Sensitive, sedate and shy Art History Doctoral student Clio would rather daydream about the portrayal of ecstasy in Renaissance art than experience her own bliss. She is returning on a remote Tuscan road from yet another day of research for her PhD thesis when her Fiat 500 is pushed off the road and flips into a ditch. In shock, she isn't prepared for a sexy man on a Ducati motorcycle to sweep her away for dinner at his sister's nearby villa, where she is stranded for the weekend.
Clio immediately knows what kind of man Guillermo Gabriel d'Aldobrandin is - handsome, sexy, overconfident and dangerous - the kind of Latin lady's man she fell for, and learned to be wary of, during her first sexual encounter with a young Greek god, and a painful reminder of the most humiliating experience of her life!
Guillermo, a romantic, adventurous Italian architect, mistakes her for a frumpy older woman, until he sees her cleaned up. Then he falls instantly "in love" as he is wont to do with every pretty woman he meets. But there is something very different about Clio. He would like to get this fiery redhead into his bed, but Guillermo has bigger problems. His elder brother Jacopo has mortgaged the family's C16th villa in order to dig himself out of debt, divorce and political scandal - and plans to sell it, without consulting his siblings.
Guillermo is furious, but after confronting Jacopo, feels there is nothing he can, or at least is willing, do. He refuses to put his successful architectural career or luxurious, fast-paced lifestyle on the line to save his aristocratic family's ancestral home from the auction block, even though the thought of losing it breaks his heart. Guillermo isn't willing to carry the burden of the family's problems on his shoulders, and risk early death like his father, or incapacitation like his beloved grandfather. Instead, he turns his energies to the courtship of buttoned-down Clio. Unfortunately, Clio is more interested in the precious historic villa and its art collection than she is in him, and when he invites her to see it for a weekend, she refuses to let him off the hook.
Trouble ensues when a surprise visitor turns the weekend on its head. Guillermo's values are tested to the limit when a wealthy American rap artists and record producer wants to buy the villa and renovate it beyond recognition, and will accept only Guillermo in charge of design. The prospective buyer has pockets deep enough to make the family's financial woes disappear, but his grandiose plans to renovate the villa convince Guillermo and Clio that together they must find a way to save it. Clio helps Guillermo see that he must risk everything for that which he most loves, and her connections, creativity and passion persuade Guillermo to give it a try - if only to spend more time in the intriguing redhead's company. But not before an evening Bacchanal gives him a sneak preview into Clio's hidden passionate nature, and convinces him he has to have her.
She will have none of it. No one else in his family is able to take on the challenge, and Guillermo gives his word he will cease his seduction if Clio will help him save the villa. Meanwhile she puts her PhD thesis at risk by spending more of her time helping him, even though her domineering father will cut her off if she fails. Together they find a way, while he teaches her more than a few lessons about the risks and rewards of love and passion. They embark on an intense collaboration, formulating plans for a non-profit foundation and a Renaissance research institute. Under pressure, elder brother Jacopo desperately decides they must sell the villa to Masta Richie. They have thirty days to close and Guillermo must design Richie's required renovation as well as the secret changes that the Research Institute will require. There is much planning and paperwork to do: applying for government grants, achieving heritage status, making business plans, negotiating with an American host university.
The more time Guillermo and Clio spend together, the more they come to know and respect each other, not just for their individual intellectual and artistic talents and sensitive natures, but for their mutual love and passion for Renaissance art and history. The chemistry that they have been holding at bay heats up, and sparks begin to fly. Before long, Clio has forgotten why she was afraid of the passion that Latin lovers inspire, and Guillermo has lost his heart - for real this time.
Pulling it all together isn't easy, but Guillermo's family comes to their aid. Pia's new gourmet food business is just what Guillermo's business plan needs. And his little sister Bianca has all the skills their team needs for marketing and design. The only problem is, Guillermo thinks Clio should be Academic Director, and it's not in her career plans - at least her father's version. And Guillermo utterly refuses to consider her belief that he should run the foundation - that kind of responsibility would kill him for sure.
In the midst of their stalemate, with the clock ticking, things turn from bad to worse. The bank is unhappy, and the application for heritage status hits a major snag when an old political enemy of Jacopo's accuses him of nepotism. Guillermo persuades his brother to risk rallying their case in parliament. Then the villa's roof springs a leak, threatening a precious historic fresco. Guillermo has never had to juggle so many problems in his life, nor draw so deeply from the well of his own skills. He's drowning, and he hasn't even got Clio to cling to, since he's driven her away. Will Jacopo come through for them in parliament? Will the bank accept their loan? But most importantly, will Guillermo and Clio each conquer their own fears in order to save the villa and their love?
