Lucy Gordon - Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

‘You may recall that you signed a credit card docket when you arrived. It was simply a matter of putting it through. But I doubt if they would have worried anyway. The manager is an old friend of mine.’

‘And would have jumped to obey your orders?’ Alex said angrily.

Rinaldo shrugged. ‘There was no need to give him orders. He knows I can be trusted. And, as I said, he already had your signature.’

‘Suppose I want to dispute something on the bill?’

‘You can do that tomorrow.’

‘I’ll do it now. I refuse to stay here. You must be quite mad.’ She faced Gino, eyes glinting. ‘I thought better of you.’

‘But I didn’t know, truly,’ he pleaded. ‘I thought you’d agreed.’

‘Will you take me back to Florence? Or must I call for a taxi?’

‘Of course I’ll take you back,’ he said at once.

‘Forget that idea,’ Rinaldo growled.

‘I won’t forget it,’ Gino said firmly. ‘Rinaldo, what are you thinking about?’

‘I’m thinking about how all this is going to end,’ he shouted.

‘And making everyone dance around like puppets on the end of your strings,’ Alex snapped. ‘What did you think I’d do when I found out? Tamely submit to your decree and let you take me prisoner? If you did, you were wrong.’

‘Take you prisoner? Don’t be melodramatic.’

‘What else would you call it?’

‘ I’d call it taking a lady prisoner,’ Gino observed. ‘Alex, I’ll drive you back to Florence.’

At that defiance Rinaldo flung him a look that Alex never forgot. It contained rage, betrayal, disbelief, and a curious sense of hurt that she couldn’t help seeing, even then.

‘Gino,’ Rinaldo warned, ‘don’t take anyone’s side against me.’

‘Then don’t force a battle about this,’ Gino said in a harsher voice than Alex had heard from him before. ‘It’s gone too far. You’re always the same. You lose your temper and you forget everything else. Too many people jump to do as you say, but Alex doesn’t. That’s what’s got you mad.’

Rinaldo didn’t reply in words, but his look was terrible.

‘Do as you like,’ he said curtly.

Gino swung around to face Alex.

‘I don’t want you to leave,’ he said quietly, ‘but if that’s your wish, I’m ready to take you back now.’

Alex put her hand in his.

‘Do you really want me to stay?’

‘More than anything, but not against your will.’

‘Gino, I’m happy to remain here if I’m asked nicely and not steamrollered.’

He grinned and dropped to his knee, holding her hand between his.

‘Alex, will you honour us by being our guest for as long as you wish?’

‘I accept,’ she said hastily, fearing that Rinaldo would explode if this went on. He was regarding them both with an air of grim exasperation.

‘For pity’s sake,’ he snapped. ‘If you mean to stay, what’s the fuss about?’

‘You really don’t know, do you?’ Alex demanded.

‘No, he doesn’t,’ Gino confirmed.

Rinaldo scowled at him.

‘If you gentlemen have finished,’ Alex said, thoroughly fed up with both of them, ‘I’ll go upstairs to my room.’

She stormed out.

Teresa had just finished hanging her clothes up, and was preparing to take some away, to iron out the creases.

‘I’ll do that,’ Alex said, speaking Italian.

‘Oh, no!’ Teresa was shocked. ‘You are the mistress.’

‘Don’t let Rinaldo hear you say that,’ Alex muttered. ‘Otherwise he may murder me before I murder him.’

She couldn’t have explained the annoyance that possessed her. Rinaldo had behaved badly but, with Gino’s help, she’d gained the upper hand. The matter should be over.

But it wasn’t over while she remembered how he’d set out to take her off guard, and how thoroughly he’d succeeded.

He’d smiled and she’d responded, and in no time at all she’d succumbed to the spell he was weaving. She hadn’t even put up a good fight. The moment by the stream, the memories of her mother, even the sunset. He’d known just the right buttons to push, and she’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

That must have given him a laugh.

Pushing him firmly out of her head, she took a good look around the room and liked what she saw. It was out of another age, with dark oak furniture and a polished wooden floor. It had none of the modern conveniences of her bedroom at home, expensively designed and tailored to her exact specifications. But she loved it.

There was still some light outside, although it was fading fast. Driven by a sudden impulse, she slipped out of the door, down the stairs and outside.

After the heat of the day the air was blessedly cool and she stood drinking it in.

‘Are you still talking to me?’

She turned, laughing, at the sound of Gino’s voice.

‘You’re not the one I’m mad at,’ she told him. ‘Quite the reverse.’

‘That sounds hopeful.’

‘I mean that you helped me out. I really like the idea of staying here, but after the way your brother behaved, well-if you hadn’t done your going-down-on-one-knee act, I’d have had to leave, simply to make my point.’

‘It wasn’t an act,’ he said at once. ‘In my heart I’m always down on one knee to you.’

‘Stop your nonsense,’ she told him amiably, ‘or I’ll take you seriously, and then where would you be?’

‘In heaven! All right, I take it back if you don’t like it. Let me show you the stables. There’s a horse there that would just suit you.’

As they started to walk there was the sound of pattering from behind them, and the next moment Brutus wandered out, making for Alex.

‘Hey,’ she said, fondling his ears and trying to dodge his madly licking tongue. ‘All right, don’t eat me. All right, all right!’

She nuzzled him, burying her face pleasurably against his soft fur.

‘He was Maria’s,’ Gino said. ‘She brought him with her to the wedding, as a puppy. He’s very old now, but Rinaldo spends a fortune on keeping him alive and fit. He’s got arthritis, but as long as he has expensive injections every month, it’s kept at bay. I’ll swear he spends more on Brutus than he does on himself.’

Alex remembered how Rinaldo had driven the dog inside when she’d tried to make a fuss of him. She’d put it down to irritation, but now she saw the action in a new light; possessiveness about the only living creature that still reminded him of his wife.

But it had been years. How long could a man mourn?

Gino led her through the trees to where there was a long, low building, with cars parked in one section and horses housed in another.

Switching on the light, he led her into the stables where three animals looked at them curiously.

‘That big brute at the end is Rinaldo’s,’ Gino said, pointing to a fierce-looking horse. ‘This one is mine, and this third one is a kind of spare. I think you’d like him.’

He was a chesnut with mild eyes, and Alex did like him.

‘We’ll go out tomorrow,’ Gino said, ‘in the late afternoon, when we’re back from the funeral, and it’s cooler.’

As they left the stable he slipped an arm around her waist and drew her close, managing to drop a light kiss on her mouth.

‘Behave yourself,’ she said, escaping and running back to the house.

Laughing, he followed her, managing to catch up just by the porch lamp.

‘You’re a hard-hearted woman,’ he complained. ‘Or shall I go down on one knee again?’

‘Don’t be a fool,’ she said tenderly. ‘And let me go. It’s time I was in bed.’

His answer was too tighten his arms and steal another kiss, but he did it with such delicacy that she couldn’t be annoyed. He was like a playful puppy who only needed some affection to make him quiet again.