Miss Foster’s Folly (29 page)
Read Miss Foster’s Folly Online
Authors: Alice Gaines
He went to her side and slid his arm around her. That got a chorus of laughter and coos of approval.
“I’m sorry, darling,” he said. “We didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”
He turned to the others and let loose a string of more words she couldn’t understand, and they all moved off again. Only one little girl of ten or so remained, untouched by the crush of humanity. She curtseyed and ran off after the others. Somehow, they’d swept Jack away, too, leaving Juliet alone with her groom.
“You won their hearts,” he said. “They love you, Julietta.”
Julietta? Her head swam. “David, who are those people?”
“The Italian side of the family. Or, some of them. Late, of course.”
“Are you Italian?”
“No, I’m English,” he said. “But I have Italian relatives.”
She stared at him, and suddenly, she could see him at La Scala. In a gondola in Venice. At the Colosseum. A Roman warrior.
Her Roman warrior. Fierce. Passionate. The ultimate lover.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your Italian side?”
“I did,” he answered. “I told you about Harry’s part of the family and that she lived in Italy. I told you her maiden name was D’Angelo.”
“I know you told me all that, but somehow, I didn’t realize how Italian
you
are…”
His brows knitted with worry. “Does it matter?”
“Of course, it matters.” She threw her arms around him, tossing herself against his chest. “It’s wonderful.”
“I’m glad that makes you happy.”
She pulled back. “You speak the language fluently.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time there.”
“But I can’t understand you.”
“Of course, you can’t, my darling. I have a
Piemontese
accent,” he answered. “You’ll pick it up fast enough when we visit.”
She whooped and hugged him again, tighter this time. As she looked out over the lush garden and all the people filling it and on to the gazebo in the distance, a cloud of joy settled over her. After everything—after all the dreaming, the waiting, the searching—in the end, she’d found her Italian lover.
Alice Gaines likes her romance sizziling. Although she reads—and writes—all kinds of stories, she most enjoys working in the Victorian era. Besides spinning tales in her head, Alice’s passions include vegetable gardening, the San Francisco 49ers, and America’s Test Kitchen.
Alice has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and lives in Oakland, California with her collection of neglected orchids and her pet corn snake, Casper.
Readers are welcome to follow her at www.alicegaines.blogspot.com or write to her at [email protected].
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9014-7
Copyright © 2010 by Alice Gaines
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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