To Catch a Groom (14 page)

“Grazie,
signorina
,” came his brittle reply. She could envision him making that slight little aristocratic bow.

“You’re welcome.” Her brows lifted. “You want to know something really ironic? We even planned our scheme so that on the last night of our trip when we unmasked ourselves, we would arrange to do it at a youth hostel just to prove our point.

“I had no idea it would be this one, though. Our original plan was to end up on the Spanish Riviera where we would lure our opportunistic playboys to a hostel, the last place they would think where we were staying.

“Unfortunately nothing went the way we expected and I was denied the fun of telling one of those losers, ‘Sorry. No money. No tiara. What? You mean you’re taking back your proposal? Well don’t go away mad. Just go away.’”

His expression had darkened as if there’d been a total
eclipse of the sun. “What if one of those…losers hadn’t bailed?”

She laughed. “The kind of men we planned to target were safe bets. But wearing the pendants threw a monkey wrench in the works. Are you familiar with that expression?

“I can see that you are,” she said when there was no answer. “The point is, we never did have a chance to meet a real playboy. All we’ve met up with so far is the good old boy network. Its members don’t count.”

“So there’s an age?”

“Absolutely.”

“How old’s Don?”

Don. Again?

“He’s the right age, but he’s not a playboy. He’s a fine man who wants to marry me and have a family. Six little boys who will all grow up to be football players.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Not a thing if you love football, which I don’t mind. Sometimes it can be pretty exciting. But I’d prefer not to be looked at as a breeder.”

“Breeder?”

“So—there
is
one vagary about American English you haven’t run into yet. You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that. Piper complains that Nic claims to know everything about everything.”

“You were saying?” he reminded her in a gruff tone.

“I was
saying
that I would prefer to be looked upon as a woman first. Complete. Total, in and of myself! I mean, what if I couldn’t have children? Would that suddenly make me less desirable in his eyes? And even if I could turn out a football team for Don, what if they were girls instead of boys? Heaven forbid! Who would watch the football games with him in his old age?”

One of Max’s black brows dipped. “A minute ago you
told me you wanted to give me wonderful, brilliant babies like their father.”

“That was different. You were kissing me and telling me you wanted me with a hunger beyond comprehension. You had no expectations except to enjoy me like a piece of chocolate. I liked that. You weren’t looking at me as the mother of creation.”

His eyes narrowed on her face. “But you admit you’d like to be a mother one day.”

“Well, yes. One day. Of course by the time I’m ready to get married, I’ll probably end up with someone who’s been divorced and has children of his own.”

“I thought you wanted to marry
me.
”

“I do,” she said honestly, “but I also have brains in my head, and eyes that can see you’re not for sale at any price. Otherwise you would have married a woman of your own station and breeding years ago.”

“You’re right. There’s a reason why I didn’t.”

“I’m sure it was good one,” Greer asserted. “Tragedy is no respecter of persons.”

“Tragedy?”

“Yes. You’re the one who said some wounds weren’t visible. I got the impression you were trying to tell me something. You truly are Signore Mysterioso.

“However there are things about you I
do
know. For one thing you’re not a man who plays around with other women while your wife is home trying desperately hard to pretend it doesn’t bother her.

“For another, you don’t take advantage of foolish virgins. On the contrary, you rush about saving them from a fate worse than death while they’re trying to make an escape on their bicycles.

“Furthermore, I don’t think you’re the type to carry on with married women behind their husbands’ backs. You
don’t need to when every eligible maiden in Parma would sell her soul to be
the
woman in your life.

“All in all I think you’re quite a rarity, Signore di Varano. For a man that is. And now it’s time for me to go find my sisters. We have a plane to catch.”

He shook his handsome hand. “Not quite yet. By now they’re aboard the
Piccione
waiting for you.”

“For such an honorable man I must say it was very cruel of you to welcome us to the family in front of your parents and relatives after Signore Moretti told that lie about our pendants. For that I will never forgive you.” But really she just couldn’t forgive him for not loving her.

“Careful,
signorina
—sometimes all is not as it seems.”

“Meaning what?” she grumbled.

“I’ll let Nic tell you this evening while we enjoy our meal on deck.”

“And then will you give us our freedom?”

“I will do better than that. When the celebration is over, I swear an oath on the graves of your beloved parents I’ll take you wherever you wish to go.”

She didn’t think the mention of her mother and father was a subject Max would bring up if he weren’t being sincere.

“Very well then. I’m ready.”

He opened the door of the dorm and escorted her down the hall to the stairs. “Do you know one of the many things I find fascinating about you is your ability to travel light?”

“Normally I don’t,” she said as they left the hostel. He helped her into his car parked around the side.

After they’d driven off he turned to her. “The point is, you’re adaptable.”

“I am when I’m running for my life.”

His deep chuckle resonated to the tips of her toes. “That was some disappearing act you did off the balcony.”

“Did the three of you tape our escape and then watch reruns until you’d decided we’d had enough sleep?”

“No,
signorina
. We waited in the limousine to spirit you back to the boat for a midnight supper.”

She couldn’t help laughing at that admission. “Which Luc prepared of course.”

“Actually it was Marcel, one of their chefs who wasn’t very happy no one showed up to eat his masterpiece.”

Uh-oh. “How did you find us?”

“Luc saw you on TV enjoying yourselves with a bunch of hormone-riddled fans. They were so taken with you, Nic had to get the police to threaten them with jail time before they would admit where you’d gone.”

“You’re kidding! They were very nice to us.”

“That’s only natural since they expected to join up with you tonight for more fun and excitement.”

She bit her lip. “They fed us breakfast.”

He gave her that wounded look again. “All along, my cousins and I have been prepared to see to your needs.”

“Unfortunately we didn’t know until a little while ago that we weren’t going to be served up as the main course to fill
your
needs.”

His rich male laughter filled the interior.

“Whose idea was it to serve us petrified bread in the Colorno jail? Remember you are under oath, counselor.”

“That was different.”

If all traces of Greer’s heart hadn’t disappeared, his grin would have made it flip-flop as they wound their way to the port. Everywhere she looked, the rich and famous were dancing the night away to music coming from the dozens of nearby yachts and boats.

Monaco was in full party gala. So was the festive deck of the
Piccione
. The boat sat sheltered beneath one of the many blue canopies. She discovered her sisters and Max’s
cousins sat eating with an unexpected dark-haired guest who bore a superficial resemblance to Luc.

When Max introduced her, the man who appeared to be in his midtwenties got up to shake her hand.

“Greer Duchess, meet my younger cousin, Cesar. You will know him as Cesar Villon.”

Villon? Her gaze flitted to Olivia’s in confusion.

“He’s Luc’s younger brother,” her sister murmured, looking completely dazed.

“The race car driver—” Greer cried softly. That meant—

“Oui, mademoiselle.”

“But if your last name’s Falcon?”

“It is, but Villon is another family name I use on the track.” He exuded the same devilish charm of all the Falcon men.

“I see. My sister is a great fan of yours. It’s a thrill to meet you. We saw you whiz by the stand early this morning. How did you fare in the race over all?”

“I came in second.”

“That’s fantastic. Congratulations.”

“
Merci.
At first I was not happy about it, but since Luc introduced me to your sister, I have discovered all is not lost. She wanted to wait until you arrived, but now that you are here, we’re going to move on to a club where a party is being held in my honor. I would like it very much if you joined us.”

“Perhaps later, Cesar,” Max answered for her. “Right now Signorina Greer and I have a little celebrating of our own to do.”

“Ah oui?”

Everyone’s gaze swerved to Max. Greer couldn’t imagine what he was talking about, but when she turned to him, he was staring pointedly at Nic. “Did you tell them yet?”

“No. As Cesar said, we were waiting for you.”

“We’re here now.” Max helped Greer to a place next to Piper, then he sat down next to her, keeping his arm around the back of her deck chair. She could feel his heat through the material of her T-shirt. It melted her insides till they ran like butter.

Nic’s Castilian white smile gleamed in the candlelight. Luc’s dashing features on the other hand were as somber and remote as she’d ever seen them.

“Señoritas, when Fabio Moretti announced that one of you was wearing an original pendant like the one in the Maria-Luigia collection that is missing, it wasn’t a lie to smoke out the thief.”

Her sisters gasped, but Greer jerked her head around to stare at her host for verification.

“It’s true,” Max claimed. “Therefore, it’s entirely possible that you
are
our distant cousins. In time Nic will solve that particular mystery. For the present we intend to catch the people responsible for the theft. That’s one of the reasons why I said welcome to the family. But there
is
one more.”

Suddenly he grasped her hand so that everyone could see. His actions caused a pounding in her chest that almost knocked her off the chair.

“As I told Greer the other day, life plays strange tricks. Once a long time ago it played a bad one on me. Then very recently, while I was defending a court case in the House of Lords, life played a good trick when I received a phone call from Signore Galli at Genoa airport.

“To make a long story short, it brought Greer Duchess into my life. I knew I loved her the moment I first laid eyes on her in the San Giorgio church.”

He was
there?

“But I wasn’t sure she would have me if she knew I couldn’t give her children. An old soccer injury put my spleen out of commission and that was that.”

Greer’s breath caught, but she couldn’t stop the tears that welled in her eyes for the disappointment he’d had to suffer knowing he couldn’t father children.

“Tonight she took away my fear and asked me to be her husband.”

“Greer!” Her sisters sounded ecstatic.

“I hope that’s a sign of approval,” he kept talking, “because I’d like everyone here to know I’ve accepted her proposal.”

Max—

“No details have been worked out yet. No date has been set. We need the rest of the vacation on board the
Piccione
to get to know each other. To my knowledge we haven’t even shared a meal together.”

His gaze swerved to her sisters. “Since your parents aren’t here, do I have your permission to marry her? I know this must come as an enormous shock.”

Olivia shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Not at all,” Piper concurred. “We knew it was a fait accompli when we caught her kissing you in the stateroom.”

“She just doesn’t do things like that,” Olivia confided.

“The minute we heard she dived into the Splendido pool to join you, we realized our plan had worked and it was only a matter of time.”

Greer froze in place. “What do you mean
your
plan worked?”

“Who do you think gave Daddy the idea for the Husband Fund?” Olivia said.

“Until you caved first, there was never any hope for us. Since you’ve always been the cautious one, we decided something drastic had to be done.”

“You’re kidding! You mean from the very beginning, you let me believ—”

“If everyone will excuse us,” Max interrupted, pulling
her straight out of the chair into his arms. “I’d like to take my fiancée below and make this official.”

When they reached the stairs he crushed her against him, kissing her passionately. “You know I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “I wanted you for my wife when I first saw you in the church. My life would be nothing without you, Greer.”

“Now you tell me,” she teased. “But since you’ve demanded so nicely…”