Love in the Vineyard (Tavonesi #7)(31)
Adrian leafed through the pages. “Here it is. But I prefer your telling of it.”
“Siegfried escapes into the night and meets a flock of strange swans,” she recited from memory. “I said that part already. Sorry.” She tugged at the ruffle on the shawl Mary had lent her. “Maybe you could read it to me, the rest of the story?”
He lifted the program, holding it in the dim light like a prayer book. “Siegfried aims his crossbow at one of the swans but freezes when she transforms into a beautiful maiden.”
Adrian’s accent added to her discomfort. The way he read the words made the drama come alive in her.
“The maiden is terrified of Siegfried. When he promises not to harm her, she tells him that she is the Swan Queen, Odette. She and her companions are victims of a terrible spell cast by the evil owl-like sorcerer Von Rothbart.” He read more dramatically now, getting into the story. “By day they are turned into swans and only at night, by the side of the enchanted lake—created from the tears of Odette’s mother—do they return to human form. The spell can only be broken if one who has never loved before swears to love Odette forever.”
He stopped reading when a man stepped up and shook his hand, offering the same thanks Mrs. Getty had.
When the man went off, Adrian turned to her and shrugged. “We funded this production in honor of my mother,” he said in an almost apologetic tone. “Swan Lake was one of her favorites too.” He looked back down at the program. “There’s a bit more here, but I like this synopsis of the synopsis.”
He pointed, but to her relief, he read the words himself.
“Swan by day, human by night, the beautiful Odette awaits an oath of true love to break the curse.”
He turned his gaze to her and just as if he held her, she felt embraced by tenderness and warmth. And yet she also felt miserable.
“Natasha.” He said her name like a prayer. “I should have guessed. Well, now that you know one of my secrets, it’s only fair that you tell me one in turn.”
He’d know plenty before too long.
The spell was broken. Now all that was left was the mopping up.
The real world would swoop in, relentless and predictable. It was only a matter of time before he knew what she already knew—that their worlds weren’t compatible, that there would be no happy ending. But since this very well could be their last date, she wanted to do all she could to enjoy every minute of it. She fought down her shock at discovering she worked for him, tried her best to stay in the moment.
“I like plants,” she said, scrambling for something she could say that wouldn’t ruin the evening.
He smiled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Right. They’d already established that she loved plants. It was a love they shared.
“I like to paint. I’m not very good and I don’t have much time for it, but I do love to paint. Landscapes and flowers.”
“My sister Zoe paints.”
She’d seen Zoe Tavonesi’s paintings in the Casa del Sole gift shop; they were breathtaking. “She has amazing talent,” Natasha said before she thought.
“You’ve seen her work? I thought she had only a few pieces in our gift shop. Unless you saw her exhibition in Rome?”
Oh God. She simply wasn’t ready for a big reveal. Not tonight.
“I saw something in the paper about her.”
“I’ll have to speak with our marketing consultant. He’s supposed to forward articles about the family to me. I like to post them on the website.”
The lights dimmed, the orchestra stopped their tuning and a hush fell over the audience.
Adrian leaned close and whispered, “One for one, Natasha. Although you now know much more about me than I do you. The next secret is yours to tell.”
To Natasha’s surprise, he reached over and twined his fingers in hers. She wasn’t sure if she breathed at all during the entire first act. A deep sadness wrapped around her heart, like vines covering an old building until you couldn’t see what was under them.
When the music swelled and the lovers pledged their love with their bodies and their powerful, graceful movements, Adrian stroked his thumb along her palm and touched his head to hers.
Her heart picked up its pace and stoked the dwindling fire of hope that she should never have built in the first place. Even in the face of facts, of reality, she found one tiny ember of hope she couldn’t douse. She’d had a taste of love and found she wanted more.
Chapter Ten
A FOUL MOOD GRIPPED ADRIAN THE NEXT morning and wouldn’t let go. Though he and Natasha had spent a wonderful evening together, she’d been reserved, more quiet than usual on the trip back to Sonoma.
He should’ve known that he’d run into people who knew him in LA. But that was the trouble, he hadn’t thought. He’d gotten carried away with the details of the surprise date he’d cooked up with Coco’s help.
Well, apparently his surprise had backfired.
Maybe Natasha didn’t like wine. Maybe she thought vintners were a bunch of hick farmers. Maybe she thought he was a rich snob showing off. As if he’d intended for board members to fawn all over him.
Natasha.
It was a truly beautiful name. For a beautiful woman. A woman who had stolen into his heart. Spending time with her had introduced him to feelings he’d never known. It struck him as strange that he’d heard about the feeling of falling in love—who hadn’t? God knew his sisters talked enough about it. And the media played it to the hilt.