To Catch a Groom (7 page)

“Good idea,” Greer said. “And we should all keep together so it looks like I’ll have to use clothes from one of your cases.”

“That’s fine. What about our passports and tickets?”

Greer had been thinking about that. “Leave them. We’ll line our bras with the twenty-dollar bills we brought with us. When we reach shore and tell the police what happened, our abductors will be hauled in and we’ll recover our stuff.

“But just in case something happens and we don’t get our belongings or pendants back, I’ll tuck mine inside my bra so we’ll have at least one heirloom left for posterity.”

“Good thinking, Greer.” Olivia walked over to the bas
kets. “Better eat some more fruit and chocolate to give us energy, guys. We’re going to need it.”

In twenty minutes they were fed, dressed and had worked out their strategy.

“Everybody ready with a life jacket?” Greer whispered. They didn’t plan to use them, but would take them topside so it looked like they were following the rules.

Her sisters nodded.

“Then let’s go. Play it cool.”

They couldn’t have asked for a more calm, blue sea. Enough of a breeze filled the sails for the boat to move without the help of the engines. Conditions were perfect to escape.

Once they dived overboard, the crew would have to take down the sails before starting up the engines to catch them. The girls planned to grab that window of opportunity to swim beyond their reach.

All three of their captors were on deck. The first mate stood next to the man named Luc who lounged against the cockpit’s exterior where his cane rested. No doubt they were both talking to the captain, relishing thoughts of the night ahead.

Greer turned her head in the other direction to smirk. Relish away all you want. It won’t do you any good.

Following Olivia’s lead, she and Piper purposely worked their way to the bow. To her joy the boat appeared to be making for a headland. Another fifteen minutes in the same direction and the girls would have no problem swimming the rest of the distance.

Using their life jackets for pillows, they stretched out to enjoy the sun. Though it was after seven o’clock, the rays still felt warm against their skin.

No sooner had Greer closed her eyes than she sensed the shark’s presence. A shark that could hunker down next
to her. A shark that smelled of the soap’s tang he’d used in the shower.

“What a tragedy you didn’t stay in the dining room long enough to enjoy the rack of lamb entré Luc prepared.”

She sucked in her breath. “We can’t eat fish, and didn’t realize he’d prepared anything else. I’m sure it made a tasty meal for you,” Greer murmured without opening her eyes.

“His cooking is always a treat. You disappointed him by not eating it. At the moment he’s very fragile.”

What tripe was the first mate feeding her now? “Why is that?”

“He was in a terrible accident and is lucky to still have both legs. In spite of his pain, he prepared a culinary masterpiece for you. The least you could do tonight before going to bed is ask one of your sisters to thank him for his trouble.”

You mean you want Piper or Olivia to join him in his bed and give him comfort. Good grief! The man was transparent. Talk about a ship of fools!

“Are you saying he’s one of those chefs who’s known to get volatile when he thinks he’s been slighted?”

“That’s the wrong choice of word, Greer. You and your sisters hurt him with their comments just now. Do you want that on your conscience, too?”

“Too—” she blurted.

“
Si, bellissima.
Your lips are to die for, but you stab me repeatedly in the heart with your rapier tongue.”

Greer didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. One minute he frightened her with his overpowering male charisma…the next minute he turned on an irresistible charm that reduced her bones to jelly.

She couldn’t keep up with him, and would probably have forgiven him anything if she hadn’t found out he was a thief.

“If that’s all you came over here to tell me, then I’d prefer to sunbathe alone.”

“We’re hardly alone, Greer, and with all those clothes on, there’s little of you exposed. Fortunately for me I have memories of last night when I saw much more of the flawless skin you’re wise to keep covered. Those images will keep the fire burning hot until tomorrow.”

An involuntary tremor rocked her body. “Tomorrow?”

“Um. The secret blue grotto I was telling you about is just outside San Remo, the next stop on your itinerary.”

“But you’re not following our itinerary.”

She peeped at him to see his reaction. For a split second she thought she glimpsed the blaze of raw desire in his eyes before his lids lowered like a shutter against a window.

“Until the Grand Prix is over, you will have difficulty avoiding the wall-to-wall bodies as you try to wade ashore at Monterosso. In fact with so many tourists, it will be impossible to see the Riviera di Levante and do it justice.

“Since you seem to have a particular liking for Dumas, I thought tonight you might like to visit the Villa dei Mulini, Napoleon’s retreat while he was in exile on the island of Elba.”

Elba.

Just the word conjured up a bygone age of history and enchantment she’d only read about in books.

Was he hoping the mention of Napoloen would cause her to divulge more information about her royal Italian heritage so he could find out if there were other pieces of jewelry for the taking?

“If you like, we’ll snorkel at nearby Isola Pianosa in the morning. Its sea bed lies in a preserved park no one can enter without advance permission. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful underwater sights in the world.”

Which underwater sight was he really talking about?
The one where he coaxed her into swimming au naturel with him? And afterward they would make wild, primitive love on some deserted beach beneath a hot sun?

Yes, she could imagine it all, in full Technicolor. If he weren’t a scoundrel, she had a feeling he could talk her into doing just about anything…

“After you’ve enjoyed brunch,” he went on chatting her up, “we’ll stop at Monte Cristo Island and look for buried treasure. Who knows what we’ll find?” he drawled in that seductive way that could only mean one thing to a predator like him. It sent a voluptuous shiver though her body.

“I know exactly what we’ll find,
signore
. I did my homework before we came to Italy. It’s nothing but a pile of desolate rocks that I have no desire to see. I prefer the humanity at Monterosso.”

“Inebriated humanity,” he came back quietly. “Tourists who have no idea they’re lying on a battlefield where an ancient Roman family fought against the invaders from Pisa. But if that is your wish…”

“It is.” On that note she turned on her side away from him.

Greer couldn’t believe it when she felt his lips against the smooth stem of her neck. She swallowed hard and stared anywhere except at him. He didn’t know the meaning of the word fair. The man had refined the art of going for the jugular.

If she continued to resist him, she wouldn’t put it past him or his lusty band of thieves to haul them off the boat to the castle and lock them inside while they made their getaway with the loot.

Not only would it be a much needed balm to their dented male egos, it would satisfy their idea of poetic justice for three upstart Americans who’d given them such a hard time.

Except for one brief moment of insanity when Greer had known rapture in his arms.

I have news for you, Max or whatever your real name is. You haven’t seen anything yet!

After a minute she lifted her head to meet her sisters’ glances. By the expression on their faces, they’d decided the town of Lerici, or whatever, was close enough to reach. Max had started to make his way back to his cousins; now was the time to carry out their plan.

Olivia gave the thumbs-up signal.

“All for one, one for all,” Piper whispered.

In a great lunge they bounded over the railing into the warm, blue water. Together they cleaved the gentle waves with swim-meet speed toward the shore.

Max entered the cockpit with a grimace. Nic flashed him a questioning glance. “What’s wrong now?”

“Contact the harbor police and tell them to have a cruiser waiting at the dock. Since nothing I’ve said or done has broken Greer down enough to give me information, perhaps the threat of the law will put the fear in her. I’m through playing games with the
signorine.
I want to know how they got those pendants,” he bit out moodily.

Nic had already started phoning when Max turned to Luc. “Keep a close eye on our precious cargo while I go below to find Greer’s pendant. Left unattended, I wouldn’t put it past our resourceful guests to grab the kayaks and take off.”

Luc frowned. “You think they’d go that far in order to get back to Monterosso?”

“Further.” Max chewed on the underside of his lip for a minute. “When was the last time you saw a stone cold sober female wearing the Duchesse pendant plunge headfirst into the pool of the Splendido with all her clothes on?”

A gruntlike sound came out of Luc. “Point taken.”

After Signorina Greer’s surprising display of passion in his arms a little while ago, Max had assumed he had her exactly where he wanted her. But it appeared he was mistaken. The enticing little vamp with the amethyst eyes had been playacting the whole time.

Filled with a negative surge of adrenaline because her performance was one he would never forget, Max left the cockpit first. His gaze flitted automatically to the bow before he stopped dead in his tracks. All he could see were three life jackets lying exactly where the women had left them.

Luc saw what Max saw and moved fast for a man with a cane. “The kayaks are still there. The women must have gone below for something. I’ll check.”

Perhaps Luc was right, but Max had already learned that the enigmatic Duchess triplets played the game of life by a totally different set of rules.

Following his gut instinct which was telling him something didn’t feel right, he retraced his steps to the cockpit where Nic was still on the phone. He grabbed the binoculars, stepped back outside and lifted them to his eyes.

Sure enough about a third of the distance from the boat to the shore he saw three heads of gold bobbing up and down in the water. They swam like a school of well trained dolphins. Surprise grabbed him by the throat to witness such a stunning sight.

He moved inside the cockpit once more. “Our guests have jumped overboard without their life jackets.”

“Madre de Dios!”

“Your concern is wasted on them. They can swim like fish and will reach the shore before long. Tell the police to draw alongside and pull them out pronto!”

Another minute and Luc appeared with three passports and airline tickets in hand. “You were right, Max. I should
never have underestimated them. Take a look at this!” He opened Greer’s jewelry case. It was empty.

As pure revelation poured through Max, his mouth thinned to a white line of anger.

“No one leaves a passport behind. Not unless they have an ‘in’ with someone high up in diplomatic circles who can help them.”

Nic’s gaze locked with his. “That would have to be our jewel thief. Someone operating in our family’s inner circle as a friend who happens to own a police commissioner or two?”

“Fausto Galli.”

“Why not? He was the one who called you in London to tell you three women had been detained at the airport wearing identical pendants.”

“Such irresistible bait in more ways than one,” Luc murmured.

Max sucked in his breath. There was little point in responding to Luc’s comment when it was a fact that needed no embellishment.

“That was their purpose, of course,” Nic concluded. “The whole thing has been a setup from the moment they made a reservation with Fabio.”

“You’re right. Their escape from the bow was no accident, either. Those women are powerful swimmers. I have no doubt they left the boat to meet a prearranged contact at Monterosso in order to hand over the pendant. Most likely someone handpicked by Galli.”

Luc nodded. “It makes perfect sense. The jewel thief plants the original and two fake pendants on the women to confuse everyone. Then he puts you on their trail so
you
will eventually catch them and put them behind bars.

“Everyone will be happy and think the case is closed. You’ll have your pendant back, Signore Galli will find a
way to get the Americans’ sentences reduced for good behavior, and in the meantime—”

“And in the meantime the real culprit keeps the rest of the family’s collection and is free to go on stealing more jewels without fear of suspicion,” Max finished for him. “Your reasoning makes an incredible amount of sense.

“Luc? Help me with the sails while Nic starts up the engines. On our way to the dock, I’ll make a call to Signore Galli and tell him that since the theft took place in Colorno, the situation is longer in his jurisdiction.”

“He’s not going to like that,” Nic warned.

“But there won’t be a thing in hell he can do about it. Especially when I inform him I’ve instructed the police commissioner in Emilia-Romagna to make arrangements for the Americans
and
the pendant to be transferred from the police boat to the jail in Colorno.”

“Better tell the commissioner to split up the triplets so they can’t plan another escape. Their minds think alike which makes them particularly dangerous.”

“I’m way ahead of you, Luc.”

Max’s eyes glittered as he studied his two cousins. “Let the Duchesses of Kingston get a taste of life in an Italian prison. It will give them an education they’ve been needing. Then we’ll deal with them in our own time, on our turf and in our own way.
Capisce?
”

Several deep chuckles ensued.

“Sooner…or later,” he drawled, “I’ll come up with a plea bargain they’ll have to accept. We’ll be able to flush out the thief masquerading as our family friend, and that will be the end of it.”

G
REER
looked through the bars of the cell at the over-weight prison guard. The commissioner in the main office had put him in charge of her.

“Is everyone around here crazy? The police were supposed to arrest those wretched jewel thieves out on that catamaran. Instead they arrested my sisters and
me.
”

“That is not my problem,
signorina
.”

Her hands formed fists. “In the United States every person arrested is allowed to make a phone call to their attorney. If you won’t let me use a phone, then
you
phone him for me. I left Mr. Carlson’s number with the commissioner. I’ll pay for it.”

Her four, twenty-dollar bills were sopping wet along with her clothes, but they were still considered legal tender.

“Everything in time,
signorina.
It’s midnight and no business can be conducted before morning.”

“I want to see my sisters.”

“That is not possible. Perhaps tomorrow.”

“I’d like to know where we are.”

“All in good time.”

“I demand to know why you’re keeping us here!”

“You women are always demanding something, as if this is a luxury hotel instead of a jail. The Duchesse pendant missing since last year was found around your neck. That should answer your question.”

Last year? “You mean there’s another one?”

“As if you didn’t know,
signorina.
”

“But I didn’t!
We
didn’t!” No wonder they were in trouble… “Listen—the one I was wearing was
mine!
”

“How did it come to be in your possession? Can you answer me that? Did it walk out of the museum at the Ducal palace on its own?”

“I’m trying to explain, and you’re being very rude,
signore.
”

“You were very rude to steal it.”

“How could I steal it when it was given to me by my parents?”

“And the Vatican City was given to me by mine.”

“Go ahead and be as nasty as you want. I’ve told you the truth.”

“So your
parents
stole it, is that what you’re saying? The House of Parma-Bourbon will be very interested to learn that piece of information.”

“That’s
not
what I’m saying. It was handed down in the Duchesse family from generation to generation until it was given to my father by his father!”

He threw back his balding head and laughed. “There is no Duchesse family,
signorina.
”

“If you’ll look at my passport, you’ll see my last name is Duchess, spelled the American way.”

“What passport? When the police pulled you out of the sea you did not have one on you.”

“We left them on the boat with our airline tickets because we expected to have them returned when the police caught the real jewel thieves!”

“You Americans love a joke.” He seemed to find everything she said hilarious and started down the dimly lit hallway.

“Wait! Come back! Please!”

“Buona notte, signorina.”

She heard a clank.

It was going to be a long night, and a damp one. The
police had supplied them a blanket which she still had wrapped around her. There was another one plus a sheet on the cot against the wall of the miniscule cell. No pillow. In the corner stood an old chamber pot.

Greer couldn’t believe it. If all the people arrested had to spend a night in a place like this, they’d probably think twice about ever committing a crime again.

The stuffy cell wasn’t cold or hot. Still, she felt so uncomfortable in her damp things, she decided to take everything off and wrap the sheet around her. Hopefully by morning her clothes would be dry.

Her poor leather sandals were ruined, but she wouldn’t complain. Not after the sign she once saw at the shoe repair which said, “I felt sorry for the man who had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.”

She had to be losing her mind to think about that at a time like this.

There was no place to hang anything, so she spread everything out on the cement floor including the damp blanket. After separating the money so it would dry out too, she lay down on the cot.

The lumpy mattress had to be made out of straw, but she was so exhausted it didn’t matter. She stretched out on her side using her arm for a pillow. Catching hold of the other blanket, she drew it over her head. No telling what crawly creatures she’d be spending the night with.

Missing her sisters horribly, she knocked on the wall the way she knocked on the front door at home to let them know she was there.

If one of them was lying on a cot on the other side of it, maybe they would hear her and answer back. But after five minutes of bruising her knuckles against the rough plaster, she gave up and closed her eyes.

Their plan to escape had gone without a flaw. It had seemed like destiny when the police cruiser came along
side them and the authorities offered to help them aboard. But then fate played a cruel joke. What happened next she didn’t want to think about.

After handing them a blanket, the police took them to the dock, then hauled them into a van without any windows and no explanation. They must have been on the road several hours, only to be dumped here, her pendant confiscated.

What a laugh Max must have had as he and his cohorts sailed away scot-free, possessors of two pendants, one of which might be the authentic piece.

Sorry, Daddy. You and Mother should never have left us money to “try” to find a husband. We’re no good in that department.

The men who want to marry us, we don’t want.

And the men we shouldn’t want…

The memory of a certain male mouth closing over hers took her breath. She pressed her sore knuckles against her lips, wishing she could drive away the ache that had never left her body since he’d first kissed her.

“Signore di Varano! This is a great pleasure.”

“Commissioner? Allow me to introduce my cousins, Lucien de Falcon and Nicolas de Pastrana. We’re here to interrogate the prisoners.”

“What a tragedy that sisters so beautiful have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.”

Max didn’t want to hear it. “Did you arrange their cells the way I instructed?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“How long have they been here?”

“Approximately two hours.”

“Good. Have they caused any problems?”

“Problems? No. The one with the violet eyes was dismayed to be shut up without knowing her crime. I must admit I was moved.”

Despite his frustration over their incredible disappearing act, Max had to struggle not to laugh. “Did you enlighten her?”

“Si.”

“How did she respond?”

“She protested her innocence. At that point they
all
protested their innocence and demanded to phone their attorney long distance. The one with the aqua eyes put a damp twenty dollar bill across my palm for a bribe.”

A sound bordering on a chuckle broke from Nic.

“The one with the flame-blue eyes informed me every prisoner in the United States is given a square meal their first night in jail and she was in need of one. It was very amusing as she clearly expected me to comply with her wishes. She, too, handed me a damp twenty-dollar bill.”

“Mademoiselle Olivier had her chance to eat earlier,” Luc declared in a cold tone, but Max noticed his cousin’s lips twitching.

The commissioner glanced at the three of them. “All in all, the
signorine
were well behaved. I have to admit I was surprised. They didn’t complain about not having a change of clothes or any makeup.”

Women that beautiful didn’t need makeup, but Max said something quite different to the commissioner. “That’s because these sisters happen to be professional thieves.”

“They must be to have carried off the jewelry collection without being detected. Per your instructions I ordered the guards to take them to different floors for the night where they’ve been put in isolation.”

“Excellent. May I have the pendant please.”

“Of course.” The commissioner opened the drawer of his desk. The police had put it in a bag they used for forensic evidence. He handed it to Max who put it in the pocket of his jeans.

Now that he possessed all three, he would have them examined by Signore Rossi who would know immediately which one was the genuine article.

“If you’ll inform the guards we’re ready to begin our questioning of the prisoners.” Three foreign beauties, alike in some ways, different in others. Intelligent, unpredictable. And all of them…criminals.

The commissioner nodded and picked up his phone to summon them. No longer smiling, Max told his cousins he’d meet up with them in an hour before they returned to the villa. The balding guard beckoned him down a hallway and through a door that had to be unlocked.

“She’s in the middle cell of that corridor where there aren’t any other prisoners.”

“Did she tell you anything you felt could be important?”

“Only that her parents gave her the pendant she was wearing, thereby admitting that they must have stolen it. Of course she said it had been passed down from generation to generation in the Duchesse family. I told her there was no such family.”

“I see. Thank you for the information. I’ll knock when I’m ready to leave.”

“Bene.”

In the shadowy light, the first thing Max noticed were her sandals set out to dry. Next to them lay her skirt, her top, then her underwear. His eyes traveled over each item neatly placed in a row down to the individual twenty-dollar bills. Four of them to be exact.

He was intrigued by the way her mind worked. How orderly she was. There was something essentially feminine about the arrangement. Very prim and proper, yet oddly forlorn because it represented all her worldly possessions.

When his gaze discovered her body cocooned in a
prison blanket and huddled against the cell wall on the narrow, insubstantial cot, he experienced a strange tightness in his chest.

But the possibility that she’d heard voices when the guard opened the outer door and she was only pretending to sleep, hardened his resolve to vet her.

“
Signorina?
Come! Wake up!” He rapped on the bars.

She stirred and rolled toward him, still covered in the blanket. “Are you going to let me make my phone call now?” By the sound of her voice, she was still half-asleep.

“To whom?”

“Walter Carlson.”

“Who is he?”

“My father’s attorney.”

“Why not phone your father?”

“I can’t, he’s dead.”

Max blinked. His experience in the courtroom questioning hostile witnesses led him to believe she was telling the truth.

“Where does this attorney live?”

“In Kingston, New York. He’ll vouch for my sisters and me.”

“He’ll have to do a lot more than that,
signorina.
You’ve passed yourself off as a relative of the House of Parma-Bourbon, and you’re in possession of the stolen Duchesse pendant. All of which constitutes a major crime against the Duchy of Parma. I’m afraid you’re facing a stiff prison term.”

Greer had heard that distinctive male voice before. Her eyelids fluttered open. She sat up so fast, the blanket slipped to the floor.

In the semidarkness she could see the first mate’s powerful physique standing in the hall outside her cell. More, she could feel those eyes of black flame scrutinizing her, scorching whatever part of her skin the sheet didn’t cover.

With her heart tripping all over the place, she clutched the scratchy material to her neck. “You have your nerve coming here when
you’re
the one who should be behind bars,
signore.
”

“I’m afraid I wasn’t the one caught wearing the pendant around my neck when the police plucked you and your sisters from the sea.”

“But you stole the other two pendants, so don’t bother denying it!”

“I had no intention of doing so.”

The man was amoral.

“How did you get in here? No—don’t bother to answer that question. You’re all so corrupt there’s no point.”

“All?” His demand came out sounding like ripping silk.

“What part of that word don’t you understand?
All,
” she repeated. “Every last one of you down to the captain, the chef, the owner of the boat, the commissioner, the guard, the waiter at the Splendido. Need I go on?

“You’re all members of that good old boy network. You scratch my back. I’ll scratch yours. It’s sickening.”

His fingers curled around the bars as if he’d like to get them around her neck. “Since I saw pretty good evidence of the good old girl network in operation today when you executed your escape from the
Piccione
, that’s a lot like the pot calling the kettle black, wouldn’t you say?”

Her chin lifted a little higher. “I’d say your knowledge of American sayings makes you out to be an even more worldly con artist thief than I’d first supposed.

“But the last laugh’s going to be on you when you try to sell off those pendants and discover they’re not worth more than a couple of hundred American dollars a piece.”

“And what about the one you were wearing when you swam for it?” he reminded her. “Are you going to tell me it’s only worth two hundred American dollars, too?”

“What if I am?”

“No jury on earth will believe it. Not when you chose to leave your passport behind, something not even silver and gold can buy if you should happen to end up in the wrong country.”

“This is the wrong country all right. Nevertheless, a passport
can
be replaced,
signore.
A family heirloom can’t…” Her voice trailed off.

“Ah—now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Getting somewhere? You’re sounding more and more like a slick-tongued lawyer with every word. Why don’t you pick on a real criminal, like the one the guard said stole a pendant from the museum?”

“Don’t think we haven’t tried,” he admitted with breathtaking honesty.

“You know something? Though you’ll probably continue to get away with your perfidy in this life, you won’t in the next!”