry and sore. He had no idea how long he’d been sitting at his desk, no idea what time it was: hell, he barely knew what day it was.

From the moment he’d landed at Heathrow it was as if his time away had never been. The second he’d set foot back in this office, work had descended on him like some kind of eternal punishment from a Greek myth. As soon as he thought he’d finished one thing, another twenty landed in his inbox and that was without even considering the mess his father’s actions had got them into. Thanks to the time difference, he was in constant communication both late at night and early in the morning to Chile, liaising with Harrington Industries’ Heads of PR and Security, who had gone out to try and salvage the business deal his father had so clumsily been trying to arrange and to ensure the arrest didn’t make it into the papers.

Alongside all this was an underlying niggle of worry about his grandfather’s health. He had seemed fully recovered from the stroke, but the last few days had clearly taken their toll; his face was tinged with grey, his mind less sharp than usual. Although the same could not be said for his tongue. That was as on point as ever.

All of this meant that Matteo had barely had a chance to speak to Charlie, let alone make plans to return to her. She assured him that she was fine, that she understood his absence, but he had made promises to her that right now it was looking increasingly unlikely he could keep. What that meant he could barely think about, partly because his mind was so consumed with work and partly because he knew he wouldn’t like the answer.

The buzzer on his desk vibrated and a second later Jo, his PA, popped her head around the door. If he felt exhausted she looked it, immaculate as always, not a hair out of place, not a crease in her suit, but she had deep hollows under her eyes. ‘For goodness’ sake, Jo, go home.’ He tried a smile to soften his words. ‘When did you last sleep?’

‘I could ask you the same question.’ She nodded significantly at the sofa bed in the corner of the office. ‘Have you actually been to your own house since you got back? Or have you been here every night?’

There was no point lying to her. ‘It seemed silly opening up the house just for me,’ he said. They both knew that wasn’t the reason he hadn’t gone home. It didn’t feel like home any more, not without Charlie.

‘You grandfather wants to see you. Are you free, or shall I put him off?’

He sighed. ‘There’s no point delaying the inevitable. I’d like to persuade him to go home and get some rest as well. Look, Jo, I’m serious. Go home. It’s an order. I don’t want to see you back here for at least twenty-four hours.’

‘I hate to ignore a direct order, but I think you might need me for a few hours more yet. I promise I’ll go home this evening, and if nothing else has happened to take the rest of the week off. Deal?’

‘Okay, but at least take an hour. Go for a walk or something. Get yourself a sandwich.’

She nodded and closed the door softly behind her. Matteo sat back and stretched.

Ten minutes later he was ascending in the lift to his grandfather’s penthouse office suite. Matteo could have had the rooms alongside as deputy CEO but preferred to be a couple of floors below, next to some of the other executive board and decision-makers. The lift opened into the opulently carpeted lobby and Matteo strode straight through, past the open-plan office where his grandfather’s PA guarded the entrance to his lair. He greeted her cordially as he rapped on the heavy oak door, not waiting for an invitation before opening it and stepping into the large corner office with views out over Kensington Gardens.

He had expected his grandfather to be exactly where he was, seated behind his huge antique desk, but Matteo hadn’t expected to see the man lounging on the leather sofa on his right. Head bowed, brows drawn together, he exuded exhaustion. His father looked nothing like his usual urbane playboy self.

‘Dad?’

His father looked up and managed a faint smile. ‘Matteo, good to see you.’

‘When did you get back?’

‘A couple of hours ago,’ he said.