To Win His Heart

By the time the boat returned to Vernazza, Luc would be in love with her, no matter what she had to do to make it happen.

A few more minutes of sitting in the hot sun and she felt perspiration break out on her skin beneath her blouse and skirt. Europe was suffering a heat wave right now. She would love to change into her bathing suit and go for a quick swim, but she wanted to wait until Giovanni had come and they’d left the port.

So far no one walking on the pier approached her. Something had to be holding him up. She decided to check on Luc. If he was awake, she would get the phone number from him and go ashore to make her calls.

As she started for the stairs she heard, “Signorina— Signorina—”

Olivia turned in time to see a boy of eleven or twelve waving to her from the pier. She moved closer to him. “Yes?”

“You are waiting for Giovanni?” he asked in heavily accented English.

“Yes!”

“He is not coming.”

“How do you know?”

“I know everything!”

“Where is Giovanni?”

“San Remo.”

“Is he coming back?”

“No.”

“But we need him to sail the boat!”

“His wife. She has a baby!”

A baby— Good heavens.

Her plan to go sailing with Luc had just gone up in smoke!

“Thank you. Grazie,” she said to him with a heavy heart.

He smiled. “Ciao!”

Devastated by this turn of events, she needed to think up a new plan before Luc found out and had her phone for the helicopter to come and get them. The next thing she knew she’d be deposited at the airport in Nice, left to her own devices.

She could hear Luc now. “Under the circumstances I suggest you go home to New York and make plans with Fabio for another trip. Next summer perhaps? By then Cesar’s ardor should have cooled.”

No way was she going to let him dispatch her as if she were so much baggage!

She could go ashore and ask around for someone who knew how to sail and wanted a job on the spot. She would pay them out of her own pocket if she had to. But she didn’t have that kind of time. Luc might wake up at any minute.

What to do?

She could hear Greer’s voice on their last trip. What did the Von Trapp Family do when they wanted to get out of Austria and the borders were closed?

That was it!

Olivia would take the boat out herself. It had a motor. The Mediterranean was smooth as glass right now. She’d run the outboard motor on her dad’s rowboat many a time. For that matter she’d driven Fred’s boat dozens of times while they’d taken turns waterskiing. How hard could it be?

Later on she would worry about working the sail which was probably in one of the lockers. For now it was imperative she get them away from shore before Luc knew what was happening and sent her packing.

Without wasting another second, she climbed onto the pier and undid the ropes. Once that was accomplished, she got back in the boat and walked to the other end.