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“No,” he said quietly, “of course not” He stepped back so Matteo could enter the rooet any sleep?”
“A couple of hours You?”
“About the same “
“We should not have spent the night under this roof”
“No,” Bianca Bellini said dryly, “certainly not”
The brothers turned toward the French doors where their sisters stood glowering at them
“Ladies,” Luca said calmly, “how nice of you to drop by”
Bianca tossed back her ht blonde hair and old curls were drawn back in a low ponytail, but she ed to toss them just the same
“Are you still co because we refused to drive back to Dallas in the h that you tent in search of liquor on a strange road in a strange place in such furious anger When you sit behind the wheel of a car in such a mood, terrible accidents happen”
“No accident happened And ere not in any kind of nity
“Of course not,” Alessandra said “All that fist-clenching and tooth-grinding was for dramatic effect”
Luca narrowed his eyes “Is this why you’re here? To criticize our behavior last night?” His jaw tightened “Because I think we behaved with great restraint”
His sisters glanced at each other Then they sighed Bianca sank into a chintz-covered are of the bed
“You did,” she said “We all did We all deserve awards for outstanding behavior”
Luca paced across the roorabbed his T-shirt and yanked it over his head
“I hate this place,” he growled “The land The house The people in it, the endless Wildes, their wives and their husbands…”
“For what reason?” Bianca asked wearily “They’re no more responsible for this situation than we are”
“They’re Wildes,” Luca snapped “That’s sufficient reason”
Alessandra leaned back on her hands “I hate to tell you this, mio fratello, but so are we”
“We were raised by our mother”
“So were they By more than one mother, if you want to be accurate And just in case you didn’t notice, not a one of theht”
“Do not call him that!”
“È quello che è,” Bianca said
Matteo nodded “Si It is what it is We all know that”
“I know that the Wildes were raised by a general,” Luca said, “and ere raised by a man who pretended to be a spy”
“He is the same man,” Alessandra said
“And he is a liar A fraud A bigamist”
“Si He is a scoundrel”
“Don’t call him a scoundrel,” Bianca said The others looked at her and she shrugged “It’s too polite a word It ”
Matteo walked over to his sister and affectionately ruffled her hair
“She’s right,” he said “If there is one thing General John Ha”
“Agreed,” Luca said “And neither is this place, this El Sueño I would like to leave here as soon as possible”
The Bellinis all nodded in agreement
“We did e came to do,” Luca added “The Wildes know about us We know about them Now let the man who sired us all live with the results of his deception Let him try to explain it”
“He tried last night,” Alessandra said The Bellinis gave her sharp looks “Well, it’s true All those hours of explanation His life story The twin brother who died—”
“In an accident of his doing,” Matteo said coldly
“He tried tothe life his brother had been destined to lead,” Bianca said
“Cristo!” Luca threw out his hands “Are you actually defending him?”
“I’ to make sense of what happened”
“What happened,” Luca said, “is that he es No divorces He lied to our mother, lied to us…”
“He lied to everyone, si, but it doesn’t help to be bitter We need to accept the truth, painful as it may be, before we can move past it”
“My sister, the psychologist”
Bianca shot to her feet “A little y and a little less pork-headedness would not hurt you, Luca”
Matteo snorted Bianca, Alessandra and Luca flashed him irritated looks
“Sorry,” he said, “but it’s pig, not pork”
“Pig,” Alessandra said, “pork, what’s the difference? This is a ridiculous argument We confronted our father with the facts We confronted his Ao home”
Everyone reement
“In that case,” Luca said, “give me time to shower and dress, and we’ll meet out front in fifteen minutes Va bene?”
“Va bene,” the Bellinis said, and after quick, very Italian exchanges of double-cheek kisses, they all trooped from the room
It was a holiday weekend
An American holiday, to be sure, but still, it was a holiday
Normally, Luca would have worn jeans and a T-shirt, but it suddenly seemed important not to appear casually dressed in this, the home of his father
The home of his enemies
So he ran a razor over his face to get rid of the dark stubble that shadowed his cheeks and jaw, showered quickly, dried off and took a dark grey Brioni suit from his small suitcase A crisp, custom-made white shirt, black onyx cufflinks, a navy silk tie, black loafers made for him by a shoemaker in Firenze, and he was ready for the drive to Dallas and the private jet that awaited the Bellinis
One final glance in the mirror
Good Fine He looked like athat though there were those who called hination?
Luca straightened his tie, put on his watch, dumped yesterday’s clothes in the suitcase and zipped it shut He picked it up, strode to the French doors, grabbed the handle…
And frowned
What in hell was he doing? Was he really going to sneak out of this house? It was not his, but he had every right to be here
Daht, he did
Luca turned on his heel, uest room door, opened it and stepped out into the hall
Last night, he’d been too drunk to
look at the house Really look at it, beyond seeing that it had walls, ceilings and floors
Now, he saw that the roo were built around a second story loft An enor sun; a floating staircase ht iron led down to a vast open area below
Clearly, this part of the house was an addition The main structure had to be at least one hundred years old This wing, obviously inal house though it blended with it Not an easy thing to acco ned it
He was an architect himself He kne difficult it could be to blend the neith the old
He went down the stairs, his footsteps beating a loud tattoo as he descended A square Oriental carpet—very old, very handsoainst the hted with brilliant splashes of modern art Was that a Jasper Johns? An O’Keefe?
The Bellini in hi, the s and carpet—but the architect in him had no choice but to admire it
Luca’s mouth twisted
The last thing he wanted to do was ad about the Wildes
He quickened his pace, entered a narrow gallery that he faintly remembered would lead into the main house…
And heard voices
Men’s voices Wo over each other, the sounds strident despite so of vowels and consonants
His steps slowed
The Wilde clan was , no doubt to discuss what to do with the Sicilian interlopers
He considered lance told hi around, not sitting at, a big cherrywood table
One detour and he could tell them exactly what they could do, not with the Bellinis but with themselves
But ould he do that?
If they wanted to pick apart the Bellinis, let thee the facts and he was not the least interested in , not he and Matteo, Alessandra and Bianca
The Wildes were the offspring who had coy, not the Bellinis They were the ones he had spent holidays with, the ones who had celebrated birthdays with him