Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

‘Do the Farneses know what it is?’

‘They think they do. Get rid of the vultures for me Isidoro. Tell them I’ll get round to them if and when it suits me.’

She would have escaped right then, but her cousins descended on her with eager protestations of affection. When Alex rejoined the brothers a few minutes later she was smiling.

‘What’s so funny?’ Rinaldo wanted to know.

‘They all invited me to dinner. I said yes, as long as I could bring the two of you.’ She chuckled. ‘That put them right off.’

A shout of laughter was surprised from Rinaldo.

‘We’ll go one better and invite them all ourselves,’ he suggested.

‘I couldn’t advise them to accept,’ Alex said. ‘I don’t know what you might put in the soup. Or then again- maybe I do.’

Rinaldo grinned at her. It had a touch of the conspirator.

CHAPTER SIX

GOING down to an early breakfast next morning Rinaldo found his brother standing at the landing window gazing out at something that was enjoying his full attention.

‘Any excuse not to start work,’ he said.

‘Well that is quite some excuse,’ Gino said, not taking his eyes from the figure running through the trees.

At first Rinaldo saw only a flash of scarlet. Then it resolved itself into a slim, perfectly honed female body, clad in tight-fitting scarlet shorts that smoothed their way over her hips almost down to her knees, gleaming with every movement she made.

Above a bare midriff she wore a matching scarlet sports bra that left no doubts as to the beauty of her figure.

This was Alex’s daily workout, and she was running with great intensity, her eyes fixed just ahead, breathing steadily and powerfully.

The brothers watched as she headed for the barn and went inside. After exchanging puzzled frowns they went downstairs and out in the direction of the barn.

They soon saw what had made her choose this place. Part of the barn was only one storey high, and the ceiling was crossed from side to side with wooden beams. To one of these Alex had attached hanging rings and was swinging along from one to the other hand over hand. A bale of hay just below showed how she had managed to launch herself up there.

Inch by inch she swung along the rings. At the end she turned and started the journey back, heading for the bale where she could land easily.

But then Gino was there, kicking the bale aside, reaching up to receive her.

‘Come on,’ he cried.

Alex took a deep breath and launched herself forward, landing in a pair of powerful hands.

But they were Rinaldo’s.

Somehow he had taken Gino’s place and was now holding her with his hands about her bare midriff, looking up at her with a face full of grim irony.

‘Oi!’ Gino protested. ‘No need to shove me out of the way like that.’

‘There was every need,’ Rinaldo said. ‘We haven’t got time for you two to fool around. This is a busy, working farm.’

‘But you had no right-’

‘Could you two have your private argument some other time?’ Alex demanded, incensed. ‘I’d like to get down.’

Rinaldo lowered her to the floor. After her exertions she was breathing hard and heat seemed to be pounding through her body.

‘Thank you,’ she gasped.

‘Do you intend to indulge in these antics very often?’ he asked politely.

‘I exercise every day. It keeps me fit.’

‘Working on the farm has the same effect,’ he observed drily. ‘You might find it interesting. In the meantime, if you intend to go on doing this, may I suggest you dress more modestly? I don’t want my workers distracted.’

He walked away without looking back, so he didn’t see Alex lunge after him, only restrained by Gino.

‘Save it,’ he said.

‘I’ll kill him!’ she muttered. ‘I’ll kill him!’

‘Nah! Fantasise about it like the rest of us do.’

‘What does he mean modestly?’

‘Well, you are quite an eyeful, and an armful.’

He wrapped his arms about her waist, making no effort to release her.

‘Well, you’d better let me go,’ she said grumpily. ‘It wouldn’t do for me to distract you.’

‘You distract me all the time,’ he said wistfully.

‘Gino!’ came a yell from outside.

‘Let’s kill him together,’ Gino muttered, releasing her, resignedly.

Before having breakfast Alex took a cool shower. She felt hot all through, deep down, intensely hot in a way that no water could soothe. The feeling had been there since Rinaldo’s hands had encircled her waist, holding her against him.

Perhaps it was lucky, she thought, that Gino had not caught her. He would certainly have turned that intimate moment into a kiss.

But Rinaldo had been completely unmoved.

She rubbed soap over the place, feeling again the pressure of his fingers, and the warmth going through her in endless waves. She turned the water onto cold, and let it lave her again and again, hoping for the feeling to go.

She waited a long time before going downstairs, and when she did she found that the brothers had gone.

Despite the occasional battles Alex found her introduction to Belluna genuinely fascinating. Rinaldo had given her a view from a distance, but now she rode with Gino, getting a closer view of fields full of corn and olives, vineyards stretching away on steep slopes.

‘We grow the Sangiovese grapes that make Chianti,’ he said. ‘True Chianti, made and bottled in this region. We have our imitators all over the world, but they’re not the same.’

His voice contained a hint of Tuscan arrogance, that made Alex smile, realising that there was more to him than an easygoing charmer.

But for pure arrogance, the kind that made her want to dance with rage, she thought there was no beating Rinaldo. He made no comment about their long absences together. The whole matter seemed beneath his notice. Nor did he show much interest when they discussed their adventures in the evening.

He would listen, grunting, to the day’s events, then take himself off to his study at the first opportunity.

‘He makes me want to bang my head against the wall,’ Alex raged one evening when he’d gone.

‘Bang his,’ Gino suggested. ‘More fun.’

‘Ah, but would I make any impression on it?’

‘Not a hope. People have been trying for years.’

‘How does anyone put up with him?’ Alex asked bitterly. There was something about the way Rinaldo overlooked her that made her seethe.

‘It takes long practise,’ Gino said, yawning. ‘It’s been a tiring day.’

‘Yes, I’m going straight to bed.’

She had grown even more fond of the bedroom, whose decor and furniture were so far behind the times. She had soon gotten into the Italian habit of stripping off the duvet and all the sheets each morning and hanging them