fears. With both of them together again in the same room, he felt an odd sense of rightness.
“At your interviews, you were given a small history of the castello. For as long as you work here, guests will ask you repeatedly about this iconic hundred-years-old structure. As you’ve learned, it was the home of the first Duca di Lombardi of the house of Gagliardi in the eighteen hundreds.
“Today I’m honored to introduce one of the owners and chief operating officer for the estate, security and publicity, Vincenzo Nistri Gagliardi, seated on my right.”
A collective sound of surprise was followed by resounding applause that filled the room. With the media calling for information at this point, Vincenzo had given Takis permission to offer public disclosure of their three-owner enterprise. He’d felt it was time he embraced his name again. But there’d be no mention of the family title.
“I’m Takis Manolis, one of the owners and general manager of the hotel. On my left is Cesare Donati, the other owner and general manager for the restaurant.” More clapping ensued.
Takis finished talking and handed Vincenzo the mic.
Vincenzo only intended to say a few words that would put the floating rumors to rest. “Some of you may know this was my home for the first eighteen years of my life. Though I’ve spent the last ten years in New York City, my roots are here.”
The girl who made it my own private heaven is seated among you.
“My business partners and I hope this will become a desired destination for locals and tourists from around the globe. If we all work together, I know it will be a great success. Thank you.”
This time everyone got to their feet and kept clapping. He handed the mic to Cesare and sat down.
His friend took over the reins. When the noise subsided, he introduced their head chef, Monsieur Maurice Troudeau. Then he turned to Gemma.
“In the words of Schiaparelli, ‘a good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.’ That would describe the Italian desserts of our executive pastry chef, Gemma Bonucci Rizzo. Please stand, signorina.”
There was more applause.
Vincenzo’s pride in her accomplishments brought a lump to his throat. At the same time he couldn’t stop his eyes from fastening on the lines of her beautiful figure.
Cesare continued to introduce the entire kitchen staff that also included the sous chefs, dishwashers, and front of house staff. Takis followed by introducing the front desk group, the head of housekeeping and the laundry staff. Then it was Vincenzo’s turn once more to present the estate manager and gardeners. The security men made their own presentation.
After a ten-minute break, his partners met with the employees under them to get down to specifics on the job, including the hours they would work. That left Vincenzo to circulate.
He visited Takis’s group first and added a few words. Then he walked to the kitchen, where Cesare laid out the hours for each shift and their duties, which included room service and the dining room. Vincenzo refused to look at Gemma. After saying a few more words of greeting, he made certain he stayed on the far side of the room away from her.
Gemma and Maurice had been asked to make out a day’s worth of sample menus for the three meals they’d serve the day of the grand opening. Cesare looked them over before passing them to Vincenzo for his opinion. Since he didn’t want to give Gemma any fuel to leave and never come back, he took the menus and walked to his office.
After sitting at his desk for a few minutes, he realized that having to distance himself from her was going to be the hardest thing he would ever have to do in his life. The key was to focus on work.
He spent the next few minutes studying her dessert choices, including the rolls, breads, preserves and jams she’d suggested to accompany Maurice’s entrées and specialty dishes. They were both masters at what they did. He put his seal of approval on them.
But thoughts of Gemma made it impossible for him to stand his own company any longer. He walked to Cesare’s office to give him the menus. His friend wasn’t around. Vincenzo left them on his desk and went in search of Takis, who was still in the ballroom directing some of the newly hired staff to put the chairs away.
He waved. “Ehi, Vincenzo—all in all, I think it went well.”
“I agree.” But it would have been a disaster if Gemma hadn’t shown up.
“Want to have drinks on the east patio later?”
“Sounds good, but I’ll see. I have to run an errand, but I should be back soon.”
Vincenzo hurried out of the castello to his car, too restless to stay put. After getting behind the wheel, he took off and drove aimlessly. He had a hunch Gemma had spent last night at the same pensione as before. If he returned by way of Sopri later, he assumed he’d see her car parked in front. But much as he wanted to find out where she was staying, he didn’t dare.
Instead he ended up in the little village of Cisliano, only three miles from Sopri. He passed in front of the Rho Bistro. The owners had had the unique idea of waiting for all the customers to arrive. Then they started cooking the same menu for everyone and served it at one time.
Vincenzo had eaten there several times in his youth after a bike ride with Dimi, always being followed by a guard his father had hired. On his eighteenth birthday, he and Dimi had slipped away from their tutor and the guard. They’d arranged to meet Gemma and Bianca here.
He remembered that Friday as if it had been yesterday. Bianca’s mother had taken pity on him and his cousin. She’d dropped the girls off and come back for them two hours later without telling Gemma’s mother, who would have been upset.
The memory of that red-letter day had taken hold of him. Wanting to relive it, he decided to go in, but parking was difficult. He ended up driving around the corner to find a spot. For the moment all he cared about was soaking up those moments when he knew they’d been crazy in love with each other.
As usual, he discovered the noisy, unpretentious place was filled with summer customers at the dinner hour. There was one empty table in the corner partially separate from the others, probably available for any overflow. He grabbed it and was served coffee while everyone waited to be served.
AFTER HER LAST meeting for the day, Gemma left the castello experiencing so many emotions, she didn’t know where to go with all her feelings. Cesare’s comments about her in front of the whole assembly had been very touching. She’d enjoyed the various sessions and had gotten on well with Maurice. But overriding everything was the realization that Vincenzo was back in Lombardi.
Along with his partners, they’d turned the castello into a hotel and restaurant that would definitely be the envy of other resorts in Italy. She’d felt the camaraderie among the people hired and had heard their praise for the new owners. The favorable whispers about Vincenzo would have pleased him.
Part of her had wanted to go to his office and thank him for this opportunity, but it was too difficult for her to be in such close proximity to him. She feared she wouldn’t be able to fight her attraction to him. But the other part of her would always struggle, because
