It pleased Gino no end that she appeared to be intrigued by the various plants.
Sofia ran over to her. Ally raised a smiling face to his niece and put out an arm to hug her. The spontaneous gesture came naturally to her. She had a warmth that drew Sofia like a bee to the flowers growing on his farm.
“Good morning, signora.”
Their eyes met. Hers shimmered like green jewels.
“This garden is fabulous, Gino.”
“He made it for Bianca,” Sofia exclaimed. “She likes everything fresh.”
“Well isn’t she lucky that the owner of this farm appreciates her so much.”
He chuckled. “I’m the lucky one. You’ll see why when you eat one of her meals.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Come on, Ally. She has breakfast ready for us.”
“I’m coming.”
Gino watched her straighten. Dressed in a skirt and a peach top her curvaceous figure did wonders for, Gino found himself staring at her.
Hopefully his niece was oblivious as she pulled their lovely houseguest along. Gino hardly recognized Sofia in light of her affection for Ally whom she was already treating like an old friend.
A minute later they were all assembled at the table with Bianca fussing over them.
“I tell you what, Sofia,” Gino spoke up. “On our ride we’ll drop by the Rossinis’. You’ve never met my farm manager, Dizo. He and his wife Maria have two daughters. One of them, Leonora, is your exact age. She’s a very nice girl who has been asking to meet you. You’ll like her.”
“Do we have to do that today? I just want to be with you and Ally.”
His niece was transparent. For months she’d been so unhappy, he’d been at a loss how to help her. Now suddenly Ally Parker had come into their lives. When was the last time any of them had experienced any happiness?
Gino had to think back twelve years when both brothers had been in their prime, their parents had still been alive and all was well with their world. Until the advent of Donata…
He peeled an orange and gave a couple of sections to Marcello who automatically ate them. Gino was still incredulous that his brother would never be normal again, would never be able to make his daughter laugh and feel secure again.
In the past Marcello could always make things right for Sofia no matter how her mother neglected her. Everyone loved Marcello, especially Gino.
Sometimes like now, the pain of loss was unbearable. He could only imagine how much his niece suffered. Yet this morning she wasn’t showing any signs of heartache.
“Tell you what, Sofia. I’ll run over to the Rossinis’ to check on business, then come back and we’ll all go swimming at the river. How does that sound?”
Ally was bent over her food and didn’t make eye contact with him.
“I can’t wait! Don’t take too long, Uncle Gino.”
Maybe Leonora would return with him so the girls could meet. He left the kitchen and went outside to start up the truck.
A few minutes later he pulled to a stop in the parking area surrounding the covered stands. The usual crowd of customers kept the staff busy. He looked around to see if Leonora was helping her mother.
Maria was in charge of the workers who ran Gino’s flower market called Fioretto’s. What wasn’t shipped from his farm to different areas of the country by train and a fleet of trucks was sold as overflow to the local businesses who sent their buyers to his farm.
Several of the staff recognized him and waved. He reciprocated as he moved past basket after basket of flowers that would all be sold by three in the afternoon.
“Ah, Gino— Over here!” Maria called to him. She was surrounded by customers. Once she was free they talked business for a few minutes.
“Is there anything I can do for you before you go?” she asked at last.
“I need two bunches of lavender.”
“Coming up.” She wrapped them in paper and handed them to him. “Is Leonora around?”
“No. She’s home tending the baby who has a cold.”
“I was hoping she could come over and meet my niece.”
Maria’s eyes rounded. “She would love it! Maybe tomorrow. I could ask Dizo to drive her.”
“That would be fine, Maria. I’ll arrange to have her driven back later in the day. Ciao.”
“Ciao, Gino.”
He hurried out to his truck anxious to get back to the farmhouse. To Ally. Since finding her in the herb garden this morning, he was still so mesmerized by her femininity and shapely figure, he almost climbed into the cab of another truck before he realized what he was doing.
In point of fact, Ally Parker shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be anywhere in Italy where the paparazzi could find her. Carlo would have a coronary if he knew. But Gino couldn’t think about that right now.
She was here under his roof. That’s where he wanted her to stay.
He’d admired the fight she’d put up at the jail. She never once acted like a victim. Signora Parker had fire and guts, the kind you didn’t often see in a man or a woman.
Jim Parker hadn’t deserved a wife like her any more than Marcello had deserved Donata…
Gino gritted his teeth to think of the pain Donata had caused, but by the time he returned to the farm and saw Ally out in front with Sofia, his dark thoughts evaporated.
No sooner did he stop his truck than they walked up to him. He jumped down and handed them their gifts.
“What’s this?” Ally stared at him.
“Open it and find out.”
Sofia actually giggled in delight. Gino put a hand on her arm. “Why don’t you take yours inside and open it with your father?”
“I will! Thank you, Uncle Gino.” She kissed his cheek, then ran across the courtyard to the house.
The woman at his side was busy opening hers. “Oh, Gino—Fresh lavender. It’s wonderful!”
“So are you.”
She quickly lowered her eyes as a subtle blush filled her cheeks.
“Your presence has made Sofia happy. She needs people around who care about her. An outing with you is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
“No child should have to live through a nightmare like this.”
“I agree, Signora Parker. That’s why I’m indebted to you for staying with us.”
“Please don’t keep calling me Signora Parker. It makes me feel old. My name is Ally.”
“I’ve thought of you as Ally for quite a while, but was waiting for your permission to use it.”
She finally looked up at him. “Well you have it. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just run these flowers in the house, then come right back.”
She took a few steps then paused. “I’m afraid I didn’t bring a swimsuit with me.”
“No problem. I’ll run you and Sofia into Remo to shop. After Sofia’s growth spurt this last year, she needs a new one.”
“All right. Then I’ll see you in a minute.”
“Bene.” The Italian word slipped out of his mouth as he watched her walk away carrying the lavender in the crook of her arm. Like a bride approaching the altar with her sheaf…
Once again he was struck by how incredibly attractive she was. If he were her husband…
CHAPTER FOUR
WITH her heart pounding, Ally found Bianca and asked her to get a vase for the flowers she could take to her room.
The unexpected gift had whipped up her sense of excitement which was way out of proportion to the situation. The reason being that Gino was an incredible man.
Her friend Carol would call him drop dead gorgeous.
He was. But he was a lot more than that.
He had character and nobility along with those striking looks. Somehow Ally needed to forget what the combination was doing to her, how he made her feel when they were together.
Something was wrong with her to have these feelings over a man she barely knew when she’d only come here to talk to Donata’s husband. It didn’t make sense. She
needed to get her head on straight.
But the second she walked back outside with Sofia and felt Gino’s eyes assessing her with an intimacy that made her legs go weak, she realized she was in serious trouble.
His niece ran up to him. “Papa loves the lavender. He just keeps smelling it. Bianca loves it, too. She says it’s been too long since there were fresh flowers in the house.”
Ally shot Gino a teasing glance. “And you, a flower farmer. Shame on you.”
He broke into a full-bodied smile, turning him into the most attractive man she’d ever seen in her life. The European tabloids must have made a fortune just following him around snapping pictures.
Her heart kept rolling over on itself.
“Mea culpa. It takes a woman to civilize a man’s abode.”
“What’s an abode, Uncle Gino?”
“A house. Come on. Up you go.” He’d opened the truck door to help her inside.
Ally had purposely waited so she wouldn’t have to sit next to him. But by making that decision, she’d left herself open to more scrutiny while he assisted her.
Careful to keep her skirt from riding up her thigh, she climbed in, aware of his appraising glance as she swung her legs to the floor. He seemed to pause before shutting the door.
When he finally walked around and got in behind the wheel, she exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
“Bianca has packed us a picnic lunch and some towels,” he informed them. “Paolo will bring everything when he drives Luigi and Marcello to the river.”
Ally eyed the girl seated next to her.
“Do you like to swim, Sofia?”
“I used to when Papa swam with me at the palazzo.”
Gino’s gaze met Ally’s with the implicit message that his niece gauged all her happiness before Marcello had been afflicted.
Ally had no words. All she could do was put her arm around Sofia and pull her close.
An hour later while Gino and Luigi helped Marcello swim, Ally and Sofia sat huddled in huge beach towels beneath a shade tree to watch.
The river was more like a stream that broadened in parts. Near the tree it was deep enough to come up to Ally’s neck. On such a hot day, the refreshing water couldn’t have been more welcome.
Thankful Gino had been too occupied helping his brother to pay much attention to Ally, she and Sofia had played in the water for a while. When Ally thought it was safe from Gino’s all-seeing glance she’d scrambled out, but not before he’d caught her attempting to cover her bikini clad figure with the towel. Warmth still filled her cheeks, the kind she couldn’t blame on the sun.
Sofia sat next to her, eating a roll and cheese.
“I think your father is enjoying himself, don’t you?”
Sofia nodded. “I wish Uncle Gino could be with us all the time, but I know he can’t. He has to do Papa’s business and run the farm, too.”
“That’s too much for any man,” Ally declared. She munched on a ripe plum and looked all around them. “This is a heavenly place. I could stay here forever.”
“I love it, too! But Mama would never let me come.”
“Why not?”
“She said she didn’t think Uncle Gino liked her very much so she preferred I stay at the palazzo. I told her Uncle Gino liked everyone and was my favorite person next to her and Papa. But she wouldn’t talk about it.”
Ally moaned inwardly. “Maybe your mama was a city girl.”
Sofia looked at her. “Are you a city girl?”
“I like the city, but to be honest, I preferred my grandparents’ farm. Unfortunately when they died, my mother and her older sister sold it so they would have money to live.”
“Why didn’t you all just live there?”
“Because Aunt Edna got married, and my mother was divorced. She had to raise me on her own, and she didn’t like farming.”
“What did she like?”
“Her talent was music. She could play the piano so well she gave lessons. It would have been hard to find enough students in the country, so we lived in Portland.”
“Did she teach you to play?”
“Yes. Do you play an instrument?”
“I started the piano, but I wasn’t very good and quit.”
Ally chuckled. “I didn’t like it, either, but my mother said I had to learn to play something, so I started on the violin.”
“Did you like it?”
“I loved it so much, I play in the Portland symphony orchestra. It’s how I earn my living, but right now the orchestra is on vacation, so I decided to come here for a holiday.”
It wasn’t a complete lie.
Sofia’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been to the symphony a lot with my papa and Gino. Do you have to wear black?”
“On performance night, yes.”
The girl sighed. “I wish I were good at something.”
“I’m sure you’re good at a lot of things. You just haven’t discovered all of them yet. My husband hated piano lessons but he became an expert skier.”
The observation had just slipped out.
Sofia studied her for a moment. “How come he didn’t come with you?”
The question Ally had been waiting for…
“He died a while ago.”
The girl looked wounded. “Do you have children?”
A pain seared Ally. “We weren’t married long enough for that to happen. I always wanted a son or a daughter like you. But I have my mother and aunt, and you have your father and your uncle.”
Sofia sighed. “I’m glad they’re both alive.”
“You’re very lucky to have them.”
“After we tour the farm, do you want to see where my mother is buried?”
“If you’d like me to.”
“We don’t have a headstone yet. Uncle Gino told me I should decide what to have engraved on it since I’m the Duchess Di Montefalco now. But I don’t know what to put.”
A duchess at eleven years of age. So much responsibility for a young girl. What Jim would have given…
On Ally’s honeymoon he’d admitted wanting more from life than a stable job with a steady income. She heard his resentment when he spoke of people who’d been born to a life of privilege and wealth, and he hadn’t.
She’d thought he was like most people who had their dream of winning the lottery or something, so she didn’t place any stock in it. But over time Jim began to change into someone restless and ambitious. Before long he was willing to spend more and more time apart from her in order to get financially ahead, as he put it.
That did alarm her since she’d wanted to start a family.
The marriage that should have lasted a lifetime began to fall apart. Though she’d longed to have a baby, knowing what she knew now, Ally was thankful it hadn’t happened.
She glanced at Gino’s niece, feeling a bond with her that made her want to protect her every bit as fiercely as Gino did.
“Do you happen to know your mother’s full name?”
“Yes. It’s Donata Ricci-Cagliostro Di Montefalco.”
“What a beautiful name. Since you know it you could say ‘In memory of our beloved wife and mother,’ then put her full name, and the dates.”
Sofia pondered the suggestion for a minute. “I think that’s perfect. I’m going to tell Uncle Gino right now.”
She threw off her towel and ran toward the edge of the river where the men were just getting out.
The girl’s voice carried in the light breeze.
Gino drew closer to the picnic blanket. His black eyes sought Ally’s with such impact, she could hardly breathe.
“What do you girls say we go back to the farmhouse to change, then I’ll drive you and Sofia around the farm.”
Bemused by his unexpected aura of contentment and his blatant masculine appeal, Ally averted her eyes. The sight of Gino was too much. He put the sun god Apollo to shame.
“Let me gather up the remains of this delicious picnic first.”
The rest of the a
fternoon turned out to be magical.
Dressed in jeans and T-shirts, Ally and Sofia rode in the back of Gino’s truck. To Sofia’s delight, he drove them through the colorful flower fields where they waved at the workers. She wondered which ones were the security guards Gino had posted to watch over his domain.
At different times he pulled to a stop and the three of them walked on the rich earth enjoying the fragrant air beneath a sunny sky.
A last stop at the cemetery to put some fresh flowers on Donata’s grave, and they drove back to the farmhouse for dinner.
“Can we do this again tomorrow?” Sofia pled with Gino.
“Tomorrow I’ve arranged for Leonora to come over.”
“But I don’t know her. I’d rather be with you and Ally.”
Gino patted her hand. “I have to do some work tomorrow, sweetheart.”
Ally decided the two of them needed to be alone. While they’d been driving around, she realized it was time to separate herself from Gino and Sofia who, like her uncle, had already become too important to her.
Without hesitation Ally got up from the table. “If you will excuse me, I have to go upstairs and pack.”
Two pairs of eyes swerved to hers in an instant. Sofia’s were already full of tears. Gino’s expression bordered on anger.
“I wasn’t aware you were leaving to go anywhere,” he muttered with barely concealed impatience.
“I put off my flight a day in order to spend it with you. Now that I’ve toured your farm, I—I have to return to Rome first thing in the morning,” she stammered. “My flight to Portland leaves in the afternoon.”
She hurried out of the kitchen and headed for the guest room upstairs. Ally couldn’t stay here any longer. Today there’d been moments when it had felt like the three of them were a family. Sofia had already endeared herself to Ally. As for Gino…
With every second she spent in his thrilling company, she was losing her objectivity. To stay in Italy any longer would be playing with fire. She’d come to Italy to talk to Marcello, but his illness made that impossible. She had no excuse to stay any longer. She would only be intruding on Gino’s personal life.
The Princess Bride Page 6
