I never dreamed I’d be walking up to Luca’s impressivecastelloto fight for my marriage.
Our lives.
More than that, this place was stunning, like something seen in a design magazine at the doctor’s office. One of those places a woman like me only imagined seeing in photos, because I never thought I’d ever be able to see it in person.
The door opened, and Margherita Granchio stood in it.
I felt a sudden connection with her.
She’d been the other woman, and somehow, here she stood.
She was impossibly beautiful, and if my math was correct, didn’t look nearly close to her age. She was built like an hourglass and had truly one of the most beautiful faces I’d ever seen. Her hair was close in color to Scarlett’s, but she had spellbinding hazel eyes that were closer to light brown. And even though I could tell the two women were close, they seemed to be opposites. Scarlett was put together, not a hair out of place, but there was something about Margherita that was wild—a free spirit.
She welcomed us inside, keeping Scarlett at her side as Scarlett formally introduced us. I was instructed to call her Maggie with an almost girlish laugh.
“I remember you.” She roared like I had and then gave me a wink. “It’s always good to make a strong impression on these men, and you certainly did.”
“That’s not the half of it.” Scarlett grinned at me. “Let’s just say…she escaped a pack of wild lions by putting them to sleep for a while.”
After Scarlett told her what I’d done, the two women laughed, and Maggie said she was proud of me.
“It’s not every day they get bested, but it’s so much sweeter when it’s a woman who does the besting.”
“For us as well, my wildflower.”
The three of us sort of clumped together while Maggie went into Luca’s open arms. He held her close, and she wrapped her arms around him. Their eyes fell on us.
“It is always sweet when a woman can do what no man can, ah?” Luca grinned. “Our women are strong and clever, two of my favorite attributes.”
Maggie told him what I’d done, essentially, to get a meeting with him, and his grin moved slow, the same look coming into his eyes as Brando’s, but then he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
I looked at Scarlett in astonishment. She had a huge grin on her face, and Brando an even bigger one—almost a smile.
“Ah,” Luca sighed. “A little sleep never hurt a lion. He will take his rest and wake up even more vicious than before.”
That was why I was probably the only one not laughing. My poor berry was going to have hell to pay for this.
Maggie offered me something to eat and drink, but I declined. Nothing was getting past the lump in my throat. Luca backed up her offer, but again, I politely declined as I followed him outside.
He stopped on the lawn, and the colossal statue behind him caught my attention. The giant made of rock towered over a pond with floating swans, but the odd thing was…the rock giant seemed small in Luca’s presence.
“You are not a woman to cower,” he said to me seriously. “However, I get the feeling you are uneasy around me.”
I sighed. “I’m new here, and there’s a lot at stake.”
He thought about this for a second.
And I thought about how open his eyes were for being so dark. It was almost like he wanted me to get lost in them, because maybe they were a test to see if I could find my way out.
“Tell me, Ava, are you really new here?” He offered me his arm, and I took it.
We walked toward a bench set in front of the pond together. The sun was just starting to set, and everything glowed a reddish pink, including Luca Fausti. Even though darkness cloaked him, the light loved him too.
“I’ve found there’s a difference between what we read in books and reality,” I said. “No amount of research could have prepared me for being here.”
“Sì.I tend to agree, although I believe it depends on the author and how well he or she executes the story.”
“Maybe in fiction,” I said. “But your family is real, and I don’t believe anyone has come close to capturing the truth.”
