“We’ve already talked about that.” He rose and held out his hand. “Come on. You can help me with my homework. That will distract you from all these questions.”
She placed her fingers on his palm and stood. “What homework?”
“Remember Sophia’s diary?”
She nodded.
“I’m about three pages further along in it. You took Italian in high school, so it can’t be as bad as mine. We’ll work on it together.”
“I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” she told him. “But I’m game.”
An hour later he had to concede that her Italian was worse than his. They’d managed to work through half a page, and he wasn’t sure they’d gotten any of it right.
Brenna picked up the old book and flipped through the densely written pages. “We could be at this for the rest of our lives. Do you want the practice of translating it or do you just want to know what it says?”
“I have a choice?”
“Sure. Mia is the language expert in our family. She’s disgustingly fluent, both reading and writing. This wouldn’t take her very long.”
“Go for it.”
She closed the diary. “If she finds directions to a gold mine on Wild Sea lands, I can’t promise to share the information with you.”
“Fair enough.”
She took the book. He thought she might say she had to go, but instead of leaving, she leaned back in her chair.
“I told my grandfather about us.”
Nic wasn’t sure what “us” she meant. That she had borrowed money from him or that they had made love the other night? No, he told himself. She couldn’t have mentioned-
“That we used to go out,” she clarified. “That we’d met ten years ago and had become important to each other.”
“I’m surprised.”
“Me, too.” She placed the diary on the kitchen table. “He was going on and on about how horrible it was that I’d brought you to the party. Did I know who and what you were? Who your family was? That sort of thing. I snapped. I told him we’d gone out and that the sky hadn’t fallen.”
“I doubt that impressed him.”
She shrugged. “You’re right. He makes me crazy, but that’s hardly news. Unfortunately, he’s getting better at it. This thing with Joe…” She sighed. “I wish I could hate my brother, but I don’t. In his situation I don’t think I’d act any differently. Mia’s torturing him about his friends, which makes him squirm.”
“Which you enjoy.”
She grinned. “Absolutely.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, hell. I need to get back.” She rose and touched his arm. “Thanks for listening and letting me blubber all over your shirt.”
Then she bent down and kissed him before heading for the back door.
His mouth burned where she’d brushed it with her own. The fact that she’d already left the house didn’t stop his body from responding. He’d always been a sucker where she was concerned.
He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as if he could erase the fleeting contact. As if he could change things and make her not matter. She didn’t. She couldn’t. And yet…
Things were different. He couldn’t say how exactly, but he could feel them changing. Brenna’s comment about her grandfather’s questions reverberated. Did she know who and what he was?
Brenna didn’t. To her he was Nic, her next-door neighbor, an ex-lover, the guy who had offered to fund her dream for the future. She didn’t know anything about his plans for her family’s business. Brenna might be the better wine maker, but Lorenzo was the smarter businessman. It never hurt to find out too much about a potential enemy.
Not that Lorenzo knew. No one knew, save his handpicked front men. And Maggie, who disapproved. Maggie, who had spent the last seven years being his conscience. Only this time he wasn’t listening.
13
Late that afternoon Brenna tapped on Mia’s door. When there was no response, she knocked louder, then pounded on the wood. Finally Mia opened the door and grinned. Her baby sister wore headphones and was dancing to a wild beat only she could hear. In a tank top and shorts, without her makeup, she looked about fifteen.
“You scare me,” Brenna said as she stepped into the room. Mia clicked off the Discman and set the headphones on her desk.
“You’re just jealous because I have rhythm.” She proceeded to demonstrate a couple of dance steps that involved fast foot movement and flailing arms.
“I think what you have is a seizure.”
Mia stuck out her tongue and sank onto the unmade bed. As usual, her room was a disaster area. Books were piled three deep on the desk in the corner. Piles of clothes covered the bed, the dresser, and the only chair in the room, while several open CD cases formed a free-style hop-scotch pattern on the floor.
Brenna picked two bras, a skirt, and three T-shirts from the chair and tossed them at her sister.
“I’ve been to your apartment by school. You keep it relatively picked-up. Why do you live like a wild animal here at home?”
“I’m reverting.” Mia clutched a pillow to her chest. “When I’m away I’m an adult, but somehow here at the hacienda I find myself acting like a twelve-year-old.”
Brenna could think of several humorous and biting comments to make to that statement, but she was here to get Mia’s help. She held up the diary.
“What’s that?” Mia asked.
“Sophia Giovanni’s diary. Nic has been working on translating it, but his Italian is almost as bad as mine. I thought maybe you could take a look at it. There’s no rush.”
Mia took the old book from her, carefully turned the pages, and began to read. “Sometimes I walk to the edge of the ocean and let the spray wash my face. I imagine that I’m on a boat that will take me to the ends of the earth.”
Brenna stared at her. “You’re kidding?”
Mia looked up. “What? That she really wrote that or that I can translate it?”
“Both.” She sighed. “Never mind. Whenever you demonstrate your proficiency with languages, I remind myself that I can make better wine.”
Mia chuckled. “Oh, right. Because I make you so jealous.”
“Not jealous, exactly.” Sometimes Mia was brilliant enough to be intimidating. Not that she would share that thought with her baby sister.
Mia dropped the diary on the bed and shifted so she was sitting cross-legged. “Okay, so I can pick up a language really easily, but I’m always missing out on the fun stuff. Like you and Nic. When he was twenty, I was maybe seven or eight. No way was he ever going to notice me.”
“You weren’t interested in boys when you were seven or eight.”
“I know, but I am now.” She sighed dramatically. “Here I am in the fresh flower of my womanhood, and Nic is only interested in you.”
Brenna didn’t know what to deal with first. Mia’s “fresh flower of womanhood” or her assertion that Nic was interested in her. If only. He was…
Brenna didn’t know what he was, which was probably for the best.
“We have a business relationship,” she said primly.
Mia shook her head. “No way. Maybe it started that way when you got the loan, but you brought him to the engagement party. This is not something you do with a business associate.”
“He asked to be invited.”
“Why?”
Brenna shrugged. She had a feeling his request had something to do with their past, but she wasn’t going to bring that up.
“Maybe I just wanted to get back at Grandpa Lorenzo for making my life hell and leaving the winery to Joe.”
Mia pressed her lips together. “I wish I could do something about that. You know, talk to Grandpa.”
“You’d be wasting your breath, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Maybe we should kidnap Joe. If he didn’t show up back at the base or wherever he’s stationed, they’d send some guys to rescue him. Then we’d both win. Grandpa Lorenzo would think Joe was a flake and disinherit him, a
nd I’d get access to a bunch of cute guys.”
Brenna laughed. “I like that plan. Let’s work on the details.”
Mia threw herself back on her bed. “Okay. How do we let the base know we only want really attractive single guys on the rescue team?”
“Since you broke up with David, all you think about is dating. Why is that? I thought you went out when you were in D.C.”
“I did and it whetted my appetite for the whole boy-girl touching thing. Which is why I’ve been after Joe’s friends, but he’s really uncooperative.”
“Who’s uncooperative?”
They both turned and saw the man in question standing in the doorway. He surveyed Mia’s room.
“This place is a mess.”
She sat up. “I know. It’s part of my charm.”
“You have a disorganized mind.”
“Maybe. But I’m still too adorable for words.”
“I can think of a few words.” He glanced at Brenna.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“Doing okay?” he asked.
“Sure.”
If she’d been ambivalent when Joe had first arrived, the feeling had only intensified over the past few days. The logical side of her brain told her none of this was Joe’s fault. Oh, sure, he could be a great guy and refuse the offer of more money than he’d ever imagined. But that would make him certifiable. The fact that he’d won the inheritance lottery was just plain lucky for him and sucky for her.
So she shouldn’t resent him or really want to kidnap him. But a part of her did.
“Have a seat,” Mia said, patting the mattress.
He crossed to the bed and grabbed a handful of clothes, which he tossed onto the dresser, then settled on the mattress, as far from Mia as possible.
“We were talking about dating. I’m in desperate need of a meaningless relationship,” Mia told him.
“Go fishing somewhere else,” he said.
She frowned. “Is this a metaphor about my dating your friends?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t think you’d be so macho and brotherly.” She glanced at Brenna. “Was he like this when you first met?”
“I don’t think I tortured him as much as you do.”
Mia turned her attention back to Joe. “If you’re trying to protect me, it’s really sweet, but I’m not a virgin. I haven’t been for a long time.”
Joe winced. “I really didn’t want to know that.”
Brenna grinned at his discomfort. “In the girls-against-boys battle, you’re a little outnumbered.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Quit complaining. You love us,” Mia said.
Brenna wasn’t so sure. “We’re still unfamiliar,” she said. “A regular family would be a big adjustment, but I’m not sure how one gets used to the Marcelli clan.”
“Slowly,” Joe admitted. “You told me who everyone was when we first met, but I’m not sure I believed there were really that many people living in one house.”
He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. “I don’t remember when my folks told me I was adopted. I always seemed to know. Until they died, I never much thought about my real parents. Then I figured Colleen had given me up because she didn’t want me.”
Brenna stretched out her hand and touched his. “It wasn’t like that at all. She and Dad were too young to stand up to their parents. They weren’t given much of a choice in the matter. Now things are different, but thirty years ago not many sixteen-year-olds were able to keep their babies.”
He nodded.
“I never thought about how hard it would be to find out you had a whole family you’d never known about. You must be feeling really confused.”
He glanced at her. “I’m a SEAL. I don’t have feelings.”
Brenna smiled. He looked up, met her gaze, and winked. Mia socked him in the arm.
Joe glanced around, looking puzzled. “Is there a fly in here? I think it just landed on my arm.” He brushed at the place she’d hit him. “Huh. I guess not.”
Mia shoved him. He didn’t budge. She sighed heavily, then rested her head on his shoulder again.
“You have to like us at least a little,” she said.
“Some more than others.”
She rolled her eyes. “However you’re acting, I’m glad you decided to come visit. We’re all enjoying getting to know you. Even when you’re uncooperative.”
Joe put his arm around her. “You’re tough, aren’t you?”
“You bet.” Her curving mouth straightened into a line. “You know, it’s kinda cool having you around. Things would have been so different if Mom had been able to keep you. Our parents got married anyway. If they’d married then, you would have been one of us from the beginning. Would you have liked that?”
“I don’t know,” Joe admitted. “My parents aren’t Colleen and Marco, and I can’t imagine that changing. If I’d been raised here…” He shrugged.
Brenna understood his ambivalence about even considering an alternative life. If Joe had been around, if she’d known about him, her world view would have changed completely. He would have been the acknowledged heir. While she believed her interest in the vineyards would have always been there, she wasn’t as sure about family pressure. With Joe in the picture, would she have been more willing to take a chance on Nic? With Joe as the one inheriting, would she have been more willing to risk her family’s disapproval?
“If you’d been raised here, I would never have been born,” Mia stated.
Brenna shook her head. “That’s not true.”
Mia’s mouth twisted. “Sure it is. I’m okay with it. We all know that the doctors told Mom not to have any more children after you and Francesca were born. Yet she risked her health to try for a boy one more time. With Joe around, that wouldn’t have happened.”
Brenna couldn’t imagine growing up without Mia tagging along, nor did she want to.
“Lorenzo is too hung up on gender,” Joe muttered.
“That’s Brenna’s theory,” Mia said brightly. “The family business is wine, not breeding, so what does having a penis matter.”
Brenna winced. “I don’t phrase it exactly like that.”
“Close enough.”
Joe ruffled Mia’s hair. “You’re a pain in the ass, kid.”
“And you adore me.”
“Maybe.”
Joe looked at Brenna. “About this whole winery thing…” he began.
Brenna cut him off with a shake of her head. “We don’t have to talk about it. What happens, happens. If Grandpa Lorenzo doesn’t leave it to you, there’s a good chance he’s going to sell. I can’t…” She swallowed. “I have to make my own plans.” Which she’d done. Sure it hurt now, but eventually she would be fine.
“Everyone says you do a hell of a job.”
Brenna appreciated the compliment. “That doesn’t seem to matter much. You’re the firstborn son, Joe.”
“I didn’t know I’d been getting in the middle of all of you,” he said.
“That’s family. Loving but messy.”
Mia pouted. “Excuse me, but I’m still in the room. I want to talk about me.”
“No way,” Joe said. “You’re only interested in dating inappropriate guys.”
“Honestly, I think it’s more about sex,” Brenna said helpfully.
Joe winced again. “What is it with you two?”
Brenna raised her eyebrows. “Nothing. We’re just normal, healthy women looking for love.” She leaned forward. “I guess this is where I tell you I’m not a virgin, either?”
He stood. “I’m so out of here.”
Mia raised her palm toward her sister. Brenna slapped her hand against Mia’s in a gesture of victory. Joe groaned.
He was saved by Grandma Tessa calling up the stairs, telling them it was time for dinner, and to be sure to wash their hands before coming down.
Joe headed for the door. “We do this every night,”
he complained. “Why can’t we eat separately, like normal families?”
Brenna was the last to arrive at the restaurant. She found her three sisters sitting at an outdoor table, in the shade of an oversize umbrella. Between the work she had at home and her new winery, she was running in fourteen directions at once. Mia’s demand that she join them for lunch had been inconvenient. But as she approached the table, she found herself smiling in anticipation. She couldn’t remember the last time the four of them had done something together.
“There you are,” Francesca said as she pulled out the empty chair next to her. “Now that you’re here, we’re going to have to stop talking about you.”
“Why?” Mia asked as she batted her eyes. “I think it’s a lot more fun to talk about someone in front of them. Then you get a reaction.”
“Is she getting on everyone else’s nerves or just mine?” Brenna asked.
Katie handed her a menu. “She’s pretty much annoying us all. Do I want to ask how things are going?”
Brenna took the menu and shook her head. “Nope.”
“Then I won’t.”
The waiter appeared. He was in his early twenties, with the tanned good looks of a surfer. “Have you ladies decided?”
Brenna scanned the menu and nodded. Katie went first. They all ordered salads and iced tea. Mia asked for a side of fries. When the young man had written it all down and left, Mia sat straighter in her chair and cleared her throat.
“You’re probably wondering why I called this meeting,” she said.
Brenna thought she was kidding, but when she glanced at Mia, she saw her baby sister was completely serious.
“What’s up?” Katie asked.
“Nothing specific,” Mia said. “It’s just that everything in our family is changing. I’ve felt uncomfortable for a while, and I’ve been trying to figure out where it all started. Maybe with my aborted engagement or Brenna’s separation. Suddenly what was familiar isn’t anymore. Katie, you and Francesca are getting married. Brenna’s starting her own winery. I’m growing up.”
“Can we take a vote on that?” Francesca asked.
Mia laughed. “No.” Her humor faded. “I wanted us to get together one more time before everything is different forever.”
Seductive One Page 18
