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“Are you hungry?”
“No,” I waved a hand, “I need to let my nerves settle a little before I can eat anything.”
“Alessia?” A man, who looked to be twice my age, smiled as he rubbed his white-laced beard. “I’d love to steal a moment of your time to tell you about my law firm.”
“Law firm?” Another man laughed as he came up to us. “Let’s not put the poor lady to sleep. Why don’t I tell you about my ranch? It’s just outside the city, and I would love to show you my thoroughbred horses and beef cattle.”
“How about this,” I held up a hand to slow their invites as I gave them each a big smile, “I do want to hear it all, so why don’t you start first?” I pointed to the bearded man.
As they took their turns trying to impress me, I made a show of tossing my head back to laugh and made sure that all the eyes that watched me saw just how at ease I was with everyone. Especially those at the main table. If Nonna Rosa was going to toss this many people at me at once, I was going to let her see I could hold my own. I memorized names, where they were from, what they did, if they had children. I even made a point to remember the one who had just lost his dog. I offered comfort, advice, and shared likes and dislikes. I made sure everyone who stopped to talk to me knew something about who I was. It needed to work both ways, and I knew I was a hit. A few times I caught Ugo watching, and once he gave me a secret thumbs up to let me know our plan was working.
“Mi scusi, signorina.” A man approached looking just as friendly as Leonardo, who still hadn’t left my side as he made sure most men never got too close. “Any chance you’d like to dance?”
I turned to Leonardo and placed a hand on his forearm as I leaned up to speak. “Don’t go too far.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He smiled.
I took the hand of the new man and let him lead me to the dance floor. People immediately parted to give us room. I was thankful for Ugo’s lessons in the hotel room a while back because I had never been one for the dance floor. Instantly, I saw Elio’s face and pushed it away.
Focus.
The man tugged me into him, and I nearly fell in my heels. Yikes! I liked a man who knew what he wanted, but he needed to earn my trust first. He snagged my hand with one of his then let his other rest way too comfortably on the bare skin of my lower back.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked as we fell into the swing of the song.
“I am. Are you?”
“I am now, but you’re a hard woman to get to.”
“There certainly are a lot of people here.”
“Yes, and now I have you all to myself, so I plan on taking full advantage of it.” His gaze dropped down to my cleavage, and I fought the urge to shift out of his hold.
“Why don’t we start with your name?”
“Gabriel.”
“And what do you do, Gabriel?”
He chuckled like I was asking him if the sky was blue. “I’m the owner of one of the largest shipping manufacturers in all of Italy.”
“Good for you.” I tried to remember if I’d ever heard of him before, but he’d only mentioned his first name, and I wasn’t sure if I should press any further.
“I’m guessing you’ve never heard of me. It’s a wonder you haven’t. I mean, after all the time you stayed with the Capris. My name must have come up at some point. Colombo Oil.”
Oh… I’d heard of them. I remembered a conversation between Elio and Piero and how Colombo Oil had tried to make some dirty deals over in America a couple years back. They were second only to the Capris when it came to shipping. The Capris’ business was much bigger and more far-reaching.
“No, I’m sorry. But then I’ve lived a very different life from the one I was born into.” I tried not to step on my dress when he sent me out for a spin. “My time spent at the Capri house was merely because they took me in without knowledge of who I was.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you? It’s one thing that you didn’t know, but for them not to seems highly unlikely.”
“That’s what I believe, and what I believe is my business. I am not a person to be swayed by anyone else’s opinion.” I brushed him off, feeling the room become smaller by the minute.
“Brains and beauty are rare to find in one package,” he remarked, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at his audacity.
“It’s only overshadowed by arrogant men who think they can wave money in front of a woman and believe that’s all she’ll see.” I smiled sweetly at him and watched his face twist in anger. “If you wanted to impress me, Gabriel, you should have done more research on who I was and not been blinded by rumors and fairytales.” I stepped back from him when the song ended and gave a little bow for show, knowing we were being observed. I looked around, hoping to spot Ugo, when another man stepped in front of me.
“I’m Tommaso.” The man kissed my hand and gave me a seductive smile. “I own my own business and would like to tell you all about it if you’d grant me a few moments of your time.”
