To Win His Heart

The doctor had sent him home with some pills. She drew the bottle from her purse. According to the directions, he could take two every four hours.

“Luc? I’ve got something for your pain.”

His eyelids opened. In the dim light his normal silvery gaze had dimmed to pewter. “Ah…just what the doctor ordered.”

Rising up on his elbow he swallowed the pills and drained the bottle. He was thirstier than she realized. It had to be the heat.

“Thank you.” He fell back against the pillow and closed his eyes once more.

“When do you think Giovanni will come?”

“I have no idea.”

“Could we call him on your cell phone?”

“Of course.”

“It’s in your trouser pocket.”

“No. I gave it to you.”

“You did?”

“Hmm. Along with the pills.”

“I didn’t notice it in my purse.” She moved over to the dresser where she’d left it on the top. After rummaging through the contents she turned around. “It’s not here.”

“Then I have to assume it was left at the hospital by mistake.”

Oh, no— Now she couldn’t call Piper, either.

“Well—if Giovanni doesn’t come soon, I’ll walk to a shop near the waterfront and ask to use one of their phones to call him.”

“That sounds like a good idea. If you don’t mind, I’m going to sleep for a while.”

“Good. I need to unpack the suitcases anyway.” Oops. She’d left them on the pier.

She retraced her steps to the deck. Thankfully no one had walked off with them. Inside of twenty minutes she’d put everything away. Luc continued to sleep soundly. As Olivia tiptoed around finding places to stash their things, she derived great pleasure watching over him. It was like they were husband and wife.

When she’d arranged everything to her satisfaction, she acquainted herself with the kitchen. There was a tiny cupboard that held some condiments including olive oil. Against the wall was a table and stools you could pull down when you wanted to eat.

A further inspection of the fridge revealed bread, eggs, cheese and ham slices, fruit, wine, soda and some yogurt. Until Giovanni arrived to take over, she could fix Luc the latter. She doubted he would want anything heavier until tomorrow.

As for herself, she was hungry, so she made herself a sandwich and ate it accompanied by a cold orange soda. She loved Italian bread and could make a meal out of it. American bread was squishy and tasteless by comparison.

Once she’d cleaned up her mess, she checked on Luc, who was still out like a light. Helpless to do otherwise, she bent over to look at him.

The arrangement of his strong male features combined with his black hair and olive skin made him a striking man. Unforgettable. She studied him for a long time before tearing herself away to go up on deck and wait for Giovanni.

Most of the boats were out. That was probably the reason why there were so few people walking around. She sat down on one of the benches to take in the view of Vernazza, the same view she’d seen from the cabin window of the Piccione over six weeks ago.

Once before she’d marveled at the colorful port village with its cluster of tower-shaped houses, palaces and castles nestled against a

backdrop of emerald green steep cliffs. Little had she known then that one Lucien de Falcon would come into her life.

Just knowing he slept below sent a delicious shiver through her body. There was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be. It hurt to realize this was probably the last place he wanted to be, that she was the last woman he wanted to be with. Cesar was the sole reason Luc had been willing to recuperate here instead of his house.

But this was only the first day of their trip. They had nine to go. In that amount of time she intended to make her patient forget all about the brother he’d felt forced to protect from the female he’d branded a groupie.