His silvery eyes had narrowed to slits. “Why are you here?”
“What?” Her expressive brows lifted in question. “Not even a ‘won’t you come in and make yourself comfortable’?”
“You’re not an invited guest.”
“Not even when we’re related through marriage?”
He stiffened. “Whatever it is you have to say, make it fast. I’m in a hurry.”
“Is that why you were cursing on your way to the door?” she taunted him with relish. “If you don’t have the time to be civil to me right now, I’ll be happy to wait.”
If looks could kill… “Then you’ll have a long one because I’m on my way out and don’t know when I’ll be back.”
“That’s no problem. I’ll go with you and keep you company. As you can see, I brought my suitcase with me so I’m ready to travel.”
He rubbed his chest in a motion he probably wasn’t aware of. The fact that his first cousin Max was married to her sister was undoubtedly the only reason he hadn’t slammed the door in her face yet.
“What’s this all about?” Talk about a forbidding tone—
Standing her ground she said, “The trip my sisters and I never went on of course! The trip you and your cousins ruined for us. The trip that cost us over twenty thousand dollars after the bills we incurred by being forced to buy new bikes to try to get away from you.
“Shall I count the ways you destroyed the dream?” Her fingers started to tick everything off. “First, Max had us detained by the police in Genoa the second we got off the plane, then he stalked us while we walked around Portofino.
“After that, he inveigled you and Nic to take over as the crew aboard the Piccione. At that point the three of you sabotaged our itinerary, stole the family pendants our parents gave us on our sixteenth birthday, threw us in jail, prevented us from boarding a plane home and then forced us to show up at your family’s villa to help draw out the real jewel thief.
“The thief you didn’t catch by the way!” she mocked. “All this because you thought we’d stolen an identical pendant from the palace, which we didn’t!”
Her fists went to her waist, drawing his piercing gaze to the curves beneath the leaf green cotton dress molding her body. “You were totally unfair to us, and now I’m here to collect. Since Max is on his honeymoon, and Nic left for London after the wedding, that leaves you to pay up.
“You owe me, Luc! So I’ve arrived to inform you that you’re taking me for a ten-day trip on the Piccione before I go back to New York.”
He shifted his weight, a sign his leg was probably bothering him. “You make a compelling case, but I don’t buy any of it. Why don’t you try telling me the truth for a change. What’s the real reason you’ve come to my home on a Sunday night, uninvited? Where’s Cesar?”
“I haven’t a clue. Well, that’s not exactly true. The last time I saw him, he was at the winner’s podium kissing one beautiful groupie after another, having the time of his life.”
For just a moment she thought she saw a shadow cross over his face, but maybe it was a light plane passing overhead, hiding the rays of a setting sun for a moment. Then he smirked. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t you take the competition?”
“That question doesn’t deserve an answer. The truth is, I had other things on my mind. Remember the Husband Fund?”
“What about it?” he practically snapped.
“I’m afraid I may have hooked the wrong playboy without meaning to, and I need an out.”
“Which playboy would that be? There’ve been so many.” His insulting remark was meant to sting. Well, she would sting him back!
“Cesar,” she admitted.
Luc eyed her with disdain. “I don’t see him anywhere around. Now you’ll have to excuse me.” He started to close the door.
“Last night he said something about buying me an engagement ring after the race.”
She’d purposely slipped in that last tidbit before he could shut her out completely. Olivia was a hundred percent sure Cesar had been joking, but Luc didn’t know that.
“I left Monza as soon as it was over and came straight here.”
To her satisfaction she didn’t hear the click that would have severed all contact. The door opened wider again. A stillness had stolen over Luc.
“He asked you to marry him?” his voice grated with incredulity.
Her instincts had been right. The idea of her becoming Luc’s sister-in-law was so repugnant to him, he was caught in a vise.
“Isn’t that what an engagement ring means? Or is your younger brother in the habit of promising one to every groupie he fancies without any intention of delivering…”
He raked a hand through his vibrant black hair, a gesture that indicated the news had disturbed him. Good. She hoped his concern to protect his brother from a predator like herself was great enough to agree to her plan.
“What kind of game are you playing with him?” came the voice of ice.
“Game?” She feigned innocence. “I admit it was exciting to be wined and dined by him for a little while. Fred got me interested in Formula I racing and I followed Cesar’s success for a long time before we ever met.
“Meeting your brother was a great thrill. He’s a wonderful man, and he’s done everything to show me a fantastic time, but—”
“But all along it’s been dull, boring Fred you wanted, and now you’re afraid to tell Cesar?” She felt his question like the tip of a whip against her skin.
“No,” she came back, intrigued to discover he’d remembered an offhand comment she’d made about Fred in his hearing. “I ended it with Fred before I flew here for Greer’s wedding.”
“How many dead bodies are lying around in that colorful past of yours?” he muttered in an acerbic tone. The wounds were growing.
“My past is none of your business, but Cesar is.”
A nerve ticked at the corner of his sensual mouth. “Go on!”
“Well…Cesar knows I’m not seeing Fred anymore. So he’s not going to believe there’s another man in my life, and he would be right. But that’s not what I told him in the note I left for him at the hotel in Monza.”
“That was like waving a red flag,” Luc drawled with contempt.
“I thought I was being polite,” Olivia asserted. “After the race I went back to the Accademia in a taxi and dashed off a letter before checking out. It was a combination goodbye–thank you note.
“I left it with the concierge to give to him when he came in. In it I explained that my heart belonged to another, but I wished him success in the future. Since Cesar is aware that other person isn’t Fred, I’m afraid I’ve painted myself into a corner, and now I need help.”
Lines marred his features. “You should have thought of that before you went to bed with him.”
“The Duchess girls don’t sleep around!”
“That’s an interesting fairy tale.”
She bridled. “Cesar said the same thing, so I told him to ask Max when he gets back from his honeymoon if he doesn’t believe me. Theirs was a white wedding. Why do you think they got married so fast?”
He folded his arms. “Why are you digressing? If I’m to be of assistance to you, you have to tell me exactly how far things have progressed between you two. The truth this time.”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you, so why should I bother.”
“You’re still avoiding answering my question,” Luc reminded her testily. “I can assure I’m not asking out of a prurient desire to know the intimate details, just the facts. But if you don’t want my help after all…” He was a breath away from shutting the door on her.
She had to tamp down her euphoria. Obviously the thought of his brother marrying her disgusted him enough to listen.
“After the way you spoke to me at the wedding, do you honestly think I would darken your doorstep if I didn’t?” she challenged.
A war was waging inside him. She knew it by the tautness of his Gallic features. “I
repeat. How far did you go to accomplish what no other groupie has managed to do?” he persisted.
“I didn’t have to do anything. He’s the one who kissed me outside my hotel room before I told him I had to go in.”
“And you expect me to believe he did all the work?”
Her brows knit together. “Why do you have to know that?”
“So you did respond,” he muttered, “which means he’ll believe you were being a provocative tease.”
She gave him a vexed look. “I couldn’t help but respond a little bit. Your brother’s the stuff a woman’s dreams are made of. But the truth is, I have no interest in being his wife. For one thing, he won’t make a good husband until his racing days are over. I’ve a feeling that day won’t come for years yet.”
“So you’re still spouse hunting in Riviera waters?”
“I would be if you and your cousins hadn’t robbed us of our trip! It’s only fair you make up for it now. Who knows? I might meet an exciting playboy with husband potential while I’m waterskiing or exploring some island.
“The point is, when Cesar finds out I’ve gone on a vacation with you, he’ll give up any idea he had about marriage to me.”
“Why is that?” His voice had taken on a darker tone.
“You don’t know?”
His face closed up. “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”
“Since the first time I met Cesar, I’ve discovered you’re the only man in the world who intimidates him. You’re kind of like Greer incarnate.” Luc’s black brows furrowed. “You know—the oldest one in the family. The one who rules by divine right?”
“No, I didn’t know.” He looked like thunder.
“Well you wouldn’t! You don’t have to. You were just born in charge. The one who knows everything, even if you don’t!” She paused to catch her breath.
“Anyway, Cesar will think you must be the man who stole my heart after I came to the Riviera the first time. He wouldn’t dare come after me knowing I was under your protection, so to speak.”
Like the day she and her sisters dove off the Piccione into the warm blue water of the Mediterranean to get away from Luc and his cousins, Olivia’s impulsive nature had once again caused her to leap before she looked.
But this was serious business. The most serious of her existence.
It was Luc she loved with every fiber of her being. The longer he didn’t say anything, the more she realized that if he didn’t give her the right answer, she would be in permanent mourning.
His eyes looked dark in the fading light. “Nothing’s sacred to a woman like you, is it.” A woman like me? “Haven’t you realized by now you can’t play at life without paying too great a price?”
Those words were meant to debilitate her. They reminded her of Piper’s warning on the phone earlier in the day that Luc could hurt her if she let him.
She struggled for breath. “My parents raised my sisters and me to believe fairy tales do come true. I can’t help it if they were divinely happy and everything worked out for them.
“You have to admit the Husband Fund they set up managed to get Greer and Max together. I’ve never seen a more besotted couple.”
“You’re straying from the point again. It’s a bad tendency of yours.”
“No stronger than your tendency to ridicule everything,” she fired back. “Can you think of a better way to put your brother off so he gets the message without causing damage? He is Greer’s cousin-in-law through marriage. So are you of course.
“I don’t want to be the one responsible for some kind of rift in our families before they’ve even come home from their honeymoon.”
“You should have thought of that before you leaped into Cesar’s Ferrari.”
“You would have leaped too if you’d never been in one before. How many people will ever get the opportunity to drive in such a car with a world-class Formula I race car pro like your brother? It’s an experience not to be missed. But I’m forgetting this is a sensitive issue for you since you can’t drive.”
His eyes glittered dangerously.
“The sooner you phone Fabio Moretti and tell him I’m ready to go on my trip now, the trip you stole from me, the sooner we can leave Monaco where Cesar won’t be able to find me.”
Luc gave a careless shrug of his broad shoulders. “I’m afraid a trip for me is out of the question. I’m due at the hospital in the morning for a procedure on my knee. For the next week I’ll have to stay off it except to do some exercises and water therapy.”
“Perfect!” she blurted excitedly. “The Piccione is pure luxury. You can recuperate on it at your leisure while I enjoy myself. The first mate also acts as steward, so he can wait on you. Call Fabio right now! Tell him I want the same itinerary Greer planned for us before.”
“He’ll be booked solid for August,” Luc declared as if the final word had been spoken. But Olivia wasn’t about to let him wriggle out of this.
“Even if he is, there are accommodations for six guests aboard the catamaran. Probably not all the bedrooms are taken. If you don’t want to phone him and arrange it, I will. He knows you owe me, and he won’t turn me down.” After a slight pause, “Even if Cesar wanted to come after me, he wouldn’t relish being confined with a boatload of tourists in such close quarters.”
She’d thrown out that last salvo for leverage, but nothing seemed to be working. Just when she thought they’d reached gridlock, he surprised her by wheeling around to reach for his cane lying in the middle of the foyer. He must have tripped on it answering the door, which would account for his cursing earlier.
Though he didn’t ask her to follow him, she assumed he wouldn’t have left the door open if he’d expected her to remain on the porch.
Consumed by curiosity to see his home, she trailed after him with her suitcase, noticing his limp was barely noticeable anymore. The minute she stepped over the threshold, she was enchanted.
This was real French country with a mix of period furniture. The authentic kind of fabulous treasures belonging to a man with a royal heritage.
Alcoves, beamed ceilings, inlaid parquet floors, hand-carved furniture, flowers in copper pots, wrought iron fixtures, books, paintings. Sheer elegance that could only be created and enjoyed by someone of Luc’s aristocratic status.
Once again Olivia was reminded that Luc’s father was a duc, and his mother a Varano who was one of the direct descendents of the House of Parma-Bourbon in Italy.
Greer was now married to Max, the son of the Duc of Parma-Bourbon. After their honeymoon, she would be living with her husband in Colorno, a town near Parma, in an Italian villa so fantastic, words failed Olivia.
They failed her now. She looked around in wonder as they passed through to a study off the entrance hall where a stairway of hand-painted Provence tiles rose in a graceful curve to the second floor.
Surely Luc employed staff to keep the villa in such perfect condition, but she could see no sign of them right now.
After being in the hot sun most of the day, his house felt blessedly cool to Olivia. Since he was ignoring her, she entered his inner sanctum without being asked, and sank down in one of two fat Louis XV chairs upholstered in a fabric with the Falcon crest.
Luc moved around his huge oak desk with an ancient porcelain clock placed on top. What a striking contrast to see the master of this small palace of a villa dressed in nothing more than a pair of well-worn cutoffs.
Still standing, he reached for the house phone. Before long she heard him say, “Ciao, Fabio.” The next thing she knew he was speaking fluent Italian.
The multilingual Varano cousins were close as brothers and exceptional men in their own right. More than ever Olivia was determined to get Luc to fall in love with her. She was so crazy about him she would do whatever it took.
Olivia wasn’t under any delusion that Luc wanted to be with her. On the contrary. The fact that he was trying to arrange a trip with Fabio only proved he would do anything to save Cesar from her clutc
hes.
The situation couldn’t be working out better.
Please make it happen, Fabio.
“I wish I could accommodate you, Luc, but the boat is fully chartered for August. There’s one bedroom left for you if you were to join us in Monterosso on Tuesday. Signorina Duchess could use it until Saturday. You could have my berth in the crew’s quarters and I could sleep on deck.”
“You’re a good friend, Fabio, but I would never ask such a favor of you.”
While they were talking, Luc kept his eye on Olivia, wondering what in the devil she was really up to. He’d learned not to trust one word that came out of that treacherously beautiful mouth of hers. However he didn’t believe that even she would lie about Cesar’s intention to give her an engagement ring.
Life hadn’t been the same since the Duchess triplets had exploded into Luc’s world with the force of a colliding meteor. They’d done the unexpected at every turn, driving him and his cousins crazy.
But because Cesar had entered into this latest equation, Luc had been hesitant to shut the door on her half an hour ago and leave her to her own cunning devices.
“I wish I could help you,” Fabio murmured, “but the other charter companies in the Cinq Terre region are as busy as I am. If I had more time, and you didn’t need a luxury craft, I could probably arrange something for you.”
A luxury craft…
Luc’s thoughts shot ahead. “What about your friend, Giovanni? Does he still have that old sailboat?”
“Of course, but it needs a paint and has no sail at the moment.”
That was even better. “Would he let me use it? I’ll pay him what the Duchess triplets paid you.”
“You mean just to putt around Vernazza’s bay while you do a little fishing? You must be joking! Twelve thousand dollars is more money than he makes in five months at the trattoria in Vernazza.
“He’ll be overjoyed to let you borrow it for as long as you want, but I seriously doubt Signorina Duchess will step foot on it. She paid for a luxury boat to take her as far as the Spanish Riviera, and she expects a crew to wait on her.”
A diabolical smile broke the corners of Luc’s mouth. When she found out she was the designated crew who had to do all the work, that spoiled, mercenary, scheming female would leave Vernazza on the first train out of there.
To Win His Heart Page 3
