AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I don’t think so,’ Francesco said, turning his body to block the youth who had moved to pursue her.
‘But she liked me.’
Francesco smiled. ‘Did you not know? It is a lady’s privilege to change her mind, and a gentleman always remembers that.’
Folding his long, lean length into the driver’s seat, Francesco dismissed the incident from his mind almost immediately, or most of it anyway. But the hair kept triggering memories he fought to keep in check for the rest of the journey.
Valentina tracked her guest down to the small sitting room. The south-facing room was her own favourite in the big rambling house that had become her home when she had left her native Tuscany to marry her English husband five years earlier.
She glanced at her watch before hitching her infant son a little more securely onto her hip. Her expression was reluctant as she reached for the door handle.
Half an hour earlier her husband had revealed the details of his master plan. She had seen the flaws immediately.
‘What if she doesn’t want to be in the library at eleventhirty?’ she asked. ‘What if Francesco is late? What am I meant to do then?’
‘You’ll think of something, and if Francesco says he is going to be here at a certain time he will be.’
Valentina could not deny his last point. People who meant exactly what they said were rare, but her cousin was one of them.
‘You know, Sam, I think you’re enjoying this cloak-anddagger stuff far too much!’
She, on the other hand, was having serious misgivings. When she expressed her doubts about being part of what amounted to a conspiracy, Sam dismissed her concerns.
‘Conspiracy? This isn’t a conspiracy, Val.’
‘Well, what would you call it? We invited Erin to a party that doesn’t exist, when we’re actually going
to lock her in a room with her estranged ex!’
‘There will be no locking involved. I’ve just made sure that they can have the house to themselves for a few hours.’
‘Erin will probably never speak to me again,’ Valentina predicted gloomily.
‘We’re just helping two people get back together,’ Sam soothed. ‘Look at it this way—does Erin look happy?’
‘Couldn’t he just pick up a telephone like anyone else?’
‘Once the lawyers get involved things get complicated.’
‘Maybe, but why does he want to see her?’
‘Well, obviously he wants to try again. He wants reconciliation. What other reason could there be?’
Valentina did not even attempt to explain about the complexities of Latin male, macho pride to her English husband. As much as she loved Francesco, she was not blind to his faults; her cousin was capable of being utterly ruthless.
Of course, it might be as simple as Sam suggested; he might just want to salvage his marriage. The problem was, where Francesco was concerned things were rarely simple!
‘Look, I really don’t see what the problem is. Francesco has asked for our help. When did he ever do that?’ ‘Never,’ she admitted.
Her charismatic cousin was just about the most self-sufficient individual she had ever encountered. He was the type of person that people instinctively turned to in times of crisis. A cloud passed over her face as her thoughts turned to the tragedy that had recently devastated the Romanelli family.
Rafe, Francesco’s twin brother, had taken his own life.
She was ashamed to admit, but she had been so caught up in her own grief that she had spared very little thought to how Francesco, who had remained a tower of strength throughout, must be feeling.
Then on the day of funeral she had walked into a room and found him alone. At the sound of his name Francesco had lifted his head … the bleak despair she had seen in his eyes during that brief unguarded moment would stay with her for ever.
The family had considered it a good thing when he had thrown himself into his work with even more energy than usual, but she hadn’t been so sure.
