The Tuscan's Revenge Wedding (Italian Billionaires #1)(21)

“It would be a problem for many. My own parents—”

“What about them,” she asked as he stopped speaking, looking away toward the gray haze of olive trees.

“They separated over it,” he answered with a faint shrug,” though their marriage was strained from the beginning. It was a practical alliance rather than a love match. To cement a merger of the Florentine olive oil production of my father’s family with that of my mother’s family from near Naples was the intention.”

She gave him a quick look. “I thought that kind of thing went out ages ago.”

“There was nothing arranged about it, if that’s what you’re thinking. It was more of a business merger that both went into with their eyes open. My father lived for the land and the business, so was satisfied with the doubling of his holdings. My mother preferred life in Rome, Venice, Cannes — anywhere except the Villa de Frenza — and was happy as long as the money flowed to support her lifestyle. I was born early on, the requisite heir. The twins were the result of an effort at reconciliation when I was ten.”

“Not a successful one,” she suggested when he did not go on.

“It was a spectacular failure. My mother blamed my father for Carisa’s problem, claiming there had never been such a birth in her family. My father said she was so afraid of gaining weight during pregnancy that she starved herself, affecting the baby’s development.”

“Oh, no.”

Nicholas sent her a quick glance at that soft sound of regret. “Both were wrong, of course, but it made no difference. My father buried himself in work, spending most of his time at the office in Florence or else in London or Paris. She returned the favor by escaping to a fairly wild social set. The result was as you might expect.”

“They divorced?”

“Separated, rather, after a year or so,” he corrected. “My mother left the villa, left all of us but particularly Carisa who adored her. Carisa was so bereft that her development was set back even more than normal. She screamed for days when she realized she was really gone, failed to learn to walk at a normal age, didn’t speak until she was five years old.”

Amanda shook her head, swallowing hard. “How awful for her.”

“Carisa is devastated even now when anyone she loves goes away. When I return after being gone for a while, she punishes me by withdrawing, at least until she forgets. She only spoke to me today because you were there and distracted her. She’s even worse with Carita who shares the twin bond, so is closer to her than anyone else.”

“That’s why she was so quiet earlier — she was annoyed as well as missing her sister?”

He inclined his head.

“And you feel she will be terribly upset if she knows Carita has been injured.

“I have no doubt of it.”

Amanda frowned down at the path they walked. “Won’t it be just as bad to let her believe her sister is staying away on purpose? And what if Carita doesn’t—”

“If anything more disastrous occurs, Carisa will of course have to be told,” he said without allowing her to finish. “Meanwhile, it seems best to withhold the news until she is able to speak to Carita, to see for herself that she’s all right and is going to be well again.”

“Another difficult decision that had to be made, I suppose, and by you alone.”

“It’s my place, my duty.”

The blame if anything went wrong would also be his, Amanda saw with uneasy clarity. “I realize you could hardly tell her who I am or why I’m here without getting into everything else. But why allow her to think we’re engaged? Why not just say that I’m a friend?”

“My lady friend, you mean?” he asked, giving the words a sensual twist.

A dark look was her only answer.

“I would never introduce a lover into our family circle. Carisa understands that, though perhaps not the details of such a relationship. It follows, at least to her mind, that you must be someone special, the woman I intend to marry.”

“A fake engagement still seems a drastic solution.” Her voice carried a waffling sound she disliked.

“Indeed, and I do apologize for it. I should have realized how it would be and had some story ready, would have except for other things on my mind.”

He meant Carita’s condition and the news of her pregnancy, Amanda assured herself. It was not possible for him to mean she was the distraction.

That reflection triggered the memory of the word Carisa had spoken with such excitement. “You say she knows nothing, yet I thought — I was almost sure she mentioned a baby.”

“Not Carita’s, but mine.”

“Yours?”

“And yours, of course,” he agreed with a trace of grave humor. “Carisa demanded that I hurry with the wedding so she can play with the bambino she is sure will follow.”

An odd constriction in her throat made it difficult for Amanda to speak. “She is going to be disappointed, after all.”

“Yet she has hit upon this reason for you being here at the villa and it satisfies her for now. It seems best not to confuse her by denying it.”

Si, si, little one…

Nicholas had said that in answer to Carisa’s question, and his young sister had gone immediately into transports of gladness.