The Tuscan's Revenge Wedding Read Free Page A

monitors apartments while tenants are away has been contacted, and will
send someone to water your plants and retrieve your mail. If you like, I can
have your clothing packed and sent after us, though it would be more practical
to buy a few things after you arrive.”
    She sprang to her feet. “You went to where I work?”
    “Naturally,” he answered as he stood as well, facing her in
the gray dimness of the room. “Your employer was most understanding. The
receptionist was kind enough to tell me where you normally lunch when both
understood why I had to speak to you.”
    “You know where I live, that I have plants?” Her voice climbed
an octave. “You went into my apartment?”
    “By no means,” he answered with an impatient gesture.
    “But how can you—”
    “The details were handled by my personal assistant. An
investigating firm was called in as all I had was your name and city. They
located your employer, discovered your address, and interviewed the
superintendent of your building.”
    “Just like that.”
    Her voice held remnants of anger, but also a trace of
bewilderment. Hearing it, he gentled his tone. “Come, this is getting us nowhere.
I have a car and driver downstairs. We will stop at your apartment long enough
to collect your passport and other personal belongings, but must be at the
airport within the hour. Our window for takeoff is narrow and may be altered by
the rain.”
    “You can’t just arrange my life as you please.”
    “It’s done,” he said with finality.
    She searched his face for long seconds while a pucker of
suspicion lingered between her brows. “Why are you doing this? Why are you
going to so much trouble to take me to Italy?”
    “Not for the purpose you seem to think,” he answered, while
heat kindled in his veins at the idea. “To meet you was Carita’s dearest wish
as she hoped to be a sister to you one day, the last words she said to nonna ,
our grandmother, on the morning of the accident. Nonna is no longer young and
has great faith in portents. She asked that I find you, and will be greatly
relieved to know you are on this return flight.” That he also wished to meet
Jonathan Davies’s sister was not pertinent, nor was the fact that this fast
journey gave him something to do other than prowl hospital corridors while
Carita lay comatose in Critical Care.
    Her features smoothed a degree, but she still shook her
head, opened her lips to speak.
    He responded to that negative movement before she could make
a sound. “I also assumed you would wish to be with your brother. You are, so I
am told, his only family, just as he is yours. If I am wrong, if you don’t want
to be with him as soon as possible, you have only to say so.”
    “Of course I want to see him! I intend to see him. But I’m
not helpless. I can book my own flight, make my own way.”
    “No doubt, but it will take time. I am here, the plane is
ready, and you can be with your brother many hours sooner by putting your trust
in me. Can you not do that?”
    Silence descended in which he could hear the distant roar of
traffic, rain against window glass and the muted ping of the elevator bell on a
floor somewhere below. His nerves stretched to annoying tightness. His
fingertips tingled with the urge to touch her, to soothe her distress and
encourage the answer he wished as well as to test the softness of her skin. The
impulse, natural as it might be for him, could have the opposite effect from
the one intended. Restraining it did nothing to soothe his temper.
    She met his eyes then, her own silver with defeat. “I
suppose I had better.”
    “Excellent.” Nico kept his voice rigorously even to conceal
his satisfaction. “Shall we go?”

 

2
    Amanda could not believe she had agreed to
this rushed trip. The shock of the news about Jonathan was the explanation. She
had been numb with it, still was, even after the brief stop at her apartment.
    Yet Nicholas de Frenza had gone to considerable trouble to
find