The Husband Fund

Luc gave a careless shrug of his broad shoulders. “I’m afraid a trip for me is out of the question. I’m due at the hospital in the morning for a procedure on my knee. For the next week I’ll have to stay off it except to do some exercises and water therapy.”

“Perfect!” she blurted excitedly. “The Piccione is pure luxury. You can recuperate on it at your leisure while I enjoy myself. The first mate also acts as steward, so he can wait on you. Call Fabio right now! Tell him I want the same itinerary Greer planned for us before.”

“He’ll be booked solid for August,” Luc declared as if the final word had been spoken. But Olivia wasn’t about to let him wriggle out of this.

“Even if he is, there are accommodations for six guests aboard the catamaran. Probably not all the bedrooms are taken. If you don’t want to phone him and arrange it, I will. He knows you owe me, and he won’t turn me down.” After a slight pause, “Even if Cesar wanted to come after me, he wouldn’t relish being confined with a boatload of tourists in such close quarters.”

She’d thrown out that last salvo for leverage, but nothing seemed to be working. Just when she thought they’d reached gridlock, he surprised her by wheeling around to reach for his cane lying in the middle of the foyer. He must have tripped on it answering the door, which would account for his cursing earlier.

Though he didn’t ask her to follow him, she assumed he wouldn’t have left the door open if he’d expected her to remain on the porch.

Consumed by curiosity to see his home, she trailed after him with her suitcase, noticing his limp was barely noticeable anymore. The minute she stepped over the threshold, she was enchanted.

This was real French country with a mix of period furniture. The authentic kind of fabulous treasures belonging to a man with a royal heritage.

Alcoves, beamed ceilings, inlaid parquet floors, hand-carved furniture, flowers in copper pots, wrought iron fixtures, books, paintings. Sheer elegance that could only be created and enjoyed by someone of Luc’s aristocratic status.

Once again Olivia was reminded that Luc’s father was a duc, and his mother a Varano who was one of the direct descendents of the House of Parma-Bourbon in Italy.

Greer was now married to Max, the son of the Duc of Parma-Bourbon. After their honeymoon, she would be living with her husband in Colorno, a town near Parma, in an Italian villa so fantastic, words failed Olivia.

They failed her now. She looked around in wonder as they passed through to a study off the entrance hall where a stairway of hand-painted Provence tiles rose in a graceful curve to the second floor.

Surely Luc employed staff to keep the villa in such perfect condition, but she could see no sign of them right now.

After being in the hot sun most of the day, his house felt blessedly cool to Olivia. Since he was ignoring her, she entered his inner sanctum without being asked, and sank down in one of two fat Louis XV chairs upholstered in a fabric with the Falcon crest.

Luc moved around his huge oak desk with an ancient porcelain clock placed on top. What a striking contrast to see the master of this small palace of a villa dressed in nothing more than a pair of well-worn cutoffs.

Still standing, he reached for the house phone. Before long she heard him say, “Ciao, Fabio.” The next thing she knew he was speaking fluent Italian.

The multilingual Varano cousins were close as brothers and exceptional men in their own right. More than ever Olivia was determined to get Luc to fall in love with her. She was so crazy about him she would do whatever it took.

Olivia wasn’t under any delusion that Luc wanted to be with her. On the contrary. The fact that he was trying to arrange a trip with Fabio only proved he would do anything to save Cesar from her clutches.

The situation couldn’t be working out better.

Please make it happen, Fabio.

“I wish I could accommodate you, Luc, but the boat is fully chartered for August. There’s one bedroom left for you if you were to join us in Monterosso on Tuesday. Signorina Duchess could use it until Saturday. You could have my berth in the crew’s quarters and I could sleep on deck.”

“You’re a good friend, Fabio, but I would never ask such a favor of you.”

While they were talking, Luc kept his eye on Olivia, wondering what in the devil she was really up to. He’d learned not to trust one word that came out of that treacherously beautiful mouth of hers. However he didn’t believe that even she would lie about Cesar’s intention to give her an engagement ring.

Life hadn’t been the same since the Duchess triplets had exploded into Luc’s world with the force of a colliding meteor. They’d done the unexpected at every turn, driving him and his cousins crazy.

But because Cesar had entered into this latest equation, Luc had been hesitant to shut the door on her half an hour ago and leave her to her own cunning devices.

“I wish I could help you,” Fabio murmured, “but the other charter companies in the Cinq Terre region are as busy as I am. If I had more time, and you didn’t need a luxury craft, I could probably arrange something for you.”

A luxury craft…

Luc’s thoughts shot ahead. “What about your friend, Giovanni? Does he still have that old sailboat?”

“Of course, but it needs a paint and has no sail at the moment.”

That was even better. “Would he let me use it? I’ll pay him what the Duchess triplets paid you.”

“You mean just to putt around Vernazza’s bay while you do a little fishing? You must be joking! Twelve thousand dollars is more money than he makes in five months at the trattoria in Vernazza.

“He’ll be overjoyed to let you borrow it for as long as you want, but I seriously doubt Signorina Duchess will step foot on it. She paid for a luxury boat to take her as far as the Spanish Riviera, and she expects a crew to wait on her.”

A diabolical smile broke the corners of Luc’s mouth. When she found out she was the designated crew who had to do all the work, that spoiled, mercenary, scheming female would leave Vernazza on the first train out of there.

If Cesar wanted her so much, he’d have to go after her. As for Luc, she’d be out of his life forever. By tomorrow afternoon, he’d be liberated. In a week he’d be able to drive a car again, and life would get back to normal as he knew it before the advent of the Duchess sisters.

It didn’t matter that his skiing days were over. The alpine sport he’d enjoyed from childhood was now a thing of the past. But because of modern medical science, he’d be able to walk again without the assistance of a cane. When the week was up, he’d celebrate by burning it.

“Luc? Are you still there?”

“Forgive me, Fabio. I was distracted for a moment. To answer your question, Signorina Duchess won’t have a choice if she wants to get in a Mediterranean trip before she flies back to New York. If you’ll give me Giovanni’s phone number, I’ll call him and see if he’s willing to let me use it starting tomorrow. I know this is short notice.”

“No problem. I’ll take care of everything, Luc. You can consider it a fait accompli. The Gabbiano will be waiting for you at the Vernazza dock.”

“Excellent. Grazie, Fabio. Ciao.” Mademoiselle Olivier was in for the surprise of her life!

The second he hung up, his gaze locked with a pair of flame-blue eyes.

“Well?” she prodded. “What did Signore Moretti have to say?”

“He told me to tell you that for the Duchess of Kingston, he would move heaven and earth to accommodate you.”

“I knew Fabio would pull through! But the next time you talk to him, tell him I like heaven and earth right where they are. All I’m asking is to go on the vacation Daddy paid for.”

Ah yes. The famous Husband Fund. Who could forget? It proved that truth was stranger than fiction.

According to Max, the Duchess sisters had come to Europe the first time around on the money their father had willed to them, money he called the “Husband Fund.” They could only use it to try to snag a husband.

Absurd and ridiculous as the plan had sounded, it had worked. Greer Duchess was now Signora di Varano, with Max her blissful groom.

Both Luc and Nic had been stunned by the way their cousin had run to his own wedding with such eagerness. In fact he’d gotten engaged to Greer four days after meeting her, which had to be some kind of record.

Luc studied her for a moment. “It seems you’re going to get your wish. The boat will be ready for us tomorrow.”

“But you said you have to go to the hospital in the morning. Won’t you need a day of rest first?”

What was she playing at now, feigning concern. “I thought the main point of this exercise was to remove you from Cesar’s grasp as soon as possible.”

“Well of course it is, but not at the expense of your leg.”

“I had no idea you cared.”

From their first meeting, Olivia had seemed to take particular delight in mocking him over anything to do with his injury. Her last taunt about his not being able to get in Cesar’s race car, let alone drive it, still rankled. Being prohibited from driving for the last seven months had served as its own prison.

“Of course I care,” she blurted. “You are a human being, even if you don’t display the normal set of emotions. Cesar told me you were into robotics engineering. How very apropos.”

“I’m glad we understand each other.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

“You’re going to have to fetch and carry for me.”

“The Piccione is a luxury boat. The crew will help you. I’ll be too busy swimming.”

“You mean fishing for men.”

“That’s right. I understand from Cesar that the Prince of Monaco is scuba diving off the coast of Ischia at the moment. His mother was an American. We would have a lot in common. I’m going to tell the captain to set sail for Ischia as soon as we leave port.”

“You do that.”

“I will!” She tossed her head before wandering over to the window to look out at the view. The gesture brought attention to her cap of gleaming gold curls which was a new hairstyle for her. Over six weeks ago when they’d first met, she’d been wearing it longer.

Short like this, it brought out the classic mold of her facial features. Her eyes looked larger than ever.

Luc found himself looking forward to tomorrow when she discovered that she and the steward were one in the same person.

It was hard to believe that only an hour ago Luc had assumed his younger brother had already whisked her off to the Amalfi Coast where the family had a small villa above Positano. It sat high on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, one of Cesar’s favorite haunts to take his flavor of the month.

When Luc thought of Olivia standing near the altar in some filmy white bridesmaid concoction where she’d caught the golden light from the stained glass windows pouring into the chapel, the image of luscious, succulent golden peaches in rich crème came to mind.

Definitely an enticing taste treat. Cesar could be forgiven for not being able to take his eyes off her during the ceremony.

Since Luc had been the one to introduce her to his brother, he shouldn’t have been surprised she would take one look at Cesar and go after him with a vengeance. The ultimate playboy with a title. Just what she’d come to Europe for.

Watching a laughing Olivia drive away from the Varano estate in the Ferrari with Cesar after the wedding was a case in point.

Now she was pretending to run away from his brother, but it was a ploy to sink her hooks deeper until he was caught. Unfortunately she’d come to the wrong man for help. No way was Luc going to allow a treacherous opportunist like Olivia Duchess to succeed at her game, even if she and Cesar deserved each other…

Suddenly she wheeled around. “I don’t suppose there’ll be a real French chef on board this time.”

Luc pretended to look in his desk drawer for something. “Fabio employs various locals. I didn’t think to ask him which one. You should have taken advantage of my cooking when you had the chance.”

“Give me a break. I found out it was your parents’ chef who prepared the food before it was brought aboard the Piccione.”

He darted her a quick glance. “I concede to that happening on one occasion because I was otherwise occupied.”

“You mean you and your cousins were too busy playing undercover cop. How come you haven’t found your thief yet?”

“Give us a little more time and we will.”

Earlier in the day Nic had called Luc, asking him to fly to England. The police had stumbled across a new lead in the case of the family’s missing jewelry collection from the Colorno palace in Italy. One of the pieces had turned up at an auction in London. Nic wanted to discuss the new development with him.

Luc had been forced to turn him down because of his hospital visit in the morning, but after his week of recuperation was up, he promised to join Nic in Marbella, Spain, where he lived and they’d discuss new ideas to track down the culprits.

The disappointment in his cousin’s voice was understandable. Luc suspected his cousin was looking for an excuse to get together because, like Luc, he was feeling deserted now that the wedding was over. Their cousin Max, who’d been a best friend and brother to them, was now a married man.

“Luc? In case you hadn’t noticed, your phone’s ringing. From the sound of it, they’re not going to hang up. I would imagine it’s Cesar looking for me.

“The maid at your parents’ house had to give me your address and probably told him I was here. Maybe I should answer it. That way he’ll believe you’re the man I was referring to in my note. What do you think?”

Luc didn’t have to think. She obviously had Cesar eating out of her hand. “Be my guest.”

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