“And you expect me to believe he did all the work?”
Her brows knit together. “Why do you have to know that?”
“So you did respond,” he muttered, “which means he’ll believe you were being a provocative tease.”
She gave him a vexed look. “I couldn’t help but respond a little bit. Your brother’s the stuff a woman’s dreams are made of. But the truth is, I have no interest in being his wife. For one thing, he won’t make a good husband until his racing days are over. I’ve a feeling that day won’t come for years yet.”
“So you’re still spouse hunting in Riviera waters?”
“I would be if you and your cousins hadn’t robbed us of our trip! It’s only fair you make up for it now. Who knows? I might meet an exciting playboy with husband potential while I’m waterskiing or exploring some island.
“The point is, when Cesar finds out I’ve gone on a vacation with you, he’ll give up any idea he had about marriage to me.”
“Why is that?” His voice had taken on a darker tone.
“You don’t know?”
His face closed up. “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”
“Since the first time I met Cesar, I’ve discovered you’re the only man in the world who intimidates him. You’re kind of like Greer incarnate.” Luc’s black brows furrowed. “You know—the oldest one in the family. The one who rules by divine right?”
“No, I didn’t know.” He looked like thunder.
“Well you wouldn’t! You don’t have to. You were just born in charge. The one who knows everything, even if you don’t!” She paused to catch her breath.
“Anyway, Cesar will think you must be the man who stole my heart after I came to the Riviera the first time. He wouldn’t dare come after me knowing I was under your protection, so to speak.”
Like the day she and her sisters dove off the Piccione into the warm blue water of the Mediterranean to get away from Luc and his cousins, Olivia’s impulsive nature had once again caused her to leap before she looked.
But this was serious business. The most serious of her existence.
It was Luc she loved with every fiber of her being. The longer he didn’t say anything, the more she realized that if he didn’t give her the right answer, she would be in permanent mourning.
His eyes looked dark in the fading light. “Nothing’s sacred to a woman like you, is it.” A woman like me? “Haven’t you realized by now you can’t play at life without paying too great a price?”
Those words were meant to debilitate her. They reminded her of Piper’s warning on the phone earlier in the day that Luc could hurt her if she let him.
She struggled for breath. “My parents raised my sisters and me to believe fairy tales do come true. I can’t help it if they were divinely happy and everything worked out for them.
“You have to admit the Husband Fund they set up managed to get Greer and Max together. I’ve never seen a more besotted couple.”
“You’re straying from the point again. It’s a bad tendency of yours.”
“No stronger than your tendency to ridicule everything,” she fired back. “Can you think of a better way to put your brother off so he gets the message without causing damage? He is Greer’s cousin-in-law through marriage. So are you of course.
“I don’t want to be the one responsible for some kind of rift in our families before they’ve even come home from their honeymoon.”
“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