To Catch a Groom

by Rebecca Winters

  “Then we’ll drive on the rims as far as we can,” Piper stated firmly. “Olivia, you’re the designated driver. I’ll help navigate.”

  “I’ll sit in the back and be quiet,” Greer volunteered.

  By the time they reached the Fiat, the men had put their bags in the trunk. Refusing their offers for help, the girls got into the car. Max handed Olivia the key. “Buon Viaggio, signorine.”

  “Goodbye!” the girls called out in unison.

  Low and behold the engine actually started up.

  As Olivia drove the car out of the parking area past the three smiling men, Greer’s gaze was trapped by a pair of burning black eyes.

  “Ciao, bella.” He mouthed the words.

  That place at her throat started throbbing again.

  “Okay guys,” she said once they’d reached the highway. “So far so good, but something tells me we’ll have problems when we reach Genoa airport.”

  Piper’s head swung around. “You’re right. It’s another setup to get us in their beds. The crew will alert their buddies to be waiting for us. They’ll say we’ve stolen the pendant and the whole rigmarole will start all over again. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got a friend tailing us right now.”

  “Neither would I,” Greer muttered. “One way or the other, they’re planning on a little fun in the sun with us. Did you see those Cheshire cat grins they gave us as we were driving away?”

  “Deep down they’re furious the pendants turned out to be worthless.”

  “They’re not going to leave us alone.”

  “It’s time to call in the troops, guys.”

  “Tom told me they can get a flight on a military transport whenever they want,” Piper informed them. “He was hinting like mad at the time.”

  “There’s just one problem with that,” Greer cautioned. “If we send for the guys, it’ll be like telling them we’re really interested in them.”

  “Maybe we should take our parents’ advice and try to fall in love for a change,” Olivia muttered wistfully.

  After a minute Piper said, “We could look at this as a final test. If the boys can get here by tomorrow, we’ll spend the rest of our vacation on the Piccione with them. By the end we’ll—”

  “Be dead of boredom,” Greer finished for her.

  “That’s true,” Olivia agreed, “but the crew doesn’t have to know that.”

  Greer started to smile and sat up straighter in the seat. “You’re right. Max isn’t sure if there’s a Don in my life or not. It would really frost him if one of the men answering to that name showed up tomorrow tossing a Frisbee around on the deck.”

  Piper grinned. “Especially in their military haircuts and fatigues. They have the kind of obnoxious attitude that’ll drive our crew right up a wall.”

  “I love it,” Olivia exclaimed, “but I guess you guys realize that if they can come, we’ll have to pay Signore Moretti more money.”

  “If we don’t make a decision one way or the other, then we’re stuck alone for nine more days with three playboys who intend to play no matter what!” Greer cried.

  “Guys? Let’s get serious here. I say we just get back home and back to normal. We could ring Walter Carlson and use him to run interference for us at the airport.”

  “Good idea,” Olivia murmured. “I see a trattoria up ahead. We can pull in there and make a credit card call.”

  When they reached the parking area Greer said, “You guys stay put because we don’t dare leave the car unattended. I’ll talk to Mr. Carlson. It’s seven-thirty in the morning in Kingston. I doubt he’ll have left his house yet.”

  “Let’s hope your right.”

  To Greer’s relief it wasn’t long before the wife of the owner of the busy restaurant signaled her to come behind the counter to use the phone.

  Greer’s fortune seemed to be holding when Mrs. Carlson said her husband was still home.

  “Greer?”

  “Hi, Mr. Carlson. Sorry to bother you, but this is very important.”

  “I heard you girls were detained at the jail in Colorno by mistake,” he said right off. “I’m so sorry, my dear.”

  She blinked. “How did you know?”

  “When you gave the police commissioner my name, he got in touch with the attorney for the House of Parma-Bourbon who rang me to verify who you were.

  “We had a long talk about your background and the pendants your parents gave you. After he explained about the confusion over the stolen pendant from the ducal museum, he assured me he would arrange for your immediate release.”

  Greer gripped the receiver tighter. “I wish the commissioner had told me he was in contact with you.”

  “Though I’m sure it didn’t seem that way to you at the time, the Italians have a very efficient system.”

  The good old boy network you mean. Greer almost laughed in his ear.

  “Are you girls all right now?”

  “Actually we’re not.” Without wasting any more time, she told him about their problems with the crew of the Piccione. “We’re pretty sure they’re in league with one of the policemen at the airport. I’m afraid we might be prevented from boarding the plane for our flight home.”

  “Don’t worry, Greer. All you have to do is tell the head of security you wish to call me if there’s a problem. Just mentioning my name will produce results.”

  Yeah. Sure.

  “Thanks, Mr. Carlson.”

  “You’re welcome, my dear. As I told you in my office, women weren’t meant to be on their own. The attorney for the House of Parma-Bourbon agreed with me.”

  Greer was counting to twenty.

  “Perhaps now after this unfortunate experience, you will believe me. As I said, if you have any more trouble at all, give me a ring.”

  She was about to tell him the police wouldn’t allow her to call anyone, but it would be a wasted effort on her part. At this point she was so furious, she couldn’t think, let alone talk. “I will. Goodbye.”

  After hanging up the receiver, she marched straight out of the restaurant to the car.

  “How did it go with Mr. Carlson?”

  She shot Olivia a speaking glance. “Remember my quote, Don’t upset me. I’m running out of places to hide the bodies?”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I’m afraid we’re on our own, guys.”

  “You mean he was no help at all?” Olivia cried.

  “He said all we had to do was tell the head of security to call him if there was any trouble.”

  “Sure.” Piper let out a defeated sigh.

  Greer sat back in the seat. “Like I said, we’re on our own. But I’ll give you the long version of our conversation on the way to the airport.”

  “Your presence does us great honor, Signore di Varano.”

  “Grazie, Signore Galli.”

  “What can I do for you?”

  Except for an obsequiousness that was irritating, there was no sign the other man seemed nervous or caught off guard by Max’s unexpected appearance at the custom’s area of the airport.

  “The three American signorine you detained two days ago have just arrived at the short-term parking area of the airport in a blue Fiat.”

  Signore Galli’s brows lifted in surprise. “I thought they were in the custody of the commissioner at Colorno.”

  “I’m afraid he was prevailed upon to let them go.”

  The other man’s eyes narrowed. “It would not have happened if I had been in charge.”

  “I’m sure of that,” Max said in an ironical tone. “Therefore I’m enlisting your help.”

  “Whatever I can do.”

  “I have reason to believe one of the Americans is attempting to take the original pendant out of the country.”

  His eyes screwed up. “You mean it is a different one from the three they were wearing when they arrived?”

  “Confidentially, I believe they are acting as messengers for the person who stole the w
hole Maria-Luigia collection.”

  “You mean—” Max could hear the officer’s mind working. “They wore the fake pendants here, then got hold of the real one to wear back?”

  “Si.”

  “That is very clever.”

  “So are you, Signore Galli. You have a nose for your profession.”

  The other man’s face warmed with pleasure.

  “However I must have proof,” Max added.

  “Of course, signore. As soon as they reach the outer doors, my men will pick them up and escort them here. My office across the hall is at your disposal.”

  If Signore Galli was acting, he gave a convincing performance of total innocence.

  “Grazie. Send the one with the lavender eyes to me first.”

  Without wasting another moment, Max entered the empty office. Once he’d closed the door, he pulled out his cell phone and rang Nic.

  “Where are they now?” he asked when his cousin acknowledged.

  “Lugging their suitcases through the upper level to the doors. I never saw three females so determined.”

  The Duchess sisters were headstrong all right. A breed of women all their own. “You’ll be happy to know Galli’s men are ready and waiting.”

  “What’s your gut impression of him by now?”

  Max pursed his lips. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think he’s involved. There was a kind of earnestness in his desire to help that didn’t seem feigned, but you can never be sure.”

  “That is true. I’ll swing the car around in front of the terminal and wait for you.”

  “Good. Expect us in about twenty minutes. Ciao.”

  While he waited, he lounged against the desk and phoned Luc who was standing by on the Piccione.

  “How’s the leg?”

  “I picked up another prescription of pain killers. The pills should be working any minute now. How are the belles mesdemoiselles?”

  “According to Nic, obstinées comme d’habitude.”

  As both men were chuckling, he heard footsteps outside the door. “Sorry to cut this short, but our lovely jailbirds have just flown in. A tout a l’heure, cousin.”

  “Oui.”

  He hung up and waited with growing excitement to see the shocked look on Signorina Greer’s face when she discovered him inside the room. But instead of the door opening, he heard a familiar female voice say, “Knock, knock, Signore Max. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  He opened it and glimpsed a pair of eyes that glittered like amethysts in the sunlight. But the mocking smile on that luscious mouth of hers was all he needed to see black.

  “Sorry to spoil your surprise. I’m afraid the man of mystery revealed his true colors a long time ago.”

  “Basta, signorina—” Signore Galli warned in a forbidding voice. “Enough! You do not know to whom you are speaking.”

  The man came to Max’s defense so quickly, he was convinced Fausto Galli was simply a dedicated agent doing his job.

  “Of course I do! I may not have been told his real name, signore, but I know him very, very well. He is the shark who has been biting at my heels since I made the unfortunate mistake of swimming in these waters.

  “He’s the one who took me for a little roll beneath the waves to soften me up. There’s nothing he enjoys more than playing with his victim for a while first. A little nip here, a little tuck there.”

  A surge of adrenaline exploded inside Max’s body. “Touché, Signorina Greer— Acid-tongued and predictable as ever.” He looked at Signore Galli. “Grazie. I’ll handle this from here.”

  “Handle what?” she lashed out. “You’ve got us where you want us. No more games. Do your worst so we can go home.”

  Pleased to see she’d lost some of her cool, he smiled. “I’m glad you recognize there’s no escape. Signore Galli? If you will please instruct some of your men to accompany the other signorine to the front of the terminal with their bags, I’ll escort Signorina Greer myself.”

  “Of course.”

  Without waiting for a response from her, he picked up her suitcase, then cupped her elbow to guide her down the hall. She shook off his hand as if it had scalded her and walked ahead of him. It gave him the opportunity to watch her long, beautiful bare legs move faster and faster.

  Even without a shower or fresh makeup, and still wearing the same pink skirt and top she was dressed in when she dived overboard last evening, she moved with a feminine grace that was stunning to watch.

  Her sisters arrived at the Fiat first. While Nic helped them into the back seat, the security men loaded the bags in the trunk. Max opened the front door for his proud Duchesse pigeon as he’d started to think of her, then he went around and got behind the wheel.

  The silence was palpable throughout the drive from the terminal to Genoa’s harbor. From time to time he caught Nic’s grin through the rearview mirror.

  Just for the fun of it he turned on the radio to a music station that played a lot of songs in Italian and English. As soon as he heard an old Dean Martin classic, he turned up the volume and sang along.

  “When the moon heats your eye like a beg pizza pie, that’s amore. When the moon starts to shine like you’ve had too much wine, you’ll know you’re in love…”

  “Oh please—” the woman sitting next to him moaned before bursting into uninhibited laughter.

  It was totally unexpected and it enchanted him.

  She enchanted him.

  By the time they could see Luc waving to them from the boat, her sisters’ uncontrollable laughter had joined in. But his senses were only attuned to her.

  “I would do more tricks for you if it would make you laugh like that again, Greer.”

  “A bilingual shark who seengs off-key. I underestimated you, signore. Better to hear a woman laugh than cry, eh?”

  “I would never wish to make you cry.”

  “What do you wish, signore?”

  “To help you and your sisters enjoy the rest of your vacation.”

  “No. You want us to help you enjoy your vacation. Admit it!”

  He and Nic got out of the car and assisted their guests to that part of the pier where the boat was moored.

  “I admit there is nothing we would enjoy more than to spend nine more uninterrupted days and nights in your delightful company. But you’re wrong in assuming that we’re on vacation.”

  She stood there with her arms tightly folded at her waist, not willing to step one foot on the Piccione. “That’s right. The security guard works hard at spotting rich women for you. You work hard at relieving them of their unnecessary jewels. When you’ve exhausted that avenue, you work hard at seducing them. I forgot.”

  “You wound me again, bellissima.”

  Her head reared back, giving him an even better view of her provocative mouth. “That’s another lie. I don’t see a mark on you.”

  “The deepest ones are hidden, but we’re digressing from the point.”

  “So there is one?” she derided.

  “On the surface, Luc, Nic and I are guilty of everything you’ve said.”

  “Tell us something else we don’t already know.”

  “Gladly, Greer. We’re working undercover to find the person or persons who stole the Maria-Luigia jewelry collection from the ducal palace in Colorno. It’s one of Italy’s greatest treasures and the object of an intensive search that has involved the CIA, Scotland Yard, Interpol and Italy’s top investigators.

  “Perhaps now you can imagine that your arrival in Genoa wearing three identical Duchesse pendants, drew a collective gasp from not only Signore Galli, but the hundreds of other security people who’ve been involved in this case for over a year.

  “If the American agents had done their part before you left Kennedy Airport, you would never have been allowed to board your plane. Needless to say, their intervention would have spared you all the unpleasantness you’ve been forced to suffer in the last forty-eight hours.

  “From our point of view however, the
Americans’ lapse in security did us an inestimable favor. Though you’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing and are free to go—as you found out when you spoke to your attorney from the trattoria—you’ve unwittingly provided us with a valuable piece of information the jewel thief doesn’t know about yet.

  “Here is the point you were so charmingly urging me to make, Greer. We would like you to stay in Italy long enough to help us lay a trap for him, or her, or them. Whoever it is…

  “You don’t have to cooperate, of course. It might even be dangerous to do so, though we’ll do everything in our power to protect you.

  “If your answer is no, I will drive you to the airport right now and send you back to New York first class on the next plane leaving Genoa.

  “If your answer is yes, we will go below for a meal and discuss our strategy in detail.” His gaze took in all three of them. “The decision is yours, signorine.”

  Greer eyed her sisters, not knowing what to believe. She eventually flicked the first mate another suspicious glance. He stood there with his long powerful legs slightly apart, his hands clasped in front of him.

  “If you’re on the level, why didn’t you just say all this at the airport in front of the head of the security?”

  “Signore Galli may be one of several security people operating on the wrong side of the law. We’re not certain who we can trust, perhaps not even the commissioner at the jail in Colorno. That is why we pretended to be members of the crew of the Piccione.”

  “I knew none of you were who you claimed to be,” her voice grated.

  “You’re no captain!” Piper blurted.

  “Nevertheless I have done a lot of sailing in my life, señorita.”

  “And you’re no chef!” Olivia accused the man named Luc.

  “Non, mademoiselle. But I like to cook now and then.”

  “If you showed us identification, we’d never know if it was fake,” Greer practically hissed the words. “Are you going to tell us Signore Moretti is your superior?”

  The first mate’s eyes had narrowed to slits. “No. A personal friend. He lent us the car.”

  “And the boat?”

  “Yes.”

  “Of course he did. Everybody has a friend who owns a catamaran worth close to a million dollars who just lets you take it when you want.”