Page 4 of Awakened in Her Enemy's Palazzo

‘I’m not catching a flight. I’m staying,’ Grace said now, dragging out a chair and slumping into it.

‘You are?’

‘He—Salvatore—he’s left me half of everything.’

The older woman clamped a hand to her mouth, her eyes as big as saucers above her fingers, staring at Grace.

‘I told him—the lawyer—that I couldn’t accept. That it wouldn’t be proper. He said thathe—’ her eyes narrowed into contemptuous slits ‘—the son—Theo—apparently wants to buy me out. He has offered a crazy amount of money. I don’t want money, Marta. I don’t want anything!’ she wailed, her voice shaking with emotion.

‘Oh, I know that. Everyone here does.Weall know you, Grace, but I suppose Theo thinks it’s such an ancient place, with so much history, that it should stay in the family?’ the older woman suggested apologetically.

Grace nodded her agreement. ‘I thought that too, and I said he could have it, obviously. Even though he sounds like—’

She bit her tongue and gave a weak smile, thinking,Suck it up, Grace. Inexplicably—or at least it was to her—the palazzo staff never badmouthed the absent son.

Grace had her own opinion when it came to Theo Ranieri, who had neveroncevisited his dying father, and not even come to the funeral, but she kept it to herself.

‘Theo is not poor. You should not give it away.’

Grace’s soft mouth hardened. ‘I don’t intend to. He wants to buy me out, but only so—’ angry tears sprang to her blue eyes ‘—so that he can sell everything! I can’t believe that anyone could be so—It’s as if he wants to erase everything his father loved! His heritage!’ Her soft lips quivered. ‘How can he—?’ she began. Then she stopped and, making a supreme effort to contain her surging emotions, shook her head.

The housekeeper had gone pale. ‘I was afraid of something like this,’ she admitted.

‘Don’t worry. I won’t let him. I can stop him,’ Grace gritted, tucking the lint-pale strands of hair she had dislodged behind her ears. ‘And I will. If I say no—if I live here—he can’t sell. And I do say no.’

The older woman looked doubtful; her hand shook as she poured fresh coffee into her cup. ‘Theo could always be very stubborn when he made up his mind...’

‘So can I,’ Grace promised grimly.

‘It is so sad that it has come to this.’

Sad? Grace thought. It was totallyoutrageous! And that was a mild way of expressing her feelings.

She had no idea what had caused the relationship between father and son to break down, and although curious she had never considered it her place to ask. Even now things had changed, still she couldn’t make herself ask.

Why does he hate his father so much?

Surely indifference could not explain his behaviour?

‘Perhaps Salvatore suspected what his son would do? And the will was his way of...? Well, whatever the reason,’ she added, her narrow shoulders lifting as she accepted the cup of coffee Marta pushed her way, ‘his son can’t sell if I say no and live here.’ Her blue eyes sparked with a militant light. ‘And Idosay no. He can’t sell! This place, the palazzo, the estate, thepeople,’ she declared fiercely. ‘It was Salvatore’s life, and I won’t let his son destroy it! I’m moving in and I’m not budging.’

CHAPTER TWO

STRAIGHTAFTERSHEhad handed in her notice to the nursing agency Grace had emailed her parents to let them know that she wouldn’t be coming home. She had included the bare bones of the situation and then sat back to wait for her phone to ring. Finally it had, and now she was sitting talking online to her entire family, who were crowded into her parents’ booklined sitting room.

So far Simon, her lawyer brother, had suggested that the son might stand a good chance of breaking the will, warning that it could get vicious and asking what drugs Salvatore had been on.

‘Could the son say he was—?’

Grace immediately saw where he was going and cut across him. ‘He remained as sharp as you or me, right up to the end.’

‘All right...no need to get het-up. I’m just covering the possibilities.’

‘I’m sure you’re a very good lawyer, Simon, but you’re also my brother.’

Her psychiatrist brother Rob cut in. ‘Exactly. Grace needs a bit of support.’ Before she could be grateful, he added, ‘Were you sleeping with the old guy? Not that I’m judging... I’ve seen photos. He was good-looking for an old guy.’

Well, if he wasn’t judging he’d be the only one, Grace thought grimly. The manager at the agency had made a couple of very pointed comments concerning vulnerable elderly patients and ethics.

---