She hung her head. “I don’t know what to do. I know what I should do. Greer would tell me to go straight home and forget him.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked softly.
“Find the path to his heart, but I don’t think there’s a way.”
“After getting up at the crack of dawn to row the Gabbiano by yourself to find help, you’re too tired to think straight. I’ll ask Bianca to show you to one of the guest bedrooms.
“Sometimes when I’ve exhausted every idea to ace out an opponent on the track, a good night’s sleep restores me and I come up with a killer strategy.”
She bit her lip. “It would have to be that good to make a dent in his armor.”
“The Duchess triplets have a reputation for doing the impossible under the most improbable circumstances. If you can’t figure out a way to get to my brother, then it can’t be done.”
“I think I’m crazy about you, Cesar de Falcon.”
“Now she tells me!”
While they smiled at each other with a perfect understanding, Olivia heard Cesar’s cell phone go off. His gaze flicked to hers. “My bet it’s big brother trying to find out where you are because he can’t stand the suspense any longer. What do you want me to tell him?”
Her heart was racing. “What does your caller ID say?”
He pulled it out of his pocket to look. “It’s Max.”
Olivia didn’t know whether to be glad or devastated. She watched Cesar click on. As soon as he’d said ciao, he handed her the phone. “It’s Greer,” he mouthed the words.
Not again—
She turned her back on Cesar. “How did you know I was here?” she demanded of her sister in a hushed tone.
“Maybe because I’ve lived with you for twenty-seven years and know exactly how your mind works,” Greer whispered back. “Olivia Duchess— don’t you know you’ve done the worst thing you could ever do to run straight to Cesar? Any hope you might have had with Luc has flown straight out the window!”
Olivia couldn’t stand it when her sister was right, which was ninety-nine percent of the time. “You’re supposed to be on your honeymoon instead of minding my business.”
“I’m afraid your getting involved with the Falcon brothers has made this all our business! Piper phoned Nic because she was desperate to know where you were.
“You promised to phone her and you never did! She thought you were going to fly home from Genoa, but Nic said you were taking the train to Colorno. When she called there, the maids reported that you never arrived, so she phoned Nic who phoned Max to find out if we knew anything. Piper’s frantic!”
“I couldn’t call her. Luc and I were marooned on Monte Cristo without a phone.”
“That’s not true, Olivia! You know very well Luc had one with him, otherwise how would Nic have known to come and rescue you, let alone where to find you!”
Olivia’s blue eyes rounded in wonder.
Luc had his cell phone with him the whole time?
Then that meant he’d hidden it…
And that meant he hadn’t wanted to be rescued yet, which meant—
Excitement charged her body like a bolt of lightning. This changed everything!
“Thank you for calling me, Greer. I promise to phone Piper right away. Give my love to Max. Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon.”
“Olivi—”
She clicked off.
“Is everything all right?” Cesar inquired.
She whirled around and handed him the phone. “Everything’s fine! Cesar? Will you do me a favor?” Her plan had to work.
“Bien sûr. Anything.”
“Walk me to the foyer and call for Bianca. When she comes so she can be a witness, tell me to get out of your house.”
“Comment? What did you say?” he asked incredulously.
“Please just do it? Tell me to leave the premises immediately or you’ll call the police and have me arrested for trespassing.”
Recognition suddenly dawned in his blue-gray eyes. “Ah—you are up to one of your famous Duchess tricks.”
She bit her lip. “You won’t give me away?”
He crossed his heart.
Getting into his part, he grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her into the foyer, calling out in a loud, urgent voice for Bianca as he did so. The housekeeper came running.
“Bianca? Please bring Mademoiselle Duchess’s suitcase back. I want her out of this house and gone within two minutes or I am calling for the police.”
When he shook Olivia off, almost causing her to stumble because he didn’t know his own strength, the older woman gasped before hurrying away to do his bidding.
Taking advantage of her absence, Cesar kissed Olivia’s cheek. “Bonne chance, ma belle, but I don’t think you will need it because you have a way of making your own luck.
“When you reach the first turn in the road below the villa, wait there and a taxi will be along shortly to take you wherever you wish to go.”
“Thank you, Cesar. Whether my plan works or not, I want you to know you’re wonderful.” She gave him a hug before he disappeared, leaving her to face the loyal housekeeper who dropped the suitcase at her feet the way she was supposed to do.
“You heard, Cesar. Go!” She made a violent gesture with her hands.
“I’m leaving, even if he misunderstood my intentions.”
The older woman wagged an index finger in front of her. “He does not misunderstand why a woman comes to his house this late at night alone. The only woman he will ever have in this house will be his wife!”
“But I came to talk to him about Luc. Luc’s the one I love.”
“Then you find my poor Luca and tell him. There was trouble in this house once before,” she muttered, probably revealing more than she meant to. “And stay away from my poor Cesar. They have both suffered enough!”
“I agree. Thank you for your hospitality, Bianca,” she said before closing the door.
By the time she made it to the horseshoe bend in the road with her suitcase, a taxi was waiting for her.
“Thank you for coming.”
The driver nodded. “Si, signorina. Signore di Falcone told me to take you wherever you wish to go.”
“Naples airport. I have to get to Nice before morning.”
“Bene.”
No telling what Luc’s plans were. Even though he was supposed to be resting his leg, he might have gone to his parents’ home—or to Nic’s in Spain.
She hoped not the latter. Any more travel tonight was anathema to her. Besides, she needed to be alone with Luc.
Four hours later another taxi dropped her off in the courtyard of Luc’s villa. At five-fifteen in the morning, it was still dark. She paid the driver and got out with her suitcase in hand. To be certain she wasn’t stranded, she asked him to wait.
Here we go again.
She walked up to the door and rang the bell. Luc had told her he employed staff during the weekdays, so she expected a maid to answer. When no one came, she pressed the button and didn’t let up.
Pretty soon she heard cursing.
A smile broke out on her face. She turned to the taxi driver. “You can go.”
By the time Luc opened the door wearing the bottom half of a pair of sweats, all she could see were two red taillights disappearing from the courtyard.
“Surprise, surprise. I’m baaaack.” She stepped over his cane and walked in carrying her suitcase.
She probably looked as messy as she felt still dressed in the same skirt and blouse she’d been wearing when he’d last seen her. Everything needed laundering.
Not daring to look at him for fear his expression would terrify her she said, “Sorry to wake you, but now that I’m here you can go back to bed. I know the way to my room.”
Without a second’s hesitation, she trudged up the staircase to the yellow room she’d chosen for her own. It was heaven to walk in the en suite bathroom and disrobe, anticipating a hot shower.
There’d be
en too many boat, train and plane rides in one day. She stood under the spray and let the water wash away the grime before she worked the shampoo into a lather.
This was pure luxury. When she wandered into the bedroom a few minutes later with her hair and body wrapped in two fluffy towels, she discovered Luc standing inside the doorway watching her. He was too far away for her to see the look in his eyes. It was just as well she couldn’t.
“I don’t have anything clean to wear. Do you think you could lend me a T-shirt while I put in a wash?”
“There’s a robe in the closet.” His voice sounded like it had come from a dark cavern, but so far he hadn’t made a move to throw her out yet. A good sign.
She opened the door to the walk-in closet and found a fleece robe in pale blue hanging on a hook. After putting it on and cinching the belt around her slender waist, she emerged with both towels draped over her arm.
“It’s lovely. Thank you for your hospitality. I’ll wash my clothes after I’ve had a good six hours of sleep. Then I’ll feel like a new person.” She tossed the towels over the back of a chair and climbed under the covers of the bed. “Good night.”
She rolled on her side so her back was facing him.
When he turned off the light, she assumed he was either too exhausted or too enraged, or maybe both, to deal with her until tomorrow. But in that regard, she turned out to be dead wrong. The side of the bed gave right behind her.
“What do I have to do to get rid of you?”
If she hadn’t known he’d purposely lied to her about the phone—if he hadn’t covered her mouth with a hunger equal to her own, his question would have driven her away for good.
“You still owe me a Riviera trip. All you have to do is call someone to fit the Gabbiano with a new sail and repair the short in the wiring. When I wake up, I’ll get us packed and we’ll fly back to Vernazza. We can buy some books and groceries at the port.”
“That’s all I have to do,” he murmured with quiet menace.
“Well, there might be some other things, but I’d rather you surprised me. Oh—there is one thing—”
She turned over and found herself wedged against his hip. “We’ll need to stop by the hospital first to get your phone. We don’t want to go off this time without it. You know. In case something else goes wrong and we’re stranded.
“It was just plain lucky Giovanni remembered about the wiring and called Fabio. We were down to a couple of eggs and one plum. We might not be so lucky again.”
He didn’t move a muscle, but she saw something flicker in the silvery recesses of his eyes illuminated by the light from the hall.
“Where have you been today?” he demanded.
“Here and there.”
“What in the hell does that mean?”
“Sometimes at home when I’m upset, I ride the subway to the end of the line and back while I think.”
“You were upset?”
“Well naturally. Our trip turned out to be a fiasco, and I’d had my heart set on it.”
She heard a sharp intake of breath. “So you rode the train to the end of the line and back, is that it?”
“More or less.”
“That must have been some ride.”
“It was. I met at least fifty playboys who all wanted to show me the time of my life if I would let them.”
His lips thinned to a white line. “So why didn’t you take one of them up on his offer?”
“The kind of playboy I’m looking for owns the train, he doesn’t ride on it.”
“You wouldn’t by any chance have ridden as far as Positano—” He left the sentence hanging in the air.
“Since you know I did, why don’t you just be honest about it and ask me if Cesar and I went shopping for a ring? But then you already know the answer to that question because I wouldn’t be here banging on your door if we were celebrating our engagement.”
“What’s the matter? Wasn’t he home?”
Tired of the sneer in his tone she said, “Oh, he was there all right.”
“And?”
“It was a sobering experience. I’d only gone there to talk to him about you because you gave me permission. He turned on me just like you did and told me to get out!”
“You’re lying.”
“If you don’t believe me, ask Bianca. She dumped my suitcase at my feet, muttering something about how much her poor Luca and her poor Cesar had suffered.
“I ended up having to walk to town from the villa at one o’clock in the morning carrying my suitcase, which was so heavy my arm still aches.” She hoped one little lie wouldn’t make her a horrible person.
“I warned you those rocks might turn out to be a weight around your neck.”
“At least they’re not as heavy as the burden you and Cesar carry in your hearts.”
Luc suddenly got up from the bed, taking away the warmth of his solid frame. “What in blazes are you talking about?”
Talking about Cesar had been a calculated risk on her part.
“Grief. I’m no stranger to it, either. What you need is a little cheering up. How about teaching me how to sail? You could lie on deck to rest your leg and bark out instructions. I’ll do all the work. I’d like to take some good memories back to New York with me. They’re going to have to last a long time.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You have a sister living in Italy you can visit any time you want.”
“That’s the whole point. Greer needs her space with Max. He doesn’t want to be married to triplets, so Piper and I aren’t planning to descend on her more than once a year.”
“I thought you were on the hunt for a Riviera playboy. A once a year visit’s going to cut down on your window of opportunity.”
“That’s all right. Greer caught hers. One out of three isn’t bad. Besides, I’ve got a new Internet business to run. But I don’t want to think about work while I’m on vacation. It shouldn’t take that long to repair the boat, right?
“However if the thought of being with me sickens you so much, I’ll go to Vernazza and hire someone to take me sailing on the Gabbiano. Since you owe me, I’ll put it on your bill. Now if you don’t mind, I need some sleep, so I would appreciate it if you would turn out the hall light.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“NIC? Are you awake?”
Luc heard a groaning sound come over the phone line. “I am now. Another emergency must have come up for you to call at six in the morning.”
“Emergency—catastrophe— You name it.”
“I take it we’re talking about Olivia.”
He closed his eyes tightly. “She’s back.”
“As in—”
“As in under my roof, using my shower, sleeping in the bedroom next to mine.” The sight of her in that towel would haunt him forever.
“When did this happen?”
“An hour ago.”
“Where’s she been?”
“I’ll give you one guess.”
“Then—”
“Don’t ask—” Luc cut him off. “I’m not going to be able to get rid of her until she’s taken her damn boat trip. Fabio will know someone who could repair the wiring and put up a new sail today. But I need you to crew for us.”
“You don’t need me when you’ve got Olivia. She could do it if you showed her how.”
He grimaced. “That’s her plan.”
A sound of exasperation came out of Nic. “If you really don’t want to be with her, why did you let her in the door?”
“You know why. She’s Greer’s sister. If I offend 135 her too deeply, it will end up affecting Max. That’s the last thing I want to see happen.”
“Point taken.”
“The way I figure it, if we follow her original itinerary, let her have her fun, she’ll finally go home. Then we can get back to business as usual.”
After a long silence, “You want a fully loaded boat?”
“That’s the idea. Let’s not give her anything to complain about. I
’ll do the cooking while you play captain.”
“Just like old times.”
“Not quite,” Luc murmured. “This time she won’t be trying to run away. If there’s one good thing to come of this, a few more days rest and I won’t ever need the cane again. At that point I can leave her in your capable hands for the rest of the trip. You don’t mind seeing her off on the plane in Malaga, do you?”
“You know better than to ask that question. I’ll get packed and take off for Vernazza.”
Luc knew he was asking a lot of his cousin, but this was one time when he had no other choice. Being alone in this house with Olivia was bad enough. Being alone with her on the Gabbiano was out of the question. What he needed was the gift of forgetfulness, but there was no such animal.
I’ve been thinking about…us.
Us?
Yes. You and me. Since Cesar knows I turned to you, and we’re probably not going to make it to Ischia after all, what do you say we take advantage of our situation for the duration of our trip.
Luc’s lungs constricted because he would never know what really went on between her and his brother. Even if they hadn’t made love, she’d nursed a passion for Cesar long before she’d met Luc.
Heaven help him, how long until he stopped caring?
“Nic?”
“Yes?”
Luc expelled the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you. You know what I’m trying to say.”
“I do. Without you and Max, I’d never have made it this far. We’ll talk later.”
After they’d hung up, Luc placed a call to Fabio who told him not to worry. The repairs would be done by late afternoon.
With that settled, he went back to bed. Unfortunately his sleep was sporadic and fitful, denying him the one temporary panacea for the blackness that had descended with a vengeance since Olivia’s arrival.
Another three days of torment loomed ahead of him. Three days where he couldn’t hibernate in order to banish certain images from his mind.
Thank heaven for Nic who would be there to help him fight this sickness.
To Win His Heart Page 11