To Win His Heart

by Rebecca Winters

  “Bye.” With a little wave she stepped off the boat with her suitcase and headed for the town. It was only a five-minute walk to the train station.

  “I’d like a one-way ticket to Positano, please.”

  “Si, signorina.”

  Before she left for Kingston, she wanted to know why Luc hated her so much. She had a gut instinct the younger Falcon brother could provide her with the answer. Not that it would take away her pain. Nothing could do that, but she wouldn’t be able to go on functioning without some kind of explanation.

  Nic climbed into the seaplane with the valise. He stashed it behind the seat before his gaze flicked to Luc. “Olivia’s not coming.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Luc had seen her march off with her suitcase toward the town, her gleaming blond head held high, her curvaceous body the cynosure of every male eye in the port. “Let’s go.”

  While Nic strapped himself in the co-pilot’s seat and told the pilot to take off for Monaco, Luc phoned Signore Galli. The head of security at Genoa airport had dealt with the Duchess sisters before. If Olivia did check in for her overseas flight, the other man would spot her immediately and contact Luc.

  Nic didn’t try to make further conversation until they were alone in the back of the limo headed for Luc’s house. “Why the call to Signore Galli?”

  “If she’s flying home from Genoa, I plan to put her on the plane myself. I want proof she has left the continent.”

  Another experiment like last night and he’d never be able to hold out. The things she’d done to him, the way she’d made him feel… He couldn’t believe he’d come so close to being the amoral bastard he’d accused his brother of being. Olivia was poison disguised.

  “The sooner thousands of miles separate us, the better.”

  “I hate to tell you this, but she said she was going to Colorno for a couple of days first.”

  Luc made an angry sound in his throat. “Neither of her sisters is there which means she lied to you.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Because she’s probably running to Cesar.” In fact he was sure of it. She’d couldn’t last twelve hours without a man. “Her next trip on water will probably be a honeymoon cruise. In that case I wish them Godspeed on their way to hell.”

  A shadow crossed over his cousin’s face. “Luc—”

  “If you’re going to tell me she’s not like Genevieve, don’t waste your breath. Last night put any doubts about that to rest. I’ve decided all women are alike, offering themselves to the highest bidder.” Even Nina, Nic’s deceased fiancée. But that was a secret Luc and Max would take to their graves.

  “I think you’re mistaken about Olivia.”

  “You don’t know what I know,” Luc lashed out, then lowered his head. “Sorry I snapped, but even the most luscious-looking peach can have a rotten pit at its core. Should she end up becoming Madame Cesar de Falcon, how would you like a permanent new neighbor?”

  Nic looked stunned. “You would move to Spain?”

  “I can do my engineering anywhere.”

  “I think you’re getting way ahead of yourself.”

  “It’s called self preservation, but let’s change the subject. I haven’t thanked you yet for rescuing us.”

  “I was happy to do it, but I must admit your phone call took me by surprise.”

  “That storm sneaked up on us.”

  “It made the search more difficult. The mist hung in patches out there this morning. I was beginning to get nervous when we couldn’t see any sign of the boat. You’ll never know my relief when we suddenly found a hole in the clouds and spotted Olivia waving to us.”

  “I appreciate your coming. I can always count on you.”

  “You’ve come to my aid more times, but seriously Luc. Though Olivia got you into that mess, you have to give her credit for trying to get you out.”

  “Who’s side are you on?”

  “Yours. Always.”

  While they’d been talking, the limo had reached the house and driven into the courtyard. Luc felt for the door handle. “Let’s get inside and eat. I want to hear about your next move to catch our jewel thief.”

  “I wish I knew where to start. I need your input.”

  Luc’s hand tightened on his cane. “In a few more days I can throw this away. Then I’ll be free to drive us wherever the trail leads, unhampered.”

  All bad things were finally coming to an end.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  BY THE time the taxi had deposited Olivia at the foot of some steps leading up the steep cliff to the Varano villa, night had fallen over Positano. She asked the driver to wait while she found out if anyone was home.

  Though cloud cover hid the sky, it seemed as if all the stars had dipped below it to light up the picturesque town with its cubed-shaped houses built into the sides of two mountain slopes.

  Wherever she looked, she had an unexcelled panorama of the Mediterranean bordering the Amalfi Coast.

  On the way from the train station the driver charmed her with his account of Hercules, the pagan god of strength who loved a nymph called Amalfi. But she died early, and he buried her in the most beautiful place of the world. To immortalize her, he gave it her name.

  How would it feel to be immortalized like that by Luc? The man she loved with every breath in her body…

  Her heart heavy, Olivia rang the bell at the side of the door. She didn’t have to wait long before a sixtyish-looking housekeeper answered.

  “Signorina?”

  “Hello. Forgive me for dropping by so late, but I just arrived on the train. My name’s Olivia Duchess. I’ve come to see Cesar. Is he here?”

  “Olivia?” a male voice called out from the interior. Suddenly the man in shorts and a T-shirt she’d traveled all this way to visit materialized behind the other woman.

  Cesar’s curious eyes played over her. “This is an unexpected pleasure. Come in.” He bore more than a superficial resemblance to his brother. It caused Olivia’s heart to bleed all over again.

  “The taxi that brought me here is still waiting below.”

  “Bien. I’ll take care of everything while Bianca shows you where to freshen up. Afterward you can join me on the terrace. I was eating supper. After your trip here, I’m sure you must be hungry, too.” He disappeared down the steps with the agility of an athlete.

  “Signorina?”

  Olivia followed the housekeeper through the fabulous Mediterranean-styled villa to a guest bathroom. Coming directly from the train it felt good to wash her face and comb her hair.

  Feeling a little more presentable, she found Bianca, who walked her out to a veranda filled with flowering plants of every color. Lavender bougainvillea over-flowed the balcony. Between the fragrance and the soft night air, the scene was one of enchantment. With the right man…

  When Cesar returned she looked up at him from the round glass table where she’d taken a seat. “After putting your life on the line at the track, I can see why you choose to come here to unwind. This is paradise.”

  He took his place across from her. “You say that with such a tragic look in your eyes, I feel the weight of the world in them. May I offer you something to eat first?” She shook her head. “A little wine perhaps?”

  “Nothing, thank you. Cesar, please forgive me for bursting in on you like this unannounced. I had no way of knowing whether you were alone, or—”

  “I am alone, as you can well see.”

  She bit her lip. “The thing is, you have every right to assume why I’ve come, but it’s—”

  “It’s not because you’ve been dying of love for me and couldn’t stay away from me any longer?” he broke in with asperity. “You think I don’t know that, ma belle?”

  Olivia averted her eyes, suddenly feeling like an idiot.

  “Contrary to most people’s opinion, I’m not quite the shallow fool everyone believes I am, so in love with myself and my love of speed that I imagine the whole world revol
ves around me and no one else.”

  “I never said that,” she murmured.

  “You didn’t have to. You were a fan of mine long before you met me. Believing all the hype about me goes with the territory. If I hadn’t learned to live with it, I would have gotten out of racing a long time ago.”

  So there was a dark side to Cesar, too. Maybe it was inherent in the Falcon genes.

  He finished the last of the cheese before eyeing her frankly. “There’s only one person’s opinion who truly matters to me besides my parents’. We used to be as close as brothers,” he said with bitter irony. “These days he hates my guts.”

  She kneaded her hands nervously. “You’re talking about Luc.”

  His eyes grew bleak. “Who else? I gather that’s why you’re here. To talk about him.”

  “Yes.”

  “Because you’re in love with him.”

  “Yes.”

  “And he’s being difficult.”

  Olivia almost choked on the word.

  “I can see that he is,” Cesar drawled. “Where do you want to start?”

  “At the beginning.”

  He threw his arm over the back of his chair. “In the beginning, there was Luc. My hero. I wanted to be like him, do everything he did. But he was brilliant in math, fantastic at any sport, and could have any woman he wanted without even thinking about it.

  “I on the other hand was a late bloomer who struggled in school, was only passable at most sports, and believe it or not, was scared of women.”

  “That’s how it was with me and Greer,” Olivia blurted. “She was the oldest. The smart one with all the ideas. She could do anything! She had so much confidence. Men adored her. I…worshiped her.”

  Cesar eyed her with compassion. “We’re both victims of the youngest-child syndrome.”

  She nodded.

  “One day Luc and our cousins took me to a Formula I race with them. Though Luc had no interest in being a competitor, it was a sport my brother loved to watch.

  “When the winner of the Grand Prix walked up to the podium to collect his prize, I saw admiration in Luc’s eyes. That was an electrifying moment for me. I decided I would learn to race cars so that Luc would admire me like that one day.

  “Over the years the sport has been good to me, and with all the endorsements, I’ve been able to invest in several businesses.”

  Cesar had been leading up to something important. “But Luc didn’t admire you?”

  “On the contrary. He backed me, went to most of my races. Supported me when mother wanted me to quit racing before I got killed.”

  “Then what happened to change everything?”

  His expression became a study in pain, reminding her so much of Luc she groaned.

  “Her name was Genevieve Leblanc.”

  Olivia’s heart pounded out a nonstop tattoo.

  “She came to the Cote D’Azur from Toulon, looking for work. He hired her to be a secretary for the company he’d started up. One thing led to another and they got engaged.”

  Of course Luc had had girlfriends. But the knowledge that he’d had a fiancée hit Olivia as if she’d been dealt a physical blow.

  “How long ago was this?”

  “Almost two years to the day.”

  She shifted in the chair. Taking her courage in her hands she asked, “Why aren’t they married, Cesar?”

  He unexpectedly pushed himself away from the table and stood up. “A month before their wedding, Luc had to fly to the States for a special robotics engineering conference. I was in Monza racing and came in third. To my surprise, Genevieve showed up to lend her support while Luc was away.

  “It surprised me even more when she insisted on coming back here to Positano, allegedly to cheer me up and enjoy a little vacation from the frantic wedding preparations.

  “I told her to make herself comfortable. Then I excused myself. You see, after a race there’s a routine I always follow to restore me.

  “Strapped in the car like an astronaut, you start to feel claustrophobic. To help me unwind, I get on my dirt bike and push myself physically through the mountain roads here until I’ve worn myself out. After a swim in the ocean, I fall into bed and sleep for ten to twelve hours without dreams.

  “However this time when I got under the covers, I discovered I wasn’t alone.”

  At this point Olivia slid off the chair and walked over to the railing, needing to cling to something.

  “No one will ever know the horror I felt. Disgust drove me to the bathroom where I was literally sick. When I returned to the bedroom, she was still there with a smile on her face. She said she thought I understood she was attracted to me, and was positive I reciprocated her feelings.

  “She said a lot of things, the upshot being that Luc never had to know. It would be our secret. Then she urged me to come to bed.”

  A moan came out of Olivia.

  “I told her I loved my brother more than my own life. If she didn’t tell him what she’d done, then I would. In the next breath I threw her out and told her I never wanted to see her again.

  “A few days later, Luc returned from the conference. I was summoned to the family villa where he’d gathered our parents together. He informed us there wasn’t going to be a wedding after all. Heartsick as I was for him, I was thankful the truth had come out.

  “Later that evening I took Luc aside to talk to him about everything. To my shock he said there wasn’t anything to talk about. It was over.”

  Olivia swung toward him. “He never let you explain what happened?” she cried.

  “No. A wall had gone up between us. Our relationship has never been the same since.”

  “But she could have told him any lie she wanted, and probably did!”

  Cesar’s eyes were alive with pain. “True. Still, Luc had grown up with me and knew me. He had to know I loved him too much to ever betray him like that. I would have done anything for him.”

  “Then she must have painted a picture that made it impossible for him to figure out the truth without help.”

  “You’re right, but he never gave me the chance. In the two years since his breakup with Genevieve, the only thing he has ever asked of me was to show up on the Piccione to meet you after the Grand Prix. I was overjoyed because I thought it meant he’d finally worked it out and realized she’d been the one to blame.”

  “So you took me behind the scenes of the racing world in order to get back in your brother’s good graces?”

  “Yes. But it was no penance, believe me.”

  She swallowed hard. “Thank you for your honesty.”

  He gave her a sheepish glance. “You may not thank me when I tell you everything I did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From the moment he called me and asked me to meet the two of you on the boat, I knew instinctively you’d become someone important to him.”

  She shook her head. “He felt an obligation to me after the horrible way he and your cousins treated us when they thought we were the jewel thieves.”

  “No, Olivia. Something happened aboard the Piccione that changed him. In one sense I was thrilled to think he could have feelings for another woman again. But in another, I was nervous because you showed such an eagerness to get to know me. Especially when you knew all my racing statistics. After the history with Genevieve, I had to proceed carefully.”

  “I didn’t know!” she cried again in anguish. “When I couldn’t get him to respond to me, I played up to you in order to make him jealous. It was the worst thing I could have done, but then I’m known for getting myself into the worst messes possible.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “I finally figured that out at the wedding. When I heard you two fighting, I decided to help nature along by inviting you to come to Monza with me.”

  “You invited me on purpose? I mean, not because you were interested in me?”

  “I could have been very interested if I’d met you before he did. But to answer your quest
ion, I decided to test you in the only way I knew how.”

  Her eyes grew huge. “So that business about buying me a ring—”

  “Was the carrot I dangled to see if you would go for the bait. A test if you like to prove your worthiness to marry my brother.”

  “Cesar—” Her mind was reeling.

  “Not only did you laugh at me, you refused to let me really kiss you. I knew then you loved him heart and soul.”

  “I do!” She clapped her hands to her cheeks. “So that’s what you meant on the phone when you said you hoped he would realize it.”

  He nodded. “You’ll never know how happy I was to find out you’d gone straight to his house after you left Monza. I took it as a foregone conclusion that by now the two of you would be announcing your own wedding plans.” He cocked his head. “How come you’re here instead of at the villa with him?”

  “Oh, Cesar—I’m in the worst trouble imaginable. He hates me. He really hates me. After everything you’ve told me, now I know why. I think maybe too much damage has been done.”

  “Tell me what happened after our phone call.”

  Without stopping for breath she blurted everything. It was a relief to be able to unburden herself to someone who loved Luc as much as she did.

  “When he said the thought of making love to one of his brother’s pit babes sickened him, I knew his pain had to be tied up to you in some way. I was such a fool to throw myself at him like that. But nothing else seemed to be working. I thought if I could just break him down a little, then I’d propose to him.

  “My greatest worry now is, even if I could get him to listen to reason, he would probably accuse me of wanting to get married on the rebound just because Greer has a husband and I’m at a loose end.”

  Cesar grinned. “Knowing my brother’s engineering brain, that thought has probably crossed his mind already. It’s even possible he believes you’ve picked him because he’s Max’s cousin and you’ll do anything to keep up with your older sister.”

  Olivia looked stricken. “I hadn’t thought of that! He’s a very complicated man.”

  He stared at her through veiled eyes. “The best ones are. I love him. The accident he survived was a blow he didn’t need after the emotional devastation of Genevieve’s betrayal. He deserves all the happiness life has to give him.”