To Catch a Groom

by Rebecca Winters

  “That’s what you said about Signore Mysterioso.”

  “They remind me of each other.”

  “Greer—do you have any idea how paranoid you sound?”

  “He’s the one who sounds too educated to be doing work like this. If he were a real sea captain, he would be running a naval vessel or a passenger ship or something.”

  Olivia hunched her shoulders. “Maybe he does this for fun when he’s on vacation. What do we care? We came to the Riviera for ten days of fun, plus the hope of meeting some authentic playboys.”

  Greer shook her head. “Technically we came with a definite plan to get them to propose!

  “Can you honestly picture that three-tongued Don Juan above deck bringing himself to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage? Even if he knew the Hope diamond could be his?” she exploded.

  “Probably not,” Piper admitted. “But then he’s the captain, so he’s not in the running.”

  “Then somebody needs to tell him that. I saw the way he was devouring you with his eyes, as if you were a feast and he couldn’t decide which dish to try first.”

  “That stranger last night really freaked you out,” Olivia said softly.

  “The captain freaks me, too. Let’s face it, guys. When we thought up our absurd plan, we’d just gotten home from Mr. Carlson’s office. It was grief that made us delusional.

  “I vote that when we dock at Monterossa tonight, we say ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ and head straight for the train station. I don’t care if we have to stay there all night. Once we’re back in Genoa, we’ll wait on standby for a flight home.”

  “Home?” Piper’s brows knit together. “No way, Greer. It’s too big a waste of Daddy’s money.”

  “We paid a trip cancellation fee,” Greer reminded them. “I say we ask for a refund. Of course we won’t get all the money back, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “I came to see the Grand Prix.”

  “I realize that, Olivia, but there’ll be another car race next year. You can come again for the right reason, and on your own money. I just think we’re in over our heads here.”

  Olivia eyed her soberly. “You’re serious.”

  Greer nodded. “What kind of a vacation will it be if the whole time we’re trying to have fun on this catamaran, we’re fighting off a captain who thinks he’s God’s gift to women and believes we’re titled and dripping in money and jewels? If you think Signore Moretti withheld that vital piece of information from his crew, then you’d believe we’re sailing on the Caribbean!”

  “You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Piper murmured, sounding hurt.

  Olivia trained concerned eyes on her. “With all of us protecting each other, the captain will be helpless to do anything, so I don’t see the problem. It’ll be three against one. If we stick together, he can’t make a move we won’t know about.”

  “Don’t be so sure. He’s runs this boat. You heard him say he knew of places where we could be virtually alone. He wasn’t kidding. We’re out of our depth here. They’re not ordinary men. They know how to seduce a woman.”

  “Then we’ll have to be on our guard.”

  “You say that now, Piper, but they have ways of getting you to do things you never planned to do.”

  Olivia drew closer. “Are you saying something else happened last night we don’t know about?”

  Greer’s heart pounded in her ears. “No,” she confessed shakily, “but—”

  “But you think you won’t be able to hold out against him if you were ever to see him again.”

  After her experience last night, she knew it would take a strong woman to resist a man like him or the captain and secretly she just didn’t know if she could.

  “Let’s just say I don’t want to find out.” If she gave the dark stranger one inch, he’d take ten thousand miles. There would be a price to pay for carrying on a passionate ten-day affair with him. After it was over she would return home alone where she would stay in pain for the rest of her life.

  No way… She was a Duchess, and a Duchess girl held out for marriage and everything that went with it.

  “Guys—we’ve enjoyed our moment of insanity pretending to be duchesses. Now it’s over.”

  “But not the whole trip.” Piper stood firm. “We won’t let the captain take advantage of any of us. We’ll room together the whole time. One of those sun mattresses will work for an extra bed.”

  “I was just going to suggest it,” Olivia murmured. “Now what do you say we go up on deck in a few minutes and enjoy the view until dinner? I don’t know about you but I’m thrilled we have a French chef on board who’ll guarantee us a fabulous meal.”

  To lighten the mood she handed everyone some chocolate and pears, one of their favorite fruits. “I figure we need a snack before the first mate gives us the boat drill.”

  “I just hope he isn’t anothe—”

  “Give it up, Greer!”

  At Piper’s admonition, Greer bowed her head, not wanting to entertain the possibility there could be another one like the shark from last night swimming anywhere loose around this boat.

  It was such a troubling thought, she sat on the bed covered in a blue print spread and munched away. In a few minutes she got up to dispose of the wrappers and cores.

  When she emerged from the spotless white bathroom loaded with all types of soaps, perfumes, lotions and shampoo, she announced, “I’m going to go to the stateroom on the other side of the boat where I saw my suitcase. I’ll be right back with it.”

  “Mine’s in the other one. I’ll go with you,” Olivia said. Together they slipped into the passageway and parted company by the stairs.

  The vibrations had stopped, which meant it was the air in the sails, not the engine, that was propelling them. Greer loved the gentle rocking motion of the boat. Under other circumstances, this would have been the dream trip of a lifetime.

  What an imbecile she’d been to touch the money their father had left them. They’d all been imbeciles. Look what had happened because they’d gone along with his ridiculous stipulation to try to find a husband!

  Furious with herself, she flung open the door to the stateroom, which had been left unlocked. When she entered, she expected to see her suitcase on the floor, but it was nowhere to be found. The first mate must have put it in the closet. She crossed the expanse and opened it.

  A surprised cry sprang from her lips to discover her clothes on hangers, her shoes neatly placed in separate compartments.

  Her gold shoes.

  Greer felt the blood drain from her face. There was the faint sound of a click behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know who was standing a few feet away, blocking her only escape route with the greatest of enjoyment.

  I know Vernazza well. Since you show no fear of the water, I would be happy to take you to a secret grotto, which can only be reached by swimming a short distance beneath the sea.

  Noooooooooo— It couldn’t be. She’d known he would show up at some point on their trip, but not as a member of the crew aboard the Piccione! This couldn’t possibly be happening.

  “Buona sera, Greer.” His haunting voice sounded like the night breeze swishing through the cypress trees, carrying the scent of lemon and jasmine down to the sea.

  “I couldn’t sleep all night anticipating being with you again. It’s the only reason I was able to let you slip away, although I’ll admit I came close to carrying you down to the sea for a moonlight swim.”

  Get a grip, Greer.

  You can’t let him see what this has done to you. Brazen it out till later. Play it cool.

  She could hear her father’s encouraging whisper, “Play it like a Duchess.”

  The thought of her loving parent gave her the courage to turn around and present an imperious smile to the one man who could be her total ruination if she didn’t put an ocean between them in the next eighteen hours.

  She steeled herself not to react to the devastating sensuality he emitted wearing one of
those short-sleeved black crew necks. He’d tucked it inside thigh-molding jeans that rode low on his incredible male body.

  Greer flashed him an imperious smile. “Buona sera, signore. So the first mate is last night’s man of mystery.”

  “Life plays many tricks, does it not?”

  “How did you know I would be aboard the Piccione?”

  “As soon as you told me you were coming to Vernazza, I asked a close friend of mine to keep an eye out for you. It must be fate that brought us together without my having to lift a finger to find you. Especially when I distinctly heard you tell me goodbye through the hotel room door. That was cruel, bellissima.”

  Fate my foot!

  She raised her chin to combat position. “You spend a lot of free time at the Splendido?”

  “Actually I haven’t been there for over a year. If I hadn’t noticed you on the grounds, I would have left the premises and we would have been like ships that never passed in the night.”

  “What if I hadn’t gone to the pool?”

  “Then I would have made inquiries until I found you, wherever you were.”

  Though she willed it otherwise, her heart ran away with her. “Are you always this persistent?”

  “About something I want? Yes.”

  Such an electrifying answer delivered in that deep tone, immobilized her. “You want me?”

  “Si, signorina,” came his low velvety voice. “In every conceivable way.”

  His stark honesty was so shocking, she couldn’t think, let alone breathe normally.

  “But then you already know that, Greer, because you feel the same way about me,” he added.

  “You’re very sure of yourself, aren’t you, signore.”

  His black gaze studied her features relentlessly. “You would understand if you could see your eyes.”

  “What about them?”

  “You’ve heard the expression ‘mirrors of the soul’?”

  “So you believe my soul has been speaking to yours?”

  “Loud and clear from the moment I saw you watching me do laps in the pool.”

  Greer couldn’t refute that statement. The second she’d laid eyes on him, she hadn’t been able to look away. “Do you use this same approach with every female stranger who looks at you?”

  “I’ve never said it to another woman in my life.” His voice throbbed the way it had done at the pool last night when he’d asked her to swim with him.

  Greer threw her head back and laughed. “I bet every American woman you’ve spoken to like this has believed you.”

  “American?”

  “Yes. They say the Italian accent to the American ear is the most provocative sound in the world. I have to admit I find it pretty irresistible.”

  Lines darkened his handsome face. “But you don’t believe me.”

  “There isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t want to. After all, you are every woman’s fantasy come true.”

  “Even yours?”

  “Especially mine.”

  “Why is that?”

  “My love affair with Italy began when I first found out I was part Italian.”

  “You mean through Maria-Luigia’s husband.”

  Greer kept her smile in place.

  This man had known exactly who the Duchess of Colorno was, which meant he was playing dumb with her now on purpose.

  Any serious student of European history, of Italian history in particular, knew the Duchess of Colorno had two husbands, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Count Von Reipperg.

  She’d been on the verge of telling him she was talking about the granddaughter of Maria-Luigia who allegedly had an Italian lover. But she thought the better of it because this man was toying with her for a definite reason.

  “What about your ancestry?” she asked, effectively changing the subject.

  He cocked his head. “You didn’t answer my question. Tell me more about the Italian side of your family. You have me completely enchanted, Greer. I want to learn everything about you.”

  Everything?

  Beneath the ardency of his words she could tell he was driven by a curiosity separate from his desire for her. Of what real interest could Greer’s roots be to him?

  She gave him the benefit of a full, unguarded smile. “I’m afraid I left little to the imagination when I joined you in the pool. You’ve already learned I can be impulsive, and that I love to swim.

  “Isn’t it nice that in this new century, the working class can enjoy their time off at the Splendido in exactly the same way as the aristocracy?”

  She’d posed the question while he pulled a life jacket from the footlocker.

  He flashed her a mystifying smile. “That all depends on what you mean by enjoy. The worker is there on borrowed time and limited funds which adds a certain…edge to the experience.” He moved toward her.

  The first mate exuded an urbane sophistication that sat at odds with the kind of job he did. He seemed too powerful a personality, too shrewd and intelligent to take orders from anyone else.

  Though he appeared perfectly at home on the boat, she was convinced he ruled another world apart from this one.

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Who could blame you. After all, you were born to be the Duchess of Kingston.”

  Though his silky observation had sounded totally offhand, Greer had the sudden revelation he was after her for whatever he could get out of her. Money…jewels…her virtue.

  It shouldn’t have shocked her. This was what she and her sisters had hoped would happen when they came to the Riviera. But now that he was calling her bluff in earnest, the charade no longer felt like a joke.

  To hide her dismay, she gave a careless shrug of her feminine shoulders, drawing his attention to the periwinkle silk blouse that crisscrossed the bodice.

  His bold gaze dropped from her curves to the wide belt cinching her waist. By the time his eyes took in the line of her matching skirt which flowed from the flare of womanly hips, he’d managed to squeeze every ounce of breath from her lungs.

  “It seems criminal to have to cover up what nature has so exquisitely endowed.” Without asking her permission, he helped her into the jacket and secured the front straps.

  After the way she’d plunged into the water at the hotel, she supposed he had every reason to believe she’d thrown maidenly virtue out the window long ago.

  Little did he know her primal instinct was to slap his face. For the moment, all she could do was keep up the pretense until she could get away from him.

  Restraining herself she said, “Seeing you busy like this at your job helps me understand why you were solicitous of my needs last night. Even to the point of returning my shoes? Has anyone ever told you you would make an excellent personal valet?”

  With those words, she thought his patrician jaw hardened just a trifle. “No. You’re the first. Are you offering me a full-time job?”

  “Would you take it?”

  “I would for the right price and benefits.”

  Her pulses throbbed. “I’ll bet you’re expensive.”

  “But that wouldn’t be a problem for you.”

  “You mean because I’m a duchess?”

  His lips twisted in a subtle smile. “Some titles have no money or property to back them up. But the pendant you were wearing last night tells me you can afford my exclusive services.”

  It all got down to the pendant.

  “Ah, but for how long?” she asked with great daring.

  “For as long as we continue to desire each other.”

  Her body trembled. “I’m afraid you misunderstood me. I was talking about valet service only.”

  “So was I. Shall we test out one of my duties to see if my work measures up to your expectations?”

  In the space of a millisecond he’d tugged on the straps he’d been tying so that she fell against his hard, powerful body. Without the life jacket separating them, her heart would have jammed into his.

  His other hand cupped the bac
k of her head where the gossamer strands brushed his fingers. He had the kind of strength that made it impossible for her to evade the insistent pressure of his male mouth. She was prepared to fight him with all her might.

  But when that mouth closed inexorably over hers, he didn’t swallow her alive in one gulp as she’d feared. Rather he played with her lips, nibbled on them, tasted them slowly, each time coaxing them farther apart, a little more and a little more.

  After their exciting verbal skirmish, she felt a seductive rhythm building like the flow of the tide, racing up the beach a little higher, a little stronger. It filled all the aching spaces in her body which yearned toward him of its own volition.

  His mouth created such sweet ecstasy, pleasure pains never before awakened came alive, demanding assuagement from the source that created them.

  The moans she heard turned out to be her own.

  Moans of need, of desire she didn’t know she could feel. She felt helpless, beautiful. Alive. She didn’t know herself anymore. He was making her feel immor—

  “Greer?”

  Olivia’s voice.

  The door flew open. “Quick! We’ve got some—Greer!”

  Piper’s shocked cry reverberated in the cabin.

  Greer wrenched her lips from the man who’d been kissing her into oblivion and turned around in guilty reaction, but her senses were reeling.

  Ironically her captor had to be the one to steady her in his strong arms. It would take time to recover from an experience that had been a breathtaking education in what really went on between a man and woman.

  “Buona sera, signorine.”

  “What’s going on?” Olivia demanded in a quiet, yet chilling voice. Piper looked ready to tackle him to the ground. Greer didn’t know her siblings could be this fierce.

  Of course they wouldn’t have had any success if they’d tried to restrain him. The fact that he ignored their edicts and still held her arms firmly in his grasp testified to that truth.

  “I-it isn’t what you think,” Greer stammered. “You’ve misinterpreted what was happening.”

  “That’s right,” he said in a suave tone. “Your sister and I were getting…reacquainted. Last night there was so little time before she ran off to bed, leaving me desolate.”