Mr. Romano?” The handsome man’s slack face was a sure sign of his incomprehension at what Stella had said. He was tall with shoulders so wide that she wouldn’t have been able to wrap her arms around him and touch her hands behind his back. His black hair was thick with a natural curl that made her fingers tingle with the desire to play in it, but most of all she wanted to trace the little widow’s peak on his forehead.

She bit her inner lip. She was sure that she’d seen him on the cover of some fashion magazine. Men who looked like he did were like unicorns; they didn’t actually exist in nature. She blinked, half expecting him to morph into someone a foot shorter, fifty pounds heavier and twenty years older, but when she opened her eyes again, he was every bit as devastatingly handsome as he had been before.

It wasn’t fair. Men weren’t supposed to look like him in real life. It made it hard to think, and Stella’s job was on the line. She had to stay focused. She had to get this right. If she failed to make the owners of the Romano del Mare toe the line with regard to maintaining the integrity of such an important example of medieval architecture as the Romano del Mare, she would be out of a job. It was as simple as that. And her job was important to her.

“Scusi?” Leonardo asked, stopping half the way to her with his brows arched high enough to crinkle his forehead.

“I’m Stella,” she said, and then added, “Stella Brown,” when Leonardo’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t seem to recognize her, but she knew him. She’d thoroughly researched the talented, billionaire Romano brothers—co-owners of the Romano del Mare—before making her trip halfway across the globe. She’d seen Leonardo’s picture online, but the grainy photographs hadn’t done him justice. The eldest Romano brother looked like an Italian movie star, and Stella had to fight against her desire to simply stare at him like a dreamy-eyed schoolgirl.

Finally, when Leonardo didn’t move, Stella charged forward with her hand extended in preparation for a handshake. But her long, sure gait fumbled when she tripped and fell head long out of control only to end up in Leonardo’s incredibly strong arms, leaning over as if he had dipped her for a kiss. It was humiliating, to say the least, but feeling his long arms wrapped around her, she didn’t care. Instead, she reveled in it. Embraced it. It was the moment she was in, and she would enjoy the pleasures it had to offer rather than wallow in a negative haze of her own perception’s making. Swallowing, she did her best to refocus. She still had a job to do. “I emailed you?” she said as both a question and a statement, staring up into his unbelievably blue eyes. She could lose herself in those eyes. Without her permission, her hand reached up to touch a finger to the tip of Leonardo’s widow’s peak. She wanted to do more. She wanted to trace the contours of his face, but she knew that she needed to behave. Her no-holds-bar zest for life wasn’t within everybody’s comfort zone, and she didn't want to alienate the man she would have to work closely with over the next several months.

Leonardo blinked but continued to hold her as she was, tilted backwards in his arms, until finally Stella offered up her hand between them for a handshake. “Stella Brown. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

That appeared to break the confused spell that Leonardo had apparently been lost in, and Stella was put upright on her feet. He moved her body with the same ease as moving curtains, and his strength made her body want to go limp so that she could melt into his embrace. But she forced herself to stand tall, strong, and on her own when his arms left her and he stepped away.

“I’m sorry. There seems to be confusion. The resort is not yet open to receive visitors, and I must sadly ask you to leave. It is for your own safety, I assure you. The final renovations are still in progress. It would not do to have people wandering around the property before we open our doors to the public.”

“Public? No, no! I’m Stella. Stella Brown. I emailed.” She couldn’t believe she was having to go through all of this again. To say that she had emailed him was a bit of an understatement. She’d sent a barrage of communications, each one with a more intense and direct message than the last. She was coming, all renovations needed to cease, and she would assist them in the creation of new renovation plans which would adhere to the laws regarding the restoration of protected ruins.

Okay, so it was true that she’d never heard back from them. That wasn’t unusual. The owners of historic sites rarely welcomed her organization’s input with open arms. But despite that, the law was on her side, and she would be fierce in her efforts to make the Romano brothers abide by them!

Stella’s body felt energized from head to toe as if ready to zoom into action, but she wasn’t going to fool herself. Getting the Romano brothers to comply with the International Preservation Society’s vision for the Romano del Mare wouldn’t be easy. In fact, it would be an all-out battle. But she was ready for it. She would get them to see things her way.

“Bianca…” Leonardo called out as his gaze stayed locked on Stella. His look was that of someone staring at a madwoman no longer in touch with reality. “Bianca!”

Stella heard the click-clack of high heels and turned to see a young woman walk in the door of Leonardo’s office. She was all curves and had near-black hair with glints of red highlights. Her complexion was flawless, and she wore a pencil skirt that hugged her round hips and accentuated her slim waist.

To Stella’s surprise and embarrassment, she felt her cheeks heat. There was no way that a man as amazingly talented and gorgeous as Leonardo Romano could be around a woman who looked like her and not get involved. Standing so near her, Stella suddenly felt inadequate and all but invisible.

“Bianca,” Leonardo said as he clapped his hands together. Relief, as if he were being rescued, was clear in his face and voice. “This is…” He glanced at her as if having to search his short-term memory for her name, and his pause brought even more heat to Stella’s cheeks. “Stella Brown,” he said with a rush and a little too loudly, as if compensating for not having remembered it right away. “Have you gotten any emails from her?”

“No,” the young woman said, shaking her head. Then, her eyes flew wide. “Oh!” She pointed a finger at Stella. “But those emails were spam. Exclamation marks everywhere. They had to be spam.”

That sealed it. Stella was now so mortified that she wanted to crawl under a rock.

Turning away from Bianca, she returned her attention to Leonardo and found that he was already looking at her. She smiled, but even she could tell that it was weak and strained. “Yes, um…” She cleared her throat. She knew she had to get it together. This moment was her best shot at impressing upon them that they had to listen to her. She was a representative being provided to them to guide them through historic preservation laws. They needed her if they wanted to avoid heavy sanctions that would make the resort unprofitable for years to come. “Those emails were from me,” she said, straightening her shoulders and standing up a little taller. “I apologize for any confusion, it was just that the message I was relaying was of extreme importance. You must cease all renovation efforts at once. Your restoration plans will be reviewed by me, and I will assist you in altering them in whatever manner necessary to keep you in compliance with the laws that govern the restoration of such heritage sites as this medieval monastery.”

Stella stopped speaking long enough to give Leonardo a chance to ask some questions or at least say something, but instead he stood as still as a statue and continued to look at her like she was an alien from outer space.

Stella swallowed hard before continuing. “The crown molding and drywall that has been constructed in various areas of the monastery will need to be torn out. The pool near the cliffs will need to be filled in and the banister removed.” Taking a deep breath, she forged on despite Leonardo’s open look of dismay. “Everything about the monastery will need to be restored back to its most basic elements,”—she steeled herself—“and the property will need to be maintained for minimal public viewing with only parts of it available for use as a resort.”

Silence hung in the air when she’d finished talking. It lingered for at least five seconds, until finally it was shattered by Leonardo bursting out in laughter.

“Adeline, Nicolo’s fiancé, she put you up to this, didn’t she? You are one of her American friends.” He was smiling from ear to ear and the corners of his eyes crinkled, showing his age like a fine wine that just gets better and better.

Stella looked behind her where Bianca had disappeared, wondering if someone new had entered the room to make Leonardo think that she was trying to fool him, but the doorway was empty. She looked back at Leonardo. “Who’s Adeline?”

Leonardo’s laughter stopped, and Stella gave him a forced smile, suddenly wary of the adversary in front of her. Judging by the look on his face, this was going to be her toughest project yet.