The Husband Fund

“Besides, what are you complaining about? Your dream came true when Cesar whisked you off to Monza for the last three days. I thought you were crazy about him. At least that’s what you told Fred.”

Conscience made Olivia bite her lip. “I had to tell Fred something that would help him retain his pride. If I’d been truthful and said I couldn’t picture him as my husband, it would have hurt him a lot more.”

“Okay… I can buy that, but what about Cesar?”

“He’s a friend. Even if he weren’t, he’s spoken for.”

“By whom?”

“By the entire female population of Europe!”

“Yeah, well Greer already told you that.”

Olivia ground her teeth. “Greer doesn’t know everything.”

“Yes, she does.”

“She didn’t know we talked Daddy into setting up that phony Husband Fund that brought us to Europe in the first place.”

After a moment of quiet, “That’s true. It’s probably the only secret we ever kept from her.”

“Yup. And it worked!” A satisfied smile broke out on Olivia’s face. “We finally got her married off. Now we can do what we want, and I want to go on the vacation that never happened. Don’t you?”

“Maybe one day. At the moment we’ve got a calendar business to run.”

“Has Signore Tozzeti decided if he wants to take us on as a client?”

“Not yet. He says there are a few other people in his company he needs to talk to, but they’re on vacation, so he won’t be able to get back to us for a while.”

“Great.”

“That’s why we’ve got to go home and see about enlarging the market there. Otherwise we’re not going to be able to pay the rent. We need to do it now!”

“You sound just like Greer!”

Greer was the oldest triplet by a matter of minutes. Yet Olivia, who’d been born last with Piper in the middle, had always been dominated by Greer, their natural born leader.

Over the years she had made the decisions about everything, whether Olivia or Piper liked them or not. For the first time ever, Olivia could do what she wanted without having to hear Greer’s opinion.

“With Greer gone, someone needs to talk sense into you. What’s the real reason you want to stay? You and Luc looked like mortal enemies after the wedding ceremony, so I don’t understand why you would dare confront him again—oh, no—tell me it isn’t true.”

“What?”

“Tell me you haven’t fallen for Luc de Falcon—”

Her cheeks turned to flame.

“Olivia? You can’t!”

“What do you mean, I can’t?”

“Because you just can’t, that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Think of Greer.”

“That’s all I’ve ever done. We’ve had to do everything her way because she always took charge. Now she’s married, I want to think about moi for a change.”

“Then you need to think again because Luc is Max’s first cousin.”

“So?”

“So, Greer married Max, and Luc has become her family, too. You can’t horn in!”

“Excuse me?”

“Look, Olivia. She’s found her heart’s desire in Max. This is her world, her turf. We need to leave well enough alone.”

“It’s a free country,” she retorted.

“No, it’s not, and you know exactly what I mean.” Olivia did know, but she didn’t like Piper reminding her. “Greer needs time to make a new life with Max. He married a triplet, and don’t think he isn’t worried about it!

“At the wedding feast he didn’t make that crack about the three of us being joined at the hip, heart and brain for nothing. We have to help Greer cut the apron strings, which means we need to back off and give our sister her space.”

“Luc lives in Monaco, not Colorno, Italy.”

“That’s not the point. The cousins are super close. Besides, it just wouldn’t work for you to get involved with Luc, even if he were interested, which he…isn’t.”

The slight hesitation before the last word set off alarm bells inside Olivia. “How do you know?”

“Because…I just do.”

“What do you know that I don’t?” she fired.

“More than you want to hear.”

She blinked. “How come?”

“Because it might hurt you.”

Hurt? “You mean you’re not going to tell me?”

“No. I promised someone I wouldn’t,” Piper’s voice trailed.

“I see.” She slid off the side of the bed and stood up. “Well in that case I plan to proceed as if you hadn’t warned me. With a little hard work I’ll make him change his mind.”

“You’ll be playing with fire.”

“Then that’s my problem isn’t it.”

“Don’t snap at me, Olivia. I know you’re feeling as lost without Greer as I am. You simply don’t want to admit it.”

She tossed her head back. “I admit it feels strange to be two-thirds of a whole. In time I trust we’ll both get over it.”

“Until we do, please come home with me.”

“Not yet, Piper.”

“Listen to me. You don’t mess with a man like Luc. In more ways than one he’s a different breed from anyone you’ve ever known. Besides, and this is probably the most important point, he has the distinction of being the only male who never fell under your spell. You can’t win them all, Olivia. Trust me on this.”

“Are you through, Greer?”

“That wasn’t very nice,” Piper came back in a quiet voice.

Olivia clutched the phone tighter. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m tired of people telling me what to do.”

“Translated you mean, Greer and me.”

Since the answer was obvious, Olivia didn’t say anything.

“Whatever happened to all for one, and one for all?”

“There’s no more all.” She prided herself on keeping a steady voice.

“You and I have each other. I don’t want to see you in any more pain. It’s been hard enough on us to lose Daddy.”

At the mention of their father who’d died in April, Olivia’s eyes smarted. “I don’t intend to stay in pain. My plan is foolproof.”

There was a long, resigned silence. “What is it exactly you’re intending to do?”

“Get him to propose, at which time I will say yes.”

“Not that again! Luc already knows about the Husband Fund scheme, so it won’t work on him.”

“Yes, it will. He thinks I’m interested in Cesar, so he’ll jump at the chance to save his brother from a fate worse than death by taking me on Fabio’s boat. While we’re basking in the sun, I’ll find ways to thaw out his heart until he’s unable to resist me. By the time we dock at Vernazza, he’ll have proposed.”

“You’ll never break him down, Olivia.”

She clutched the phone tighter. “Want to bet?”

After a pause, “I don’t bet when I already know the outcome. I repeat. You’ll live to regret this.” Piper’s voice sounded like Greer’s at her most prophetic. “Come home with me and we’ll find you a nice American guy to date.”

“After Fred, no thank you.”

“Not like Fred. Europe doesn’t have the monopoly on exciting men.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’ve already met the man I want for my husband, Piper. There’s no talking me out of it.”

“You think he’s hurt you now…you just wait!”

Olivia refused to let the secret Piper was withholding about Luc get to her. “We’ll see.”

“It’s your funeral, but whatever happens, call me tomorrow. I have to know where you are and where I can reach you or I won’t have any peace. I should be in Kingston by noon at the latest.”

“I promise to phone,” Olivia vowed. “Have a safe flight. I’m glad Tom will be there to meet you. Be sure he takes a look around the apartment for you first.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Now Olivia was doing what she’d accused Piper of doing—telling her what to do. Running her life. “Okay, I won’t. Talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

After Olivia hung up, she sat down to write a letter to Cesar. She needed to couch her words carefully.

“Dear cousin-in-law,” she began. Once she’d explained that her heart belonged to another, she thanked him profusely for the wonderful time he’d shown her, thanked him for his kindness and generosity and praised him for his latest win.

“May all your wins in the coming years be as successful. I remain your friend and greatest fan from the U.S. Olivia Duchess.”

Pleased with her message, she sealed it in the envelope and took it downstairs to leave with the concierge.

“I don’t know when Monsieur Villon will come back to the hotel to check out, but as soon as he does, will you make certain he gets this?”

“Si, signorina.”

“Grazie.”

After paying her bill, she carried her suitcase outside to the limo. The hotel provided transportation to the airport. Hopefully she was leaving soon enough to avoid the mass of tourists who probably wouldn’t jam the terminal until tomorrow after a night of nonstop partying.

Once she reached Nice, she would take a taxi to the Falcon Villa in Monaco and surprise Luc. If her plan was going to work, it was imperative she catch him off guard. Forewarned and he might disappear on her. She couldn’t let that happen.

CHAPTER TWO

“PLEASE wait for me.”

The chauffeur de taxi nodded while Olivia approached the front door of the villa. It was seven-thirty on a hot August evening. She could still feel the heat rising from the street.

A maid answered. She recognized Olivia from her previous visit in June. When Olivia asked if she could see Luc, the other woman explained he didn’t live there with his parents, yet Olivia distinctly remembered Luc claiming that he did!

Cross because it had been a deliberate ploy on his part to keep his private life private, she was forced to ask the maid where to find him. She learned he had his own home, the Mas de Falcon. Olivia wasn’t familiar with the word.

The maid wrote down the address for her. Olivia thanked her, then gave it to the taxi driver. He nodded and they took off once more, heading for the region above the city.

In a few minutes they drove down a private road that opened up into a charming courtyard filled with pots of flowers. There she discovered an exquisite pale pink, two-story villa with light blue shutters at all the windows. Apparently this was the back of the house.

Like an eagle’s eyrie, the mas sat perched on a hill overlooking Monaco-Ville. The view would be magnificent.

In front of the garage at the side of the house were two vehicles: a truck that had to be several years old, and a black sports car. Hopefully that meant Luc was home, but she wouldn’t know until she rang the doorbell.

Assuming he employed staff who could call another taxi for her in case he wasn’t there, she paid the driver, then waved him off.

Determined as she’d ever been in her life, she walked up to the back entrance with her suitcase. “Be home, Luc.”

With her heart pounding out of rhythm, she pushed the buzzer and waited. When there was no answer, she rang again.

On the third try, she heard noise like someone swearing. Shivering a little, she was glad she didn’t understand French.

Then the door opened to reveal Luc himself, dressed in low-slung cutoff jeans and nothing else. Though she could see scarring on the shin bone of his leg beneath the knee, he looked so blatantly male with the dusting of black hair on his well cut chest and physique, she couldn’t think or talk.

In that dizzying moment, she didn’t notice that his mouth had formed a white line of anger. Not until her eyes wandered helplessly up his hard-muscled body to his striking face.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” Despite the anger in that low, grating voice, she loved his French accent when he spoke English.

“What are you doing answering the door without your cane?” Olivia fired back. She wasn’t about to be intimidated by him. “You don’t have to prove how macho you are in front of people, especially me. We’re family now,” she added just to irritate him.

His hands went to his hips, a gesture that emphasized his total masculinity. “Is that your unsubtle way of telling me you and Cesar ran off and got married after the race?”

She laughed. “Wouldn’t you hate it if I said yes, thereby proving that I’m the ultimate groupie who was out for everything I could get from your brother, and did!”

His silvery eyes had narrowed to slits. “Why are you here?”

“What?” Her expressive brows lifted in question. “Not even a ‘won’t you come in and make yourself comfortable’?”

“You’re not an invited guest.”

“Not even when we’re related through marriage?”

He stiffened. “Whatever it is you have to say, make it fast. I’m in a hurry.”

“Is that why you were cursing on your way to the door?” she taunted him with relish. “If you don’t have the time to be civil to me right now, I’ll be happy to wait.”

If looks could kill… “Then you’ll have a long one because I’m on my way out and don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“That’s no problem. I’ll go with you and keep you company. As you can see, I brought my suitcase with me so I’m ready to travel.”

He rubbed his chest in a motion he probably wasn’t aware of. The fact that his first cousin Max was married to her sister was undoubtedly the only reason he hadn’t slammed the door in her face yet.

“What’s this all about?” Talk about a forbidding tone—

Standing her ground she said, “The trip my sisters and I never went on of course! The trip you and your cousins ruined for us. The trip that cost us over twenty thousand dollars after the bills we incurred by being forced to buy new bikes to try to get away from you.

“Shall I count the ways you destroyed the dream?” Her fingers started to tick everything off. “First, Max had us detained by the police in Genoa the second we got off the plane, then he stalked us while we walked around Portofino.

“After that, he inveigled you and Nic to take over as the crew aboard the Piccione. At that point the three of you sabotaged our itinerary, stole the family pendants our parents gave us on our sixteenth birthday, threw us in jail, prevented us from boarding a plane home and then forced us to show up at your family’s villa to help draw out the real jewel thief.

“The thief you didn’t catch by the way!” she mocked. “All this because you thought we’d stolen an identical pendant from the palace, which we didn’t!”

Her fists went to her waist, drawing his piercing gaze to the curves beneath the leaf green cotton dress molding her body. “You were totally unfair to us, and now I’m here to collect. Since Max is on his honeymoon, and Nic left for London after the wedding, that leaves you to pay up.

“You owe me, Luc! So I’ve arrived to inform you that you’re taking me for a ten-day trip on the Piccione before I go back to New York.”

He shifted his weight, a sign his leg was probably bothering him. “You make a compelling case, but I don’t buy any of it. Why don’t you try telling me the truth for a change. What’s the real reason you’ve come to my home on a Sunday night, uninvited? Where’s Cesar?”

“I haven’t a clue. Well, that’s not exactly true. The last time I saw him, he was at the winner’s podium kissing one beautiful groupie after another, having the time of his life.”

For just a moment she thought she saw a shadow cross over his face, but maybe it was a light plane passing overhead, hiding the rays of a setting sun for a moment. Then he smirked. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t you take the competition?”

“That question doesn’t deserve an answer. The truth is, I had other things on my mind. Remember the Husband Fund?”

“What about it?” he practically snapped.

“I’m afraid I may have hooked the wrong playboy without meaning to, and I need an out.”

“Which playboy would that be? There’ve been so many.” His insulting remark was meant to sting. Well, she would sting him back!

“Cesar,” she admitted.

Luc eyed her with disdain. “I don’t see him anywhere around. Now you’ll have to excuse me.” He started to close the door.

“Last night he said something about buying me an engagement ring after the race.”

She’d purposely slipped in that last tidbit before he could shut her out completely. Olivia was a hundred percent sure Cesar had been joking, but Luc didn’t know that.

“I left Monza as soon as it was over and came straight here.”

To her satisfaction she didn’t hear the click that would have severed all contact. The door opened wider again. A stillness had stolen over Luc.

“He asked you to marry him?” his voice grated with incredulity.

Her instincts had been right. The idea of her becoming Luc’s sister-in-law was so repugnant to him, he was caught in a vise.

“Isn’t that what an engagement ring means? Or is your younger brother in the habit of promising one to every groupie he fancies without any intention of delivering…”

He raked a hand through his vibrant black hair, a gesture that indicated the news had disturbed him. Good. She hoped his concern to protect his brother from a predator like herself was great enough to agree to her plan.

“What kind of game are you playing with him?” came the voice of ice.

“Game?” She feigned innocence. “I admit it was exciting to be wined and dined by him for a little while. Fred got me interested in Formula I racing and I followed Cesar’s success for a long time before we ever met.

“Meeting your brother was a great thrill. He’s a wonderful man, and he’s done everything to show me a fantastic time, but—”

“But all along it’s been dull, boring Fred you wanted, and now you’re afraid to tell Cesar?” She felt his question like the tip of a whip against her skin.

“No,” she came back, intrigued to discover he’d remembered an offhand comment she’d made about Fred in his hearing. “I ended it with Fred before I flew here for Greer’s wedding.”

“How many dead bodies are lying around in that colorful past of yours?” he muttered in an acerbic tone. The wounds were growing.

“My past is none of your business, but Cesar is.”

A nerve ticked at the corner of his sensual mouth. “Go on!”

“Well…Cesar knows I’m not seeing Fred anymore. So he’s not going to believe there’s another man in my life, and he would be right. But that’s not what I told him in the note I left for him at the hotel in Monza.”

“That was like waving a red flag,” Luc drawled with contempt.

“I thought I was being polite,” Olivia asserted. “After the race I went back to the Accademia in a taxi and dashed off a letter before checking out. It was a combination goodbye–thank you note.

“I left it with the concierge to give to him when he came in. In it I explained that my heart belonged to another, but I wished him success in the future. Since Cesar is aware that other person isn’t Fred, I’m afraid I’ve painted myself into a corner, and now I need help.”

Lines marred his features. “You should have thought of that before you went to bed with him.”

“The Duchess girls don’t sleep around!”

“That’s an interesting fairy tale.”

She bridled. “Cesar said the same thing, so I told him to ask Max when he gets back from his honeymoon if he doesn’t believe me. Theirs was a white wedding. Why do you think they got married so fast?”

He folded his arms. “Why are you digressing? If I’m to be of assistance to you, you have to tell me exactly how far things have progressed between you two. The truth this time.”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you, so why should I bother.”

“You’re still avoiding answering my question,” Luc reminded her testily. “I can assure I’m not asking out of a prurient desire to know the intimate details, just the facts. But if you don’t want my help after all…” He was a breath away from shutting the door on her.

She had to tamp down her euphoria. Obviously the thought of his brother marrying her disgusted him enough to listen.

“After the way you spoke to me at the wedding, do you honestly think I would darken your doorstep if I didn’t?” she challenged.

A war was waging inside him. She knew it by the tautness of his Gallic features. “I repeat. How far did you go to accomplish what no other groupie has managed to do?” he persisted.

“I didn’t have to do anything. He’s the one who kissed me outside my hotel room before I told him I had to go in.”

“And you expect me to believe he did all the work?”

Her brows knit together. “Why do you have to know that?”

“So you did respond,” he muttered, “which means he’ll believe you were being a provocative tease.”

She gave him a vexed look. “I couldn’t help but respond a little bit. Your brother’s the stuff a woman’s dreams are made of. But the truth is, I have no interest in being his wife. For one thing, he won’t make a good husband until his racing days are over. I’ve a feeling that day won’t come for years yet.”

“So you’re still spouse hunting in Riviera waters?”

“I would be if you and your cousins hadn’t robbed us of our trip! It’s only fair you make up for it now. Who knows? I might meet an exciting playboy with husband potential while I’m waterskiing or exploring some island.

“The point is, when Cesar finds out I’ve gone on a vacation with you, he’ll give up any idea he had about marriage to me.”

“Why is that?” His voice had taken on a darker tone.

“You don’t know?”

His face closed up. “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

“Since the first time I met Cesar, I’ve discovered you’re the only man in the world who intimidates him. You’re kind of like Greer incarnate.” Luc’s black brows furrowed. “You know—the oldest one in the family. The one who rules by divine right?”

“No, I didn’t know.” He looked like thunder.

“Well you wouldn’t! You don’t have to. You were just born in charge. The one who knows everything, even if you don’t!” She paused to catch her breath.

“Anyway, Cesar will think you must be the man who stole my heart after I came to the Riviera the first time. He wouldn’t dare come after me knowing I was under your protection, so to speak.”

Like the day she and her sisters dove off the Piccione into the warm blue water of the Mediterranean to get away from Luc and his cousins, Olivia’s impulsive nature had once again caused her to leap before she looked.

But this was serious business. The most serious of her existence.

It was Luc she loved with every fiber of her being. The longer he didn’t say anything, the more she realized that if he didn’t give her the right answer, she would be in permanent mourning.

His eyes looked dark in the fading light. “Nothing’s sacred to a woman like you, is it.” A woman like me? “Haven’t you realized by now you can’t play at life without paying too great a price?”

Those words were meant to debilitate her. They reminded her of Piper’s warning on the phone earlier in the day that Luc could hurt her if she let him.

She struggled for breath. “My parents raised my sisters and me to believe fairy tales do come true. I can’t help it if they were divinely happy and everything worked out for them.

“You have to admit the Husband Fund they set up managed to get Greer and Max together. I’ve never seen a more besotted couple.”

“You’re straying from the point again. It’s a bad tendency of yours.”

“No stronger than your tendency to ridicule everything,” she fired back. “Can you think of a better way to put your brother off so he gets the message without causing damage? He is Greer’s cousin-in-law through marriage. So are you of course.

“I don’t want to be the one responsible for some kind of rift in our families before they’ve even come home from their honeymoon.”

“You should have thought of that before you leaped into Cesar’s Ferrari.”

“You would have leaped too if you’d never been in one before. How many people will ever get the opportunity to drive in such a car with a world-class Formula I race car pro like your brother? It’s an experience not to be missed. But I’m forgetting this is a sensitive issue for you since you can’t drive.”

His eyes glittered dangerously.

“The sooner you phone Fabio Moretti and tell him I’m ready to go on my trip now, the trip you stole from me, the sooner we can leave Monaco where Cesar won’t be able to find me.”