noon.”
She looked at her watch. “It’s almost that time now. I don’t want to be around when he arrives, so I’ll join the parents while you get the rest of your packing done. I’m glad you’re recovered. Even gladder that I wasn’t the one under the water when the quake struck.”
A rush of warmth propelled Alessandra toward her sister. She put her arms around her again. “Thank you for coming. You don’t know how much it means to me.”
Dea hugged her back. “You’ve always been the brave one.” She kissed her cheek before disappearing from the bedroom. Alfredo followed her out the door.
The brave one?
An hour later those words were still chasing around in Alessandra’s psyche as Rini helped her out of the limo to board the Montanari jet.
Once they’d attained cruising speed, his steward served them an incredible lunch of lobster pasta with sfogliatelle for dessert. The shell shaped pastry had a divine ricotta filling with cinnamon. The wonderful flavor was beyond description.
They sat in the club area by the windows. His dark eyes never left hers. “I’m glad to see a smile. When I picked you up, you seemed preoccupied. For a moment I was afraid you still didn’t feel well enough to come. We could have left tomorrow.”
“I’m fine, Rini, but I have to admit I’m still a little tired.”
“After what you experienced, that’s understandable. When we get to the villa, you can rest all you want.”
She looked out the window, wishing she felt the same excitement he’d engendered in her when she’d told him she would accept his invitation. But Dea’s unannounced arrival had taken her by surprise. Though touched that she’d come to see her after her scuba-diving accident, her sister’s questions about Rini had put a damper on this trip.
He was doing everything in his power to make her comfortable and had no idea Dea had been at the castle when he’d picked her up. She didn’t want him to know, let alone tell him what her sister had said. Dea hadn’t been unkind. Alessandra had been grateful for that, but she couldn’t help feeling that her sister was suffering in some way.
Alessandra remembered how she’d felt when she’d first talked to Rini in the castle foyer. The immediate, overpowering attraction she’d felt for him had to be swallowed in the knowledge that he’d already been with Dea. She’d wondered then if she’d ever be able to get over him.
Yet today, her sister had to handle the news that Rini wanted to be with Alessandra enough to invite her to his home. If Dea had felt the same overwhelming attraction to him that night on the yacht, then who knew how long it would take her to get over Rini, especially if he ended up being in Alessandra’s future. The thought haunted her.
“I think you really are tired.” Rini got out of his seat and adjusted hers so she could lie back. “Our flight won’t last long, then we’ll put you to bed in the guest bedroom until you’re feeling your old self.”
“Thank you.” But she no longer knew who her old self was. Life had taken on new meaning since she’d met him.
* * *
Something was wrong beyond Alessandra’s fatigue. Rini had sensed it the moment she’d met him outside the castle doors with her suitcases. He’d expected to be invited in to speak to her parents, but she’d whisked them away as if she was in a great hurry. Rini hadn’t questioned her about it. In time he’d get answers. They had a whole week. Today was only the beginning.
Once the jet touched down, the helicopter flew them to the villa. He carried her luggage while she made her way along the path that led to the back patio. She looked over her shoulder at him. “You truly do live in a garden. At home I smell the sea air. Here, I’m assailed by the most heavenly scents.”
“After living in Naples with the occasional scent of sulfur from Vesuvius in the air, I chose this flower-filled mountaintop on purpose. Follow me through the house. Your room faces on the pool. You can walk out the French doors at any time and take a swim. Come on. Let’s get you in bed.”
He saw her eyes widen in appreciation when they entered the bedroom off the hallway. “It’s a lovely room. Those blue hydrangeas on the coffee table take my breath.”
“I’m glad you like them. Go ahead and freshen up. I’ll be back in a minute.” He put her cases down and left to get her a bottle of water from the kitchen. Rini had given Bianca the next three days off so he could be alone with Alessandra and wait on her himself.
When he returned, he found her sitting on the side of the bed still dressed in white culottes with a sharp front crease. She’d layered them with a multicolored blue silk top and looked so sensational, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“I thought I’d find you under the covers. This is for you.” He put the water on the bedside table before opening the shutters to let in the early evening light from the pool area.
She smiled up at him, but it lacked the joie de vivre he’d seen while they’d been out diving. “I’ll sleep tonight. Now that I’m in your world again—but only because you invited me this time—I want to talk to you. Please sit down.”
He sat in one of the upholstered chairs by the coffee table.
“Where’s Bianca?”
“On a short holiday.”
“So it’s just you and me?” He heard a slight tremor in her voice.
He frowned. “Are you worried about being here alone with me?”
“Of course not.” She got up from the bed and walked over to smell the flowers. “Can we have a frank talk? You said you wanted to start over again. I want that, too, but I need to understand you better.”
Rini sat forward with his hands clasped between his legs. “Would I have brought you here if I didn’t want the same thing? We’ve got all the time in the world. Go ahead. Ask me anything.”
She darted him a curious glance. “You say that, but I wonder if you really mean it.”
“Where’s this doubt coming from?”
“I don’t know exactly. Tell me about what happened when you first met Dea. Being twins, she and I have shared a unique past. Sometimes it has been eerie.”
“In what way?”
“It’s hard to explain, but there are times when even though we’re two people, we think as one.”
Rini got to his feet. “I’ve heard that happens to twins. But what does that have to do with me?”
“I’m not sure and am only feeling my way,” she cried softly before turning away from him.
He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her against him. “You sound frightened,” he whispered into her fragrant hair.
“I am.”
“Of what? Of me? Tell me.” He shook her gently.
“I’ve been going over the conversation that my aunt had with you about me and Dea. You told her that you felt no connection with Dea, but it was different with me.” Alessandra turned around in his arms. “But it doesn’t provide all the answers.”
“What more do you want?”
Her eyes searched his. “Will you bear with me a little longer and tell me your feelings when you realized I wasn’t Dea?”
His hands slid to her face. “After I left your father’s office and went back to my hotel in Metaponto that first night, I couldn’t get you off my mind. Make no mistake. It was you I was thinking about. From a distance you had Dea’s superficial features, the same features that had drawn me on the yacht. But the second you said you weren’t Dea, I realized my mistake.
“You looked so adorable