by Penny Jordan
‘It’s a lot busier these days,’ she said, noting the long line of boats waiting to go into the famous cave.
Franco frowned. ‘Too busy. But, come the end of September, things will be better. The cruise ships. They will stop coming. Will you be here then?’
‘Unfortunately not.’ September had only just arrived and her return flight was for just over three weeks’ time.
‘It is too warm for the top to be down,’ Franco decided at this point, and pressed a button which sent a canvas top up and over, shading her from the sun. Which was perhaps just as well, Veronica’s pink-and-white striped top having a deep boat neckline which might catch the sun on her neck. She always lathered herself in sunscreen. She didn’t want to burn.
Once Veronica put aside her disappointment over Leonardo’s no-show, she enjoyed the tour. Franco was a very agreeable guide, his knowledge of the island that of a man born and bred there. It turned out he was also married to Leonardo’s older sister, Elena. They had three children, a boy and two girls.
She wondered if Leonardo had told him she was Laurence’s daughter. Possibly not yet, she decided, swallowing back the questions she was dying to ask about her father. Maybe another day…
Finally, after getting a text on his phone, Franco headed for Anacapri and the helipad.
Despite telling herself there was nothing to be nervous about, Veronica’s stomach tightened and her heartbeat quickened. By the time Franco reached the top of the hill and parked, she found she could not sit in the back of the taxi any longer. Leaving her straw carryall on the back seat, she climbed out and walked around, lecturing herself all the while about her upcoming meeting with Leonardo.
Yes, he’s very attractive, but he’s a playboy, Veronica. Quite a notorious one. Don’t ever forget that. Play it cool when you come face to face with him. Don’t, for pity’s sake, let his good looks—and his undoubted charm—distract you from your quest. You’ve come here to find out about your father, not flutter your eyelashes at Leonardo Fabrizzi.
A helicopter approached from the direction of the mainland. Veronica shaded her eyes to watch it, despite already wearing sunglasses. The helicopter was black with red writing on the side and tinted glass, so she couldn’t see who was sitting in it. As it came in to land, the wind from the huge rotor blades hit her like a mini tornado. Thank God she’d chosen to wear her new white jeans, and not the sundress with its gathered skirt. As it was, a few strands of hair came loose from her ponytail, whipping across her face. Finally, the helicopter’s noisy engine shut down and the blades slowed. A side door on it slid open and out jumped a man, a tall dark-haired man in a pale grey suit and a blinding white shirt open at the neck with no tie.
Veronica recognised Leonardo instantly, despite his hair—which he’d worn disgracefully long back in his skiing days—now being cropped short. It suited him, however, showing off his face to better advantage, highlighting his sculptured features and strong jawline. Still, she’d already known about his new haircut, having studied many images on social media during the last two weeks.
He was, however, even better looking in the flesh than in recent photos, two-dimensional images not able to capture the total essence of this man. He was, Veronica accepted as she watched him stride towards her, not just the stereotype of tall, dark and handsome. Leonardo was more than that. Much more, as evidenced by the way her heart began racing within her chest. Aside from his looks, there was the way he moved. The way he walked. The set of his broad shoulders. The angle of his head. He was the total male package. Arrogant. Confident. And super sexy.
As he drew nearer, her heartbeat accelerated further.
Did he do this to all women? she wondered with exasperation. Did he make them forget everything that life had taught them about males of the ‘player’ species? Did he make them want to act like fatuous female fools?
Possibly.
Probably!
Veronica sarcastically renamed him ‘tall, dark and dangerous’ in her head.
It was a good thought to have. A sensible, soothing thought, giving her the willpower to draw in several deep, gathering breaths, consciously slowing her heartbeat and untangling the knots in her stomach. No way was she going to have her head turned by Leonardo Fabrizzi. She’d avoided that trap all those years ago. Surely she was better equipped not to fall for it this time.
All you have to do is think of Jerome…
He was staring at her, she knew, despite his sunglasses hiding the expression in his eyes. She could sense his penetrating gaze behind the opaque lenses, perhaps because his dark brows were drawn slightly together, forming two little frowning lines. It made her glad she was wearing sunglasses herself. That way he wouldn’t see into her eyes which she knew were, indeed, the windows to her soul.
Not that her soul was bothered by Leonardo Fabrizzi. It was her body which was bothered currently. Her silly, possibly frustrated female body which had been too long without the comfort of a man’s arms around her, without the wonderful feeling of being held, kissed and caressed.
‘Veronica?’ he said in that sexy voice which by now she was familiar with.
Her smile felt forced. ‘Yes,’ she confirmed.
His smile was light. And wry. ‘I should have known you’d be beautiful,’ he said. ‘Laurence was a very handsome man. Welcome to Capri,’ he added, stepping forward to draw her into a very Italian hug.
Her arms were trapped by her side as he pulled her close, the strength and warmth of his body bypassing her resolve to be sensible around him. Oh, God. She could feel herself melting in his arms. Feel her blood charge hot and heady around her veins. Her neck flushed. So did her face.
‘Goodness!’ she exclaimed, pulling back out of his embrace before she combusted. ‘I’d forgotten how very demonstrative Italians were.’
Leonardo’s eyebrows arched. ‘You don’t hug hello in Australia?’
‘We do. Though usually just relatives and close friends.’
‘How very odd. If I overstepped the mark, then I apologise. Come. It is too hot to be standing out here in the sun.’ He took her elbow and turned her back towards where the taxi waited for them, Franco still behind the wheel.
She resisted pulling her arm away, thinking that would be too rude. And too telling. He was just being a gentleman, after all. But, oh, it worried her, that wildly pleasurable sensation which had charged up her arm at his touch.
‘You don’t have any luggage?’ she asked when he dropped her arm to open the back door of the taxi.
‘No need. I keep spare clothes here at my parents’ hotel. My Capri clothes, I call them. No business suits for me when I stay here, isn’t that so, Franco?’ he said as he handed her into the car and climbed in after her.
‘Si, Leo. You are a different man once you come here.’
‘Have you been looking after our visitor? Shown her the more famous sights?’
‘Si. But Veronica, she not want to go to Blue Grotto.’
‘I’ve seen it before.’ Veronica jumped in before Franco could say anything further. ‘I came here as a day tripper when I was in my early twenties. It’s a very beautiful cave but I didn’t want to queue up to see it again.’
Leonardo nodded. ‘Understandable. Actually, the only way to see Capri is by air. I will take you up in the helicopter tomorrow.’
‘Oh,’ she said, thrilled and terrified by his offer. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘But I want to. And you will love it. Let’s go, Franco. I’m sure Veronica is anxious to see her father’s villa.’
Oh, Lord, Veronica thought as the taxi moved off. Her father’s villa. The reason she’d come here. And the last thing she’d been thinking about since the very handsome Leonardo Fabrizzi had stepped off that helicopter less than five minutes ago.
CHAPTER SIX
LEONARDO SETTLED INTO the back seat of the taxi and tried to a
ct normally, not like a man who was finding the girl next to him disturbingly attractive. Disturbing, because he wasn’t in the mood to be attracted to any girl at the moment, having decided after today’s fiasco in Rome that the female sex was nothing but trouble.
At the same time, he owed it to his friend’s memory to be hospitable to his daughter. And to satisfy Veronica’s very natural curiosity about the father she’d never known. It was a pity, however, that she had to possess the type of allure which he’d always found difficult to resist. He adored tall, elegantly slender brunettes, especially one whose hair was long and which, once released from a ponytail prison, would cascade down her back in loose curls like the tresses of some mediaeval princess. Combine that with a delicate oval face, clear porcelain skin and a lush mouth and you had a package which would tempt a saint.
And he was no saint.
Hopefully, when she took her sunglasses off, she would have small squinty eyes and a bumpy nose, but he doubted it. Laurence’s eyes had been one of his best features and his nose had been nicely shaped. If his daughter took after him—and he suspected that she did—she would be a classical beauty, with a superb brain and an enquiring mind.
The many hours Leonardo had spent with Laurence stood out as some of the most enjoyable times of his adult life. It hadn’t been just his house he’d enjoyed but the man himself. His company. His knowledge. His probing questions.
Leonardo sighed as he was reminded how much he missed his friend.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t there to meet you off the ferry, Veronica,’ he said. ‘I had some unexpected trouble at my boutique in Rome which I had to attend to.’
She turned to glance his way, her jeaned thigh briefly brushing against his. ‘Something serious?’
‘Yes and no. The manager was…what is the expression?…dipping her fingers in the till.’
‘That’s dreadful. Did you have her arrested?’
Leonardo’s laugh was very dry. ‘I would have liked to, but she threatened to ruin me if I did that.’
‘How could she ruin you?’
Leonardo shrugged. ‘Perhaps “ruin” is an exaggeration. She threatened to accuse me of sexual harassment if I had her arrested. In the end, I paid her off and she left quietly. But I’m not sure I trust her to keep her silence. She might still put something nasty on social media about me.’
‘Like what?’
‘She could say that to get her job in the first place she had to sleep with me.’
‘But that’s slander!’
‘Not exactly. I did sleep with her. Once. It was a mistake, but I could not take it back after it happened, could I?’
‘Well, no. I guess not.’
Leonardo noted the dry note in Veronica’s voice. She probably thought he was a playboy. Which he was, in some people’s eyes. But not of the worst kind. He tried not to hurt women’s feelings, but unfortunately the opposite sex often equated lust with love. He glanced over at Veronica and wondered if she was that type.
This thought brought another one.
‘I didn’t think to ask over the phone if you had a boyfriend,’ he said. They’d talked about their professional lives but hadn’t touched on the personal. He’d told her about his sportswear company and she’d explained that she worked from home as a physiotherapist, treating mostly elderly patients. She’d sounded oddly spinsterish over the phone. He could see now how wrong that impression had been. A beautiful woman like her would surely have a love life.
Her face betrayed nothing. But she stiffened a little.
‘No,’ she replied after a small hesitation. ‘No one at the moment. No one serious, at least,’ she added with a wry little smile.
‘Ah. You like to play the field.’
Her laugh was both light and amused. ‘If you like…’
He did like. Oh, yes, he liked that idea a lot, forgetting all about the antagonism towards the opposite sex that this morning’s confrontation had evoked in him. Suddenly, the prospect of keeping this lovely lady company this coming weekend was not a duty but a pleasure.
‘We have arrived,’ he announced when Franco turned his taxi through the high stone walls into the courtyard of the Hotel Fabrizzi. ‘What do you think, Veronica? Is not my parents’ hotel a delightful little establishment?’
CHAPTER SEVEN
HARDLY LITTLE, VERONICA THOUGHT, glad to turn her eyes away from this extremely handsome and annoyingly charismatic man. Lord, but he could charm the pants off any woman!
Except me, she reassured herself, blithely ignoring her thudding heartbeat.
‘It’s lovely,’ she said as the taxi came to a halt in front of a columned portico.
The hotel itself was two-storeyed and dazzlingly white, with terracotta tiles on the roof and dark wooden frames around the windows and doors. To their right as they alighted was a large pergola covered in grape vines, under which sat a long wooden table with equally long benches on either side and two large cushioned chairs at each head of the table. The closest was occupied by a huge ginger cat, basking in the dappled sunshine. When Leonardo walked over to stroke it, it purred loudly but did not get up.
‘This is Gepetto. He’s my mother’s cat and very old. He was here when my parents bought this place thirteen years ago. The previous owners abandoned him.’ Leonardo smiled a rueful smile. ‘He’s not de-sexed. Mostly because we can never get him into a cage. He doesn’t mind being stroked but don’t ever try to pick him up. He can be quite savage. I’m told there are many ginger kittens on Capri.’
Veronica looked at Leonardo and wondered how many offspring he’d sired over the years. Though perhaps he was too careful for that. Wealthy playboys would learn to practise safe sex from an early age, she imagined. There certainly hadn’t been anything about paternity suits levelled against him on the Internet.
‘Must go, Leo,’ Franco called out as he dropped Veronica’s case onto the portico then climbed back into the taxi. ‘I will see you tonight,’ he directed straight at her.
‘Tonight?’ Veronica echoed but Franco was already gone.
‘My parents will invite you to dinner,’ Leonardo explained. ‘The whole family will be there to meet you. They are very curious over the long-lost daughter of their friend and neighbour.’
‘Oh.’ It sounded like there would be a daunting lot of people gawking at her.
‘Don’t say no,’ he advised. ‘They would be most offended if you did.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of saying no,’ she said, just as two people emerged from the hotel out into the sunny courtyard.
Veronica saw immediately where Leonardo got his looks, because this had to be his parents. Both of them were surprisingly tall for Italians. Despite being obviously in their seventies, they both stood with straight backs, their faces beaming with happiness at the sight of their son.
‘Leonardo!’ his mother exclaimed, and hurried over to throw her arms around him.
‘Mamma,’ he said warmly, holding his mother’s face and covering it with kisses.
His mother laughed and smiled, hugging him even tighter.
Veronica watched with a tightness in her own chest. Was it jealousy she was feeling? Or just envy? She and her mother loved each other dearly but they weren’t much into physical demonstrations of their love. The occasional hug, maybe. Her mother had kissed her goodbye at the airport. Just one kiss. On the cheek.
Of course, Italians were like this. They were a passionate people, given to touching and kissing at the drop of a hat. Australians not so much, though they were improving when it came to showing affection—especially in Sydney, where immigration was the highest, with people from other cultures bringing with them new and possibly better ways.
Finally, Signora Fabrizzi disentangled herself from her son’s arms and turned to face Veronica whilst Leonardo’s father had his turn at hugging and kissing his son.
&nb
sp; ‘And you must be Veronica,’ she said, her Italian accent not as heavy as Franco’s. ‘Laurence’s secret daughter. I am Sophia, Leonardo’s mamma. And this is Alberto, his papa. My, but you are lovely, aren’t you? Let me see your eyes,’ she added, and without a by-your-leave stepped forward and swept off Veronica’s sunglasses.
‘Mamma!’ Leonardo chided, but laughing. ‘Don’t be rude.’
‘I just wanted to see if she had Laurence’s eyes,’ his mother explained sheepishly. ‘See, Leonardo? They are the same violet colour. The same shape. Now I believe she is really his daughter.’
Leonardo muttered something in Italian, having removed his own sunglasses, perhaps so that he could see the colour of Veronica’s eyes more clearly. Their eyes met, with nothing now to mask their feelings. Veronica stiffened at the naked desire which zoomed across the space between them. It was the same way he’d looked at her that night all those years ago. She’d resisted him then. But could she resist him now? Did she even want to?
Hopefully, he wouldn’t put that question to the test. Because, for whatever reason, she didn’t feel as strong today as she had back then. Which was odd, really, since she had her experience with Jerome to help immunise her against the attractions of men such as Leonardo Fabrizzi. She wished now that she hadn’t suggested she was the free and easy type when it came to men. The urge to seem sophisticated in his presence had been acute. Female vanity, she supposed. But it had been a mistake.
Leonardo finally extracted them from his parents’ overwhelming welcome with the excuse he should take Veronica up to see her villa.
‘I will see you soon, Mamma,’ he said, shepherding them both back inside whilst he retrieved Veronica’s luggage, and her sunglasses, at the same time. ‘After I’ve got Veronica settled in I’ll come back down and you can tell me all the gossip.’