to know. Experimentation was acceptable to Lizzie as long as she remained in control. She didn’t want to be out of control, didn’t want to risk getting hurt or making a fool of herself again. Suddenly all her worst fears were coalescing in the shape of Cesare Sabatino and she had only gone and married the guy!
Sofia approached her. ‘Athene wants you to come and sit with her for a while. I expect she wants to get to know you... Cesare is by far her favourite grandchild.’
Lizzie rolled her eyes in sympathy. ‘He’s the only boy.’
‘She practically raised him—that’s why they’re so close,’ Sofia explained. ‘Cesare was only four when our mother married his father and although he was supposed to come and live with our parents straight away, he and Athene kept on putting it off and Papa didn’t like to interfere too much. Cesare’s never been easy—he and Papa are so different.’
‘Goffredo is a pet,’ Lizzie said warmly. ‘You’re so lucky.’
‘Cesare’s too clever for his own good,’ his sister opined. ‘Papa was in awe of his brain and he was such an argumentative little boy.’
A smile of amusement tilted Lizzie’s mouth. ‘I can imagine. He likes everything his own way.’
Athene patted the comfortable armchair beside her own. ‘Tell me about yourself. I’m a typical nosy old lady,’ she confided. ‘You talk and I ask the questions.’
Naturally there were questions about Lizzie’s mother, whom Athene had met while Goffredo was dating her.
‘My son could not have made her happy.’ Cesare’s grandmother sighed with regret. ‘Francesca was always dissatisfied and she was disappointed that Goffredo already had a son. I wasn’t that surprised when she broke off the engagement.’
‘She wasn’t happy with anyone for very long,’ Lizzie admitted quietly.
‘That must have been very difficult for you and your sister when you were growing up. The things that happen when you’re young leave scars,’ Athene remarked wryly. ‘I believe that’s why it’s taken so long for Cesare to put Serafina behind him where she belongs...’
‘Serafina?’ Lizzie queried tentatively, wondering worriedly if this was some family story that she should have been acquainted with and if her ignorance would strike the older woman as suspicious.
‘I didn’t think he would’ve mentioned her to you,’ Athene told her with a wry smile. ‘Cesare hides his vulnerabilities very effectively.’
Lizzie resisted the temptation to admit that she hadn’t believed he had any.
‘Cesare fell in love with Serafina when he was a student. He wanted to marry her but she said she was too young,’ Athene related, her wise old eyes resting on Lizzie’s absorbed expression. ‘In her first job, she met a very rich man in his seventies and within weeks they were wed.’
Lizzie froze in consternation. ‘That must’ve been devastating for him,’ she muttered ruefully, thinking that she had unkindly misjudged Cesare when she had assumed he simply had no heart and no room in his life for anything but business and profit.
‘But today I know that he has finally put Serafina back where she belongs in the past,’ his grandmother proclaimed with satisfaction and patted Lizzie’s hand. ‘Today I am joyful that Cesare has married you and changed the whole course of his life for the better.’
Lizzie suppressed a groan of disagreement. She was discovering where Goffredo’s optimistic outlook came from—he had inherited it from his mother. It was a source of wonder to her that Cesare had grown up surrounded by people with such sunny natures and yet contrived to retain his cold, unemotional attitude to life. Yet he was also careful to maintain a certain distance from his loving family, she conceded reflectively, wondering if he secretly feared that his family loving softness might dull his own ruthless cutting edge.
A couple of hours after that, Lizzie boarded Cesare’s private jet. Her feet, shod in spindly high heels, were killing her. Even the short walk through the airport had been too much and she collapsed into her leather upholstered seat and kicked off her shoes with intense relief.
‘You did very well today,’ Cesare pronounced, disconcerting her as he took his own seat opposite. ‘I don’t think anyone suspected the truth.’
‘Your father knows,’ she reminded him uncomfortably.
‘He’ll believe the truth for all of ten minutes. Give him a few weeks and he’ll persuade himself that we fell madly in love within hours of getting married,’ Cesare forecast with sardonic bite. ‘That’s the way Goffredo functions.’
‘You have a lovely family,’ Lizzie countered, colour springing into her cheeks. ‘Don’t be so critical. They love you very much and they aren’t afraid to show it.’
Cesare stiffened until he recalled his father-in-law’s behaviour throughout the day. Brian Whitaker had turned down the opportunity to make a speech, had kept to his own company in the midst of the crowd and had steadfastly managed not to smile even for the photographs. ‘Your father’s...different,’ he conceded quietly. ‘Not the demonstrative type.’
‘When my mother left him, it soured him on life,’ she muttered ruefully. ‘And life has been tough for him ever since. He’ll be more content living in the house he’s hoping to rent in the village. I think it will be a relief for him not to be looking out of windows at the farm and fretting about the jobs I’m not getting done.’
‘Isn’t it a relief for you as well?’ Cesare prompted, thinking of the long and gruelling hours of work she must have endured while she endeavoured to keep the farm going without help.
Lizzie compressed her lips and frowned reflectively. ‘From dawn to dusk I worried about everything and anything and I’m not sorry to be free of that stress. The bank threatening to withdraw the loan was our biggest fear but then the rent was raised...and, that was a body blow, totally the last straw,’ she confided honestly. ‘That was followed by Chrissie announcing that she was going to drop out of uni and come home because we were having such a struggle. I couldn’t let that happen. She needed to get her education.’
Cesare was listening intently. ‘So that’s why you suddenly changed your mind and agreed to marry me?’ he breathed in a tone of disconcertion. ‘I had no idea that you were under that much financial and emotional pressure.’
‘But you said you knew our situation,’ she reminded him in surprise. ‘I assumed you’d used a private investigator to check us out before you came to visit.’
Level dark eyes gazed back at her, a frown line pleating his ebony brows. ‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t know about the bank loan, the rent rise or your sister’s plans to drop out. I only knew about your father’s ill health and that you were trying to keep the farm afloat on your own.’
‘Well, you know the whole story now,’ Lizzie commented mildly. ‘I was ready to sell my soul for thirty pieces of silver.’
‘No,’ Cesare contradicted, his sibilant Italian accent vibrating in the silence to send a current of awareness travelling down her slender spine. ‘You were desperate to protect your family, regardless of what it might cost you personally. That’s loyalty and I admire that trait.’
As
