Piper said, “That explains everything.”
“What do you mean?” Greer fired back.
“You’re a take-charge kind of woman. He knew that and found his way around you. Sounds like you’ll be getting a marriage proposal out of him before long.”
“I don’t want a marriage proposal. I just want to get away from him. Maybe we should just go home.”
“We will, after our vacation is over,” Olivia placated her. “Since we’ve already paid the money for the boat and can’t get it back, I say we put the pendants away, drop the Duchess act and enjoy the rest of our trip like any normal tourists.”
“I second the motion,” Piper concurred.
“But I already told the stranger I was related to the Duchess of Colorno.”
“It’s too late to worry about the fact that we made reservations for the boat in the name of the Duchess of Kingston,” Olivia advised. “We just won’t pull it on anyone else we meet.”
“You’re overreacting. However if or when Signore Mysterioso does show up,” she mimicked Greer’s pronunciation, “and you still want protection, he’ll have to deal with all three of us.”
“That’s right,” Piper chimed in. “Should he come around, we won’t let you out of our sight for a single second. How does that sound?”
“In theory, it sounds fine.”
“Good. Now that we’ve got everything settled, let’s go to bed and sleep in until they throw us out. Okay?”
“Okay…” Greer’s voice trailed, not nearly as confident.
Within a few minutes the lights had been extinguished and everyone had crawled under their covers. Soon Greer could tell her sisters were dead to the world.
It took a lot longer for her to succumb to the fatigue draining her body. That was because neither Olivia nor Piper had ever been stalked by a shark.
She kept feeling the spots where his mouth had scorched her throat and neck, imagining he’d actually taken little bites out of her.
“Nic? It’s Max. I’ve got Luc on the line with me so we can have a three-way conference call.”
“Luc?”
“I’m here, Nic. Good to hear your voice.”
“It’s like old times.”
Max’s two cousins, Nic and Luc, the son’s of his father’s sisters, were as close to him as brothers.
One aunt had married Carlos de Pastrana from Marbella, Spain. The other was married to Jean-Louis de Falcon from Monaco. All three parents were the direct descendants of the House of Parma-Bourbon and had married royalty. Max felt as at home at their residences as they felt at the Varano villa in Colorno.
Being between the ages of thirty-three and thirty-four, the Varano cousins had spent every possible moment together growing up, be it at school or on vacation. But five months ago tragedy struck, killing Nic’s fiancée and almost causing Luc to lose his leg.
The accident had robbed both cousins of the joie de vivre Max had thought inherent in their natures. Much as he hated to admit it, he, too, had been in a state of despondency even before the ghastly accident. As far as he was concerned, if the three of them weren’t careful, depression would turn them into old men before their time.
He could use their company right now and was glad for any excuse to bring them together.
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