Page 4 of Forbidden Noble
They entered the hotel and Astorre checked them in as a blond, lean man he’d not seen in years leered at Clara, staring at Clara’s backside as she, oblivious, studied a painting near a flower display.
Max Fionalli walked toward Clara, adjusting his collar so it stuck up. Astorre finished his transaction and blocked Max's path.
Max nodded.
Astorre asked, “Max, what are you doing here?”
Max continued to make a beeline for Clara as he asked, “Are you marrying Clara Fortuna?”
Clara whipped her head around and her eyes were wide at the question.
His heart raced but he told Max, “Yes. Absolutely.”
Clara, startled, tripped but Astorre caught her before she fell into the flowers. “Wait," she said. "What did you say?”
Because if he didn’t marry her, some man like Max might strike and Clara wasn’t ready for a player like him.
It was funny that he thought of anyone else right now, but his skin was jumpy and he wrapped his hand around her side. “Clara, this is Max Fionalli.”
Max reached for her hand and acted like Astorre wasn’t there at all as he said, “It’s lovely to see such a beautiful woman tonight.”
She pulled her hand free. “Umm, okay. Astorre?”
He patted her back and directed them to the elevator bank. “Yes, my love. Let’s get going.”
She trembled beside him but kept up with his fast pace. Once they were in the elevator up to their room, she asked, “Okay… who was Max?”
Good question. Max Fionalli was in many ways Astorre’s opposite. The man had nothing, but wanted what he had no right to possess. He’d almost married his sister before Astorre had put a stop to that.
Max’s interest in Clara wasn’t good--and his presence here was off. Perhaps Astorre had been warned but he hadn’t paid attention. “We should both listen to our voicemails.”
The doors opened to the tenth floor as she crossed her arms and said, “That doesn’t explain who he is.”
Thunder echoed in the air outside the metal walls of the cruise ship and for a moment the aisle went dark. However the lights returned and they continued down the hall. “Max Fionalli… he’s on the hunt to marry an heiress.”
Inside the yacht they couldn’t see lightning to figure out the distance of the storm, but Clara didn’t seem fazed by it anyway. “Well, he’s harmless to me then.”
Yet that wasn’t true. If Max had noticed Clara, there was a reason, and his back pocket screamed that he’d have the answer if he just listened to his messages. Not listening because he'd wanted to enjoy the day with Clara wasn’t like him. He tugged his right ear and shook his head. “No, how Max talked downstairs… that's how he asked me about my sister.”
They neared her room and he waited for her to open it. Once she did, he pointed to the connecting door and left.
Astorre clicked on his voicemail and listened to his friend Stephano, who'd recently married Rossie, and froze.
Clara Fortuna wasn’t penniless.
Her natural parents were the Baron and Baroness de Dona.
They’d been killed during the occupation as they hadn’t fled Avce in time.
The baroness was the one woman his father had loved. The reason he’d soured and eventually turned evil, at least that's what Astorre believed.
Clara was the daughter of the woman his father couldn’t have.
The second he caught his breath, he went inside his room, knocked on the connecting panel, and opened the door on his side. She leaned against the frame and asked, “So you think Max believes I have some sort of fortune?”
They should have listened hours ago, but his mind quickly shifted away from being broke and penniless in a few hours to the present. He bowed and said, “Baroness de Dona. Listen to your voicemails, Clara.”
Her face turned red; she scratched her neck and stared at him confused, curling the toes of her old pink sneakers. “Who?”
