Sicilian Millionaire, Bought Bride

But just as with the first reading, there was nothing. No hint of what she might expect. And if the racket taking place in the kitchen was anything to go by, Matthew was gearing up to give poor Mrs. Lehman another night of grief.

“This had better be good, Mr. Orsini,” Corinne muttered, tossing the letter aside, and taking a last glance in the mirror before going downstairs to appease a little boy who had no memory of his father, and whose mother seemed to be making a lousy job of doing double duty as a parent.

The view, Raffaello decided, was impressive. To the north, snowcapped mountains glimmered in carved splendor against the clear night sky. The lights of a bridge spanning the entrance to the harbor looped like so many diamonds above the Narrows. And closer at hand, almost directly below his suite, a yacht some twenty-five meters long or more rocked gently at its moorage.

Not Sicily, by any stretch of the imagination, but arresting nonetheless, as much because it had been Lindsay’s home, a setting both wild and sophisticated, beautiful and intriguing, just like her.

Two years ago, one year even, and he could not have come here. The pain had been too raw, his grief too filled with anger. But time had a way of healing even the most savage wounds; of gilding the memories that were his wife’s legacy, and turning them into a source of comfort. “I do this for you, amore mio,” he murmured, raising his eyes to the heavens.

Somewhere in the city below, a church bell rang out, eight solemn chimes. The woman, Corinne Mallory, was late. Impatient to get down to the business of the evening and be done with it, he paced to the telephone and buzzed the front desk to remind whoever was in charge that she should be directed to his suite when—if—she showed up. What he had to propose was not something to be aired in public.

Another ten minutes dragged past before she arrived, her knock so sudden and peremptory that his hackles rose. Curbing his irritation, he shot his cuffs and tugged his lapels into place.

Remember she was Lindsay’s best friend. That does not mean she has to be yours, but it will be better for everyone if you can at least establish a sympathetic cordiality, he cautioned himself, striding to the door.

He had seen photographs, of course, and thought he knew what to expect of the woman waiting on the other side. But she was more delicate than he’d anticipated. Like fine lace that had been handled too carelessly, so that her skin was almost transparent and stretched too tightly over her fine bones, leaving her face much too small for her very blue eyes.

Standing back, he waved her across the threshold. “Signora Mallory, thank you for agreeing to see me. Please come in.”

She hesitated a moment before complying. “I’m not aware you gave me much choice, Mr. Orsini,” she said, her accent so vivid a reminder of Lindsay’s that he was momentarily disconcerted. “Nor did I expect our meeting would take place in your room, and I can’t say I’m particularly comfortable with that.”

What did she think? That he’d traveled halfway around the world to seduce her? “My intentions are entirely honorable,” he replied, tempted to tell her that if a romp in bed was all he wanted, he could have found it much closer to home.

She let him take her coat and shrugged, an elegantly dismissive little gesture that made the pearls nested at her throat slither gently against her skin. “They’d better be,” she said.

Suppressing a smile, he motioned to the array of bottles set out on the bar. “Will you join me in a drink before dinner?”

Again, she paused before inclining her head in assent. “A very weak wine spritzer, please.”

“So,” he said, adding a generous dollop of San Pellegrino to an inch of Pinot Grigio, and pouring a shot of whiskey for himself, “tell me about yourself, signora. I know only that you and my late wife were great friends, and that you are widowed, with a young son.”

“Which is rather more than I know about you, Mr. Orsini,” she replied, with a candor he found rather disarming. “And since I have absolutely no idea what this meeting is all about, I’d just as soon get down to business as waste time regaling you with a life history I’m sure you have no real interest in hearing about.”

Joining her on the other side of the room, he handed her the spritzer and raised his own glass in a wordless toast. “That’s where you’re mistaken. Please understand that I have a most compelling and, indeed, legitimate reason for wanting to learn more about you.”

“Fine. Then until you share that reason with me, please understand that I am not about to gratify your curiosity. I don’t pretend to know how things are done in Sicily, but in this country, no woman with a grain of sense agrees to meet a strange man alone in his hotel room. Had I known that was your plan, I would most definitely not have come.” She set her drink down on the coffee table and glanced very pointedly at her silver wristwatch. “You have exactly five minutes to explain yourself, Mr. Orsini, and then I’m out of here.”

He took a sip of his whiskey and eyed her appraisingly. “I can see why you and my wife were such close friends. She, too, drove straight to the heart of a matter. It was one of the many qualities I admired in her.”

“Four and a half minutes, Mr. Orsini, and I’m fast losing my patience.”

“Very well.” He picked up the leather folder he’d left on the coffee table and withdrew the letter. “This is for you. I think you’ll find its contents self-explanatory.”

She glanced briefly at the handwriting and paled. “It’s from Lindsay.”

“Si.”

“How do you know what it’s about?”

“I read it.”

A flush chased away her pallor. “Who gave you the right?”

“I did.”

“Remind me never to leave private correspondence lying about when you’re around,” she said, her blue eyes flaring with indignation.

“Read your letter, signora, and then I will let you read mine. Perhaps when you’ve done that, you’ll regard me with less hostility, and have a better understanding of why I came all this way to meet you.”

She flung him one last doubtful glance, then bent her attention to the contents of the letter. At first, her hand was steady, but as she continued to read, the paper fluttered as if caught in the faintest of breezes, and by the time she reached the end, she was visibly shaking.

“Well, signora?”

She raised shocked eyes to his. “This is…ridiculous. She can’t have been in her right mind.”

“My wife was lucid to the last. Disease might have ravaged her body, but not her mind.” He pushed his own letter across the table. “Here is what she asked of me. You’ll notice both letters were written on the same day. Mine is a copy of the original. If you wish, you may keep it, to read again at your leisure.”

Reluctantly Corinne Mallory took the second letter, scanned it quickly, then handed it back to him and shook her head in further disbelief. “I’m having a hard time accepting that Lindsay knew what she was asking.”

“Yet viewed dispassionately, it makes a certain sense.”

“Not to me it doesn’t,” she retorted flatly. “And I can’t believe it does to you, either, or you’d have brought it to my attention sooner. These letters were written over three years ago. Why did you wait until now to tell me about them?”

“I accidentally discovered them myself only a few weeks ago. Lindsay had tucked them inside a photograph album, and I admit, on first reading, my reaction was much the same as yours.”

“I hope you’re not implying you’re now in agreement with her wishes?”

“At the very least, they merit serious consideration.”

Corinne Mallory rolled her big blue eyes and reached for her wineglass. “I might need something a bit stronger than this, after all.”

“I understand the idea takes some getting used to, Signora Mallory, but I hope you won’t dismiss it out of hand. From a purely practical standpoint, such an arrangement has much to recommend it.”

“I’ve no wish to offend you, Mr. Orsini, but if you seriously believe that, I can’t help thinking you must be a few bricks short of a full load.”

“An interesting turn of phrase,” he remarked, unable to suppress a smile, “but far from accurate, and I hope to persuade you of that over dinner.”

“After reading these letters, I’m no longer sure dinner’s such a good idea.”

“Why not? Are you afraid I might sway you into changing your mind?”

“No,” she said, with utter conviction.

“Then where’s the harm in our discussing the matter over a good meal? If, at the end of it all, you’re still of a mind to walk away, I certainly won’t try to stop you. After all, the doubts cut two ways. At this point, I’m no more persuaded of the viability of my wife’s request, than are you. But in honor of her memory, the very least I can do is put it to the test. She would expect no less of me—nor, I venture to point out, of you.”

Corinne Mallory wrestled with herself for a moment or two, then heaved a sigh. “All right, I’ll stay—for Lindsay’s sake, because this meant so much to her. But please don’t harbor any hope that I’ll go along with her wishes.”

He raised his glass again. “For Lindsay’s sake,” he agreed then, as a knock came at the door, gestured to the dining area situated in the corner. “That’ll be our dinner. I ordered it served up here. Now that you realize the delicate nature of our business, I’m sure you agree it’s not something to be conducted where others might overhear.”