Capri Nights

by Cara Marsi

  “Nice dress, Cat,” Tinsley, Nolan’s daughter, and the bride-to-be, said with a smirk. A princess surveying her domain, Tinsley, her streaked blonde hair pulled into a high pony tail, and wearing a red dress that barely covered her assets, lounged on one of the chintz-covered chaises. “Where’d you get the clothes? Did Angelina lend them to you?”

  Cat lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “They’re my clothes.” She took a glass of champagne from the tray held by Paolo, the butler.

  Bailey, Nolan’s other daughter, joined them and accepted a flute of champagne from Paolo. With a haughty toss of her head, she strolled to Cat. “Decent clothes for a change. At least you’ll be presentable tonight with all the important people coming.”

  Cat rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Bailey? You’re going to go there? Let’s call a truce for one night.”

  “Whatever. I can’t wait to meet the prince Mother invited for me.”

  Cat almost choked on the champagne she’d sipped. “Prince? For you?”

  “Prince Sandro Viteli. From the Italian royal family.”

  “Italy no longer has a royal family,” Cat said.

  “If they still had one, Prince Sandro would be part of it.”

  “I hear he’s smokin’ too,” Tinsley said, walking up to them.

  Cat swallowed the rest of her drink and took another glass from Paolo. She needed all the liquid fortifications she could get to deal with this crowd. A prince, for God’s sake. There’d be no stopping Nolan if one of her daughters snagged a royal.

  Bailey settled onto one of the stools at the bar. “When do you start your new job as cook, Cat?”

  With a sigh, Cat said, “You know I’m a sous chef at Vault, one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants.”

  Nolan gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ve gotten bored with Vault. It’s so last year.”

  Fighting for patience, Cat drew a careful breath. “The new head chef there is Bobbie St. James.” She named one of the world’s most famous chefs. “I had to compete against a lot of talented people for my job. I guarantee you won’t be bored again at Vault.”

  “Maybe your father and I will have dinner there sometime after we get back home.”

  As if on cue, Cat’s father, along with Tinsley’s fiancé, Huntley Mortimer, the fifth, walked onto the patio. They each held a large glass of what looked like whiskey. Cat could see her father was already drunk. From Huntley’s glassy eyes and the way he rubbed his nose, she figured he’d been snorting his drug of choice, cocaine.

  The smarmy expression on Huntley’s face as he studied Cat made her want to take a shower. He’d been coming onto her for the past year, since he and Tinsley had gotten engaged. “Looking sexy tonight, Cat,” he said. “What happened to the schoolmarm braid?”

  “It’s cut. Okay?” Anxious to escape the barracudas surrounding her, Cat walked down to the pool. The statues reflected in the calm water, silent sentinels. You only have to get through these next few days, then you can go home and be done with these people, they seemed to say.

  An hour later, the party was in full swing. Cat tried to be as gracious to the guests as her mother had taught her. Molly Connors, an artist in Sausalito, California, entertained often. Dealing with this self-absorbed crowd, Cat missed her mother. Molly had a ready smile for everyone and didn’t take herself too seriously. Cat, sitting at a small table, shifted in her seat to get a better view of her dad. He stood unsteadily talking to two men whose names she couldn’t remember. She wondered for the hundredth time what sort of man her father would be if his infidelity hadn’t destroyed their little family.

  Movement by the doorway caught her attention. Cat dropped the small crab cake she’d been about to put into her mouth. The flush of adrenaline that flowed through her propelled her from her chair. Alex, dressed in beautifully tailored tan pants and wearing a black shirt opened at the neck, stood in the doorway. Nolan clutched his arm and grinned like a wolf who’d just scored a meal. Bailey, on his other side, shook her head to let her platinum blonde hair fall seductively around her face, a movement she’d perfected.

  “Everyone!” Nolan said. When the guests quieted, Nolan pulled Alex forward. “Prince Alessandro Viteli, our honored guest, is here.”

  Honored guest? Prince Alessandro Viteli. The Prince Sandro Nolan had invited for Bailey? Alex sure wasn’t the gigolo Cat had feared.

  Alex nodded to the group, every bit the royal. “Please call me Alex,” he said to Nolan. With a flourish, he presented her with a bottle of wine.

  “Gotham Project Gazerra,” Nolan breathed. She grabbed the bottle and held it at arm’s length, staring at it as if it were a gold bar crusted with diamonds. Cat waited for her to swoon.

  With Bailey clinging to his arm, Alex spotted Cat. He said something to Nolan and Bailey and extricated himself. Bailey’s enhanced lips formed a pout and she stamped her foot.

  “Cat!” Alex said when he reached her. “I have found you again.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips for a soft kiss.

  Cat thought she might swoon. “I’m glad to see you again. Bailey said Sandro Viteli was coming. I didn’t know that was you.”

  Alex grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and cupped Cat’s elbow, drawing her to the side. Cat slid a glance toward Nolan and Bailey. If looks could kill, she’d be at the bottom of the pool now.

  “My family and my Italian friends call me Sandro, but no one calls me prince,” he said. “My royal blood has no meaning now. I care nothing about that.”

  “I’m very surprised to see you here,” she said. “How do you know my father and stepmother?”

  “Davison Connors is your father?”

  When she nodded, he said, “I’ve done business with your father’s firm in the past. When he and his wife invited me to this party, I accepted, in the interest of maintaining a good working relationship.” Alex’s eyes sparked green-gold fire as he scanned Cat. “But you and I will not talk business. You are bella. Beautiful.” He touched her hair, letting strands of it slip through his fingers. “You cut your hair.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I like it. I like everything about you. You are molto bella no matter your clothes or hair.” He tapped his chest. “Your beauty comes from inside.”

  Her face heated. “Thank you.” She really needed to learn to accept compliments.

  “It is I who should thank you.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “For being a friendly face in this sea of sharks. Mi scusi, Cat. I do not mean your family. I know most of the guests, and they are the sharks.”

  Cat laughed. “Don’t be too sure about my family.”

  “Nolan Connors is your stepmother?”

  “Yes. Bailey and her other daughter Tinsley are my stepsisters. Tinsley is the one getting married.”

  Alex touched her arm. “Excuse me while I say hello to your father and a few of the others. When I’m done, let’s leave here. I want to show you the real Capri.”

  His hazel eyes gleamed with awareness in the soft light from the lanterns strung in the trees. An answering awareness gripped Cat. Leave this crowd and go off with Alex? “Okay.”

  A half hour later, Alex had made the rounds talking to the other guests, Bailey stuck to his side like peanut butter on bread. Cat wasn’t worried. Alex had asked her and not Bailey to go with him. Cat noticed that while some of the guests seemed cordial to Alex, others ignored him.

  Finally, free of Bailey, he strolled over to Cat where she stood trying to make small talk with an Italian journalist and his wife. When the couple saw Alex heading toward them, they stiffened and walked away.

  The clench of Alex’s jaw was the only sign he’d noticed the snub.

  “Ready to leave?” he asked Cat.

  “More than ready. Let me get my purse.”

  “I’ll wait for you out front in the car.”

  Alex strode briskly away and Cat headed to her room. With her foot on the bottom step leading to the second fl
oor, someone yanked on her arm, stopping her. Cat whirled to face Bailey. The fury flashing from the other woman’s eyes could light a room.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Bailey hissed.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The prince belongs to me. He said you and he are leaving together.” Bailey jabbed a finger into Cat’s chest. “You tell him you’re not going anywhere with him.”

  Flaring her nostrils, Cat grabbed Bailey’s finger and pushed it away. “Chill out, Bailey. You don’t tell me what to do.”

  A rush of giddy joy that she’d finally talked back to Bailey threatened to lift Cat off the ground. Damn, she should have told Bailey off a long time ago.

  With a spring to her steps, Cat raced up the stairs, leaving a red-faced Bailey behind.

  A few minutes later, purse in hand, she got to the front door when she heard footsteps behind her.

  “Caitlyn! I want to talk to you,” her father said.

  Sheesh. She’d never get out of this place.

  “What?” She faced him.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Out with Alex.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Excuse me.”

  “He’s not for you.”

  She put her hand on her hip. “For God’s sake, you’re going to tell me he’s reserved for Bailey?”

  “I don’t want him with Bailey either. Viteli is a possible felon, facing prison. I don’t want you mixed up with him.”

  Prison? So not what she expected to hear. “Dad, if he’s a possible felon, why did you and Nolan invite him tonight? And why does she want to fix him up with Bailey?”

  “Your stepmother invited him. She’s enthralled by Viteli’s heritage. If she can marry her daughter off to someone with royal blood, she doesn’t care if he’s the devil himself.”

  Cat stared into her father’s blue eyes. “Cynical much? I don’t know what Alex has done, but he sure doesn’t act like a felon. Goodnight.”

  As she hurried into the humid night, doubts stirred an anxious mix in her. Alex couldn’t be a criminal.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The engine running, Alex drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his Ferrari as he waited for Cat. She came out of the house, walking with the sensuous grace he found so appealing, a sleek feline he’d like to make purr.

  The heavy mantle of sadness that had covered him the past months lifted a little when he was with Cat. He wanted to absorb her innocence, and he wanted to know her, all of her—her thoughts, her likes, her dreams. He wanted to go back to a time when he trusted others. And when others trusted him.

  Cat opened the car door and slid inside. “Let’s go.”

  Her bright smile infused him with a sense of well-being he hadn’t felt in a long time.

  The sleek Ferrari easily negotiated the narrow roads and hairpin turns. Driving the winding roads of Capri had always relaxed him, until recently. With Cat beside him, some of his stress dissolved into the starry night.

  She threw back her head to stare at the sky, exposed by the open top of the car. “My God, even the sky is more beautiful here than anywhere else. I’ve never seen so many stars, like diamonds strung across black velvet.”

  She sat straighter as the three rocks that formed Faraglioni came into view. They thrust through the water, sentries that had guarded Capri since the dawn of time. “Amazing,” she breathed. “I visited Capri once after college to see my friend Angelina who lives here. I loved Capri then. But it seems so much more magical now.”

  He shot her a teasing grin. “That’s because you’re with me.”

  She laughed, a joyous sound that arrowed straight to his heart.

  *****

  They were quiet on the rest of the ride down to the center of Capri. Cat sank into the buttery leather seat and stared out the window at the raw beauty of Capri’s cliffs and valleys. She could live here in this paradise with its perfume and flowers, surrounded by the calming waters of the gulf, and Vesuvius, a sleeping giant rising majestically over it all.

  She slanted a glance at Alex. He gripped the steering wheel, his concentration on the road. His hawk-like profile and firm chin spoke of strength. She couldn’t believe he could be a felon, but she had to know the truth.

  Alex found a parking spot on one of the narrow side streets. With his hand on the small of Cat’s back, he guided her along the cobblestones. The stilettos she wore made walking on the uneven streets difficult. She didn’t care. She felt sexy and beautiful, even desirable. And she’d relish every minute.

  “The food at your parents’ was good, but I didn’t eat much,” Alex said.

  “Neither did I.”

  “Then, we will eat.”

  He led her to a small restaurant tucked away from the tourist mob. As they entered the courtyard where white-clothed tables were set out, a middle-aged man wearing a tuxedo came rushing from the interior of the restaurant. “Sandro, amici miei.” He shook Alex’s hand then turned a curious gaze to Cat.

  “Ernesto, friend,” Alex said in English. “This is Signorina Cat Connors.”

  Bowing slightly, Ernesto said, “Buonasera, signorina. Any friend of Sandro’s is welcome here.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Ernesto rubbed his hands together, then snapped his fingers, summoning one of the waiters, who came running over. “Show my friends to their table. For my good friend and his lady, bring my best bottle of wine.”

  As they waited for their food and enjoyed the rich red wine, Cat flattened her palms on the table and leaned in. “Alex, I need to ask you something.”

  “Okay.”

  She swallowed, shoring up her courage. Now that she’d opened the door, she had to go through. “Before I left tonight, my father told me something disturbing about you. Is it true you might go to prison?”

  Darkness shadowed his eyes but his gaze never left hers. “It is true.”

  Straightening, she gripped the table edge. “It is?”

  “But I am not guilty. You must believe me.”

  “Everyone says they’re not guilty. I want to hear your story.”

  He finished off his wine and plunked the glass back onto the table. A waiter hurried over and refilled his drink.

  “My family owns diverse corporations all over Europe,” he began. “I work for one of our financial companies in Rome. My father and uncle built it up from nothing. My father died several years ago, leaving me his shares of the company. I ran it with my Uncle Giuseppe and my cousin Camillo.”

  Alex raked fingers through his hair, messing it, then smoothing it over. He took a long drink of his wine and set the glass away from him. When he met Cat’s gaze again, his eyes were flat as if drained of emotion. “Last year I discovered my uncle and cousin had been cheating our clients, much like your Mr. Madoff, for years. I urged them to return the money they’d stolen, but they wouldn’t. I did the only thing I could. I reported them to the authorities.”

  Cat placed her hand over his on the table. “You did the right thing.”

  His bitter laugh hovered over them. “My family doesn’t think so. We are to stick together and lie for each other if necessary.”

  “I’m sorry, Alex.” She frowned. “I don’t understand why you’re in trouble with the law.”

  “My uncle and cousin planted evidence in our computers that implicated my father and me as the perpetrators of the crime.” Alex’s lips tightened into a thin line. “A judicial panel is reviewing the information now. I couldn’t let my father’s good name be destroyed. I’ve been fighting to clear his name and mine, and to restore our company.”

  He grasped her hand. “It is important you believe me. Many of my friends have turned against me. Ernesto is one of the few who has been loyal.”

  “I noticed some of the guests tonight at Nolan’s party snubbed you.”

  “I don’t care about them. But I do care what you think of me.”

  The sincerity and hope in Alex�
�s eyes and voice wrapped around her heart. “I believe you.” And she did. She’d always had good instincts, and they were now screaming that Alex was telling the truth.

  He released an audible sigh. “Thank you.”

  Waiters, followed by Ernesto, carried food to their table then. Alex freed her hand and they prepared to enjoy their meal.

  The scrumptious dinner over, Cat put her napkin on the table. “That was the most amazing meal I’ve ever eaten, especially the gnocchi with fresh-shaved truffles.”

  Settling back in her chair, she sipped her wine. The meal had indeed been amazing, but not just for the food. They didn’t talk again about Alex’s legal or family troubles. Instead, he’d entertained her with stories of his childhood spent in his family’s villa on Capri and at their apartment in Rome. His amusing stories made her laugh and warmed her like the elegant wine they’d shared. It felt good to laugh and forget she still had to deal with her stepfamily.

  “I think your story about you and your cousin Vincenzo getting stuck on that hillside trying to rescue the goat was the funniest.” She chuckled. “The goat walked away and you two were trapped there.”

  “Vincenzo and I always found creative ways to get into trouble. I’m an only child so he was like a brother to me.”

  She sighed with contentment. “Thank you for the meal. I’m going to suggest we serve gnocchi and truffles at the restaurant where I’ll be working. I think it will be a hit.” And she’d score points with her new boss by suggesting the luscious dish.

  “Your family must be proud you are a chef,” Alex said.

  “Unfortunately, that’s not the case.” Cat pushed her empty glass aside. “My father wanted me to go into law and work for his company. My great-grandfather founded the firm. I wanted to please my dad so I went to law school and passed the California bar.” She picked up her napkin and twisted the ends around her finger.

  “The day I started at the firm, I applied to culinary school. I’ve always loved to cook, and the thought of sitting behind a desk all day to please my father broke something inside me. When I was accepted at culinary school, I gave up trying to earn my dad’s love and acceptance. I finally grew up.”