“Sister Francesca has a little different take on it. ‘I, the Lord God, shall forgive whom I will, but thou art commanded to forgive all men their trespasses.’”
She lowered her head. “Why did she give you that lecture?” Ann asked helplessly. Riley knew how to get to her in such insidious ways, she was terrified.
“Sister Francesca was a psychiatric nurse as well as a saint.”
Her body quaked.
“You were put in a psychiatric ward after your accident?” her voice throbbed.
“It sounds scarier than it was. When my father’s best friend Bart came back again and again to try to see me, I warned her to keep him away, or else.”
Ann shuddered.
“She warned me that the hate and bitterness I felt toward my parent was destroying my soul. I knew it was the truth, but so help me at that point in time I didn’t give a damn and told her to get out!
“Like the proverbial bad penny, she came back to sit at my side night after night while I raged against God, nature, all mankind. Especially you.”
Aghast that her rejection had played any part in his torment, she reeled in fresh pain.
“When I was too exhausted to rage anymore, she told me I had a visitor. It was Bart. Good old faithful, loyal Bart. My father’s friend to the end. I’m sure Sister Francesca put him in the picture because we didn’t talk about him.
“By the time I was released, I was able to give him a hug, but I still hadn’t forgiven my father. That didn’t come until the day of our wedding. Mitra said one thing that turned me around.”
Ann should have cut this off five minutes ago, but Riley had a captive audience and he knew it. “What was that?”
“Your father’s drinking was a sickness, but he always loved you. Do you know how I know that? Because he never abandoned you.”
The breath Ann had held locked in her lungs escaped. “For your sake I’m glad you’ve resolved that much of your past, but none of this has to do with us.”
Forgetting her appointment for the audition, she dashed for the double doors and hurried out of the studio into a barrage of camera flashes. When she turned to run back inside for cover, she came up against a barrier of warm steel.
“Come on. My rental car’s around the side in the parking lot.”
The Hollywood tabloid artists were as relentless as the European paparazzi. This was D.L.’s fault. It was his way of promoting Ann. Big bucks for her meant more money in his pockets.
Riley grabbed her around the waist and more or less carried her to the car parked in the shade of a palm tree. He drove them back to her condo. When they were safely inside her living room, she turned on him.
“Thanks to you, I’ve missed an audition for a role I really wanted.”
“Don’t worry. I know about another role that was made for you and you alone. I promise you’re going to love it.”
On that cryptic note he strode through the condo to her bedroom and started putting the things she’d already unpacked back in her suitcase. She followed him as far as the doorway.
He was delighting in this!
“I hate to break it to you, Riley, but you have to love your husband to do the housewife thing,” she flung sarcastically.
A smile broke out on his unforgettable face. “I think I’ve been extremely tolerant in forgiving my little injured housewife for running away at the first sign of trouble.”
“Stop it, Riley!”
“I’ve already talked to the manager of the building about your condo. He won’t lease it without your approval first. I told him we’d phone to let him know how much of the furnishings you want shipped to Turin.”
While she stood there crippled by the sheer force of his presence, he packed up her toiletries from the bathroom. He emerged with her suitcase in hand.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
The second she said it, she knew it was a mistake. He started for her and picked her up in a fireman’s lift like he’d done before. He was so big and strong and fit, she was held in a viselike grip.
On his way out the door, he reached for her purse on the coffee table. “I think that’s everything,” he said before pushing it shut with his foot. Then he trekked along the hallway to the elevator.
“Put me down!” she hissed because there were other occupants smiling at them.
He ignored her until they reached the underground car park where he deposited her none too gently in the front seat of the car. Then he shoved everything else in the back seat.
She would have jumped out, but he had a remote that locked the doors. By the time she could find the switch on the panel of the car, he’d already climbed inside and had started the engine.
“This is ridiculous, Riley.”
“I agree, but you love doing everything the hard way. It’s the story of your life.”
“Don’t you dare start psychoanalyzing me!”
He flashed her a lancing glance of those silvery eyes. “It’s not the most enjoyable experience in the world, but sometimes it’s necessary, as I found out through painful personal experience.”
“Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the airport.”
“I have no intention of going there yet. I want you to see something first.”
She might be his prisoner, but she refused to feast on his haunting profile. Instead she stared blindly out the side window. Eventually they passed the Santa Monica city limits sign. He drove further until they reached the lower income district.
He slowed down in front of a tiny bungalow. It resembled dozens of others with postage stamp yards.
“This is where my father lived with his grandparents until they died. He used the money from the sale of the house to buy equipment for his stunts. I never saw the inside of it. According to Bart I lived in trailers and tents with my parents. Somewhere along the way my mother took off. At that point there was just the two of us.”
Every word squeezed another tear from her heart.
“I wanted you to see my origins. Now there’s someone I want you to meet.” He picked up speed. They drove in silence to the parking lot of St. Steven’s Hospital.
She knew what it meant. “I—I don’t want to meet Sister Francesca.”
“She’ll want to meet you,” he fired back softly. “Don’t be afraid. You’re not a patient. She won’t try any of her psychobabble on the woman I damned on a regular basis.”
Cut to the quick she cried, “All I did was turn you down for a dinner date!”
His free hand lifted to the nape of her neck where he massaged her hot skin with gentle insistence. “Nevertheless your rejection traumatized my psyche.”
“Don’t tell me… No woman had ever told you no before.”
“Do I dare answer that truthfully?”
Oh…she’d set herself up for that one.
Without wasting any time he escorted her inside the hospital. The second they approached the nursing station inside she heard one of the nuns cry, “It’s Mr. Garrow!”
He smiled. “How are you doing, Sister Angela?”
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “I’ll tell Sister Francesca you’re here. We all saw pictures of you and your wife in the newspaper. She won’t believe you came all the way back from Italy to see her!”
She flew around the counter to a private office and knocked on the door.
Pretty soon one young nun after another came out in the hall to see what all the commotion was about. It became clear to Ann the sisters had adored Riley. She heard his name repeated in hushed, excited voices a dozen times at least.
When a middle-aged sister wearing her full white habit suddenly appeared behind the counter, the other nuns dispersed.
Warm brown eyes shone out of a gentle face as she stared at Riley. “I thought we’d gotten rid of you.”
Her bold manner with him was a revelation to Ann. She wagered no one else in the world talked to him like that and got away with it.
“I thought you were su
pposed to be on retreat to recover from me. I guess we both lied. I didn’t think a saint did those kinds of things,” he teased her.
“You’re forgetting your manners, Mr. Garrow.”
“So I am.” He turned to Ann. Looking at her through shuttered eyes he said, “Sister Francesca, I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Ann.”
“How do you do, Mrs. Garrow. I never expected to have the pleasure of meeting such a courageous woman.”
Riley chuckled. “I’m sure you didn’t.”
“I’m very happy to meet you, too,” Ann murmured.
The nun’s gaze swerved to Riley. “From the newspaper report, you didn’t waste any time after you left here.”
“As you reminded me more times than I want to remember, ‘the clock is ticking, Mr. Garrow. Are you going to let it run out before you’ve had a chance to really live?’ I decided to heed your advice and find out if marriage was all you said it was cracked up to be.”
“And is it?”
The salient question hung in the air like a live wire.
Ann held her breath waiting for Riley to tell the nun his bride had run away from him forty-eight hours into their farce of a marriage.
“I think I’ll let my wife answer that question. She’s the saint in the family and won’t tell you lies.”
Riley—her heart cried out in exasperation.
He nuzzled her neck. “If Ann’s a little shy it’s because we’re on our honeymoon.”
“A shy woman would never have married you, Mr. Garrow.”
Riley burst out laughing. Ann tried not to smile but she couldn’t help it. In their own ways, they both loved this impossible man. But Sister Francesca wasn’t married to him. She would never understand Ann’s pain.
Under the circumstances there was only one important thing here. Ann didn’t want the older nun to know Riley had resorted to blackmail to accomplish his objective. Let this saint of a woman who’d done so much good trying to help Riley, keep her few illusions.
“We’re finding it has its ups and downs, Sister.”
Her shrewd eyes rested on Ann. “In your husband’s case, if you haven’t left him yet that’s as good as a sign from heaven.”
Another dagger pierced her heart.
Riley reached for Ann’s hand and lifted it to the nun’s gaze. “The ring’s still here,” he murmured with a satisfied smile. “When it’s no longer there, then I’ll be able to answer your question.”
Like a mantra, Mitra’s warning resounded in her brain. He’ll test your love in many ways. Be prepared.
“We won’t keep you from your duties any longer, Sister. When we leave here, we’re going to fly to Prunedale.”
Ann’s eyes widened in shock.
“She’s going to show me the farm where she grew up.”
The nun smiled. “I grew up on a farm, too.”
“Uh-uh-uh, Sister. You’re not supposed to talk about yourself, remember?”
“I made an exception in honor of your wife who has dared to take you on as a lifelong commitment. You will need all the help heaven can give you, my dear. May God bless you both.” She made the sign of the cross, then returned to her office.
“She always sounds scarier than she is,” Riley whispered as they left the floor. “I wager she’s inside that airless cubicle crying tears of happiness.”
A saint and a Gypsy had given Ann fair warning. Little did they know they’d been preaching to the converted. Ann knew better than both what kind of a man held her prisoner.
The truth of the matter was, he held all three of them captive in his matchless grasp.
“After we leave Prunedale, we’ll fly to San Francisco and leave for home from there.”
“Sorry, Riley. I’ll be going back to L.A.”
“You can’t,” he said simply.
“That’s not for you to decide. We haven’t lived in feudal times for centuries.”
“Tell that to Prince Enzo. He’s waiting for us to return to Turin.”
She froze.
“Before you accuse me of using the Prince for my own selfish, nefarious needs, there’s something you should know.
“At the behest of Nicco’s brother, I had lunch with him the other day while you were at the palace with Callie. It wasn’t a social visit.
“He’s dealing with a socioeconomic issue that has become political and controversial in nature. Recently he has called in various experts to form a steering committee to look into the problem and make suggestions to form policy. To my surprise he’s asked me to be a part of that task force.”
Was no one immune to her husband’s impact? Not even a royal prince? Maybe Ann was having some kind of strange dream.
“He wants you a part of the project, too.”
She rubbed her eyes in defeat.
“When Nicco brought me back to the barge, I was eager to tell you about it and see what you thought, but I’m afraid personal matters escalated out of control. Considering how much you esteem him and Nicco, I felt this had to take priority over our personal problems.
“He’s expecting an answer one way or the other. Since it wasn’t something I cared to discuss over the phone with you long distance, I came after you.”
Riley had flown all the way to L.A. because of Enzo?
It was like suffering a second death.
“Here’s Anna’s bottle. She’s so happy you’re back home to feed her!” While Ann cradled the baby in her arms, Callie sat across the couch from her eyeing her anxiously. Now that dinner was over, the dogs were nowhere to be found.
“I saw Riley and Enzo riding past the lodge on horseback a few minutes ago. Before they return, tell me what’s going on!”
“I only came back with Riley out of courtesy to Enzo. Once I’ve met with him later, I’m planning to fly home to California in the morning. If I stay in L.A., there are a lot of opportunities to teach English and drama at a private school. Should a decent script come along, I still might consider it.”
“Ann—I want to know why you’re leaving Riley.”
“You mean Nicco hasn’t told you yet?”
“If my husband knows something, he hasn’t breathed a word.”
Of course he hasn’t. His disappointment in Riley runs too deep.
“I don’t want to talk about it either, Callie.”
“He must have hurt you terribly,” her sister whispered.
She kissed Anna’s cheek. “I’ll get over it. I’m just sorry you and Nicco had to be involved in a situation that should never have happened. It’s put so many people out, and it’s all my fault.”
“Stop talking like that. We’re family.”
“True, but I’m the one who always has the crises, or creates them. Look what happened when I forced you to come to Italy in my place.”
“I found my life! That’s what happened and you know it! I’ll be thankful to you forever.”
“I’m glad it had a happy ending for you, Callie.”
“Riley said you flew to Prunedale before you came home.”
“That was his idea.”
“How was it?”
“Painful. The Montagues are harvesting the apples on the farm right now. Riley didn’t help things by asking Mrs. Montague if he could pick some. It brought back a lot of memories,” her voice trembled. “He ate all the garden delicious and left the winter bananas for me.”
“You always did love those best. Did you see Dr. Wood?”
“Yes. He was spaying the Landau’s new golden retriever.”
“So old Topper finally died.”
“Doesn’t everything?”
Hot tears gushed from her eyes. She got up from the couch. “Do you mind taking care of Anna? I need to go upstairs before Enzo comes in and finds me like this.”
Callie’s eyes filled with tears. She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around her. “I wish I could help.”
“So do I.”
Ann handed the baby to her sister, then left for the east wing on a run.
An hour later Riley came in the bedroom for a quick shower. He announced they would be meeting with Enzo in Callie’s office as soon as he was ready.
Thankfully Ann had already showered and dressed in a tailored black suit with a black and white print blouse. Her makeup disguised the worst of the circles under her eyes. For once she wore her hair in a French twist secured with a tortoise shell comb. She wanted to look her best for Nicco’s brother.
Callie called it Ann’s untouchable, immaculate look.
She supposed it was because she’d never fixed her hair this way in front of Riley that he studied her with such intense scrutiny before disappearing into the bathroom.
They hadn’t spoken to each other since deboarding the plane in Turin. She’d told him on the jet she would be going back to California the next day. It appeared the message had finally sunk in.
Not wanting to spend another second in his presence that wasn’t absolutely necessary, Ann left the bedroom and went back downstairs to Callie’s office to wait.
“There you are.” Dark blond Enzo got up from Callie’s desk to hug her. He was still dressed in his riding clothes. His brown eyes swept over her in male admiration.
It reminded her of the night a year ago when he’d picked her as his bride for the Who Wants to Marry a Prince? benefit. When he smiled, his dimples appeared. He truly was Prince Charming with no hidden dark side.
“You look like a princess tonight.”
“Thank you. Is Maria with you?”
“No. She knew I was coming here on business, so she took Alberto to visit her parents. Sit down, Ann.”
She found an upholstered chair opposite the desk.
“I appreciate your willingness to meet with me when I know you and Riley are still on your honeymoon. He told me about your accident. To look this lovely, you must be feeling better.”
“I’m fine now, thank you. The bruises are fading. The good news is I didn’t ruin the bike.”
“I’m afraid that was your husband’s last concern. When I talked to him, I could tell he was shaken.”
“I’ve found out Riley’s the patriarchal type who prefers to do all the driving.” It was a source of more friction while they were in Prunedale.
“Only until you’re fully healed,” Riley interjected. Apparently he’d heard them talking on his way inside the room.
Rush to the Altar Page 14