Seduced by Innocence Read Free

return from a trip to America. He occupied his time by hanging around the Calvani Art Gallery, which the family owned, and even obtained a part-time job.
    “The countess runs the gallery, so when she comes back I’ll get to know her this way,” he explained on one of his calls home. “It’s all working out beautifully.”
    He’d taken a room at the Busoni, a small, modestly priced place, which earned Terri’s approval. But he spoiled this piece of common sense by spending many of his evenings at the casino in the Hotel Midas, which worried Terri. But in his calls home, Leo was always cheerful, making light of his losses. At last he said that Elena had finally arrived in Venice. He’d made contact with her, but cautiously at first. “As far as she knows, I’m just a casual worker,” he’d promised Terri. “And I’ve not said anything. But I’ve had lunch with her.”
    “On your own?”
    “Well—not exactly. Every week she gathers up five or six of the gallery people and takes them off to lunch. Last time, I managed to get included by hanging around and looking forlorn. I’m good at that.”
    “I know,” Terri said, smiling at the fond memories this conjured up. “Did you get to talk to her?”
    “Only a little. But next day, she had another lunch party and I was invited again. She made me sit beside her.”
    “I thought you said these lunches only happened once a week.”
    “They usually do, but she had another the next day. It’s as though she wanted an excuse to talk to me again—”
    “Or because she’s been away and is making up for lost time with her staff,” Terri said in a warning tone. “Leo, don’t jump to conclusions. Did she actually make you sit next to her or did you fix it that way?”
    “Well, a bit of both,” he conceded reluctantly. “But she did want to talk to me, and I’m sure she guesses something.”
    “Leo, be careful—”
    “I won’t say a word, I promise. I’ll wait for her to pick the moment.”
    He’d followed this up with an excited letter in which he said it all again in greater detail. Terri had read the letter with a frown, wondering just how much her adorable brother was deluding himself.
    And then, suddenly, there was silence. No calls, no letters. When she tried to call the hotel, the line was dead. Her frantic inquiries to the Italian operator produced the suggestion that since the summer was over, the hotel had probably closed. This comforted her but only briefly. If Leo had been forced to move, why hadn’t he called from his new address? She was confronted by a blank. Leo had set off full of hope in the brilliant sunshine of high summer, but now the summer was over, and he’d simply vanished from the face of the earth.
    She’d determined to go in search of him, but the need to finish all her current work had delayed her departure until November. She’d checked into the Midas because it was one of her only three points of reference. The others were the Calvani Art Gallery and the Busoni hotel. Now she was here, and what seemed so simple when she was planning it, suddenly seemed like trying to penetrate a maze. She had little idea what to do next.
    A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. She opened it to find a young man standing there in the deep gold uniform of the hotel. “Your other suitcases, signorina. ”
    “Goodness, I didn’t realize there were any missing. I thought the other porter brought them all up.”
    The young man frowned. “The other porter?”
    “I didn’t catch his name. He was very tall and dark and he wore a white shirt with short sleeves.”
    “Oh that’s not a porter. That’s Signor Maurizio.”
    “Oh, is he the head steward or something?”
    “No, signorina, ” the young man said with a wide smile. “Maurizio Vanzani owns the Hotel Midas.” He gave a slight bow and withdrew, leaving Terri with a hand covering her mouth in horror.
    She should have trusted her first instincts about the man who’d