Lucy Gordon - Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

Teresa had just finished hanging her clothes up, and was preparing to take some away, to iron out the creases.

‘I’ll do that,’ Alex said, speaking Italian.

‘Oh, no!’ Teresa was shocked. ‘You are the mistress.’

‘Don’t let Rinaldo hear you say that,’ Alex muttered. ‘Otherwise he may murder me before I murder him.’

She couldn’t have explained the annoyance that possessed her. Rinaldo had behaved badly but, with Gino’s help, she’d gained the upper hand. The matter should be over.

But it wasn’t over while she remembered how he’d set out to take her off guard, and how thoroughly he’d succeeded.

He’d smiled and she’d responded, and in no time at all she’d succumbed to the spell he was weaving. She hadn’t even put up a good fight. The moment by the stream, the memories of her mother, even the sunset. He’d known just the right buttons to push, and she’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

That must have given him a laugh.

Pushing him firmly out of her head, she took a good look around the room and liked what she saw. It was out of another age, with dark oak furniture and a polished wooden floor. It had none of the modern conveniences of her bedroom at home, expensively designed and tailored to her exact specifications. But she loved it.

There was still some light outside, although it was fading fast. Driven by a sudden impulse, she slipped out of the door, down the stairs and outside.

After the heat of the day the air was blessedly cool and she stood drinking it in.

‘Are you still talking to me?’

She turned, laughing, at the sound of Gino’s voice.

‘You’re not the one I’m mad at,’ she told him. ‘Quite the reverse.’

‘That sounds hopeful.’

‘I mean that you helped me out. I really like the idea of staying here, but after the way your brother behaved, well-if you hadn’t done your going-down-on-one-knee act, I’d have had to leave, simply to make my point.’

‘It wasn’t an act,’ he said at once. ‘In my heart I’m always down on one knee to you.’

‘Stop your nonsense,’ she told him amiably, ‘or I’ll take you seriously, and then where would you be?’

‘In heaven! All right, I take it back if you don’t like it. Let me show you the stables. There’s a horse there that would just suit you.’

As they started to walk there was the sound of pattering from behind them, and the next moment Brutus wandered out, making for Alex.

‘Hey,’ she said, fondling his ears and trying to dodge his madly licking tongue. ‘All right, don’t eat me. All right, all right!’

She nuzzled him, burying her face pleasurably against his soft fur.

‘He was Maria’s,’ Gino said. ‘She brought him with her to the wedding, as a puppy. He’s very old now, but Rinaldo spends a fortune on keeping him alive and fit. He’s got arthritis, but as long as he has expensive injections every month, it’s kept at bay. I’ll swear he spends more on Brutus than he does on himself.’

Alex remembered how Rinaldo had driven the dog inside when she’d tried to make a fuss of him. She’d put it down to irritation, but now she saw the action in a new light; possessiveness about the only living creature that still reminded him of his wife.

But it had been years. How long could a man mourn?

Gino led her through the trees to where there was a long, low building, with cars parked in one section and horses housed in another.

Switching on the light, he led her into the stables where three animals looked at them curiously.

‘That big brute at the end is Rinaldo’s,’ Gino said, pointing to a fierce-looking horse. ‘This one is mine, and this third one is a kind of spare. I think you’d like him.’

He was a chesnut with mild eyes, and Alex did like him.

‘We’ll go out tomorrow,’ Gino said, ‘in the late afternoon, when we’re back from the funeral, and it’s cooler.’

As they left the stable he slipped an arm around her waist and drew her close, managing to drop a light kiss on her mouth.

‘Behave yourself,’ she said, escaping and running back to the house.

Laughing, he followed her, managing to catch up just by the porch lamp.

‘You’re a hard-hearted woman,’ he complained. ‘Or shall I go down on one knee again?’

‘Don’t be a fool,’ she said tenderly. ‘And let me go. It’s time I was in bed.’

His answer was too tighten his arms and steal another kiss, but he did it with such delicacy that she couldn’t be annoyed. He was like a playful puppy who only needed some affection to make him quiet again.

‘Alex,’ he murmured after a while, ‘Couldn’t we-?’

‘No, we couldn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘Now, that’s enough. I’m an engaged woman.’

‘But if you weren’t, you and I-’

‘I said that’s enough,’ she said, trying not to laugh.

‘Just one more kiss.’

He managed to sneak one before she got away and ran indoors. Gino took a deep breath of joy, throwing back his head so that when he opened his eyes he was looking directly at the moon. ‘Hm!’

The wry grunt from overhead made him turn and see his brother standing at an open window.

‘I suppose you saw everything?’ he asked.

‘Enough!’ Rinaldo growled.

‘She loves me. She loves me.’

‘Go to bed,’ Rinaldo said, shutting his window firmly.

Enrico’s funeral was scheduled for the next day at two o’clock in the great Duomo. His Florence relatives had insisted on that location as the only one suitable for a man of his prominence.

During the morning Rinaldo said to Alex, ‘I imagine you’ll wish to bring your luggage into town so that you can check back into the hotel.’

‘Now, why would I want to do that?’

‘I gathered you were only too anxious to depart.’

‘That was before Gino asked me so nicely to stay. I found his invitation irresistible.’

Her ironic tone left no doubt that this was a challenge. It provoked Rinaldo to say softly, ‘Do not play games with me.’

‘I’m not playing games. I’m accepting an invitation that you yourself were the first to issue. You do remember that, don’t you?’

He glowered without replying, and she sensed that this kind of duelling talk set him at a disadvantage. If he could have simply thrown her into the car he would have done so. As it was, they were now fighting on her terms.

‘You know, you might actually regret bringing me here,’ she mused, giving him a teasing smile.

‘I regret it already,’ he growled.

‘Is everything all right?’ Gino asked, appearing suddenly.

‘Everything’s fine,’ Alex assured him. ‘Rinaldo was just hoping that I’d had a good night, and would want to make a really long stay.’

‘And you know that’s what I want, too,’ Gino said, slipping an arm about her waist. ‘Promise that you’re going to stay.’

‘For as long as you want me,’ she assured him.

Rinaldo walked away without another word.

The three of them travelled to Florence. As they entered the Duomo heads turned towards them. She saw Montelli and the chagrined look that crossed his face at the sight of them together.

This was what Rinaldo had meant about keeping the others away. Alex smiled. Now she’d recovered from her annoyance she was almost grateful to him-almost, but not quite-for doing her a service.

At the reception afterwards her lawyer, Isidoro, approached her.

‘I’ve promised a dozen people that you’ll talk to them,’ he said.

‘Of course-later. Much later.’

‘But look-’

‘I told you, and you can tell them, the Farnese brothers have to have their chance first.’

He dropped his voice.

‘I saw them arrive with you, one each side like warders. Are they keeping you prisoner?’

Alex shook her head, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

‘Actually,’ she said, ‘it’s the other way around. I’ve got my own agenda.’

‘Do the Farneses know what it is?’

‘They think they do. Get rid of the vultures for me Isidoro. Tell them I’ll get round to them if and when it suits me.’

She would have escaped right then, but her cousins descended on her with eager protestations of affection. When Alex rejoined the brothers a few minutes later she was smiling.

‘What’s so funny?’ Rinaldo wanted to know.

‘They all invited me to dinner. I said yes, as long as I could bring the two of you.’ She chuckled. ‘That put them right off.’

A shout of laughter was surprised from Rinaldo.

‘We’ll go one better and invite them all ourselves,’ he suggested.

‘I couldn’t advise them to accept,’ Alex said. ‘I don’t know what you might put in the soup. Or then again-maybe I do.’

Rinaldo grinned at her. It had a touch of the conspirator.

GOING down to an early breakfast next morning Rinaldo found his brother standing at the landing window gazing out at something that was enjoying his full attention.

‘Any excuse not to start work,’ he said.

‘Well that is quite some excuse,’ Gino said, not taking his eyes from the figure running through the trees.

At first Rinaldo saw only a flash of scarlet. Then it resolved itself into a slim, perfectly honed female body, clad in tight-fitting scarlet shorts that smoothed their way over her hips almost down to her knees, gleaming with every movement she made.

Above a bare midriff she wore a matching scarlet sports bra that left no doubts as to the beauty of her figure.

This was Alex’s daily workout, and she was running with great intensity, her eyes fixed just ahead, breathing steadily and powerfully.

The brothers watched as she headed for the barn and went inside. After exchanging puzzled frowns they went downstairs and out in the direction of the barn.

They soon saw what had made her choose this place. Part of the barn was only one storey high, and the ceiling was crossed from side to side with wooden beams. To one of these Alex had attached hanging rings and was swinging along from one to the other hand over hand. A bale of hay just below showed how she had managed to launch herself up there.

Inch by inch she swung along the rings. At the end she turned and started the journey back, heading for the bale where she could land easily.

But then Gino was there, kicking the bale aside, reaching up to receive her.

‘Come on,’ he cried.

Alex took a deep breath and launched herself forward, landing in a pair of powerful hands.

But they were Rinaldo’s.

Somehow he had taken Gino’s place and was now holding her with his hands about her bare midriff, looking up at her with a face full of grim irony.

‘Oi!’ Gino protested. ‘No need to shove me out of the way like that.’

‘There was every need,’ Rinaldo said. ‘We haven’t got time for you two to fool around. This is a busy, working farm.’

‘But you had no right-’

‘Could you two have your private argument some other time?’ Alex demanded, incensed. ‘I’d like to get down.’

Rinaldo lowered her to the floor. After her exertions she was breathing hard and heat seemed to be pounding through her body.

‘Thank you,’ she gasped.

‘Do you intend to indulge in these antics very often?’ he asked politely.

‘I exercise every day. It keeps me fit.’

‘Working on the farm has the same effect,’ he observed drily. ‘You might find it interesting. In the meantime, if you intend to go on doing this, may I suggest you dress more modestly? I don’t want my workers distracted.’

He walked away without looking back, so he didn’t see Alex lunge after him, only restrained by Gino.

‘Save it,’ he said.

‘I’ll kill him!’ she muttered. ‘I’ll kill him!’

‘Nah! Fantasise about it like the rest of us do.’

‘What does he mean modestly?’

‘Well, you are quite an eyeful, and an armful.’

He wrapped his arms about her waist, making no effort to release her.

‘Well, you’d better let me go,’ she said grumpily. ‘It wouldn’t do for me to distract you.’

‘You distract me all the time,’ he said wistfully.

‘Gino!’ came a yell from outside.

‘Let’s kill him together,’ Gino muttered, releasing her, resignedly.

Before having breakfast Alex took a cool shower. She felt hot all through, deep down, intensely hot in a way that no water could soothe. The feeling had been there since Rinaldo’s hands had encircled her waist, holding her against him.

Perhaps it was lucky, she thought, that Gino had not caught her. He would certainly have turned that intimate moment into a kiss.

But Rinaldo had been completely unmoved.

She rubbed soap over the place, feeling again the pressure of his fingers, and the warmth going through her in endless waves. She turned the water onto cold, and let it lave her again and again, hoping for the feeling to go.