To Win His Heart. Rebecca Winters

away from the Varano estate in the Ferrari with Cesar after the wedding was a case in point.

      Now she was pretending to run away from his brother, but it was a ploy to sink her hooks deeper until he was caught. Unfortunately she’d come to the wrong man for help. No way was Luc going to allow a treacherous opportunist like Olivia Duchess to succeed at her game, even if she and Cesar deserved each other…

      Suddenly she wheeled around. “I don’t suppose there’ll be a real French chef on board this time.”

      Luc pretended to look in his desk drawer for something. “Fabio employs various locals. I didn’t think to ask him which one. You should have taken advantage of my cooking when you had the chance.”

      “Give me a break. I found out it was your parents’ chef who prepared the food before it was brought aboard the Piccione.”

      He darted her a quick glance. “I concede to that happening on one occasion because I was otherwise occupied.”

      “You mean you and your cousins were too busy playing undercover cop. How come you haven’t found your thief yet?”

      “Give us a little more time and we will.”

      Earlier in the day Nic had called Luc, asking him to fly to England. The police had stumbled across a new lead in the case of the family’s missing jewelry collection from the Colorno palace in Italy. One of the pieces had turned up at an auction in London. Nic wanted to discuss the new development with him.

      Luc had been forced to turn him down because of his hospital visit in the morning, but after his week of recuperation was up, he promised to join Nic in Marbella, Spain, where he lived and they’d discuss new ideas to track down the culprits.

      The disappointment in his cousin’s voice was understandable. Luc suspected his cousin was looking for an excuse to get together because, like Luc, he was feeling deserted now that the wedding was over. Their cousin Max, who’d been a best friend and brother to them, was now a married man.

      “Luc? In case you hadn’t noticed, your phone’s ringing. From the sound of it, they’re not going to hang up. I would imagine it’s Cesar looking for me.

      “The maid at your parents’ house had to give me your address and probably told him I was here. Maybe I should answer it. That way he’ll believe you’re the man I was referring to in my note. What do you think?”

      Luc didn’t have to think. She obviously had Cesar eating out of her hand. “Be my guest.”