Read Online Reunited with Her Italian Ex by Lucy Gordon - Free Book Online Page A

we’ll photograph them on the balcony, in the tomb, anywhere that seems atmospheric.’
    â€˜We can’t pose them on the official balcony,’ Mario said. ‘There are always tourists there. But this hotel has a balcony that will do.’
    It was agreed that they would all meet again when the arrangements were made. Now all Mario wanted was to get away. Nothing had prepared him for being so close to her for hours, and he needed to be alone.
    â€˜Sleep well,’ he told her as he escorted her to a chauffeur-driven car. ‘You’ve worked hard today and there’ll be more tomorrow.’ He opened the car door. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight.’
    He walked away.
    * * *
    Back in her room, Natasha undressed and went to bed. It had been a successful evening and she should have felt triumphant. Perhaps she would have done if Mario had returned with her, and been here to share her sense of achievement. But he had left her alone while he spent the night somewhere else.
    Images of Laura danced through her mind, pursued by Amadore’s voice saying ‘...he can have any woman he wants.’
    She tried to shut the thoughts down. She and Mario were no longer part of each other’s lives, and she cared nothing where he was now, or who he was with.
    She lay down and managed to sleep. When she awoke she could hear a noise in the corridor outside, as though someone was turning a key in a lock. She rose and opened her door just in time to see Mario’s door closing.
    It was six in the morning.
    * * *
    She half expected him to be late for breakfast but he was there before her, calm, collected and ready for work.
    â€˜You were right about hiring actors,’ he said. ‘We’ll have a file of pictures soon. In the meantime I’ve been making some notes of my own—’
    But before she could look at them her phone beeped with another text.
    â€˜Is he hounding you again?’ Mario demanded.
    â€˜No, it’s not him,’ she said, looking at the screen. Then she drew in her breath sharply. ‘Oh, no—no!
Please, no!
’
    â€˜What is it?’
    â€˜Nothing,’ she said sharply.
    â€˜Don’t tell me it’s nothing when it affects you like that. Let me see.’
    Without asking her permission, he took the phone from her.
    â€˜What’s this?’ he demanded, reading,
‘Sorry, your cheque bounced.’
    â€˜How dare you?’ she said furiously, snatching the phone back.
    â€˜Who’s hounding you for money? Is it him?’
    â€˜No, it’s my friend Helen, and she’s not hounding me. She’s been letting me stay in her flat and she got me this job. Before I left I gave her a cheque for my share of expenses. I owe her so much and I’ve repaid her like this. I didn’t mean to. I thought there was just enough in the bank.’
    â€˜Right, we’d better get your contract sorted at once. Wait for me here.’
    As he left she sat there, deep in gloom. Shame pervaded her and for a moment she wished she could do what Mario had accused her of, and vanish into thin air.
    After a few minutes Giorgio appeared.
    â€˜The boss says I’m to give you the contract to sign,’ he told her. ‘Let’s go into his office.’
    In the office he laid out papers before her. ‘Just sign at the bottom.’
    She picked up the pen, then paused. ‘Wait, are you sure this contract is right?’
    â€˜The boss says it is.’
    â€˜But I know what the agency offered me—the money was far less.’
    â€˜The fee has been changed. The boss says you’re worth more.’
    Her head was spinning. The new amount was much larger than the one she had been quoted before.
    â€˜You need to give me your bank details so that some money can be paid to you today,’ Giorgio said.
    Dazed, she gave him the necessary information and signed the contract at the bottom of the last