Terre can choose between a dive in the sea, a hike in the hills, a walk in the narrow “carruggi,” or a boat trip to a sanctuary or to a seafood lunch.
Piper was the first to reach the computer after they’d entered the apartment.
“We’ve got an answer to our e-mail!”
Greer and Olivia leaned over her shoulder while she read it to them.
“Thank you for your inquiry. Due to an unexpected cancellation, the June 18 slot is available. Woohoo!” She jumped up and down in the swivel chair.
“You are very fortunate since the twentieth is the date of the Grand Prix in Monaco where we have docking privileges. If you wish to take advantage, you must advise us immediately.”
Piper swung around in the chair. “Monaco, guys. The playground of the rich and ‘wannabe’ rich and famous. The Grand Prix! Think, Olivia— Maybe you’ll be able to see that dashing French race car driver you talk about all the time. The one that puts Fred’s nose out of joint every time you mention him.”
“It’s Fred’s fault if he introduced me to Formula I racing. Wouldn’t it be something to bring home Cesar Villon’s autograph?” Olivia’s eyes were shining.
Greer was thinking it would be even more exciting to meet an Italian from their own Duchesse family who could provide the documentation proving their relationship to the Duchess of Parma.
“Piper? Find out if they’ll accept another thousand a piece from us so we can have the boat to ourselves.”
“Ooh, I forgot about that, Greer. Good idea. I don’t dare tell Tom about this or he’ll want to come along.”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. It isn’t as if you’re in love with him.”
“How do you know?”
“Well are you?”
“Maybe.”
“Then ten days away from him will prove it one way or the other. Right?”
“I suppose so.” Piper finished typing the question and sent an instant message.
While they waited for an answer, Greer studied one of the brochures with a map detailing the Mediterranean coastline bordering Europe.
Another shriek of delight came out of Piper. “They’re willing if we pay in full now.”
“Before we commit, we’ve got to find out if we can get plane reservations,” Greer cautioned.
“I’ve already inquired.” Olivia put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Everything’s booked solid into Milan, Rome and Bologna, but we could still get seats to Genoa for June 16, returning June 29.”
Greer looked at the map once more. “That’s only fifty or so miles from Vernazza,” she estimated aloud. “We could take a train and find a hotel for the 17 and 28. Book those flights for us, Olivia!”
Piper turned to Greer. “How do we want to pay for the boat?”
She pulled the wallet out of her purse. “Here. Use our business credit card to pay the bill in full. Let them know it’s the Duchess of Kingston of the House of Parma-Bourbon making a reservation for an exclusive party of three, and you want that information kept confidential.”
When the deed was done, their laughter bounced off the living-room walls.
“That was good thinking, Greer. Now it’s guaranteed word will leak out,” Olivia murmured. “We’ll have to arrive at the dock looking sensational.”
“Oh—” Piper cried. “You just made me think of something else. Remember that Paris elevator scene in the film about the American girl whose fiancé falls in love with a French girl? Remember the knockout dress she had on?”
Olivia’s delicate brows arched. “Who could forget? We ought to be able to find inexpensive outfits and beachwear like the ones she wore. Maybe a hat or two? No one will know we didn’t pay a fortune for them.”
“Not if we wear our pendants,” Piper inserted.
“Exactly. The men we’re targeting survive by going after women with jewels. Without a jeweler’s loupe, they won’t be able to detect the fakes from the original.” To this day Greer couldn’t tell the difference.
“Then it’s settled! We’ll arrive in Italy wearing our pendants and see what happens! Since we have to stay at a hotel the first night we get there, I say we make a big splash. What’s the most exclusive one in Genoa?”
“Just a sec, Olivia.”
Piper got busy on the Internet once more. “Hmm…how about the Splendido in nearby Portofino, first discovered by the Duke of Windsor. ‘Preferred by royals overlooking Portofino harbor, gateway to the Riviera.’ Twelve hundred Eurodollars a night for the three of us. It’s about twenty-five miles from the airport and they have limo service. Do you guys think it’s worth it?”
Both Greer and Olivia nodded.
“So do I. Let me check to see if there’s a room available for the seventeenth. By the time the twenty-eighth rolls around, we’ll have had our fun and can stay in a youth hostel if our funds are running low.”
Greer’s eyes narrowed. “A hostel will be the perfect place to invite our ‘would be’ husbands when we drop our little bombs.”
Olivia started chuckling. “You have no heart.”
“You’re scary,” Piper told Greer.
She gave them her innocent look. “Did Cinderella have a choice when the carriage turned into a pumpkin on the way home, leaving her with one glass slipper?
“Can we help it if all we’ll have to show for our attendance at the ball is the pendant we were wearing when we arrived?”
CHAPTER TWO
June 17, House of Lords, England
“MY LORDS, we will begin by hearing the opening statement from Signore Maximilliano di Varano of the House of Parma-Bourbon. He is the chief counselor avvocato for the Emilia-Romagna Farmers Consorzio of Italy, of which the Federazione del Prosciutto de Parma, a member, is the appellant in the case brought against the United Kingdom Supermarket Cartel, known as UKSC, represented by Lord Winthrope.”
Back in the House of Lords for the second time in a year, Max got to his feet, determined his appeal would force the case to be moved to the European Court of Justice for a definitive decision.
“Thank you, my lords,” he began with virtually no trace of accent, thanks to an elite private school education that included four years at Oxford and extensive travel in the U.S. and Canada with his cousins.
“To refresh your memories, Prosciutto de Parma, or Parma ham, has been made in Parma from pigs reared in northern and central Italy since Etruscan times. It is famous throughout the world with a name that is a protected designation of origin.
“The
