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CHAPTER ONE

‘THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE I don’t believe it!’ Alissandru Rossetti erupted fro of his brother’s will, rigid with outraged disbelief ‘Why tjhe hell would Paulu leave that little slut anything?’ he dee

Fortunately, his mother, Constantia, and the family lawyer, Marco Morelli, were the only parties present because all attempts to contact the main beneficiary of the will had proved fruitless Disconcerted by that revealing word, ‘ it would be just like his late brother Paulu to have left his worldly goods to soood favourite charity After all, he and his wife Tania had died together and their e had been childless and Alissandru, his twin, had no need of any inheritance, being not only the elder twin and owner of the faht

‘Take a deep breath, Alissandru,’ Constantia urged, well acquainted with her surviving son’s sizzling teht to leave his estate where he wished and we do not know that Tania’s sister is deserving of so unpleasant a label’

Alissandru was pacing the sal office, a for in a confined space because he was several inches over six feet tall, a lean, powerful figure, dressed in one of the elegant tailored black suits he favoured That funereal colour had earned higressive and hugely successful business instincts were fay field Pacing that office, he reer penned up in a cage

Not deserving? Alissandru thought in outrage, recalling that little red-headed teenager, Isla Stewart, at his brother’s wedding six long years before At barely sixteen years old, she had been rocking a sexually provocative outfit, parading her nubile curves and shapely legs in a clear sexual offer to the highest bidder, he reflected in disgust Later that day too, he had seen her e from one of the bedrooms in a dishevelled state, only htening his cuffs and tidying his hair Obviously Isla was just like her sister, Tania, who had been brazen, wanton and dishonest

‘I was not aware that Paulu was in any form of contact with Tania’s sister,’ Alissandru ad eyes as easily as her sister did and wheedled her way into his soft heart’

Very real grief fractured Alissandru’s hard driven drawl as he spoke because he had loved his twin a great deal and could still, even six weeks after the helicopter crash that had claimed the lives of both Paulu and Tania, not quite believe that he would never ever speak to hiuilt of knowing that he had been powerless to protect his brother fro harpy, Tania Stewart Sadly, Paulu’s last years had been deeply unhappy, but he had refused to divorce the sleazy underwearthat she was pregnantonly, surprise, surprise, Alissandru recalled cynically, that had proved to be a false alarm

Tania had gone on to destroy his brother’s life with her wild extravagance, her shrewish tantruhout those excesses, Paulu had steadily continued to adore Tania as though she were a goddess aentle soul, very caring, loyal and coht Yet Alissandru had treasured those stark differences and had trusted Paulu in a way he had trusted no other living person And although he was enraged at his conviction that yet another Steoman had somehow contrived toup such a will, there was yet another part of hi

After all, Paulu had kno much the family estate meant to Alissandru and yet he had left his home on the Sicilian estate and all his money to Tania’s sister A lottery win for the sister, a slap in the face for Alissandru even though he knew his brother would have sooner cut

off his hand than hurt hi Paulu, however, could never have dreaht take both his and his wife’s lives together, clearing the way for Paulu’s sister-in-law to inherit what should never ever have become hers

‘Paulu visited Isla a few ti that period thater’ Contantia hesitated, choosing her words with particular tact ‘that he and Tania were separated He was fond of the girl’

‘He never mentioned it toand his lean, darkly handsoe of yet another Steo charm over his impressionable brother in pursuit of profit Paulu had always been a soft touch for a sob story, Alissandru conceded grimly

Speaking for himself, however, Alissandru had never been that foolish He liked wo hile In his younger days he had heard every sob story going and once or twice, in his inexperience, had even fallen for such ploys, but it had been years since he had been that naive or imprudent These days he chose his lovers from his own stratu careers were a safer bet for the kind of casual light affair in which Alissandru specialised They understood that he wasn’t ready to settle down and practised the same discretion that he did

‘Knowing how you felt about Tania, Paulu wouldn’t have ently ‘What will you do?’

‘Buy Paulu’s house back fro at the infuriating prospect of having to enrich a Steoain How many times had he paid Tania’s debts to protect his brother and shield him from her insatiable demands? But what else could he do in the present? Tania was dead and buried and her sister had not even bothered to attend the funeral, all atte failed That fact alone really said it all about the weak bond between the sisters, didn’t it?

‘We’ll have to track Tania’s little sister down,’ Alissandru breathed in a raw driven undertone of menace

Isla blew on her frozen fingers, the gathering wind chilling her face below her woolly bobble hat as she fed the hens in haste and gathered the eggs She would have to bake to use theuilty for having a happy thought when her only sister and her brother-in-laere dead

And even worse, she wouldn’t even have known that it had happened, had not a kind neighbour driven over a week earlier to break that tragic news in person Her aunt and uncle, ned the Highland croft in Scotland where Isla was staying, but ere currently visiting her aunt’s family in New Zealand, had read on the Internet about the news of Paulu and Tania’s death in a helicopter crash They had ihbour and had then phoned to ask if Isla wanted them to come home so that she could travel out to Italy

But ould have been the point in that trip when she had already reat sadness of her life that she had never got to know her only sibling Of course, they had grown up apart and Tania had been ten years older, and Isla was the daughter as an unplanned and not very welco their father’s pre to survive, had headed down to London with Tania to find hile accepting her own mother’s offer to take care of her new baby until such tihters could be reunited