Italian Boss, Housekeeper Mistress
| By Kate Hewitt | |
| Publisher | Mills & Boon Special Releases |
| Release Month | Jul 2009 (UK) |
- Author: Kate Hewitt
- Publisher: Mills & Boon Special Releases (Part of An Italian Summer Anthology)
- Year: 2009, June 19 (Part of Mills and Boon July Releases)
- Setting:
- Series: None
- Amazon Listing: Italian Boss, Housekeeper Mistress (US) or (UK)
Contents
Book Description
Blurb
From the back cover of Harlequin Presents #2910, April 2010, US Edition:
Italian Boss, Housekeeper Mistress by Kate Hewitt
A housekeeping job in a crumbling villa on Lake Como was a fresh start for Zoe Clark. But she hadn't bargained on her dangerously sexy boss—Leandro Filametti. As the blazing Mediterranean sun heats up, Leandro realizes his one desire is to claim Zoe….
Excerpt
Squaring her shoulders, Zoe marched up to the front door, lifted the heavy brass knocker, and let it drop. A deep, melancholy boom reverberated through her bones—and hopefully the house—and then fell silent.
Zoe waited. The bird twittered again, fretfully this time, its tranquility disturbed. Zoe raised her hand to the knocker once more, her fingers curling around the sun-warmed metal, but before she could drop it to sound the boom again, the door opened, pulling her with it.
“Argh!” With a surprised yelp she tried to disentangle here fingers from the knocker and in the process nearly fell headlong into the man who had opened the door.
Strong hands curled around her shoulders and righted her once more. Zoe was conscious of a sudden sense of strength and power, although she couldn’t really see the man in front of her. Once she was steady, she looked up, and found her breath coming out in a rush once more.
The man was beautiful. Zoe didn’t know if he was her employer or a gardener, but she certainly liked looking at him. His hair was light brown and a bit ragged, touching the back of his collar. Eyes the same color as the lake—a deep blue-green—were narrowed against the sunlight, or perhaps in disapproval. He didn’t look very friendly.
Zoe straightened, unable to keep her gaze from wandering down the length of him. He was tall, a few inches over six feet, dressed in a faded grey tee-shirt and worn jeans that hugged his long powerful legs. His feet were tanned and bare.
Zoe swallowed. “Hello… um… Ciao. Il mi…” Her few words of Italian, snatched on the plane from a battered phrasebook, seemed to have leaked out of her brain. She smiled with bright determination. “I’m Zoe Clark.”
“The housekeeper.” He spoke with little accent, his voice cutting and precise. He stepped back, opening the door wider, yet somehow the gesture still seemed unfriendly. “Come in.”
Zoe stepped into a foyer, the black and white marble cool even through her flipflops. The light was dim and as her eyes adjusted she saw a sweeping spiral staircase in front of her, ornate and yet also clearly in disrepair. Her glance took in sheet-shrouded tables, and a bronze statue of a cupid that looked in need of some serious polish.
The man cleared his throat, and her gaze snapped back to him. “Are you Leandro Filametti?”
“Yes.” The one word was spoken with a brusque flatness that made Zoe want to recoil. Instead she jutted her chin and thrust out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Leandro Filametti regarded her hand silently for a moment before he shook it. His touch was light yet firm, and all too brief. He dropped her hand without ceremony and turned to walk out of the foyer, clearly expecting Zoe to follow, which, with some resentment, she did.
Leandro led her down a narrow passageway to the back of the palazzo. From the peeling paint and chipped woodwork, Zoe could tell the palace needed a good deal of TLC. More, she suspected, than her limited capabilities allowed.
Leandro stopped on the threshold of an enormous ancient kitchen. Zoe regarded the huge blackened range and the scarred oak table with both awe and dismay. A single plate and glass, she noticed, had been washed and placed on the drainer by the sink. In the huge space, clearly meant for cooking meals for twenty or more, they looked incongruous and lonely.
“You can start here,” Leandro informed her.
“Start…?” Zoe stared around. She couldn’t even see so much as a broom, and frankly, she wouldn’t know where to begin. How did you scrub away years of grime and dust? Did you start with the cobwebs or the mouse nests?
“Yes,” Leandro replied, his tone sharpened with impatience. “You do know what housekeeping entails, don’t you?”
“I do,” Zoe replied, her tone matching his, “but I also know that my suitcase is still on your front steps, I’ve been travelling all night, and I haven’t even washed my face or had a drink of water.” Coke, perhaps, but not water.
Leandro did not even look abashed. “If you’d like a few moments to freshen up, by all means, take them,” he said with just a trace of sarcasm.
“Could you show me my room?”
“Top floor, take any room you like,” he replied. “And you can get acquainted with the house as well as your responsibilities.”
With that he turned on his heel and disappeared down another passageway, leaving Zoe openmouthed and fuming.
Publication History
- 2009, June 19 - Paperback Release (Part of An Italian Summer Anthology) (Part of Mills & Boon July Releases) (Mills & Boon Special Releases) (UK Original Release) - ISBN-10/13: 0263875318/978-0263875317
- 2010, April 01 - Ebook, Kindle, Paperback, and Paperback Large Print Release (Part of Her Mediterranean Playboy, 2-in-1) (Harlequin Presents #2910) (US Original Release)
- Ebook: US
- Kindle: ASIN-10: B0037NB5EM
- Paperback: ISBN-10/13: 0373129106/978-0373129102
- Paperback Large Print: ISBN-10/13: 0373236743/978-0373236749
