To Win His Heart

“You should have thought of that before you leaped into Cesar’s Ferrari.”

“You would have leaped too if you’d never been in one before. How many people will ever get the opportunity to drive in such a car with a world-class Formula I race car pro like your brother? It’s an experience not to be missed. But I’m forgetting this is a sensitive issue for you since you can’t drive.”

His eyes glittered dangerously.

“The sooner you phone Fabio Moretti and tell him I’m ready to go on my trip now, the trip you stole from me, the sooner we can leave Monaco where Cesar won’t be able to find me.”

Luc gave a careless shrug of his broad shoulders. “I’m afraid a trip for me is out of the question. I’m due at the hospital in the morning for a procedure on my knee. For the next week I’ll have to stay off it except to do some exercises and water therapy.”

“Perfect!” she blurted excitedly. “The Piccione is pure luxury. You can recuperate on it at your leisure while I enjoy myself. The first mate also acts as steward, so he can wait on you. Call Fabio right now! Tell him I want the same itinerary Greer planned for us before.”

“He’ll be booked solid for August,” Luc declared as if the final word had been spoken. But Olivia wasn’t about to let him wriggle out of this.

“Even if he is, there are accommodations for six guests aboard the catamaran. Probably not all the bedrooms are taken. If you don’t want to phone him and arrange it, I will. He knows you owe me, and he won’t turn me down.” After a slight pause, “Even if Cesar wanted to come after me, he wouldn’t relish being confined with a boatload of tourists in such close quarters.”

She’d thrown out that last salvo for leverage, but nothing seemed to be working. Just when she thought they’d reached gridlock, he surprised her by wheeling around to reach for his cane lying in the middle of the foyer. He must have tripped on it answering the door, which would account for his cursing earlier.

Though he didn’t ask her to follow him, she assumed he wouldn’t have left the door open if he’d expected her to remain on the porch.

Consumed by curiosity to see his home, she trailed after him with her suitcase, noticing his limp was barely noticeable anymore. The minute she stepped over the threshold, she was enchanted.

This was real French country with a mix of period furniture. The authentic kind of fabulous treasures belonging to a man with a royal heritage.

Alcoves, beamed ceilings, inlaid parquet floors, hand-carved furniture, flowers in copper pots, wrought iron fixtures, books, paintings. Sheer elegance that could only be created and enjoyed by someone of Luc’s aristocratic status.

Once again Olivia was reminded that Luc’s father was a duc, and his mother a Varano who was one of the direct descendents of the House of Parma-Bourbon in Italy.

Greer was now married to Max, the son of the Duc of Parma-Bourbon. After their honeymoon, she would be living with her husband in Colorno, a town near Parma, in an Italian villa so fantastic, words failed Olivia.

They failed her now. She looked around in wonder as they passed through to a study off the entrance hall where a stairway of hand-painted Provence tiles rose in a graceful curve to the second floor.

Surely Luc employed staff to keep the villa in such perfect condition, but she could see no sign of them right now.

After being in the hot sun most of the day, his house felt blessedly cool to Olivia. Since he was ignoring her, she entered his inner sanctum without being asked, and sank down in one of two fat Louis XV chairs upholstered in a fabric with the Falcon crest.

Luc moved around his huge oak desk with an ancient porcelain clock placed on top. What a striking contrast to see the master of this small palace of a villa dressed in nothing more than a pair of well-worn cutoffs.

Still standing, he reached for the house phone. Before long she heard him say, “Ciao, Fabio.” The next thing she knew he was speaking fluent Italian.

The multilingual Varano cousins were close as brothers and exceptional men in their own right. More than ever Olivia was determined to get Luc to fall in love with her. She was so crazy about him she would do whatever it took.

Olivia wasn’t under any delusion that Luc wanted to be with her. On the contrary. The fact that he was trying to arrange a trip with Fabio only proved he would do anything to save Cesar from her clutches.

The situation couldn’t be working out better.

Please make it happen, Fabio.

“I wish I could accommodate you, Luc, but the boat is fully chartered for August. There’s one bedroom left for you if you were to join us in Monterosso on Tuesday. Signorina Duchess could use it until Saturday. You could have my berth in the crew’s quarters and I could sleep on deck.”

“You’re a good friend, Fabio, but I would never ask such a favor of you.”

While they were talking, Luc kept his eye on Olivia, wondering what in the devil she was really up to. He’d learned not to trust one word that came out of that treacherously beautiful mouth of hers. However he didn’t believe that even she would lie about Cesar’s intention to give her an engagement ring.

Life hadn’t been the same since the Duchess triplets had exploded into Luc’s world with the force of a colliding meteor. They’d done the unexpected at every turn, driving him and his cousins crazy.

But because Cesar had entered into this latest equation, Luc had been hesitant to shut the door on her half an hour ago and leave her to her own cunning devices.

“I wish I could help you,” Fabio murmured, “but the other charter companies in the Cinq Terre region are as busy as I am. If I had more time, and you didn’t need a luxury craft, I could probably arrange something for you.”

A luxury craft…

Luc’s thoughts shot ahead. “What about your friend, Giovanni? Does he still have that old sailboat?”

“Of course, but it needs a paint and has no sail at the moment.”

That was even better. “Would he let me use it? I’ll pay him what the Duchess triplets paid you.”

“You mean just to putt around Vernazza’s bay while you do a little fishing? You must be joking! Twelve thousand dollars is more money than he makes in five months at the trattoria in Vernazza.

“He’ll be overjoyed to let you borrow it for as long as you want, but I seriously doubt Signorina Duchess will step foot on it. She paid for a luxury boat to take her as far as the Spanish Riviera, and she expects a crew to wait on her.”

A diabolical smile broke the corners of Luc’s mouth. When she found out she was the designated crew who had to do all the work, that spoiled, mercenary, scheming female would leave Vernazza on the first train out of there.

If Cesar wanted her so much, he’d have to go after her. As for Luc, she’d be out of his life forever. By tomorrow afternoon, he’d be liberated. In a week he’d be able to drive a car again, and life would get back to normal as he knew it before the advent of the Duchess sisters.

It didn’t matter that his skiing days were over. The alpine sport he’d enjoyed from childhood was now a thing of the past. But because of modern medical science, he’d be able to walk again without the assistance of a cane. When the week was up, he’d celebrate by burning it.

“Luc? Are you still there?”

“Forgive me, Fabio. I was distracted for a moment. To answer your question, Signorina Duchess won’t have a choice if she wants to get in a Mediterranean trip before she flies back to New York. If you’ll give me Giovanni’s phone number, I’ll call him and see if he’s willing to let me use it starting tomorrow. I know this is short notice.”

“No problem. I’ll take care of everything, Luc. You can consider it a fait accompli. The Gabbiano will be waiting for you at the Vernazza dock.”

“Excellent. Grazie, Fabio. Ciao.” Mademoiselle Olivier was in for the surprise of her life!

The second he hung up, his gaze locked with a pair of flame-blue eyes.

“Well?” she prodded. “What did Signore Moretti have to say?”

“He told me to tell you that for the Duchess of Kingston, he would move heaven and earth to accommodate you.”

“I knew Fabio would pull through! But the next time you talk to him, tell him I like heaven and earth right where they are. All I’m asking is to go on the vacation Daddy paid for.”

Ah yes. The famous Husband Fund. Who could forget? It proved that truth was stranger than fiction.

According to Max, the Duchess sisters had come to Europe the first time around on the money their father had willed to them, money he called the “Husband Fund.” They could only use it to try to snag a husband.

Absurd and ridiculous as the plan had sounded, it had worked. Greer Duchess was now Signora di Varano, with Max her blissful groom.