Page 28 of Stranded with His Runaway Bride

‘They should count themselves fortunate if they’ve been spared the horrors of canned beef bourguignon. Though I suspect the gatehouse will be similarly stocked.’

Then his face brightened. ‘But they won’t have a wine cellar. With any luck there might be a bottle or two still there.’ He disappeared with the torch again and when he returned a few minutes later he clutched two bottles of wine.

‘These might mask the taste of what you are about to serve from that pan.’ He dug a bottle opener out of a drawer. ‘It may be the only way I can bring myself to eat it.’

‘I thought you were starving?’

‘Sadly I haven’t lost my taste buds.’

She busied herself finding cutlery, bowls and two glasses for the wine.

‘You seem very at home in this kitchen,’ Leo said.

‘Yourgrand-mèreloved to cook. We spent a lot of time together here.’

‘It was the same when Seb and I came to stay. She’d set us to work. Shelling peas, chopping herbs. We did it because we knew the food would be good. She was an excellent cook,’ he said with a doleful look at the empty can by the stove.

‘She taught me, too. I’d often cook for Luisa and sometimes Rolfe.’

When he looked blank, she added, ‘My dresser and my personal secretary. At least they were until you had them removed.’

His gaze turned icy. ‘You think I did that? To what purpose? If they were removed without your consent, it was your uncle’s doing!’

She didn’t want to believe that. Her uncle wasn’t affectionate—much like her father, he saw her only as a commodity to serve the duchy—but he’d not been deliberately cruel.

‘Why would he do that?’ She couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice.

His expression softened. ‘I’m sorry, but my guess would be to isolate you by removing your support network. Do you think he had any inkling you weren’t going to go through with the marriage?’

She shook her head. ‘I was so careful to appear willing.’

‘You certainly fooled me.’

She sent him a glance from beneath her lashes. ‘I had to. I’d planned to disappear the night before the wedding and hide in a safe house in the city. But then my uncle said that the arrangements had changed. I was going to spend my last night in Grimentz not San Nicolo. I thought that was your doing too.’

He raised a brow.

‘Okay, I get it, that wasn’t you either.’

She spooned the contents of the pan into bowls and put them down in the two places she’d set at the table. Leo filled their glasses and then sat.

He took a tentative spoonful of the beef dish.

Violetta watched the muscles of his jaw as he chewed. Such a mundane act shouldn’t be so fascinating. He swallowed, took a quick swig of wine.

‘And?’ she asked.

‘Not the worst dish I’ve ever tasted, but the bar is pretty low. In the survival course of my army training, a sergeant once served up a worm omelette.’

She laughed and started on her own bowl of food.

‘So why do you want to give San Nicolo its democracy so badly?’ he asked.

‘Because I’ve lived a life with so little chance to determine my fate. I understand the position my people are in. I’ve seen first-hand how their chances have been limited by the offices of the grand duke and now the regent. Unlike my family the people have shown me nothing but love and I want to give back to them.’

Leo nodded. ‘You saw something first-hand? Something in particular?’

‘I think it all began with one person. Being dismissed yourself is one thing, but seeing it happen to a boy who didn’t have the compensation of the privileged life I had sowed a seed in me. From then it just grew and grew.’

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