Rini didn’t know how she’d respond after telling her the truth, but he hadn’t expected her to turn away from him and sob into her pillow. “Cara—” He lay down next to her with his arm around her shoulders. She convulsed so much, all he could do was hold her and kiss her cheeks and hair until the tears eventually subsided. “Talk to me, bellissima.”
After a long time she turned over, her face blotchy from crying. “The warning she gave you felt like someone just walked over my grave.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because when I found out you’d met Dea first, I determined to put you out of my mind. Nothing was worth coming between my twin and me since we’ll be sisters forever. I was taken by surprise when Papà asked me to drive you around the property. Much as I wanted to be with you, I knew it would be taking a great risk. Fulvia’s words have just confirmed my worst fears.”
Gutted by her response, Rini shut off the flashlight and lay down on his back. “I’m sure your aunt didn’t want me to reveal our conversation to you, but my world changed after your accident and I had to tell you.”
“I’m thankful you did. I know she spoke to you out of love for Dea and me.” He heard Alessandra’s heavy sigh. “It took a lot of courage on your part to tell me and I admire you for keeping quiet about it for as long as you have in order to protect Dea.”
“What worries me now is where you want to go from here.”
“I don’t know, Rini. In the morning I’ll have an answer. Thank you for the greatest day I’ve ever known. Buonanotte.”
He heard the rustle of her sleeping bag. She’d turned away from him physically and emotionally. Unable to lie this close to her without reaching for her, he stood up and went outside to walk around. A three-quarter moon lit up the night sky. He didn’t need a flashlight or a fire to see the forested landscape. The lake shone a mystic silver.
She’s not going to marry you, Montanari. I can feel it in my bones.
Rini felt like he was burning up with fever. The cool night air brought some relief. He eventually planted himself beneath the trunk of a pine tree close to the tent so he could keep an eye on her. Several times he nodded off, but was wide awake at six craving coffee.
After making it, he heated it on the ultralight stove. Once he’d downed a cup, he walked over to the stream. Though he cast his line half a dozen times, nothing was biting yet. Maybe it was an omen to prepare him for what was to come.
He could have kept the secret he’d shared with her aunt, but wouldn’t have been able to live with it long. Alessandra’s tearful breakdown proved to him he’d done the right thing telling her. But it was possible he’d written the death sentence on a future life together with her.
Near eight o’clock she stepped outside the tent with a false smile, dressed in another pair of jeans and a white pullover. One by one she produced their sleeping bags, all rolled up and snug in their cases. He didn’t have to hear a word from her to know their vacation had come to an end.
Her eyes darted to his. “Buongiorno, Rini. I detected coffee. It smells so much better out in the forest, don’t you think?”
Without saying anything he poured her a cup and handed it to her.
“Grazie.” She eyed his pole. “I heard your line snaking in the air. Evidently you didn’t have any luck fishing this morning or you’d be cooking our breakfast.”
Rini had all the chitchat he could take. “Why don’t you just tell me what I already know,” he groaned.
This morning she was dry-eyed. “Papà once said that Zia Fulvia was the wisest woman he’d ever known. After what we talked about last night, I’m convinced of it. I’m honored by your marriage proposal, Rini. No thrill will ever equal it. But even if I’ll love you to my dying breath, I don’t want to see you again. I’m ready to hike back to the car whenever you say.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
A WEEK AFTER returning to the castle, Alessandra realized she couldn’t go on in this state of limbo. Even if she could dive again, she didn’t want to. The thought of working on her book was out of the question. She unpacked all the gorgeous clothes she hadn’t worn and put them away. Rini was on her mind night and day.
Though her parents didn’t question her when she returned home having cut her vacation short, she knew they wanted to. But her father didn’t probe and she was thankful for that. Her aunt came to stay for a few days to enjoy a change of scene. Soon she’d be able to get around without the wheelchair.
Fulvia was as warm and loving as always, giving nothing away about her private conversation with Rini. They did some puzzles as a family and Alessandra learned that Dea was back in Rome after another sensational show in Florence attended by some VIPs in the television industry.
But talking about Dea had been like pressing on a thorn until she was bleeding all over the place. The day after her aunt flew back to Taranto, Alessandra told her parents she was taking the Land Rover to visit friends in Metaponto and wouldn’t be back until evening.
She gave Alfredo a kiss on the head before leaving the castle. “I don’t like lying, but this is one time no one can know where I’m really going.”
Once she reached the airport, she boarded a flight for Rome. The plane landed at noon. After hailing a taxi, she asked the driver to take her to the elegant apartment complex in the heart of the city where Dea had been living for the last year. The five-hundred-year-old street where it was located was a warren of fabulous shops near the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.
When Alessandra approached the desk manager, he called her Signorina Loti. “You’ve mistaken me for her. Would you please ring her room? I’m her twin sister and have flown a long way to see her.”
The middle-aged man did a double take. “Scusi, signorina. It’s astonishing how much you two look alike. Except for the hair... I suppose in this case it will be all right to let you in.”
“Thank you, signor. You’re very kind.”
Dea had a fabulous apartment on the third floor. Fulvia had come to Rome to help her furnish it in a lavish style. After she’d been let in and freshened up, she went out again and left a note for the manager to give Dea when she came in from work.
Four hours later she returned to the apartment building having eaten and done a little book shopping while she thought about what she was going to say to her sister.
“Signorina? Your sister came in ten minutes ago.”
“Grazie.”
Her heart pounding with anxiety, Alessandra took the lift and knocked on her apartment door. Dea opened it looking gorgeous in harem pants and a filmy short-sleeved top of aqua. “This is a surprise.”
“For me, too.”
“Come in.”
They hugged before she walked into the living room. She put down her sacks and turned to her sister. “Forgive me for not letting you know I was coming. I didn’t decide until this morning.”
“No problem. I thought you were still on vacation in Positano.”
She shook her head. “I returned early.”
Dea eyed her critically. “What happened to change things?”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. Do you have time, or do you have other plans?”
“Not tonight. If you want juice or fruit, it’s in the fridge.”
“Thanks, but I’ve already eaten.
Her sister sank down on the sofa. “Go ahead. What’s on your mind that has brought you all the way here?”
“The last time we saw each other, you asked me if I was seeing Rini because of what happened with Francesco.”
“And you told me no. Why are we talking about this?”
She sucked in her breath. “Because I’m tired of ignoring the elephant in the room and I have a feeling you’re sick of it, too.”
Dea averted her eyes. It told Alessandra her sister knew exact
ly what she was driving at.
Tears sprang into Alessandra’s eyes. “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never admitted to you before. From the time we were little, I looked up to you as my big sister.”
“Three minutes hardly qualifies me for that title.”
“It did for me because you came out first and no one let me forget it. You were beautiful and made friends easily. Everything you did was elegant and perfect. As I grew older, I felt more gawky and insecure around you. By our teens guys flocked around you. I’m ashamed to admit I was so jealous of you.”
She had to be getting through to her sister because Dea lifted her head and stared at her in disbelief. “You...were jealous of me?”
“Oh, yes. When Francesco followed you to Rome, I didn’t want to believe it, but deep down I wasn’t surprised. I’d seen the way he’d looked at you. He never looked at me like that.”
“I’m sorry, Alessandra,” she cried.
“No, no. Don’t be. You didn’t do anything to attract him. You don’t have to. It always happens because you’re you. For a long time after that I lived in denial about it. Finally I realized I needed to grow up and face the fact that I could never be like you. It meant I had to work on myself.”
“But you’re perfect just the way you are!”
It was Alessandra’s turn to stare at her sister in wonder.
“It’s true. All my life I’ve been the one jealous of you. You’re beautiful without even trying and you’re smart. You write books and do all these amazing things with the underwater archaeological society. I’ve envied your love of adventure and hated it that I have so many stupid fears.”
Alessandra shook her head. “I had no idea.”
“We’re a mess,” Dea muttered. “Since it’s truth time, want to tell me why you’re not still with Rinieri? He’s the most gorgeous hunk of manliness I ever saw.”
“I agree,” she said quietly. “But I wish I hadn’t met him.”
“That’s the biggest whopper of a lie you’ve ever told.”
“Dea—”
“It’s true. You’re mad about him. So what are you doing here with me?”
“Y-you know why,” she stuttered.
“Because I had a giant-sized crush on him first? That’s true, but he wasn’t enamored of me no matter how hard I tried to entice him. It killed me that he didn’t want to see me again. I even told Zia Fulvia.”
Alessandra swallowed hard to hear the admission she already knew about.
“She laughed and said, ‘Dea Caracciolo—do you want to conquer every man you meet? What would you do with all of them? It’s not natural!’”
Alessandra’s laughter joined Dea’s.
“She gave me a simple piece of advice that made sense. ‘When the true prince of your dreams comes along, it’ll work. Until then, dry your tears and do your thing you do better than anyone other woman in the country.’”
“Fulvia’s wonderful.”
“She is. So are you, and Rini Montanari is absolutely smitten with you. Otherwise he wouldn’t have invited you to his villa for a whole week. The famous bachelor has fallen to his knees. If you don’t snap him up, then you’re a fool.”
“You mean it?”
“Oh, come here.” Dea reached out and hugged her hard. “I have something else to tell you that should make you happy.”
“What?”
“I made a play for him. He didn’t bite.”
“What kind?”
“On the yacht, I kissed him good-night right on the mouth.”
“Good grief!”
“Don’t worry. He didn’t kiss me back and turned me down when I asked him to go out to dinner with me the next night. Only an honorable man would do that. You’re a very lucky woman and I’ll welcome him into our family with open arms.”
“I love you, Dea, and want only the best for you.”
“I know that, and I love you, too.”
“Let’s never let anything come between us again.”
“Never.”
“We’re sisters forever.”
Forever.
“Now let’s go on a shopping spree and find you an outfit that will deliver the coup de grâce the moment Rini sees you. Why not show up at his office and dazzle everyone in sight?”
“I only want to dazzle him.”
“Then let’s do it!”
* * *
The Montanari office complex dominated a portion of a city block in the downtown business center of Naples. At four in the afternoon, Alessandra was met by whistles and stares as she stepped out of the limo in her Jimmy Choo heels. She was wearing the designer dress Dea had picked out for her. It cost a fortune but she didn’t care because she felt transformed in it.
The solid off-white pullover dress with long sleeves had a row of trendy buttons up the side from the tulip-styled hem to the neck. Around her shoulders she wore a flowing ivory-and-tan print scarf that matched the tan-and-ivory lace of her shoes.
Her hair glinted with streaks of gold among the brunette. She wore new lipstick in a deep pink with a soft blush on her high cheek-bones and a touch of eye shadow Dea said brought out her eyes. She’d never been so decked out. Her sister said she’d never looked more beautiful. Alessandra felt like she was moving in a fantastic dream.
His office building was like a small city, forcing her to pass through security before she could approach the bank of elevators. Her pride in his accomplishments made her throat swell with emotion as she rode one of them to the thirty-sixth floor, where his headquarters was located. She approached the secretary in the main reception area.
“I’m here to see Signor Montanari.”
The attractive, thirtyish-looking woman looked up, then blinked. “You’re Dea!”
Alessandra smiled, not minding it at all. “No, but you’re close. I’m her sister.”
“Do you model, too?”
“No. I scuba dive.”
“Oh.” Her blue eyes rounded. “Which Montanari did you wish to see?”
“Rinieri.”
“I’m sorry, but the CEO is in a board meeting and can’t be disturbed. If you’d like, I’ll make an appointment for you.”
At least he was here and not out of town. “Thank you, but no. I’ll wait until he comes out.”
“It might be several hours.”
“I don’t mind.” I’d wait forever for him.
She sat down on one of the love seats with her ivory clutch bag in hand. Twenty minutes later she saw an attractive, dark-haired man who bore a superficial resemblance to Rini walk into the reception area and hand something to the secretary. His brother? A cousin?
The secretary must have said something to him because he turned in Alessandra’s direction. Their eyes met before he walked over to her. “I understand you’re here to see Rinieri?”
“Yes, but he didn’t know I was coming. I wanted to surprise him.”
The flattering male admiration in his eyes made her efforts to look beautiful worth it. “He’s going to be surprised all right. I’m going back in to the meeting. I’ll let him know someone is out here waiting for him, but I won’t give you away.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest. “Grazie.”
“Prego.”
* * *
Twelve men sat at the oblong conference table. Rini’s Zio Salvatore scowled at him from a few seats down on the right. “I think we’re moving too fast. Look what’s happened in Greece!”
“If we don’t strike now, someone else will.” Rini was tired of the deadlock. Tonight he’d reached the end of his rope. He was ready to take off for places unknown to forget his pain. Guido had tried to talk to him, but Rini was in such a dark place, he wasn’t fit company for anyone. Something had to change or his life wasn
’t worth living.
“My son’s right,” Rini’s father said. “With this uncertain economy, we have to take advantage of these opportunities while we can.”
While everyone offered an opinion, Carlo came back in the room. His brother’s brows lifted, a signal that he wanted to talk to him about something. It would have to wait until they’d resolved the issue before the board.
“Let’s take a vote,” his cousin Piero said.
“We’re not ready yet!” This from Rini’s great uncle Niccolo.
The arguing went on another fifteen minutes. Rini received a text on his phone. Just so you know, Octavia said you have one more appointment before you leave tonight. The person is waiting in reception.
Since when? Rini didn’t have the time or inclination to do any more business once he left this room, but he nodded in acknowledgement to Carlo, who sat at the other end of the table. When five more minutes hadn’t yielded a consensus, Rini brought the meeting to a close.
“It’s late. We’ll reconvene on Monday and take a vote then.” Salvatore couldn’t have been more pleased that no action had been taken yet. He came from the old school, unable to abide the kind of progress Rini felt the company should be making.
After slipping out a side door into his private office, Rini rang Octavia. “Send in the person who’s been waiting. Since they’re infringing on my weekend, tell them I can only give them one minute. My helicopter is waiting.”
“Yes, sir.”
While he leaned over his desk long enough to sign a pile of letters ready to be mailed, he heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Signor Montanari? Please forgive me for barging in without an appointment, but this is a matter of life and death.”
He knew that voice and spun around, convinced he was dreaming.
“Cat got your tongue?”
The vision before him left him breathless. He had to be dreaming!
“The last time we were together, you asked me an important question. I couldn’t give you an answer then, but I’m prepared to give you one now. But maybe too much time has passed and you’d like to unask it.”
The Billionaire Who Saw Her Beauty Page 13
