Lanza stood up and went into the kitchen to start dinner. Stefano took the fox downstairs. When he came back up, he undid a package marked salmon he put in the microwave to thaw. “I’ll freshen up and be back.”
While he was gone, she set the table with wine and candles, and made some bruschetta for an appetizer. When she noticed he’d come back to the living room freshly shaven, she turned on the grill and cooked the salmon. The steaks only took a few minutes. Finally, everything was ready including the coffee.
“La cena è pronta, Stefano,” she called to him.
“Meraviglioso.” He came into the kitchen and took their laden plates to the table without glancing at her.
She followed with the tray of coffee and cups, drinking in how incredibly appealing he was, wearing navy trousers and a white pullover. No man in Domodossola or Umbriano could measure up to him, not in looks or charisma.
Tonight was like déjà vu, but instead of dumplings, he wolfed down the bruschetta so fast she had to bring more to the table. He lifted his head. “You could open a restaurant, Lanza. Do you know that?”
“That’s been a dream of mine for a while.”
He’d already made inroads into the fettuccine and salmon. “How so?”
“Recently, I’ve urged father to have a soup kitchen constructed in the western part of the city next to the new housing for the homeless and immigrants. He thinks it’s a good idea, but there are other needs that have more priority. It’s a case of raising more money.”
She smiled at him. “Perhaps because you’re his new son-in-law, you could talk him into allocating some funds as an experiment. Maybe match them with donations from some of our wealthier citizens. I’d love to at least get it started and run it until I can find volunteers who’ll be happy to work there full-time. Many people everywhere would help if given the opportunity.”
He stared at her in surprise. “You’d really like to take on that kind of responsibility?”
“A soup kitchen is only one of my interests.”
Stefano put down his fork. “What else?”
She was flattered by his interest and plunged away. “I told you about Duccio, who taught me how to play cards. He, like so many of the disabled naval veterans still do, needed housing and better health care. They’ve fought for our country and we have a moral obligation to pay them back.”
“Alberto never told me you were a philanthropist at heart.”
She sipped her coffee. “Don’t assume I’m a Mother Teresa–type with a list of a dozen causes that are underfunded and don’t have the right people with organizational skills. But you can’t live in this world without seeing problems. I would hope that’s true, even if I’m a royal.”
“So what did you and my brother talk about if it wasn’t about the needs of the people?”
“Between elaborate breakfasts, lunches and dinners, we rowed on the lake out in back of the palace and went horseback riding. Our conversation centered mostly on his duties for your father and my schooling.
“We both agreed we got annoyed with our tutors. Instead of learning Latin and studying the Punic Wars, we would have much preferred to get into the latest inroads in technology and become computer savvy. He once told me that if he’d been granted one wish, he would have become a space scientist.”
That brought a sad expression to Stefano’s face. “I remember when he was given a telescope that was set up in his room. He’d look through it all the time and should have been allowed to pursue his studies in science.”
She swallowed hard to hear his pain. “Now he’s in heaven, where he’s learning amazing things.”
“I’d like to believe that.”
Lanza eyed him directly. “Don’t you believe in an afterlife?”
“Do you?” He turned the question on her.
She wondered if her answer was important to him, wishing it didn’t matter. “Definitely. This beautiful world wouldn’t have been created only for everything to end once we’d lived out our lives here. After what we learn, it wouldn’t make sense not to take that knowledge to the next world.”
* * *
As he’d been thinking ever since he’d married Lanza, Stefano thought she was the most intriguing female he’d ever met in his life. There were so many parts that made up the whole of her; he knew he hadn’t even skimmed the surface.
After holding her in his arms and kissing her earlier, he also discovered she was the most desirable woman he’d ever been with, and he’d been with a lot of them over the years. His heart still hadn’t recovered from the shock since her mouth had opened to the pressure of his. Her response had shaken him to the foundation.
The two of them had experienced an overwhelming surge of passion earlier that had been real. But he shouldn’t have acted on his desire this soon when he’d told her they’d give their marriage time until she was ready for intimacy. The chemistry between them had made it almost impossible for him to let her go.
Following that thought came a sensation of guilt when he realized that his own brother would have been the one to make love to her if he hadn’t died. He closed his eyes tightly. What he needed to do was shut off those thoughts.