Chapter Ten Raffa #2
I slanted Imelda a look, and she nodded over Guinevere’s head.
We would be dealing with this transgression by Zhang-Liu my way.
The odds were high that they were doing the same thing to countless suppliers in the country, but they’d picked the wrong winery when they chose Fattoria Casa Luna to steal from.
By the time I was done with them, they would not exist to do so anymore.
“Well, that is done, then. Shall we go inside and try the wine?” I suggested mildly, but Imelda knew there was no more information I wanted to discuss in front of polite company, so she quickly took Guinevere’s other arm to lead her back to the tasting rooms.
“Oh! Okay, well, ciao, Isacco e Erasmo !” Guinevere called over her shoulder as she was ushered from the room. When we were in the hall with the door closed behind us, she peered up at me with flushed cheeks. “What are you going to do about everything?”
Raze their company to the ground and cut out the CEO’s tongue so he never tells another lie again.
“I will pursue justice through the proper authorities,” I said calmly.
The only authority was me , but I did not need to clarify that for her.
“I’m sorry, Raffa,” she said, leaning heavily into my side in a gesture of comfort. “I hope I haven’t ruined your day.”
“Far from that,” I assured her, staring down into that beautiful, almost angelic face and wondering how such a creature could not only exist but also be so drawn into my orbit. “You have saved it. And now, you will distract me by drinking some of our very fine wine with me.”
We were crossing the main lobby when a familiar sight made me pause midstep.
“Leo?”
My best friend turned from speaking animatedly to that British stronzo , Wyatt, to stare at me stupidly for half a beat before collecting himself with a wide grin.
“Raffa!” He walked toward me with his arms open, slapping them over my shoulders to press his cheek to mine in greeting. “ Fratello mio , what brings you to the vines today?”
“I could ask the same of you. You should be minding the house, no?” I asked, trying to keep the edge from my tone because Guinevere was behind my shoulder, watching the entire exchange with keen eyes.
Leo had opened his mouth to answer when a shrill feminine squeal pierced the air.
“Raffa!”
I had one second to brace myself before my sister Delfina was in my arms, pressing kisses to both my cheeks. When she was done, she cupped my face in her hands to study me thoroughly.
“Why do you look so content when we have not seen you in weeks?” she demanded in rapid Italian.
“You do know I am a busy man, correct? You know, running an empire to keep you in clothes and Diet Cokes.”
She laughed, turning to Leo to say, “Do you see who I found?”
“I think I found him first,” he countered, but he was smiling the kind of relaxed grin I hadn’t seen on his face since my father died.
“Technically, I found you,” I retorted. “And you were just about to tell me why you were not at the villa with the family.”
“We are not birds you can keep in a cage, Raffuccio,” she decreed, pulling out of my arms to fist her hands on her hips. “I wanted to speak with Mario about the satellite GPS system. Ours is on the fritz, and they have the same model.”
“Telephones have existed for decades now,” I reminded her, crossing my arms.
“That is not the best way to do business,” Leo chimed in, stepping closer to Delfina’s back to support her. “As you always say.”
“That is a different kind of business. One that requires discretion,” I told them both sternly.
“Hello.”
Leo and Delfina startled as Guinevere stepped up beside me, much the way Leo had just done with my sister. When her hand gently found the small of my back in a gesture of obvious support, I had to bite my grin. Mio dio , she was sweet.
“I’m Guinevere,” she continued into the silence with a small smile.
In tandem, Leo and Delfina looked from her to me for an explanation.
I sighed wearily, pulling Guinevere to my side with an arm around her waist and gesturing to my family. “This is Leonardo di Conte, my childhood friend, and my sister Delfina.”
“I forgot you have a sister,” she murmured, looking up at me. “Two, right?”
“Three,” Delfina supplied happily.
“You do not know me very well,” I reminded her, my voice cool. “It is understandable you would forget.”
I felt the tension settle into her bones and hated that I had made her feel other when we had just shared such an intimate morning. But this was not the time or place for the Raffa I could allow myself to be in the safety of her orbit.
I was Raffaele Romano here, standing in a place of business with my right-hand man and sister. The armor I donned was instinctual, camouflage as a matter of survival.
“How did you meet my brother?” Delfina asked to fill the awkward silence.
Leo was scrutinizing Guinevere with a curiosity that had my hackles rising. She was gorgeous, of course, but Leo was a playboy through and through.
He wasn’t getting within another foot of her if I could help it.
“Are you Italian?” he asked, before Guinevere could respond to my sister.
“Through my father,” she admitted.
“What is your last name?”
She frowned at his intensity, pressing her hip into me. “Stone.”
“And do you have any family in the region?” he pressed.
“ Basta , Leo,” I ordered, because he was interrogating her without cause. “We met, if you must know, Delfi, when I hit her with my car.”
Delfina blinked and then burst into laughter. “You’re kidding?”
Guinevere lifted the hem of her short dress higher on one side to show the lingering yellow bruise on her hip. “No, we literally collided.”
“So you did not know who Raffa was before you ran into him?” Leo asked, his tone uncharacteristically hard.
He was one of the most ruthless bastards I knew, but his public persona was almost debonair, flirtatious with women and chummy with men.
“Leo,” Delfina and I both scolded at the same time.
Guinevere offered him her own cool smile, an expression I found wildly attractive. “I am an American traveling from the Midwest. I’m more likely to know U of M college football stats than I am to know about some random Italian businessman.”
“Not so random,” Leo countered. “One of the richest men in the country.”
“Leo, basta ,” I told him.
Enough.
“I’m just making conversation with your ... friend,” Leo protested with a plastic smile. “What did you say you do when you aren’t traveling? Or are you old enough to work?”
A growl worked itself out of my throat, and I dropped my arm around Guinevere to step in front of her, blocking his view. “I said enough . Speak like that to her again, and you will not like the person I become.”
“To defend her against me ?” he asked in Italian, eyes blown wide with shock. “I’m your brother.”
“That does not mean you can speak to her like she is an enemy. I hit her with my car after she was nearly sexually assaulted on the side of the road. She is more Bambi than hunter. Let her be and leave her to me.”
“Leave her to you,” he echoed, trying to process my words. “Who is this girl, Raffaele?”
“No one to you,” I declared.
But someone to me, I didn’t say.
We stared at each other for a long moment, two predators snarling over prey, but finally Leo looked away with a grimace.
“Apologize,” I suggested, unafraid to rub dirt in his wounded pride.
Leo’s expression was sour as he spoke slowly in English, like Guinevere was stupid. “I am sorry. You just look like someone I once knew, and it took me by surprise.”
“An unpleasant one, obviously,” Guinevere noted, and I was not sure how much of our Italian argument she understood, but I had to admire her grace as she inclined her head at him.
“It’s forgotten. From what I understand, Raffa isn’t known for his kindness, so it’s probably strange to see him with a woman like this. ”
“It’s not at all strange to see him with a woman,” Leo muttered.
“As his friend ,” Guinevere corrected with a saccharine smile.
He snorted under his breath, but I decided we were done with him.
“Take Delfina back home when you are done with Mario,” I told him before turning to my sister with a much softer expression. “Delfi, I will see you soon.”
“Very soon,” she vowed, an implied threat that if she did not get the details of my friendship with Guinevere within twenty-four hours, she would show up at my doorstep.
I nodded, kissing her goodbye. “ Ciao, sorella mia. ”
“It was lovely to meet you,” Guinevere told my sister when I pulled away, offering her hand to shake.
I hid my smile behind my hand at the typically American gesture and watched as Delfina pulled her in for kisses.
“Very good. I am sure I will see you again,” she promised before turning to follow after Leo, who was already stalking through the lobby away from us.
I was certain she would not, if I had anything to do with it.
These worlds colliding only strengthened my conviction that they could not coexist. The man I could be with Guinevere in the sanctity of our own bubble was not that man I’d honed myself into carefully and meticulously, like the edge of a blade.
She was happy to believe she had done a good service today in showing me the winery was being stolen from, and I did not want to test what she might think if she discovered the only compensation I would seek from the thieves would be paid in blood.
I could have this, I told myself as I wordlessly took Guinevere’s hand to lead her to the cellar and our private tasting room, but this fantasy had a deadline, and after five weeks, our relationship would turn into a pumpkin and I’d be left right back where I was before.
More metal than man.