Rebecca Winters - The Bride of Montefalco

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Crowned: An Ordinary Girl

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Natasha Oakley

Harlequin Romance ®

Ally jerked her head around, assailed by the familiar scent clinging to his skin.

“Gino—”

She’d never been so happy to see anyone in her life.

“I’ve missed you, bellissima,” he whispered against her lips before capturing her mouth.

He drew her close, like a lover who’d been anticipating this moment and could no longer hold back.

Ally had been so caught off guard her mouth opened to the urgent pressure of his, and she found herself kissing him back in a slow, languorous giving and taking she’d never experienced in her life.

The background laughter of the crowd faded. All Ally was aware of was the throbbing of her heart against his solid male chest.

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Rebecca Winters, whose family of four children has now swelled to include three beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high Alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore, and they—along with her favorite vacation spots in Europe—often end up as backgrounds for her Harlequin Romance ®novels. Writing is her passion, along with her family and church. Rebecca loves to hear from her readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her Web site at www.rebeccawinters-author.com

Don’t miss

Matrimony with His Majesty

by Rebecca Winters

Coming in April in Harlequin Romance ®!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

“LIEUTENANT DAVIS?”

The Portland police detective looked up from his computer.

“I’m glad you got here so fast, Mrs. Parker.”

“Your message indicated it was urgent.”

“It is,” he said in a solemn tone. “Come in and sit down.”

Ally took a chair opposite his desk.

“I take it there’s been a new development in the case.”

“Major.” He nodded. “The woman who died in the car accident with your husband four months ago has finally been identified through dental records and a DNA match-up.”

Though Ally had buried her husband two months ago, she’d needed this day to come if she were ever to find closure. Yet at the same time she’d been dreading it because it meant getting painful facts instead of wallowing in useless conjecture.

“Who was she?”

“A thirty-four-year-old married female from Italy named Donata Di Montefalco.”

Finally the woman had a name and a background.

“The Italian authorities have informed me she was the wife of the Duc Di Montefalco, a very wealthy, prominent aristocrat from a town of the same name near Rome. According to the police investigating the case, her husband has had his own people searching for her all these months.”

“Naturally,” Ally whispered. Had he been in love with his wife? Or had his marriage been unraveling like Ally’s?

Though the detective had never said the words, she knew he suspected her husband of having been unfaithful. So had Ally who’d known her marriage was breaking down but hadn’t wanted to believe it.

Jim had changed so much from the seemingly devoted family man she’d first married, she’d slowly fallen out of love with him though she wasn’t able to pinpoint the exact moment it happened.

During the latter part of their two and half year marriage she’d seen signs that something was wrong. The long absenses from home because of his work, the lack of passion in his lovemaking when he did come home, his disinterest in her life when he made brief, unsatisfactory phone calls home, his desire to put off starting a family until he was making more money.

Despite the fact that there was still no definitive proof of an affair, this news gave added credence to her suspicions.

A fresh stab of pain assailed her. She needed to get out of his office to grieve in private.

Though she’d already had two months to absorb the fact that he hadn’t died alone, a part of her had hoped the other woman would have been middle-aged. Possibly an older woman he’d given a lift to because of the storm. But this latest information put that myth to rest. It increased her turmoil that she hadn’t loved him as much as she should have, otherwise why hadn’t she confronted him before it was too late?

“Thank you for calling me in, Lieutenant.” Any second now and she was going to lose control. Living in denial was the worst thing she could have done. Her guilt worsened to recognize she hadn’t fought harder to recapture the love that had brought them together in the first place.

“I appreciate what you’ve done to help me.”

She got up to leave. He walked her to the door of his office.

“I’m sorry I had to call you in and remind you of your loss all over again. But I promised to let you know when I had any more information.

“Here’s hoping that in the months to come, you’ll be able to put this behind you and move on.”

Move on? a voice inside her cried hysterically. How did you do that when your husband had died at the lowest ebb in your marriage?

How did you function when your dreams for a happy life with him were permanently shattered?

The detective eyed her with compassion. “Would you like me to walk you out to your car?”

“No thank you,” she murmured. “I’ll be all right.”

She hurried out of his office and down the hall to the front door of the police station.

Dear God—how was it possible things had ended like this? Nothing was resolved. If anything, she was riddled with new questions.

Her thoughts darted to the woman’s husband. He would have only just learned his wife’s body had been found and identified. Besides months of suffering since her disappearance and now this loss, he had to be wondering about Jim’s importance in Donata’s life.

Wherever the Duc Di Montefalco was at this moment, Ally knew he was in hell.

She could relate…

“Uncle Gino? How come we’re going to stay at your farm for a while?

Rudolfo Giannino Fioretto Di Montefalco, known only to his family and a few close friends as Gino, eyed his eleven-year-old niece through the rearview mirror. The girl sat next to Marcello, Gino’s elder brother.