“You’re what?” Her sister sounded suspiciously like Greer just then, which didn’t help matters.
“I’m going back to Monaco to force Luc to make my trip good. It’s payback time.”
“Say that again?”
“You heard me,” Olivia answered defiantly. “We were cheated out of our first trip to Europe because Max and his cousins thought we were jewel thieves and they ruined everything!
“By the time the whole business got straightened out, our vacation had to be aborted because Max wanted to be alone with Greer on the Piccione. Luc owes me ten days on that boat!”
“It’s Fabio Moretti’s boat! August is still high season. Some other tourists have probably chartered it. Don’t forget it’s the Moretti’s livelihood.”
“I’m sure Luc will be able to work something out with Fabio. We paid three thousand dollars each for a trip along the Riviera that never happened!”
“Technically you’re right, Olivia. But in return we acquired Max, the dream brother-in-law who has treated us like the Duchess of Parma herself while we stayed at his family’s royal palace. That beats any vacation I can think of.
“Besides, what are you complaining about? Your dream came true when Cesar whisked you off to Monza for the last three days. I thought you were crazy about him. At least that’s what you told Fred.”
Conscience made Olivia bite her lip. “I had to tell Fred something that would help him retain his pride. If I’d been truthful and said I couldn’t picture him as my husband, it would have hurt him a lot more.”
“Okay… I can buy that, but what about Cesar?”
“He’s a friend. Even if he weren’t, he’s spoken for.”
“By whom?”
“By the entire female population of Europe!”
“Yeah, well Greer already told you that.”
Olivia ground her teeth. “Greer doesn’t know everything.”
“Yes, she does.”
“She didn’t know we talked Daddy into setting up that phony Husband Fund that brought us to Europe in the first place.”
After a moment of quiet, “That’s true. It’s probably the only secret we ever kept from her.”
“Yup. And it worked!” A satisfied smile broke out on Olivia’s face. “We finally got her married off. Now we can do what we want, and I want to go on the vacation that never happened. Don’t you?”
“Maybe one day. At the moment we’ve got a calendar business to run.”
“Has Signore Tozzeti decided if he wants to take us on as a client?”
“Not yet. He says there are a few other people in his company he needs to talk to, but they’re on vacation, so he won’t be able to get back to us for a while.”
“Great.”
“That’s why we’ve got to go home and see about enlarging the market there. Otherwise we’re not going to be able to pay the rent. We need to do it now!”
“You sound just like Greer!”
Greer was the oldest triplet by a matter of minutes. Yet Olivia, who’d been born last with Piper in the middle, had always been dominated by Greer, their natural born leader.
Over the years she had made the decisions about everything, whether Olivia or Piper liked them or not. For the first time ever, Olivia could do what she wanted without having to hear Greer’s opinion.
“With Greer gone, someone needs to talk sense into you. What’s the real reason you want to stay? You and Luc looked like mortal enemies after the wedding ceremony, so I don’t understand why you would dare confront him again—oh, no—tell me it isn’t true.”
“What?”
“Tell me you haven’t fallen for Luc de Falcon—”
Her cheeks turned to flame.
“Olivia? You can’t!”
“What do you mean, I can’t?”
“Because you just can’t, that’s all.”
“Why?”
“Think of Greer.”
“That’s all I’ve ever done. We’ve had to do everything her way because she always took charge. Now she’s married, I want to think about moi for a change.”
“Then you need to think again because Luc is Max’s first cousin.”
“So?”
“So, Greer married Max, and Luc has become her family, too. You can’t horn in!”
“Excuse me?”
“Look, Olivia. She’s found her heart’s desire in Max. This is her world, her turf. We need to leave well enough alone.”
“It’s a free country,” she retorted.
“No, it’s not, and you know exactly what I mean.” Olivia did know, but she didn’t like Piper reminding her. “Greer needs time to make a new life with Max. He married a triplet, and don’t think he isn’t worried about it!
“At the wedding feast he didn’t make that crack about the three of us being joined at the hip, heart and brain for nothing. We have to help Greer cut the apron strings, which means we need to back off and give our sister her space.”
“Luc lives in Monaco, not Colorno, Italy.”
“That’s not the point. The cousins are super close. Besides, it just wouldn’t work for you to get involved with Luc, even if he were interested, which he…isn’t.”
The slight hesitation before the last word set off alarm bells inside Olivia. “How do you know?”
“Because…I just do.”
“What do you know that I don’t?” she fired.
“More than you want to hear.”
She blinked. “How come?”
“Because it might hurt you.”
Hurt? “You mean you’re not going to tell me?”
“No. I promised someone I wouldn’t,” Piper’s voice trailed.
“I see.” She slid off the side of the bed and stood up. “Well in that case I plan to proceed as if you hadn’t warned me. With a little hard work I’ll make him change his mind.”
“You’ll be playing with fire.”
“Then that’s my problem isn’t it.”
“Don’t snap at me, Olivia. I know you’re feeling as lost without Greer as I am. You simply don’t want to admit it.”
She tossed her head back. “I admit it feels strange to be two-thirds of a whole. In time I trust we’ll both get over it.”
“Until we do, please come home with me.”
“Not yet, Piper.”
“Listen to me. You don’t mess with a man like Luc. In more ways than one he’s a different breed from anyone you’ve ever known. Besides, and this is probably the most important point, he has the distinction of being the only male who never fell under your spell. You can’t win them all, Olivia. Trust me on this.”
“Are you through, Greer?”
“That wasn’t very nice,” Piper came back in a quiet voice.
Olivia clutched the