Trusting a Stranger Read Online Free Page A

house. That was, if Alvaro Tomasi’s goal in sending her here was as straight-forward as spying on him — and something told Ethan that the truth was a lot more complicated than that.
    â€˜We need to talk,’ he said, returning to the sitting room and resting Hayley’s camera on the table between them.
    What would Ryan Michaels do? The older man had been his boss and his mentor for a long time. Ethan had taken over his position when the older man retired a couple of years ago, but Ryan had been happy to step back into the role when Ethan needed time off to sort out his personal problems with Alvaro Tomasi. Ryan was like a father to him. Ethan would talk to him about all of this as soon as he could.
    Hayley reached out for her camera, but Ethan waved her hand away.
    â€˜Do you want to know what I’ll do with the photos?’ she asked. ‘I can give you the phone number of the magazine editor if that would be —’
    â€˜No phone number. That won’t help at all. I know how easy phone numbers are to arrange.’
    Before taking a seat himself, Ethan moved towards the drinks cabinet along the side wall. Several bottles of Chianti from grapes grown in his villa’s own vineyard were arranged, ready to open. He reached for one of those and a bottle opener and turned to face her.
    â€˜I know your scooter is parked not too far from the villa, but you will be safe to drive after one small glass of this.’
    Hayley’s mouth dropped open, revealing two rows of small, pearly teeth. ‘You know about my scooter?’
    They really were lovely teeth, in a lovely, lovely mouth. Ethan clutched the wine bottle closer to his chest and pushed the corkscrew in with a particularly hard shove. Was there one part of this woman that he didn’t admire?
    â€˜How long ago did you discover I was here?’ she asked.
    He poured her a generous glass and turned, passing it to her. ‘You mean did I know about you while you were out in the vineyards, snapping photos of the villa from a distance, or was I really sleeping while you were trying to take photographs through my windows?’
    She accepted the glass, her mouth still open.
    â€˜A particularly unlikely attempt, by the way,’ Ethan continued. ‘I couldn’t see in those windows myself and I’m probably a foot taller than you.’
    â€˜Why did you let me —’
    â€˜I wanted to know what you were up to.’
    â€˜You could have asked.’
    Now she looked annoyed. And beautiful. She had taken a sip of the wine and her lips were red with it.
    â€˜You wouldn’t have told me the truth,’ Ethan told her.
    â€˜Why were you so sure about that?’
    â€˜You haven’t told me the truth so far.’
    â€˜I’ve…’ Her voice trailed off.
    Hell, she was the most talentless liar he had ever come up against. And he had come up against many. She obviously had no experience with deception at all. This settled things. Ethan couldn’t let her leave here without letting her know about the sort of people she had become involved with.
    â€˜You might think you’ve told me the truth,’ he said, although he wasn’t sure that she did.
    Her blush soon told him he had worked her out. She knew she had been lying about the expats magazine article. But this didn’t mean she was misguided enough to have fallen in with the Tomasi family entirely.
    â€˜I’ve told you —’ she began.
    And then, ‘What makes you think what I said wasn’t true?’
    â€˜Because you don’t know what the truth is.’
    ***
    Hayley gaped at him. He dared say that she didn’t know about the truth? Who was he to make judgements like that? This man, who might well be responsible for ruining her father?
    How tempted she was to come right out with it and tell him what she knew! Just the thought of it made her blood boil. Here he was, living in this fine big house in this